Morning Fizz
One More Contender?
Caffeinated news & gossip. Your daily Morning Fizz.
1. Check out Seattle Transit Blog this morning for the first in a series of blog posts by Seattle City Council members, each one riding a different bus route that would see improvements from Prop. 1, the proposed $60 car tab for transportation improvements.
This morning it's council member Tom Rasmussen riding the "workhorse" 54, from White Center to downtown.
This week's Cola ThinkTank featured dueling editorials on the $60 car tab fee.
2. The already crowded field of Democrats circling US house seats in Western Washington—US Rep. Jay Inslee's seat, which stretches from North King County through Snohomish and heads west over to Bainbridge and the Kitsap Peninsula (Inslee is running for governor) and US Rep. Dave Reichert's Eastside suburban seat (Republican Reichert is up for reelection next year)—may be getting one more contender.
Two-time Reichert challenger, onetime Microsoft exec, and now lefty leader at ProgressiveCongress.org, Darcy Burner, is looking at getting in. (We're still waiting to see how redistricting is going to shake out in Inslee and Reichert's districts.)
Fizz has noted Burner's interest before, but here's the latest: She's got a robo-poll poll in the field.
Here's what we heard from someone who got called earlier this week:[pullquote]The already crowded field of Democrats circling US house seats may be getting one more contender, Darcy Burner.[/pullquote]
The reader got a call on his cell phone at 8:35pm Monday night.
It was a pre-recorded, push-button poll.
The pollster did a favorable/unfavorable on the possible female candidates: former state legislator Laura Ruderman, the top fund raiser in the current field; Darcy Burner; and Suzan DelBene, the Democrat who challenged Reichert in 2008, who has also talked about getting in this time.
Then the poll did a horse race check for all candidates; others include state Reps. Roger Goodman and Marko Liias, state Sen. Steve Hobbs, and Bothell business entrepreneur (and surprise fundraiser) Darshan Rauniyar.
Then there was a horse race question between Burner and James Watkins, the Republican whose going for Inslee's seat.
Then they asked age, gender, and party preference—Democratic, Republican, or Independent.
Our tipster added: "My two cents—didn't Dino Rossi just prove that the third time isn't a charm?"
3 . Speaking of people interested in running for office: In addition to the obvious names that are coming up to fill Scott White's state senate seat—46th District state Reps. Phyllis Gutierrez Kenney and David Frockt—Fizz has also heard that if there's jockeying for the house seat, Muni League and Democratic Party activist Gabe Meyer is interested.
The process for filling senate and house vacancies is this: the party district chooses three people (noting their top choice) and forwards the names to the County Council. The council does interviews and chooses.
The goal, according to the Democrats, is to fill the seat(s) by the November 28 special session.
4. The Everett Herald's Jerry Cornield has an excellent summary of Gov. Chris Gregoire's budget press conference yesterday—Gregoire submitted $4 billion in possible savings (cuts), including $2 billion that she thought made the most sense, and said after cuts are agreed upon, she's open to hearing ideas about new revenue.
Here's PubliCola's coverage from yesterday: Gregoire Recommends $2 Billion in Cuts, Revenues on Table for Legislative Session and the Afternoon Jolt.
1. Check out Seattle Transit Blog this morning for the first in a series of blog posts by Seattle City Council members, each one riding a different bus route that would see improvements from Prop. 1, the proposed $60 car tab for transportation improvements.
This morning it's council member Tom Rasmussen riding the "workhorse" 54, from White Center to downtown.
As we started heading down Avalon, traffic was getting heavier but we were able to use the bus only lane. As we merged into the bus only lane leading to the West Seattle Bridge I could see the advantage of a bus-only lane. It was not only faster but prevented the bus from having to make a dangerous merge as it got onto the West Seattle Bridge. On the West Seattle Bridge, the bus only lane allowed us to zoom past traffic. We definitely need more of these through the corridor.
This week's Cola ThinkTank featured dueling editorials on the $60 car tab fee.
2. The already crowded field of Democrats circling US house seats in Western Washington—US Rep. Jay Inslee's seat, which stretches from North King County through Snohomish and heads west over to Bainbridge and the Kitsap Peninsula (Inslee is running for governor) and US Rep. Dave Reichert's Eastside suburban seat (Republican Reichert is up for reelection next year)—may be getting one more contender.
Two-time Reichert challenger, onetime Microsoft exec, and now lefty leader at ProgressiveCongress.org, Darcy Burner, is looking at getting in. (We're still waiting to see how redistricting is going to shake out in Inslee and Reichert's districts.)
Fizz has noted Burner's interest before, but here's the latest: She's got a robo-poll poll in the field.
Here's what we heard from someone who got called earlier this week:[pullquote]The already crowded field of Democrats circling US house seats may be getting one more contender, Darcy Burner.[/pullquote]
The reader got a call on his cell phone at 8:35pm Monday night.
It was a pre-recorded, push-button poll.
The pollster did a favorable/unfavorable on the possible female candidates: former state legislator Laura Ruderman, the top fund raiser in the current field; Darcy Burner; and Suzan DelBene, the Democrat who challenged Reichert in 2008, who has also talked about getting in this time.
Then the poll did a horse race check for all candidates; others include state Reps. Roger Goodman and Marko Liias, state Sen. Steve Hobbs, and Bothell business entrepreneur (and surprise fundraiser) Darshan Rauniyar.
Then there was a horse race question between Burner and James Watkins, the Republican whose going for Inslee's seat.
Then they asked age, gender, and party preference—Democratic, Republican, or Independent.
Our tipster added: "My two cents—didn't Dino Rossi just prove that the third time isn't a charm?"
3 . Speaking of people interested in running for office: In addition to the obvious names that are coming up to fill Scott White's state senate seat—46th District state Reps. Phyllis Gutierrez Kenney and David Frockt—Fizz has also heard that if there's jockeying for the house seat, Muni League and Democratic Party activist Gabe Meyer is interested.
The process for filling senate and house vacancies is this: the party district chooses three people (noting their top choice) and forwards the names to the County Council. The council does interviews and chooses.
The goal, according to the Democrats, is to fill the seat(s) by the November 28 special session.
4. The Everett Herald's Jerry Cornield has an excellent summary of Gov. Chris Gregoire's budget press conference yesterday—Gregoire submitted $4 billion in possible savings (cuts), including $2 billion that she thought made the most sense, and said after cuts are agreed upon, she's open to hearing ideas about new revenue.
Here's PubliCola's coverage from yesterday: Gregoire Recommends $2 Billion in Cuts, Revenues on Table for Legislative Session and the Afternoon Jolt.
