Morning Fizz
The Democrats are Coming After Him
Caffeinated News & Gossip. Your daily Morning Fizz.
1. Even though moderate Republican state Sen. Steve Litzow (R-41, Mercer Island) jumped party lines to vote for the gay marriage bill this year, the Democrats are coming after him. Specifically, Maureen Judge, the former executive director of the Washington Toxics Coalition and a single Mercer Island mom, is running against Litzow. Litzow was first elected in the swing district in 2010, edging out incumbent liberal Democrat Randy Gordon by 192 votes in a recount.
Judge, who worked at RealNetworks and Expedia.com and now sits on the board of several children's advocacy groups, is announcing her candidacy this morning with a focus on fully funding education, noting in a statement that Litzow supported the Republican coup budget that slashed education funding.
"Steve Litzow promised he would fight for education funding. But this legislative session he demonstrated that he’d rather toe the Republican Party line than fight for our kids, our state and our future,” she said.
But there's more to it than that. Ironically, Litzow who has managed to win over many Democrats with his pro-choice record (he's a former NARAL Political Action Committee Board member), stuck by his caucus in their budget coup, a well-calibrated maneuver that involved voting against the reproductive parity act, a bill that would have required insurers who cover maternity care to also cover abortion. The measure lost 26-23, with Litzow providing one of two key votes to kill the NARAL priority bill.
Judge also served on the NARAL PAC board. "His votes killed the Reproductive Parity Act," Judge says, “This is why I am running for this seat. Women and kids deserve better than elected officials who put party above people.”
2. Eastern Washington's US Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-5, WA), the highest ranking woman in the GOP house, went on CNN yesterday to make the case that despite the free-falling support for Republicans among women (thanks in part state level attacks on women's reproductive rights), now-presumptive Republican Presidential nominee Mitt Romney's policies would be better for women than President Obama's.
"The policies that Governor Romney is promoting, they're the policies that are going to help women succeed in this country," McMorris Rodgers says.
Last week, Romney blasted Democratic commentator Hilary Rosen for saying his wife, stay-at-home mother of five Ann, didn't understand most women's economic concerns because she had "never worked a day in her life." Romney said "all moms are working moms."[pullquote]Phillips, the son of King County Council member Larry Phillips, was insightful and constantly on point.[/pullquote]
But yesterday, it came out that just three months ago, Romney said that all women receiving government assistance "need to go to work," even if their children are very young.
Obama leads Romney among women by 16 points.
3. Sahar Fathi, the Seattle City Council member Mike O'Brien aide who's running in the crowded field of Democrats trying to replace retiring 36th District Rep. Mary Lou Dickerson, was the last one standing at last night's "Weakest Link"-style candidate forum hosted by the Stranger at the Spitfire in Belltown.
Lefty activist Linde Knighton (the other non-Gen X or Gen Y candidate running—Fathi is 28), whose agenda seemed limited to taxing the rich, was voted off in the second round, though not before getting off some crowd-pleasers herself about the "insane" regressive tax system: "In this state we love the sales tax, but it doesn't love us back. By golly," she concluded, "the income tax works."
State Sen. Paull Shin's (D-21, Edmonds) aide Evan Clifthorne, who started out with a handicap in front of the lefty crowd because Shin voted against gay marriage—"just because you work for a senator doesn't mean you agree with all their beliefs" he said—managed to make it three rounds even though his answers about prioritizing higher education and "being ready to start the job on Day One" were pretty bland.
Like Tartleton, he eventually sunk himself with a politically incorrect answer. When asked by Rep. Dickerson, who was moderating, how he would reform the initiative process, he said he would toss it. He was booted in the very next round of voting.
Founding Washington Bus board member and Progressive Majority leader Noel Frame—despite evidently packing the room (she drew exuberant cheers for standard issue answers like "the safety net has been thrashed")—was ousted next.
That left Fathi and Phillips. And despite Fathi's ultimate triumph, you had to hand it to the "white dude." He was the evening's biggest surprise. Whether talking about higher ed (it's not just about funding it, it's about connecting it to the next generation of green jobs); revenue (he proposed a gum and candy tax to fund human services); or reforming the initiative process ("I'm not against it [the initiative process]," he said, "I just don't like Tim Eyman." He added that the state should ban paid signature gathering), Phillips, the son of King County Council member Larry Phillips, was insightful and constantly on point.
Phillips is the Sustainability Director for Unico Properties, where he puts together green building projects, and he lights up when he talks about pushing a green economy, his top priority. He said his first bill would be legislation to speed up the commitment to the voter-approved I-937, the sustainable energy initiative, which was actually ratcheted back this year.
He also got off a one-liner of his own during the final round, when he and Fathi were both asked to offer a criticism of Democratic speaker Rep. Frank Chopp (D-43). After Fathi passed, Phillips quipped, "that's easy, it's the mustache."
But it was Fathi's night. Her social justice politics energized, rather than marginalized, all her answers. Asked a wonky policy question about funding transportation, she jumped in, "I drove over here from Ballard. It took effing forever. If I were a single mom on food stamps," she elaborated, describing the parade of errands shouldered by the working class, "it would be ridiculous. It's a social justice nightmare."
She said the state should give Seattle the authority to go its own way on mass transit, and in fact, she said, getting wonky herself, "the city has the councilmanic bonding authority to do it right now, and if I don't win, I'll continue to work on that at city hall."
4. Yesterday, the King County Council voted to put a $200 million, nine-year property tax levy---seven cents per $1,000 of home value---to replace the decaying Alder Youth Services Center on the August ballot. The levy would cost the median King County homeowner around $25 a year. It will go on the same ballot as the $123 million, seven-year Seattle library levy, which would cost the median Seattle homeowner around $52 a year.
1. Even though moderate Republican state Sen. Steve Litzow (R-41, Mercer Island) jumped party lines to vote for the gay marriage bill this year, the Democrats are coming after him. Specifically, Maureen Judge, the former executive director of the Washington Toxics Coalition and a single Mercer Island mom, is running against Litzow. Litzow was first elected in the swing district in 2010, edging out incumbent liberal Democrat Randy Gordon by 192 votes in a recount.
Judge, who worked at RealNetworks and Expedia.com and now sits on the board of several children's advocacy groups, is announcing her candidacy this morning with a focus on fully funding education, noting in a statement that Litzow supported the Republican coup budget that slashed education funding.
"Steve Litzow promised he would fight for education funding. But this legislative session he demonstrated that he’d rather toe the Republican Party line than fight for our kids, our state and our future,” she said.
But there's more to it than that. Ironically, Litzow who has managed to win over many Democrats with his pro-choice record (he's a former NARAL Political Action Committee Board member), stuck by his caucus in their budget coup, a well-calibrated maneuver that involved voting against the reproductive parity act, a bill that would have required insurers who cover maternity care to also cover abortion. The measure lost 26-23, with Litzow providing one of two key votes to kill the NARAL priority bill.
Judge also served on the NARAL PAC board. "His votes killed the Reproductive Parity Act," Judge says, “This is why I am running for this seat. Women and kids deserve better than elected officials who put party above people.”
2. Eastern Washington's US Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-5, WA), the highest ranking woman in the GOP house, went on CNN yesterday to make the case that despite the free-falling support for Republicans among women (thanks in part state level attacks on women's reproductive rights), now-presumptive Republican Presidential nominee Mitt Romney's policies would be better for women than President Obama's.
"The policies that Governor Romney is promoting, they're the policies that are going to help women succeed in this country," McMorris Rodgers says.
Last week, Romney blasted Democratic commentator Hilary Rosen for saying his wife, stay-at-home mother of five Ann, didn't understand most women's economic concerns because she had "never worked a day in her life." Romney said "all moms are working moms."[pullquote]Phillips, the son of King County Council member Larry Phillips, was insightful and constantly on point.[/pullquote]
But yesterday, it came out that just three months ago, Romney said that all women receiving government assistance "need to go to work," even if their children are very young.
Obama leads Romney among women by 16 points.
3. Sahar Fathi, the Seattle City Council member Mike O'Brien aide who's running in the crowded field of Democrats trying to replace retiring 36th District Rep. Mary Lou Dickerson, was the last one standing at last night's "Weakest Link"-style candidate forum hosted by the Stranger at the Spitfire in Belltown.
36th District hopeful "woman of-color" Sahar Fathi
The audience got to vote by text after each round of questioning—what's the first bill you'll introduce?, will you pledge to raise taxes (all yeses), do you support legalizing marijuana? (all yeses)—eventually whittling the six candidates down to Fathi who had the crowd cheering all night with her no-apologies identity politics rap. Her first bill, she said, would be a mandate for racial impact statements to show how policy choices, like budget cuts, affect racial minorities. She also had some sharp one-liners. "I'm a woman of color," she said when asked to explain the difference between her and Brett Phillips, in the final round. "Brett is a white dude."
Seattle Port Commissioner Gael Tarleton, who made an impassioned feminist speech (against her consultant's wishes, she said) about running because she believes women can best represent the public—"women are the people who teach kids, take the kids to the doctor ... and are the people who will stand up for others because we know what it's like to be discriminated against"—alienated the crowd with a call for a sales tax to fund education. The regressive sales tax drew hisses, and Tarleton, the only elected official among the six (and only one of the two over 40), was voted off the island in the first round.
Lefty activist Linde Knighton (the other non-Gen X or Gen Y candidate running—Fathi is 28), whose agenda seemed limited to taxing the rich, was voted off in the second round, though not before getting off some crowd-pleasers herself about the "insane" regressive tax system: "In this state we love the sales tax, but it doesn't love us back. By golly," she concluded, "the income tax works."
State Sen. Paull Shin's (D-21, Edmonds) aide Evan Clifthorne, who started out with a handicap in front of the lefty crowd because Shin voted against gay marriage—"just because you work for a senator doesn't mean you agree with all their beliefs" he said—managed to make it three rounds even though his answers about prioritizing higher education and "being ready to start the job on Day One" were pretty bland.
Like Tartleton, he eventually sunk himself with a politically incorrect answer. When asked by Rep. Dickerson, who was moderating, how he would reform the initiative process, he said he would toss it. He was booted in the very next round of voting.
Founding Washington Bus board member and Progressive Majority leader Noel Frame—despite evidently packing the room (she drew exuberant cheers for standard issue answers like "the safety net has been thrashed")—was ousted next.
36th District hopeful "white dude" Brett Phillips
That left Fathi and Phillips. And despite Fathi's ultimate triumph, you had to hand it to the "white dude." He was the evening's biggest surprise. Whether talking about higher ed (it's not just about funding it, it's about connecting it to the next generation of green jobs); revenue (he proposed a gum and candy tax to fund human services); or reforming the initiative process ("I'm not against it [the initiative process]," he said, "I just don't like Tim Eyman." He added that the state should ban paid signature gathering), Phillips, the son of King County Council member Larry Phillips, was insightful and constantly on point.
Phillips is the Sustainability Director for Unico Properties, where he puts together green building projects, and he lights up when he talks about pushing a green economy, his top priority. He said his first bill would be legislation to speed up the commitment to the voter-approved I-937, the sustainable energy initiative, which was actually ratcheted back this year.
He also got off a one-liner of his own during the final round, when he and Fathi were both asked to offer a criticism of Democratic speaker Rep. Frank Chopp (D-43). After Fathi passed, Phillips quipped, "that's easy, it's the mustache."
But it was Fathi's night. Her social justice politics energized, rather than marginalized, all her answers. Asked a wonky policy question about funding transportation, she jumped in, "I drove over here from Ballard. It took effing forever. If I were a single mom on food stamps," she elaborated, describing the parade of errands shouldered by the working class, "it would be ridiculous. It's a social justice nightmare."
She said the state should give Seattle the authority to go its own way on mass transit, and in fact, she said, getting wonky herself, "the city has the councilmanic bonding authority to do it right now, and if I don't win, I'll continue to work on that at city hall."
4. Yesterday, the King County Council voted to put a $200 million, nine-year property tax levy---seven cents per $1,000 of home value---to replace the decaying Alder Youth Services Center on the August ballot. The levy would cost the median King County homeowner around $25 a year. It will go on the same ballot as the $123 million, seven-year Seattle library levy, which would cost the median Seattle homeowner around $52 a year.
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