1. Update from the state budget negotiations: Word is the senate Republicans have delivered a list of 33 bills they want on the table in this month's special session. Reportedly, some of the bills didn't even pass the senate in the first place. 

Fizz has messages in to the Republicans. One budget negotiator told us last night: "No comment."

2. The 46th District Democrats (N. Seattle) endorsed state Sen. Ed Murray (D-43, Capitol Hill) and former City Council member Peter Steinbrueck for mayor last night.

Running as the neighborhood candidate, Steinbrueck, until recently, lived in the 46th. And Murray, a Democratic leader in Olympia, is popular with Seattle's Democratic party organizations.

It took a 60 percent vote, and a dual Murray/Steinbrueck endorsement was the only option that had enough support.

Earlier this month, the endorsement committee for the 36th District Democrats—Ballard, Queen Anne, Greenwood, Fremont, Magnolia—recommended endorsing both Murray and 36th resident Seattle City Council member Tim Burgess. The full membership of the 36th is expected to affirm that pick at its meeting next week. 

The 46th District Democrats endorsed Ed Murray and Peter Steinbrueck for mayor last night.

Also last night, the 46th did not make an endorsement in City Council member Richard Conlin's reelection bid nor in City Council member Mike O'Brien's reelection bid, de facto victories for the relatively unknown, but focused, challengers: Brian Carver and Albert Shen respectively.

Carver, a longtime Amazon employee, has raised $26,000 (Conlin has raised $96,000) and Shen, an engineering consultant with cred in Seattle's Asian American community, has raised $72,000 (O'Brien has raised $41,000).

3. Meanwhile, Erica had the news late yesterday that, in signs of a campaign overhaul, mayoral candidate Tim Burgess fired his spokesman, former Seattle Times reporter and former mayor Nickels spokesman,  Alex Fryer.

4. Seattle City Council members are poised to propose a ballot measure that would create a public campaign financing system in Seattle. The proposal will largely track the recommendations made by the Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission earlier this year. Candidates would be required to raise at least 600 contributions of between $10 and $50; those contributions, in turn, would be matched six-to-one by city dollars. The maximum amount of matching funds, under the current proposal, would be $180,000, for a potential maximum of $210,000 in contributions (if all 600 of the initial contributions were $50). 

Still in question: Should the limit on total contributions be increased, given that city races often cost well over $210,000?

Still in question: Should the limit on total contributions be increased, given that city races often cost well over $210,000? If so, how would that work—would the match be increased, as some public financing proponents have suggested (say, eight to 1)? Or would the total cap go up?

The council will discuss the proposals on May 28, and could vote on whether to put a measure on the ballot as soon as June 10; as we reported earlier this week, the pro-public finance campaign, Fair Elections Seattle, is currently about $22,000 in the red thanks largely to an $18,000 expenditure on polling.

5. In recent weeks, four key staffers at Cascade Bicycle Club have followed retiring executive director Chuck Ayers out the door—most recently, Cascade lobbyist Craig Benjamin, who's leaving for a job doing environmental advocacy in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

Fizz's theory: Without Ayers, the once-mighty Cascade is suffering a bit of a crisis of leadership, and is struggling to get its feet after 16 years with the same steady hand at the wheel.