What Are They Saying About Levy Equalization This Week?

Further cuts for this year's budget must be made as well as the cuts for the next biennium 2011-13. When asked where this year's $385 million in near-term cuts will come from, director of the office of Financial Management, Marty Brown, said, "We're going to be talking about Basic Health soon, Disability Lifeline soon, levy equalization. School districts are going to get nailed."

State Sen. Brian Hatfield, D- Raymond, acknowledged that schools could get hit hard. "Levy equalization is another large ticket item that could be on the chopping block," he said.

--The Chinook-Observer, November 24th

Among the possible additional measures outlined in a memo to lawmakers:

Using $208 million in federal “edujobs” money to backfill the budget.
Reducing levy equalization to property-tax poor districts by $18 million.
Eliminating extra school funding for kindergarten through fourth grade to save $81.5 million.

The Olympian, November 25th

And, to wrap up, a great story from the Spokesman-Review on a small school district doing good.

Read more here, if any.

More Fun With the Spokane County GOP Platform

I've written before about the internecine strife within the Spokane County GOP, but today's article in the Spokesman Review really puts it into focus. The issue is the same as it's been for a year now--demanding fealty to the party platform makes for some uncomfortable moments later on when you're asked about no-fault divorce and making it harder for schools to pass levies. From the article:

Earlier this month, Democratic state Sen. Chris Marr highlighted his opponent’s promise to support the county Republican platform. He said it’s proof that Republican Michael Baumgartner is “out of touch with his constituency.”

GOP officials responded that candidates, including Baumgartner, who pledged to support the platform weren’t necessarily saying they backed its nearly 120 policy statements.

“We know that no candidate is going to agree 100 percent with what’s in the platform,” county GOP Chairwoman Cindy Zapotocky said. “We require the candidates to read it and consider it.”

That sounds nice enough, Ma'am, but it's also very hard to reconcile that with this, also from the Spokane GOP website:

If they fail to stand up for conservative principles, MAKE THEM WALK THE PLANK! If they indicate they are conservative, then vote against conservative principles MAKE THEM WALK THE PLANK! If they are members of the Republican Party, make them follow the planks of the platform, or MAKE THEM WALK THE PLANK!

The 6th is a swing district. There are a lot of voters there who could have that one piece of information filter through that sways them, and when the Spokane GOP serves up 120 short knives for their candidates to defend it's not going to be a surprise when some of them go down with a thousand cuts.

Read more here, if any.

The Split in the Spokane County GOP

One interesting thing that came out of all the endorsement interviews I've been doing, and that finally made the front page of the Spokesman-Review on Sunday, is that there's a pretty big split in the County GOP right now. I think you can see it best when you look at the endorsements issued by the "official" county party as of now:

John Ahern, 6th Legislative District, Position 2
Ralph Baker, County Assessor
Michael Baumgartner, 6th Legislative District, Senate
Jeff Holy, County Commissioner, District 3
Ozzie Knezovich, Spokane County Sheriff
Justice Richard Sanders, Washington State Supreme Court
Matt Shea, 4th Legislative District, Position 2
Dave Stevens, Spokane County Prosecutor
Dave White, 3rd Legislative District, Position 1
Leonard Christian, Spokane County Auditor (Endorsement Pending)

What's notable to me is what's missing--Spokane County contains all or part of the 3rd, 4th, 6th, 7th, and 9th Legislative Districts. That's 10 potential races, and they've only taken a stand on two of them. Further, some of the names I don't see on this list are emminently reliable conservative votes (Joel Kretz and Shelly Short in the 7th, Larry Crouse in the 4th, Susan Fagan and Joe Schmick in the 9th), but they're not on the official endorsement list. The Spokane County GOP was one of the first to get behind John Ahern's bid for re-election, and they've also been one of the only ones to get behind him--Shelly O'Quinn, who is a hell of a candidate, has gotten the Home Builders, the General Contractors, and an enviable list of names including the Spokane County Republican Club.

It'll be an interesting dynamic to watch, particularly as we get closer to the general election in November.

Read more here, if any.

The Governor Takes a Suggestion

There's been a couple of interesting posts in the past few weeks about the website that Governor Gregoire set up to take suggestions on how to save the state some money; the Washington Policy Center and Richard Roesler of the Spokesman Review being two of the best. Check out the document at the WPC website; it's about 27 pages of suggestions that were sent in, some feasible, some not. All the same, good reading.

I'll have more on this later after I've had a chance to read through it more thoroughly; if you have any good ideas on how the schools could save money, leave 'em in the comments section. There's a general belief in some circles (cough*bobwilliams*cough) that about 10% of the state budget is pure waste; if we attack that belief head on, we're only helping ourselves.

Read more here, if any.

Did the Spokesman-Review Just Blow the 7th LD Contest Wide Open?

The 7th legislative district is Washington State's largest, stretching from the Canadian border to the Spokane area and encompassing towns from Airway Heights to Colville and beyond. Bob Sump has been our Representative for approximately 102 years, so when he announced his retirement this session it threw open the doors.

Kind of. 5 candidates have announced to run for the seat Rep. Sump is vacating, all Republicans. Shelly Short has spent the last two years as a legislative assistant for Rep. Joel Kretz, also of the 7th, and she was one of the first to announce that she'd run for Rep. Sump's position. Rep. Sump endorsed her, which matters quite a bit to a lot of voters in the district. She's also got a pat on the back from George Nethercutt.

And then, in the August 2nd edition of the Spokesman-Review, this happens:

The husband of 7th Legislative District candidate Shelly Short may face criminal charges in the alleged theft of $3,318 from a volunteer fair organization.

Colville Police Chief Damond Meshishnek said his department is nearing completion of an investigation into financial irregularities reported June 16 by the Northeast Washington Fair Association.

Short's husband, Mitch J. Short, 46, was president of the association at the time.

The case is being investigated as a possible first-degree theft, and a report is expected to go to the Stevens County prosecutor's office soon, Meshishnek said.

There is no indication that Shelly Short, also 46, was involved in the alleged embezzlement.

Mitch Short declined to comment except to call the timing of a newspaper inquiry "a political smear job at its worst."

"Allowing this to happen to anyone in the public eye sends a chilling message to anyone considering public service," he said in e-mail statement.

Mr. Short might have a point about the timing; ballots just showed up in mailboxes, and the Spokesman-Review is scheduled to make their endorsement for the race in Sunday's paper.

It will be really, really interesting to see if this scandal changes the dynamic of the race at all, because there's no disputing that Short would have to be considered an odds-on favorite to win. She has more money than any of the other candidates ($38,750 ; Sue Lani Madsen is in 2nd place with $32,657), and she certainly seems more connected. If you had asked me last week what I expected the result of the primary to be, I would have given you Short and Madsen to the general election by a wide, wide margin.

Now? That could be a good question. My personal favorite of the five has been Kelly White, a former member of the state Fish and Wildlife Commission whose daughter is a school superintendent. He'd be able to speak knowledgeably about the recreation issues that matter so much to the northern part of the district while at the same time understanding education, which is always important. Perhaps this opens the door for him in a way that it wasn't before and he gets through to the general election.

And I thought that politics in August would be rather dry. Thanks, Spokesman!

Update (8/6): Mitch Short has his name on the ballot, too, for precinct committee officer in Addy.

Also see here for more Shelly Short discussion, including a hit piece from "RepublicanStaffer" and a mild defense from some guy named Ryan.

Read more here, if any.

A Family Left Behind

Anyone interested in issues of poverty needs to read this article from the Spokesman Review. It’s about a family that lives in a trailer in the woods of northern Idaho and the struggles they’ve had to get anywhere in life. The kids have been homeschooled, in school, then back to homeschooling, the father is a cripple, the mother is overwhelmed.

No child should be left behind, but sometimes you wonder if it can be avoided.

Read more here, if any.