Chris Vance at Crosscut.com: Can we talk about what the County really does?

I will repeat here what I said there:I agree with Chris Vance, Deb Eddy, and Ted Van Dyke.

This is a trifecta for me, and a first.
I am going to bookmark this page, and cherish this event, always.

Can I throw in the library system to the list?
Shoreline has a nice King County library, maybe King County's City of Shoreline should have the very nice library? Not the best example, I know.

As more is annexed then maybe the county structures should go with it, where possible?

The King County Executive race is highly competitive, but the candidates keep talking about issues where the county has little influence. Here's a plea to address the topics where the county matters, such as law enforcement.

. . .
Which leads us to the services King County actually does govern and provide: solid waste, public health, regional parks, sewers, buses, records and elections, and, most importantly, criminal justice. Simply put, King County’s budget is roughly $5 billion, but of that, 87 percent is dedicated to specific services and programs, such as the road fund, and Metro transit and sewer service. Buses and sewers are vital, but there really aren’t a lot of policy issues to debate when it comes these core municipal services.

This leaves between $600 and $700 million in the General Fund for politicians to argue over. Of that, 73 percent currently goes to police, jails, prosecutors, juvenile justice, public defenders, and courts. These are the services King County truly governs, and this is where the real debate lies.

There are plenty of issues to debate regarding public safety. Last year the county laid off prosecutors and Sheriff’s deputies, and consequently stopped charging some crimes as felonies . We continue arguing about building a new jail, and we continue to expand the use of work release and electronic home monitoring. In addition there is the debate over whether King County should make reductions in public safety or in the valuable but entirely discretionary health and human services programs which compete for General Fund dollars. Law and justice is where the vast majority of the county’s discretionary budget goes and is the primary service it provides to the region, yet none of the candidates for Executive has a section of their web page devoted to these issues, and none is making crime and public safety the focus of a campaign.

Mr. Vance makes other interesting points, and uses Susan Hutchinson as an example. Please read the full story at Crosscut.com
Can we talk about what the County really does?

Today in Losing Propositions: "Drago exaggerates role in tunnel project"

This is from the Seattle Times Newspaper Editorial:

Mayoral candidate Jan Drago overstated her role in getting the downtown tunnel approved. If she wants to improve communication between Seattle and Olympia, she should be more accurate about what she actually accomplished.
Seattle Times Editorial: Mayoral candidate Drago exaggerates role in tunnel project

Ok, just so I have this right; the Seattle Times is chastising mayoral candidate Councilwoman Jan Drago for claiming too much credit for a viaduct replacement project the majority of Seattle did not vote for, that the state legislature chose to saddle Seattle for all of the cost overruns on. Umm, ok.

Last Spring she did testify in Olympia for the Tunnel project. I watched most of that on TVW.

Months before she stood next to Greg Nickels when the deal for the tunnel was announced, her contribution was committing Seattle to another Streetcar line to run from Alaskan Way on up the the empty KeyArena with no funding source to make it happen.

She stood next to Ron Sims, Sims' added bus service to add one million ridership hours was depending on car tab tax that never happened.

She stood with Governor Chris Gregoire who stripped away support for the added bus service hours after Ron Sims announced that he was leaving his position as King County Executive to become the Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

This Tunnel is, even by its supporters, a negative experience, 7 years in the making, following the 2001 Nisqually Earthquake.

Why anybody would think exaggerating their involvement in that mess is nuts. It says more about the fantasy one must live in to think this is an issue to campaign on than it does about mayoral attributes. She is a better communicator than Greg Nickels, and this pile of manure is her claim to fame, really?

It is no wonder a guy that looked to be a long shot, James Donaldson, is polling almost on par with Drago. Between Nickels and Drago's shared history, I guess James Donaldson should be seen as a potential mayor, and not as an "also ran".

A new KING 5 News poll has Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels leading challengers Jan Drago and James Donaldson, with the other candidates trailing the field.

The survey results:
Nickels: 24 percent.
Drago: 15 percent.
Donaldson: 14 percent.
The poll released Thursday showed that 26 percent of respondents were undecided.SeattlePI.com: Poll: Nickels leads Seattle mayor's race

Have a great day,
Mike Baker

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Visit me here:
http://ManyWordsForRain.blogspot.com

Seattle Times: Bill gives in-state tuition [rate] to foreign professionals, families in Washington on visa

State Senate vote was:
HB 1487
Resident students
Senate vote on 3rd Reading & Final Passage
4/15/2009

Yeas: 31   Nays: 13   Absent: 1   Excused: 4
Voting Yea:  Senators Berkey, Brandland, Delvin, Eide, Fairley, Franklin, Fraser, Hargrove, Hatfield, Haugen, Hobbs, Jacobsen, Jarrett, Keiser, Kilmer, Kline, Kohl-Welles, Marr, McAuliffe, McDermott, Murray, Oemig, Prentice, Pridemore, Ranker, Regala, Schoesler, Sheldon, Shin, Tom, and Zarelli
Voting Nay:  Senators Becker, Benton, Carrell, Hewitt, Holmquist, Honeyford, Kauffman, King, McCaslin, Parlette, Pflug, Stevens, and Swecker
Absent:  Senator Roach
Excused:  Senators Brown, Kastama, Morton, and Rockefeller
link to vote record here.
So, my question is: why is Ross Hunter the face the Seattle Times selected for this story?
He sponsored the House Bill, but it was the Senate Bill that was passed.
Senate Bill  Sponsors: Senators Oemig, Zarelli, Kilmer, Shin, Murray, Hewitt, Kohl-Welles

Subject to lively legislative debate, the bill received little attention outside the Capitol. An analysis put the immediate tuition revenue loss at the University of Washington at about $430,000, with potential for bigger losses in future years, and about $215,000 at Washington State University.

State Rep. Ross Hunter, D-Medina, the bill's sponsor, retired from Microsoft in 2000 after 17 years. He said employers in his Eastside district sought the provision as a tool for recruiting foreign talent.

"There are a bunch of people in my district who are in this situation," said Hunter, who is running for King County executive.

The bill passed the House 59-38 and the Senate 31-13.
Link to Seattle Times story here.

Have a great day,
Mike Baker

Sent from my iPhone
Visit me here:
http://ManyWordsForRain.blogspot.com