In Brief - February 9th, 2006
In Brief is a new feature that we're debuting on the blog. It's basically a bulleted list of news items that we want to mention to you but don't want to do a whole post on. We're not yet sure if In Brief will become daily or stay less frequent, but you can expect to see it often in the future.
- The state Farm Bureau has filed its initiative to destroy growth management and open loopholes for developers. The P-I has a good article about the initiative this morning. An excerpt: "Environmental groups, city leaders and even some farmers say the initiative -- similar to Oregon's Measure 37 -- would gut protections for everything from salmon to open space and threaten rural lifestyles. Most cash-strapped governments would simply choose not to enforce those regulations." The Times also has an article here. NPI's Permanent Defense division will be opposing this initiative in cooperation with the Community Protection Coalition. The Farm Bureau is likely to get support from the BIAW and the Washington Association of Realtors.
- David Goldstein has a short post this morning noting the success of numerous school levies and ballot propositions, pointing out that taxpayers do indeed support increasing revenues to pay for quality services: "The steady popular support of school levies (what else consistently garners over 70 percent of the vote?) also demonstrates broad popular support of public education in general. I just wonder when our state’s lawmakers are going to realize this, and finally craft a populist package to increase basic funding of education? Voters are more than willing to pay for it… if you give them value for their money." In 2004, Permanent Defense conducted and published a special report showing that voters overwhelmingly support raising taxes to pay for local public services. To see the report, follow this link.
- The Tri-City Herald published a good editorial last Sunday, entitled: "GOP attack campaign a shameful moment" condemning the House GOP caucus leadership (ahem, Richard DeBolt and his minions, including professional troll Kevin Carns) for their smear campaign accusing Democrats of being soft on sex offenders.
- Seattle officials have announced that the Seattle Center monorail trains will be repaired for $3 million to $4 million without diverting money from other city services.
- David Postman has an article this morning in the Times which mentions Darcy Burner's candidacy for the 8th Congressional District. It also references Mike McGavick's challenge to Maria Cantwell.
- The Times also has an article from Knight Ridder which notes the Democratic Party's lack of a consistent message (and lack of national unity). The article includes references to the progressive blogosphere and even a quote from Chris Bowers of MyDD. The lesson from the article is that Democrats need to figure out how to work together and stop fighting each other. For instance, our strategy should be only challenging Democratic incumbents who really sell out to the other side (like Joe Lieberman or Henry Cuellar).
