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Posts published in “Day: May 25, 2006”

Banned in . . .

May 25, 2006

Northwest blogging has arrived: A blog has been formally banned, albeit only in a courthouse. That appears to be the case, at least, in the case of the Spokesman Review's Huckleberries Online, run by Dave Oliveria, which evidently has incurred enough wrath from the Kootenai County Commission, or at least a commissioner, to be cut off from the courthouse's Internet roster.

This sort of thing never ends well. For the banner, that is.

Prediction here is that this is the Huckleberries' page views from Coeur d'Alene shoots through the roof in the next few days.

Sali and the Democrats

May 25, 2006

The Democrats were overjoyed. One campaign aide was almost literally dancing down a Boise street, so happy was he about the choice the Republicans had made of who would represent them in the general election for the 1st congressional district seat. Worst candidate of the bunch, he said; others would have been tougher, but this one was so bad that the election would be a slam dunk. Big sigh of relief.

That's right: I'm talking about May 1994, when Helen Chenoweth was nominated by the Republicans for a seat in Congress. She went on, as we know now, to serve three terms before leaving of her own volition (in honor of a campaign pledge). She turned out not be an easy mark at all: She defeated incumbent Democrat Larry La Rocco.

This is worth bearing in mind as we hear, today, the terrific opportunity being placed before Idaho Democrats with the nomination of Bill Sali to that same seat, and of a highly presentable Democrat, Larry Grant, to oppose him.

And that word is being spread far and wide. You see is in emails and blogs. And you see it implied in quotes like this one from Idaho Democratic Chair Richard Stallings: “The Republicans have made a lot of mistakes in recent years, but nominating their 1st Congressional District candidate last night was a serious misstep. They have chosen a nominee who is despised within their own party – and with good reason. Bill Sali is one of the most divisive personalities in Idaho politics."

A Daily Kos web site diary post about the race (which otherwise includes quite a few useful bits and pieces) actually includes the line, "The only problem for Grant currently is money."

Well, no. It isn't his only problem. This could be the most competitive race in the 1st since at least 1998 and maybe earlier, which means a Grant win is viable - could happen. But the odds still run the other way, and Democrats would not be well-served to ignore the obstacles before them. (more…)

In the middle

May 25, 2006

We don't get enough explanations of the way things really work in the world, including the government world, and so we often get an understanding of things no more sophisticated than you can put on a bumper sticker.

Hanging around politics and you'll often hear the call to save our tax dollars by cutting back on the number of bureaucrats in government. Okay - that sounds appealing. What happens if we try to translate that into reality?

In Washington state government, there's a logical place to look for them. Tht state has something called the Washington Management Service, into which management-level people are grouped; the idea was to train a large group of state workers in management skills. The WMS has about 5,400 people in it. So when Governor Chris Gregoire called for cutting back 1,000 "middle managers" - her version of cutting back on the bureaucrats - the WMS is where she headed.

In an excellent column today, Peter Callaghan points out that this seems simpler than it is. The MWS has come to include a lot more people than just middle managers; many are people doing important work whom the state would like to keep, but expects to lose owing to low salaries; many of these people are bumped into the WMS, not to become middle managers but to increase their pay. And so we have - and this was a focus for Callaghan - "all eight of the senior [prison] chaplains have been told their jobs will be eliminated to help the department meet its quota for mid-management reductions. That leaves just one chaplain for every 1,000 inmates. "

That's how to cut bloated bureaucracy? Well, no . . . and this should constitute a lesson for any political figure who thinks the job of cutting - which certainly often has merit - is either simple or easy.