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Posts published in “Day: January 15, 2007”

Name change

Cathy McMorris Rodgers
Cathy McMorris Rodgers

Let note be taken: Washington's 5th district officially now is represented by Cathy McMorris Rodgers.

The recently-married representative, now expecting a baby in May (around the time of the Memorial Day recess she notes, perhaps hopefully), had the usual uncomfortable choices to make as regards name. She was originally elected as Cathy McMorris in 2004 and again 2006 (after her marriage). The name change now may be timed to give everyone more time to let it sink in.

(Rodgers does not yet appear, however, on her congressional web site, though it does in official House documents.)

Next, as the Spokesman-Review's Jim Camden notes, comes dealing with an infant in the U.S. Capitol.

An Otter-Vasquez connection?

The MountainGoat Report blog is on to something intriguing in the contest over replacing departed state Representative Bill Deal, R-Nampa, in the Idaho House. It has to do with the way some of the contenders are connected in Republican politics.

Deal, you'll recall, is a long-time House member who was a candidate last month for House speaker; after losing that bid, he was appointed by new Governor Butch Otter as director of the state Department of Insurance. Deal has been a Republican caucus mainstay but leaning a bit toward the left side of it. His replacement will almost certainly be further to the right (as we usually reckon these things).

The first top choice of the local Republican committee was Ray McKenzie, the father of Senator Curt McKenzie. But his nomination fell through because he had been living in Idaho Falls for a short time, and technically didn't qualify for the appointment, which will be made by Otter.

The committee re-chose three nominees: Steve Kren, son of a Nampa city council member; Ronalee Linsenmann, a Canyon County Republican activist; and Scott McDonald, a former state administrator, a former leader of the Idaho Association of Cities and is currently executive director of the Nampa Family Shelter Coalition. McDonald seems an unlikely choice.

Kren could credibly get the nod, but MountainGoat has another thought: "My thinking is that he'll make that choice due to his support for the bill being proposed by Sen. John McGee (R-Caldwell) denying government services to illegal residents. Ex-Canyon County Commissioner Robert Vasquez is well known for his stance on illegal immigration and as his campaign manager, Ronalee Linsemann would surely fit into Gov. Otter's efforts to quell illegal immigration statewide."

Hmm. Otter wouldn't, of course, have to appoint Linsemann in order to support the legislation. And we should recall just how acerbic Vasquez (and presumably those closely associated with him) have been. Here's Vasquez on naming Linsemann as campaign manager: "Ronaee agrees with me that the Republican Party Leadership is misdirected in its staunch support for illegal aliens. We believe Idaho's rank-and-file Republicans want their 1st District Congressman to protect Idaho jobs for Idahoans." Vasquez, recall, is an announced candidate for the U.S. Senate seat now held by Republican Larry Craig.

Choosing Kren, in this case, would be the less-contentious thing to do.

We'll not necessarily argue MountainGoat is wrong, though. We'll simply be watching closely to see which fork in the road Otter decides to tread.

CORRECTION: To reflect, Kren's father is a member of the Nampa City Council.

Wal-Mart in the mine field

Wal-MartThe ferocious progress of new Wal-Mart additions and expansions in the Northwest continues to slow. The global giant's appetite has not slackened, and efforts to build continue in many places. But local resistance and issues lying in wait, some of them hard to foresee, are slowing or killing a number of expansion plan.

In the "kill" category, place a proposed Supercenter (those are the bigger stores that generally include groceries along with everything else) planned in Spokane at 44th Avenue and Regal Street. The site had been troubled before Wal-Mart even arrived on the scene, because it was wetlands which was buried under soil and other material by a developer and also by the city. That was part of the impetus for a substantial local opposition effort. But Wal-Mart's regional voice, Jennifer Holder, said that wasn't the killer (at this stage at least). The problem she cited was radio transmission towers in the area, colliding with computer communications the store would need to have with headquarters at Bentonville.

This story isn't over yet, since Wal-Mart still would like to build another Supercenter in southern Spokane.

The other hot battle comes out of Cottage Grove, Oregon, where Wal-Mart is trying to expand a regular store into a Supercenter featuring a grocery.

In the Eugene Register-Guard, the subject "A bigger Wal-Mart for Cottage Grove?" is by far the hottest among recent forum topics - 53 comments in the last few days.

Wal-Mart has some rough sledding here too. It would have to (and it is seeking to) change city zoning to allow the expansion; the current store (81,000 square feet, built in the mid-90s) would be nearly doubled in size, which hasn't been allowed under city rules. The city's zoning staff already has recommended against.

One Wal-Mart critic, Cathy Bellavita, wrote to the city that "As a community, we need to ask, is this the best use of this land? Do we want this combination of parcels to develop as an isolated box store, and do we want the parcels that abut Row River to be forever dedicated to parking? Wal-Mart is asking us to change our intended pattern of development in this area from multiple commercial activities to one single box store, saying the reason to change it is because the area has not developed in that pattern to date. Just because this development has not taken place to date does not mean it won't in the future."

A public hearing on the proposal is set for Wednesday (7:30 p.m., city council chambers).