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Posts published in April 2007

Losing Uncle Sam at Chehalis

The Uncle Sam billboard so familiar to I-5 travelers near Chehalis, a signpost of conservative thinking for many years, has been one of the places west of the Cascades that reliably has had the back of President George W. Bush.

So today we were stunned to see this on the board: "Where does it say anything about signing statements in the Constitution?"

The query admits to more than one possible interpretation. But on its face, it seems to side with the Bush critics who have argued that the hundreds of signing statements Bush has attached to bills - thereby declaring that acts of Congress mean whatever he wants them to mean - are an unconstitutional expansion of presidential power.

If Bush has lost the Uncle Sam billboard at Chehalis, truly he has nothing left.

The cell connection

The reaction come January of Washingtonians to the new cell phone law - the impending ban on hand-held cell phones while driving - will be an interesting political metric.

To what extent do Washingtonians comply with, ignore, or rebel against the law? To what extent will it be vigorously enforced (recognizing that violations will not be primary offenses)? It'll be a monitorable metric: California's similar law will go into effect at the same time.

To the extent people are aggravated by the new retriction (favorable feelings by supporters likely being less apparent, since the irritant activity simply won't be much visible), to what extent could it be a political liability for the Democratic legislature and Governor Christine Gregoire, who is expected to sign the bill and then face re-election 11 months after it goes into effect?

A speculation: That may be somewhat out of the hands of the governor and legislature, and relate more to how law enforcement chooses to enforce it, and what sort of news stories develop out of the enforcement. A hard-edged enforcement may feed rebellion.

On the other hand, when a similar law took effect in Connecticut in 2005, police took a light hand at least for a while, and chose carefully their first fined: "a 23-year-old driver after he admitted he was operating his cell phone when he crashed into a utility pole just hours after the law went into effect." Few Connecticut voters probably were upset . . .

Cantwell in profile

Maria Cantwell
Maria Cantwell

During last year's Senate campaign in Washington, the subject of Maria Cantwell as an office executive (in charge of her Senate office) and as a personality arose several times, resulting in an emerging image of a difficult and harsh boss and a wintry personality.

That subject was then raised by several people through individual accounts, leaving little real reporting on the subject. (We recounted these accounts last May.)

That gap has been filed now, somewhat at least, by a more nuanced portrait, "Mellowing Maria," in the Seattle Weekly last month. It has a fair feel because it does try for nuance: Finding truth in the accounts from last year and balancing them with other-angled observations. In all a more complex portrait, as realistic portraits of human beings tend to be.

Place marker, plus

Jim Risch
Jim Risch

Probably not a lot more than what's on the surface should be read into Idaho Lieutenant Governor Jim Risch's remarks to the Idaho Statesman today, that he'd be interested in running for the Senate seat held by Larry Craig, if Craig doesn't.

Craig and Risch aren't especially close, so - for example - this shouldn't be read (as some might) as an indicator Craig isn't planning to run again. Craig's intentions remain unknown.

But a few other thoughts might be worth mention.

In 2005 Risch had in mind a run for governor, and (so we read things now) he might have made that run except that, by the time he was moving toward announcement time, the bulk of money and support had been soaked up by now-Governor Butch Otter. A fine political strategist, Risch doubtless has no intention of erring the same twice.

At the same time, Risch is doing more than expressing interest: "Should [Craig] decide not to run, there is a reasonable likelihood that Vicki and I will get into that race." That's just short of a conditional announcement of candidacy.

It also may suggest that any plans to run for governor in 2010 - certainly Risch enjoyed the job, and got a lot of good reviews, when he held last year - could be fading. And it certainly should quash the around-town talk (which we never took very seriously) of a Risch race against freshman Representative Bill Sali.

Chat is on

Tonight once again, our regular Wednesday chat is on for 6 pm Pacific, 7 pm Mountain, accessible off this page. (Scroll down to the right to the “nickname” box, enter your name, click the button, and you’re in.) It lasts about an hour; feel free to jump in or out any time.

So far we’ve had enjoyable discussions with an eclectic group of people. Greg Smith, a co-founder, should be back on board this evening. Along with, well, who knows who.

Race and schools, II

Discussion over race and schools, and the Seattle School District's formal declaration that racism is institutionalized there, continues on - probably a good thing, since accusations that racism sprouts in every corner (like most broad accusations of the sort) flourish too easily when out of sight.

At Crosscut, Knute Berger's Crosscut column sided with the Seattle Times' Danny Westneat on the point (see our post below on Westneat's take): "The school district does have problems with racism, just like the rest of American society. But it also has a problem with a kind of institutional political correctness that sees racism at the bottom of everything — and this feeds a culture of aggrievement. It's at the point where everything in the schools is seen as racist. Two-tiered learning is racist. The Washington Assessment of Student Learning is racist. Closing schools is racist. Recess is racist. Summer vacation is racist. Even white charity to raise money and help fund enhanced programs is racist. No teacher, parent, or staff member, it seems, is ever accused of having good intentions, such as a simple desire to do the best for children in a flawed world."

Elsewhere, Berger follows up on a news item initially observed by Sound Politics, that the Seattle School District this year is sending high school students to a Colorado conference on "white privilege." The district cites this from the description of the conference: "The annual White Privilege Conference (WPC) serves as a yearly opportunity to examine and explore difficult issues related to white privilege, white supremacy and oppression." Along with the "negative historical implications of 'Whiteness.'"

(Do they have any idea how close in tenor this sounds like a reverse-image come-on to an Aryan Nations get-together?)

Just getting along together - you know, as in citizenship - is sure going to be easier after the kids return from that one.

Making the numbers fit

The Idaho Supreme Court's annual report on court activity over the last year (actually, with a year-end that stopped in 2006) is mostly unremarkable, except for a few numbers we're at some loss to reconcile.

From the report:

A total of 20,992 cases were filed in the district courts of Idaho, an increase of 1.5% from 2005. The total number of district court cases in 2006 indicates a 26% increase in filings from ten years ago. A total of 471,478 cases were filed before magistrate judges in 2006, a 4.1% increase from 2005.

Felony DUI cases increased by 26% over the number filed in 2005. Misdemeanor DUI filings were up 14.7% from the last year. Overall, the number of juvenile cases rose to 13,669, a 5.2% increase from the previous year. Showing a steady decline for the fourth-consecutive year, the number of domestic violence petitions filed in 2006 dropped 8.6% from those filed in 2005.

From 2005 to 2006, district court cases overall increased 1.5% - which seems about right for a single year - but felony DUIs (which would be heard in district court) were up 26%. That's an enormous jump for a single year. But at the same time domestic violence petitions, which so often show up somewhere in the neighborhood of alcohol abuse, were down.

Thoughts on this will be welcome.

By any other name

Does it matter whether Washington or Oregon pass laws allowing, for gay couples, to enter into "marriage" as opposed to "civil unions" as opposed to "domestic partnerships"?

We'll leave the question debatable but note the issue. The Oregon House Rules Committee seemed to think it significant enough to change the original name of the proposed legal took - "civil union" - to "domestic partnership." This to create an institution, whichever it is called, with many of the characteristics of marriage, but which cannot be called that either, since the state's voters amended the constitution in 2004 to bar same-sex marriage.

The issue may be moot in Idaho, where voters banned not only same-sex marriage but also anything resembling it. Washington and Oregon are different stories, as is California, where a more sweeping measure is being debated today. The Washington House may vote on its domestic partnership bill, Senate Bill 5336, today (likely passing it; it passed the Senate 28-19). California's, like Washington's, is called a "domestic partnership" provision.

Both of those states use that phrase as a descriptor. Oregon's bill, House Bill 2007 (odd we've seen no big references to the bill number), started out with "civil union." But the House Committee on Elections, Ethics and Rules changed the terminology to "domestic partnership" before agreeing 5-2 to kick it out to the House floor. The change had the support of one of its key backers, Representative Tina Kotek, D-Portland.

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Trend lines: Governor/Senate

Among the arguments posed for why Oregon Republican Senator Gordon Smith might be vulnerable is the changing political climate in Oregon. If he's genuinely vulnerable - as we think he is, albeit no pushover - then something would have to be different this time around. Some thing major, especially since he doesn't even have a major-party opponent yet.

A number of things are different; here we'll get into one angle of one of them, that being the changing political climate in Oregon.

That change is a large topic we'll return to periodically. For now, let's re-examine one of the markers of change since 2002, when Smith last was elected. And by itself, it suggests not a Smith death-knell but certainly cause for concern. That is the election results in the gubernatorial races in 2002 and 2006.

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