Kitsap Caucus

This L.A. Times story about Los Angeles preparing to ban plastic grocery bags reminded me of something else that reminded me of bag bans.

A couple of weeks ago I made an all-too-infrequent trip to Seattle and went by way of Bainbridge Island. I stopped at a grocery store, not saying which one for fear of the political ramifications, and bought just a couple of items I planned to consume quickly. The bagger asked if I wanted a bag. I considered it, but had forgotten that Bainbridge Island has a plastic bag ban and charges a nickel for the paper ones. I said “No, thanks,” because I didn’t need the bag, but it wasn’t until then that I noticed the bagger reaching for a paper bag. It seemed odd to me that there were no plastic bags around, and then the island’s legal reality dawned on me. It was the first time I had ever been confronted with a bag ban.

The second time was when I went to Seattle that same day. I bought some things, the checker put the items in a paper bag, then mentioned that she had forgotten to charge me for it. There wasn’t a whole lot of concern, because I was spending enough that the store was not going to miss that nickel. This was the Seattle bag ban.

Of course this is how life works. You go months without being confronted with something and then twice in one day it hits you. There is a Sizzler connection there, too. In the almost 11 years I have lived here I don’t recall ever going to Sizzler, but when I lived elsewhere I was kind of a frequent customer. I saw Steve Young in there once with one of the fiancees he had before he found the one he would end up marrying. My brother, with whom I had shared many a previous Sizzler experience, was in town this last week and we decided we’d go. It was Thursday, the day after the restaurant closed.

Neither circumstance — the bag ban or the Sizzler closure — was much of an inconvenience.

Does the bag ban bother you, or would you like to see more cities and counties pass restrictions on their use?

Dunagan posted this video three years ago, but I’m resurrecting it here. It makes a point, but manages to be hilarious in the process. Is there anything more dangerous than a Yorkie?

With the first filings posted Friday several more races became contested.

Bainbridge Island’s Council District 5 is now a three-way race and will be listed in the primary, unless someone withdraws by Monday. Wayne Roth is the latest to file in the Central Ward race, joining John Green and Arlene Buetow.

School district races became contested in droves. In Bremerton Wendy Stevens joined the Position 4 race and will run against Alyson Rotter. On Bainbridge Island incumbent Mike Spence will run against challenger Dale Perry in District 2. In North Kitsap Beth Worthington filed to run against incumbent Ken Ames. And in Central Kitsap Carrie Riplinger is running against Eric Greene.

Online filing ends at 4 p.m. In-person filing ends at 5 p.m.

Based on rumors I’m hearing, we could be in for at least one big surprise by the end of the day. If not, that’s why they call them “rumors.”

Noon update: Kim Punt signed on to run for Port Orchard City Council against Bek Ashby for Position 2. The rest of the new ones are in port or water districts. More to come!

2 p.m.: Dee McComb’s addition to the District 3 South Ward race on Bainbridge Island creates another three-way council race. In Bremerton Leslie Daugs filed to run in District 2. So far she’s unopposed. In District 5 Diedre McKeel filed to run against Dino Davis. Both would be newcomers.

The North Kitsap School District has a three-candidate race. Incumbent Ken Ames and challenger Beth Worthington will be joined by Doug Prichard in the primary race.

3:25 p.m.: South Kitsap took control of the news this last hour. Eric Gonnason signed up to run against incumbent Jerry Childs for the Port Orchard City Council at-large seat. Chris Lemke of the South Kitsap School District’s board will get a challenge from Jeff Lakin. On Bainbridge Island Dick Haugan will run against Val Tollefson for a council seat

The most notably unopposed candidates so far remain the two mayors up for re-election. It all ends at 4 p.m. for online filers. In-person filers get until 5 p.m.

4:35 p.m.: A third candidate in Bremerton’s District 5 council race filed at 4:04 p.m. Keith Ranburger will join Deidre McKeel and Dino Davis in the primary.

We are not quite done. Online filers are, but people can still race to the elections office in Port Orchard and file in person. Unless something happens in the next 20 minutes, the mayors of Bremerton and Poulsbo will remain unopposed.

4:50 p.m.: Something did happen. The long-rumored candidacy of Todd Best turned out to be true. He is running for Bremerton mayor against incumbent Patty Lent.

In Port Orchard Jerry Childs got another opponent, Jeff Braden, who joins Eric Gonnason.

Jan Angel is in. She will run against Democrat Nathan Schlicher, D-Gig Harbor, for the Senate seat he has held since was appointed in January. The race of the year is set. It’s Republican vs. Democrat, perhaps the only one in the state. And of course that presumes no one else signs up to run and manages to spoil the prediction.

The Bremerton City Council District 7 race will feature two incumbents, thanks to the reduction from nine to seven council members. Eric Younger filed and will be running against fellow councilman Nick Wofford.In Poulsbo David Musgrove signed up to run for the Council District 6 spot. Alyson Rotter signed up to run for the Bremerton School Board Seat 4 position.

Noon update: State Sen. Nathan Schlicher, D-Gig Harbor, filed Wednesday in hopes he will be elected to the seat he was appointed to in January. Unless there are wild card candidates who we’ve not heard of, this puts us halfway to officially beginning what Schlicher’s presumed opponent — state Rep. Jan Angel, R-Port Orchard — said in Sunday’s piece was the race of the year.

On Bainbridge Island Robert Bosserman filed to run for a council seat in District Three, the seat held by Kirsten Hytopoulos.

The West Sound Utility District, not something I would necessarily draw attention to here, has an interesting development. Two current commissioners will be running against each other. That is because when the Annapolis and Karcher Creek water districts merged following a November 2007 vote, they kept the commissioners from the agencies until their terms expired. The commissioner positions last six years. Jeannie Screws is the incumbent in District One. Jim Hart’s position is going away, so he will also run in Screws’ district. Kevin Long, who has worked for the district, will also run for the seat.

Afternoon update: Roger Townsend joined the Bainbridge Island City Council race in District 3 and Steve C. Hancock entered his name in the race for North Kitsap School District for Position 1. Both have opponents.

In January it became clear that the November general election would almost certainly be a race between Nathan Schlicher, the appointed Democratic incumbent, against Republican Jan Angel, a member of the House. As I write this neither of them have filed to run, so we are still operating on assumptions.

There have been cases in our recent political past where the gift of an appointment might payed dividends. Would Steve Bauer have had as easy a path to his election to the county commission, and then Rob Gelder had they not been appointed earlier? I doubt it. In those cases incumbency gave them a record and some kind of reputation.

Schlicher certainly benefits from incumbency as opposed to trying to challenge Angel with no official legislative experience. The questions I wanted to pose were how well appointed incumbents have done in the past, and in cases where appointed incumbents failed to be selected, what happened? Sunday’s piece answered those questions. We scheduled the piece for the Sunday before filing began and “Happy Mothers’ Day, everyone!” I looked at legislative historical records available on the Legislature’s website, as well as news archives, to get some context.

Some side issues, interesting on their own but not contributing to the questions asked Sunday, arose in conversations with candidates and others, as well as in the research.

Issue One: Because Schlicher was not elected, can he call himself the “incumbent?” Angel said she doesn’t think so, but the dictionary does not distinguish between whether someone was elected or appointed. In fact, for many people getting the approval of the local party would be harder than getting approved by voters. It is worthwhile to note the distinction, because for many the word “incumbent” implies a past election. President Gerald Ford was the incumbent president in 1976, even though he was elected with a 1-0 vote. That’s an old joke that ignores the fact that Ford was confirmed vice president 92-3 in the U.S. Senate and 387-35 in the House.

Issue Two: If the race is close, which there is sound reason to suspect it could be, so many factors could make the final difference. In fact, in close races it is nearly impossible to credit a win or blame a loss on any one thing. So many unseen things can effect the outcome. “When you lose by 191 votes the flap of a butterfly’s wings can make a difference,” said Randy Gordon, who was the Democrats’ appointed incumbent in the 41st District Senate seat. He lost by 194 votes, according to the state, but let’s not quibble. If he were to pick one ingredient it would be the national anti-incumbent, especially anti-Democratic incumbent, mood across the country. But it could have been any one of his votes in the Legislature, or a particular ad run against him and financed by national PACs, or the money dumped into his opponent’s campaign, or the Democratic Party not putting enough money into his campaign. He said state party officials admitted to him they goofed by not spending more on his race, but how much more would have created a victory? This could be one of those races where in every moment of being awake the candidate and their supporters will not have a moment they can afford to relax.

Issue Three: Both candidates said they will win by telling their stories to win the campaign. Angel added that she will raise money. Since the story ran Angel is reporting more in her campaign chest. On a separate blog a few of you took U.S. Rep. Derek Kilmer, D-Gig Harbor, to task for planning to host a Star Wars-themed fundraiser. I’ll be honest, I was surprised at that reaction. I assumed everyone knew that a big part of a member of Congress’ life is raising money to win the job again in two years. If you haven’t listened to the “This American Life” piece “Take the Money and Run for Office,” I suggest you set aside about an hour to get yourself schooled. That Kilmer is raising funds should not surprise anyone. I’m not saying it’s right, so don’t take me to task for cheerleading the fundraising. I’m not. But I have a difficult time faulting someone who knows he needs to raise funds to win a public office for doing just that. Until finance laws change, that is how it works. Even if finance laws do change, there is no guarantee this kind of election begging would go away. If your problem is that it was a Star Wars theme, maybe it’s worth asking what the harm is in having fun with an otherwise ugly task. If I was hosting fundraisers, you can bet one would be a Batman theme. And not the newer cool Batman, but the Adam West version. Then, every time more money came in I could flash signs that said, “Kapow!” or “Zowie!”

Day one filing information can be found here.

Midday day two filings of note include Arlene Buetow running against John Green on Bainbridge Island.

In Bremerton Roy Runyon wants back on the city council and will challenge Faye Flemister in District Six. Mike Sullivan will challenge Cynthia Triplette Galloway in District One, while District Three is a three-way race as of today. Mike Strube and Jerry McDonald will challenge Adam Brockus.

In Port Orchard Fred Chang filed to run for re-election to his council seat.

In Poulsbo Melody Sky Eisler is challenging Jim Henry for a spot on the council.

All three CK School Board incumbents are running. On Bainbridge Island Mev Hoburg is running for her school board seat and Sheila Jakubik is running for the spot held by Mary Curtis.

Remember how we had to elect a member of Congress to serve in the First Congressional District for one month following Jay Inslee’s resignation? Same goes in Bremerton, it seems.

Despite the fact that the Bremerton City Council named an interim council member, Wendy Priest, following the resignation of Roy Runyon, county elections officials say there has to be someone elected to fill the remainder of the term. That election will be in November and the new person would serve from the day the election is certified, late November, until the day a new council is sworn in, early January.

Again, what makes this necessary is redistricting. The council boundaries will change beginning in January. In fact, they’ll go from nine council seats to seven.

Filing for races across the state and in the county has begun. To the right appears to be the first filing in the state, an 8 a.m. entry by Republican Bill Brunson of Legislative Distirct 7. As we pointed out in the story about the legislative race in the 26th District, odd-year elections are typically reserved for local races, such as city councils and port and utility commissioners.

This year, though, voters in the 26th Legislative District will get to participate in a high profile race. I plan to add more to the blog later about the nature of that race and why it’s high profile, as well as diving further into some side issues.

The county will update county filings beginning at noon. Candidates can file online now, but Dolores Gilmore, county elections manager, said there is still a need to verify a candidate’s eligibility before the filing is posted online.

10 a.m. update: Bremerton Mayor Patty Lent and Bremerton City Councilmen Adam Brockus and Greg Wheeler were among the first to file for re-election this week. Also running for Bremerton City Council, the first to file in District 5, is Dino Davis. In Port Orchard incumbent Jerry Childs filed, and Bek Ashby filed to run for Position 2. In Poulsbo Ed Stern is running for re-election. Ken Ames will run to retain his North Kitsap School Board seat, and in Central Kitsap Victoria Crescenzi filed to run for the seat she sought appointment to. In the South Kitsap School District Rebecca Diehl will run for the District 4 seat held by Kathryn Simpson. Larry Stokes is running to hold on to his Port of Bremerton seat. Fire districts and other port districts also have candidates.

Noon update: Becky Erickson is running for re-election as mayor in Poulsbo. Faye Flemister and Nick Wofford have filed to run to hold onto Bremerton City Council seats. Val Tollefson wants Bob Scales’ Bainbridge Island council seat. Jeanie Schulze will be running to keep the seat she was just appointed to, facing off against at least Victoria Crescenzi.

2 p.m. update: John Green is running for Debbi Lester’s seat on the Bainbridge Island City Council. In Bremerton Cynthia Triplett Galloway wants the First District seat. Robert B. Putaansuu seeks re-election to his Port Orchard City Council seat. So does Christopher J. Lemke for his South Kitsap School Board seat. In Manchester Steve Pedersen and James E. Strode both have seats on the Port of Manchester and the Manchester Water District seats. Pedersen, so far, has only signed up for the port board and Strode has only signed to run for the water district. I believe the next update will be the last one of the day.

5:30 p.m. Jerry McDonald joined the race for the Bremerton City Council seat Adam Brockus wants. Jerry Childs seeks re-election to the Port Orchard City Council. So does Jim Henry in Poulsbo. In the North Kitsap School District Cindy Webster-Martinson will run for the seat currently held by Tom Anderson. Bruce Richards is running for re-election for his Central Kitsap School Board seat.

More tomorrow.

According to the first-quarter 2013 Federal Elections Commission, U.S. Rep. Derek Kilmer, D-Gig Harbor, has more than $400,000 on hand in preparation for the 2014 election. It’s a nice beginning sum, given that his first election to Congress had an astronomical (for races here) price tag of $1.7 million. He is almost a quarter of the way to that lofty outpost.

Kilmer is not one to rely on mere earthly pursuits in gearing up for the next contest in 2014. I won’t be the first or the last to pull out a lousy pun by saying Kilmer is going galactic for one of his next fundraisers.

Dave Levinthal from the website publicintegrity.org reports Kilmer will be the beneficiary of sci-fi largesse at a Star Wars-themed fundraiser on May 22 in Washington, D.C. From the story:

“The merged fundraiser will culminate May 22 in a ‘galactic trivia battle,’ with tickets starting at $50 and climbing skyward to $1,000 for political action committees and full trivia teams, according to an invitation. The National Cable and Telecommunications Association’s Washington, D.C., headquarters will play host.”

Kilmer is, apparently, quite the Star Wars fan. The party is no Taylor Swift concert, but some might argue it’s better. I mean who can resist the allure of a member of Congress correcting you on how many systems would love to kill Dr. Evazan, or trying to remind you who Dr. Evazan is.

For those of you wondering about the headline, the stuff in quotes is from a Star Wars movie. Which one, I couldn’t tell you. I’d fail miserably in a galactic trivia battle. I’m not the nerd you’re looking for.

I remember seeing “We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone” signs in businesses, particularly restaurants. That sign might still be in place in some places, but I don’t see how it can be considered categorically true.

If you follow the news, and if you stumbled upon this site I’m pretty sure you do, you know about Arlene’s Flowers of Richland being sued by the Washington Attorney General and the ACLU for refusing to provide flowers for a wedding involving a gay couple.

What follows is selected language from a bill introduced by legislators wanting to codify the business owner’s right to refuse service for religious reasons. After that is the press release announcing the bill and the responses that followed. If you are torn on the question, see if anything you read here pushes you one way or the other.

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Tom Huff, former state legislator in the 26th District, died Sunday. He was 80.

The Gig Harbor Republican ran for the Legislature in 1994 to fill the seat left vacant by Wes Pruitt, a Democrat. “People deserve quality services from government at a reasonable tax rate, but what we’ve gotten is unreasonable taxes with poor service. That’s a disaster,” Huff said at the time.

Huff helped found the Washington Retail Association and was an executive with Sears for 35 years before retiring in 1992. He was known for being direct. “If a private business like Sears were as wasteful as state government, Weatherbeater Paint would be a hundred dollars a gallon and Diehard batteries would cost more per ounce than gold,” Huff said.

Huff beat fellow Gig Harbor Republican Dennis Johnson in the primary and in the general election netted 61 percent of the vote in defeating Democrat Mary Ann Huntington, who later became a Port of Bremerton commissioner of some renown.

The three-term representative was a fiscal conservative who rose to the chairmanship of the House Appropriations Committee in his first term.

In 1999 he had surgery for prostate cancer, which he said had a sobering effect on him. “I think it’s just another indication your life is valuable … and life doesn’t last that long overall,” he said. “There’s only so many years to do things I want to do.”

In 2011 Huff was part of the state’s redistricting committee, accepting a request from House Minority Leader Richard DeBolt.

He and his wife, Mary Ann, had four children and nine grandchildren.

The Olympian has more on Huff’s life.

In preparing Friday’s story on local brewers’ reaction to a proposed beer tax I created a video. Technical difficulties (i.e. operator error) prevented me from getting the video up sooner. I still think it’s worthwhile, especially posted alongside Gov. Jay Inslee’s comments on the issue. So first, here’s Inslee discussing the tax during his March 28 press conference on the budget. That’s followed by the views of Valholl Brewing’s Jeff Holcomb, part owner and head brewer at the Poulsbo business.

The third video is more Inslee specifically addressing the tax.
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Note from Steven Gardner: I was working the day we found out Booth Gardner had died. Later that day Annette Griffus, one of our sports reporters, told me about how he had treated her family. I asked her to write something for our blog. I think you’ll be glad she agreed.

Annette Griffus writes:

I knew Booth Gardner wasn’t doing well physically in his battle with Parkinson’s disease the last year or so, but when the word came that the former Democratic senator and governor died March 16 in Tacoma, it saddened me nonetheless.

I knew Booth when I was a teenager growing up in Spokane.

My mom was the administrative assistant to the secretary of the Labor Council with the AFL-CIO in Spokane.

When Pierce County Executive and former state Sen. Gardner was gearing up for his first campaign run for the governorship, he met my mother and the two formed a sister-brother type friendship.

I have two distinct memories of Booth.

The first was, I believe, when he was in Spokane after his election in 1985. I was 14 years old and Mm and I went to the Ridpath Hotel to see him.

While waiting, a woman kept talking to us and telling us how she knew the governor.

Mom and I didn’t say anything.

When Booth came out to the assembled crowd, we waited until he saw us.

He greeted us joyfully, giving me a hug, and with his arm around my shoulder turned to the same woman and said, “Have you met my daughter?”

Needless to say she was dumbfounded.

That was how Booth introduced me, as well as my sister.

We were his adopted “kids.”

The other clear memory I have is during a family vacation to Olympia. We had friends who lived in Tumwater and one day mom, my sister and I went to the capitol building to see Booth.

We didn’t have an appointment and when his secretaries (He had four!) asked Mom who she was, she said to tell him his sister was here.

Booth came out of the office and greeted us all with a big smile and hugs all around. He led us back into his office and we talked. I’m not sure what it was, but it was thrilling for a 15-16 year old to have the governor of the state treat us like family.

That was the day that he took the three of us on a tour of the capitol building, introducing my sister and I as his daughters and mom as his sister It sounds weird, I know, but it was really sweet.

He also made my sister and I honorary Washington State Legislative pages that day. I still have my page badge.

I also remember before we said “Goodbye” in his office, he told me that I couldn’t date unless I got his permission.

I never did.

Even though Booth and I would almost certainly disagree on politics now, the memories I have of him had little to do with politics and everything to do with a nice man who treated my family with respect.

I’ll always be grateful for that.

Jordan Schrader at the (Tacoma) News Tribune gives both sides of the story in the gamesmanship question about the 26th District.

“There are games being played. I can’t say there isn’t,” Port Orchard Republican Angel said. Her rival, Gig Harbor Democrat Schlicher, similarly decried “stupid games” and concluded in frustration: “This is why people hate government.”

Recall that this is the district in which the appointed incumbent state Sen. Nathan Schlicher, D-Gig Harbor, is likely to face off against state Rep. Jan Angel, R-Port Orchard, to finish the last year of the term former state Sen. Derek Kilmer was elected to.

We addressed both sides of the issue when it comes to state Schlicher when we posted The Politics of Diabetes, because we did ask why he was the sponsor of the diabetes bill in the first place when it was sponsored by another legislator a year ago.

But then we posted about Schlicher’s Narrows Bridge toll bill getting killed by a floor vote to not have a floor vote. (Confusing. It just means they voted to not vote on the bill.) The bill had overwhelming support out of committee, but the majority coalition blocked it from the floor. What we didn’t know at the time was that Democrats got the question to the floor while Republican Sen. Janea Holmquist Newbry was off floor feeding her baby. She came back to the floor to cast the coalition’s 25th vote against the bill.

After that incident I emailed Port Orchard state Rep. Jan Angel’s press rep the following:

We’ve paid some attention to how bills sponsored by state Sen. Nathan Schlicher have seemed to meet political reality. In one case he sponsored a bill that had Republican cosponsors, including from the committee. But at the last minute was pulled from committee executive session schedule. When another senator essentially forced a vote it went down on party lines. Yesterday another bill he sponsored was refused a floor vote by the Senate Majority Coalition after it had sailed through committee.

A cynic would suspect politics are at play.

A cynic would also assume that the same kind of politickacracy has been dumped on Jan Angel. I was hoping you might suggest some examples that come easily to mind.

Angel returned the request and left a voicemail message.

Angel said in her first session she had four good bills introduced, but only one passed. In the second session she introduced six bills and only one passed. She’s had three pass this year.

“This isn’t at all unusual for a freshman in their first session and for me in my second session and the fact that when you’re in the minority party, it’s difficult,” she said.

Angel said she got a bill out of committee unanimously, but it got killed on the floor, similar to what happened with Schlicher’s bridge toll bill.

“Have I had those things happen this session? You bet I have,” she said.

Angel has had three bills pass this session.

As Schrader writes in his story, proof that politics are at play is elusive. Leaders from both majorities deny it.

In an earlier story by John Stang of Crosscut about the bridge toll vote, there was a comment from Rodney Tom, a Democrat who leads the majority coalition, about Schlicher getting his one vote. “It is a Senate tradition that every senator — even those in the minority — gets one bill passed,” Stang wrote.

Schrader wrote that six senators, including Schlicher, have had just one bill pass. Not on that list are Republicans Sharon Brown or John Smith. Like Schlicher, they are appointed incumbents. Unlike Schlicher, both of them have five bills passed this session.

In Tacoma a contract between a cable company and a network has opened a public records dispute.

The (Tacoma) News Tribune wants to see the contract between Fisher Communications and Click Cable, which delivers cable service in the Tacoma area.

Since Click is owned by the city, the News Tribune and the Tacoma city attorney argue that the contract with Fisher and other broadcasters is public. Four broadcasters are suing to block a News Tribune public record request to see the contract between Fisher and Click, saying the revelation would harm the broadcasters’ negotiation position nationwide.

This all stems from a dispute that for a while had Click customers unable to watch Fisher content, including KOMO. You should read the TNT piece I linked above to get the details about this particular dispute. Suffice to say that I can’t think of any other city contract that escapes the sunshine of the state’s public records law. And I know that when I did a story recently on a labor dispute related to Bremerton’s Burwell parking garage, contracts and subcontracts would have been available to me.

I’ve made a request from an expert as to what I could expect if I were to make this kind of document request to a private cable company. I’ll update when I have more info.

Nathan Schlicher’s bill to hold down Tacoma Narrows Bridge tolls had sailed through the Senate with nearly unanimous support, until Tuesday afternoon. By a 25-24 party-line vote, SB 5592 was prevented from reaching the floor for a full Senate vote. It died Wednesday, the last day to consider bills in their house of origin.
The bill would have dictated that bridge management costs account for no more than 2 percent of all expenditures, not including adjudication, toll operator contracts or insurance. Currently, they’re at about 4 percent, Schlicher says. The department, however, says the cost of administration has declined every year.
The bill was passed out of the Transportation and Rules committees with near-unanimous votes, and had been waiting to be placed on the floor calendar. On Tuesday, it was denied. Members of the Majority Coalition who supported the bill earlier changed their votes.
“I have to ask what the Republican majority has against a bill that would limit administrative costs on the Tacoma Narrows and help keep tolls low for our citizens,” said Schlicher, D-Gig Harbor.
Majority Floor Leader Joe Fain didn’t comment on the bill’s merits, and said Tuesday there’s a day and a half remaining to consider it.
“If he’s a man of his word, it goes to the ‘Order of Consideration’ today,” Schlicher said.
Schlicher approached Senate leadership Tuesday to ask if there was gamesmanship going on, but they walked away, he said.
“I think the implication is there,” said Schicher, who was appointed to Derek Kilmer’s post and will run in an election for it in November.
Lean management is setting a goal and letting the experts in the agencies work toward it, not trying to make the cuts for them, Schlicher said.
“Unfortunately, this is one area where the don’t think we need lean management, and I don’t get that,” he said.
The bridge toll is expected to be increased 25 cents on July 1.

 

Port of Bremerton Commissioner Roger Zabinski reportedly has concerns about how the port is portrayed in the press. Apparently he rode the Bremerton-to-Seattle ferry run Friday morning. As it turns out, so did Seattle Weekly reporter editor Chris Kornelis. They were near each other, one row away. Zabinski got on the phone and didn’t mute his conversation. Kornelis posted on Twitter what he heard. Here are Kornelis’ Tweets.

8:51 OK, I’m on the Bremerton ferry, and the guy behind me is talking about this story in the CK Reporter http://www.centralkitsapreporter.com/news/196140241.html …

8:51 The story is about the Port of Bremerton, and the guy is chewing someone out because he doesn’t like how the Port is portrayed

8:52 He’s telling the person — it could be the Port CEO — that he needs to be careful about what he says to reporters

8:52 The irony is that he’s saying this IN PUBLIC on a CELL PHONE while a reporter is listening.

8:53 I’m not even eves dropping. He’s just talking about commission business loudly

8:54 “there’s no question that people cannot say that we’re not working as a team … we’re just taking the high road.”

8:54 “all these reporters are talking to one another …” and I just heard the name @davnelson

8:55 “you dont’ hear them picking on all the other …” didn’t hear the rest

8:55 “We own both the Bremerton and Port Orchard Marina …”

9:06 Bremerton Port Commissioner Roger Zabinski is sitting behind me on the ferry, on his cell scolding someone about how to talk to the press

It appears there was a break in the action, after which Zabinski got on the phone again. This time it appears to have been with a reporter. Here are the remainder of Kornelis’ Tweets.

9:37 OH, damn! He’s at it again” I wanted to give you some information on background if possible. You don’t have to reference me.”

9:38 “I know you’ve been a reporter for a while. You’ve gotta be careful if you make it look like you’re taking sides … Anyway.”

9:38 OK, so, seriously, now the commission is scolding a reporter on how to not appear to take sides. This is too much.

9:38 Sorry, commissioner … scolding the reporter, on his cell phone, while sitting behind me on the ferry

9:39 He’s talking about “cronyism”

9:49 Ok, lost the rest of the chat while we were disembarking and the commissioner took the call into the bathroom

Chris Kornelis’ Tweets can be read on at his Twitter handle @chriskornelis.

5:15 p.m. UPDATE Roger Zabinski called. He said his conversation with Thomson was one in which he reiterated his belief that the port needed a business plan, and that he did disagree with how some of Thomson’s comments came off in the CK Reporter piece. He also said he wasn’t trying to tell the reporter how to do her job.

Zabinski was curious about the ethics of reporting a one-sided conversation that was overheard.

If you’re a public official conducting official business in a public place, the public might be interested to hear about that. I say “might,” because it will depend on the issue. In fact, the issue is more important than the person, but the fact that you’re someone elected to handle that issue just makes it all the more interesting to the public. In this case it certainly would be interesting to our readers, because it was about an issue that had already been reported, albeit in another publication. In fact, the conversations were about that story.

Zabinski makes the case that he’s not on the level of a state legislator, that he is essentially a volunteer, that he can’t conduct port business while doing his day job, so he has the right to conduct that business on the ferry. He also said he wasn’t yelling. All that is probably true. The fact is, though, he was discussing public business that the public might have some interest in and he was doing it loud enough that Kornelis did not have to strain to hear what Zabinski was saying.

From our perspective it was a no-brainer to publish it here. Once it’s out in the Twitterverse it has already been reported. Secondly, it came from a source we have high trust in. Chris Kornelis not only works for Seattle Weekly, he used to work for the Kitsap Sun. He knows how to report. We trusted the accuracy of what he was Tweeting.

While the sequestration drama has again revealed partisan gamesmanship, legislators in Olympia have every bit the skill of operating with suspected “politics first” motives.

One case involves an issue that doesn’t pack the punch of a 20 percent pay cut. It could potentially touch 11.6 million, the number (PDF) of Americans the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates has diabetes.

State Sen. Nathan Schlicher, D-Gig Harbor, was the chief sponsor of a bill, SB 5423, that would have three state agencies dealing with diabetes coordinate their efforts to report every two years to the governor how much diabetes is costing state agencies, the effectiveness of existing diabetes programs, a report of agency cooperation and ideas for legislative action to help with costs.

The bill had bipartisan support and was cosponsored by three other members of the Senate Health Care Committee, including Republican Chairwoman Randi Becker, R-Eatonville, and Sen. Barbara Bailey, R-Oak Harbor.

On Feb. 19 the bill had a hearing in front of the committee. Steward Perry, a Kentuckian volunteer with the American Diabetes Association, was there to discuss the impact of a similar bill in his state. He didn’t point to tangible changes, saying the first report had just been given to Kentucky’s Legislature.

The night before the Feb. 21 executive session, where members would have voted whether to send the bill to the Rules Committee, the bill was still on the agenda. By the time the meeting started it was gone. John Stang, writing for Crosscut, said Becker told him the agenda was crowded and some bill had to be removed. Schlicher noted later that the committee ended a half hour early.

And in the committee there was more than a crowded agenda as reasons given to kill the bill. The diabetes legislation got a full conversation, thanks to the bill’s sponsor a year ago, state Sen. Karen Keiser, D-Kent. Keiser made a rapid motion to send the bill to Rules with a “do pass” recommendation and was quickly seconded. That’s when the fun began.

RANDI BECKER
We will go to recess
KAREN KEISER
Madame Chair?
RANDI BECKER
We will go to recess.
KAREN KEISER
I do not, I do not, I object. We cannot go to recess when a motion is on the table.
RANDI BECKER
We’re going to recess. (pause) We’re going to recess.

The committee was away for awhile, then the TVW recording returns in the middle of a dispute over whether they were voting or going to have a roll call vote. Becker asked for those in favor and those not and the “Nays” were a committed bunch, much louder than the “Ayes.”

Becker then said the committee was adjourned, to which Keiser said adjourning is not appropriate. Becker said it was and then adjourned the committee for 26 seconds, coming back saying there is a disagreement over procedure.

Keiser and Schlicher both urged passage of the bill.

Bruce Dammeier, R-Puyallup, said he appreciated the sentiment around the bills’ impact on patients, but that at its heart it was a bill about state agency cooperation. “I believe that we owe our new governor a chance to have his agencies act on this,” he said. “The governor has talked a lot about lean management and about breaking down silos, I think that’s exactly what this bill purports to do, but I don’t think it is necessary to do it statutorily.”

Becker then said the bill was discussed a lot the night before “when we broke for caucus.”

For those not familiar with the Legislature, breaking for caucus means each party steps away from the floor to meet among themselves and discuss legislation and strategy. Typically that means Democrats meet among Democrats and Republicans meet among Republicans. In the state Senate it’s Democrats and the Majority Coalition, made up of Republicans and Democrats Tim Sheldon and Rodney Tom. Becker reiterated Dammeier’s point about agency silos and said passing legislation might actually put unnecessary restraints on the agencies.

Going to caucus, though, gets to Stang’s suspicions.

“Schlicher — who was appointed to his seat — faces his first election in November against Rep Jan Angel, R-Port Orchard. The rookie Schlicher has a sparse record of passed bills compared to the veteran Angel. Becker denied that the bill was killed for reasons related to the upcoming Schlicher-Angel race.“

That Schlicher was the sponsor of the bill could be interpreted as politics, too. Keiser sponsored it last year. Her bill would have established a public-private partnership to do much the same as Schlicher’s bill, and it would have expired in 2014. The bill made it out of the Senate Committee on Health & Long-Term Care and died in Ways & Means. Keiser said this year in committee that the problems that stalled last year’s bill were worked out.

Schlicher said the thought behind having him be the sponsor this year was to have a physician run some of the hurdles for what had been a non-controversial health care bill until Feb. 21. He cited his support for a Becker bill, ESB 5305, which requires hospitals to report when a patient is being treated for a stab or gunshot wound, whether the patient is conscious or not. Existing law only required the reporting when patients were unconscious. Schlicher said Democrats traditionally did not favor that requirement, but his status as a doctor helped persuade his caucus otherwise. The bill passed the Senate 49-0.

There is no proof or testimony yet that the diabetes bill was killed for political reasons. A House version of the bill, HB 1795, passed out of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Health & Human Services in an 8-1 vote the day after it died in the Senate. The House bill is in Rules on that side of the capitol, but it would need to go through the Senate again.

And Schlicher said the governor’s office has expressed support for the idea, so it may get the treatment Republicans in the state Senate are calling for.

(Post by reporter Chris Henry)

Today I wrote a story on a bill inspired by the Port of Manchester. The bill would require port-related measures to appear only on general election ballots, when election costs are lower. If you remember, the port incurred significant cost when a measure to reduce port commissioner terms from six to four years, submitted by petition, appeared on the April 2012 special election ballot. Manchester resident Dave Kimble, who collected petition signatures, had planned for the measure to run at the general election, but confusion over filing dates triggered the special election and the extra cost.

Kimble, as most in Manchester know, is a zealous port watcher. Although Kimble has run for port commissioner five times, he has never won. Nonetheless, or perhaps because of this, he takes an avid interest in port activities. Most recently, Kimble reported an alleged violation of shoreline construction rules to the state Department of Fish & Wildlife.

Kimble in December complained that the port had ceased to post minutes on its website. Port Contract Administrator Dennis O’Connell and I discussed the change in early February, when I called to ask for the agenda of an upcoming port meeting. O’Connell said that the port’s website had been maintained by a volunteer, who was hired elsewhere and is no longer available.

The port has no regular staff. O’Connell, who is manager of Manchester Water District, is contracted by the port to oversee grants and projects. Providing timely maintenance of the website without the volunteer is not realistic, O’Connell said.

Hard copy minutes from the previous meeting are available at each port meeting, at the Manchester Library and at the offices of the port contractor and port attorney. An email copy can be obtained by filing a public records request, which can be done by email.

The port commission voted in December to cease posting minutes online as of January 1. In their pre-vote discussion, commissioners cited “expense” and also noted that minutes are already available elsewhere.

Covering Manchester from the Kitsap Sun’s Bremerton office, I have found it convenient to check port minutes on the website. Now, I have to take the extra step of making a written records request. I’m fine with that. I just have to wonder which is more work for the port, posting the minutes on a website, or responding to individual requests.

There is no legal requirement that ports post minutes on their websites. Most ports — certainly the large ones and many of the small ones as well — maintain websites and post minutes. But a number — especially the smaller districts — do not, said Eric Johnson, executive director of the Washington Public Ports Association. There are 75 ports in the state ranging in size from the Port of Seattle, which is largest, to tiny ports with no staff or facilities.

A bill in last year’s legislative session aimed to promote dissemination of public information online, but it didn’t survive, Johnson said.

“The purpose of the bill was essentially to get more information on local government websites,” Johnson said. “There’s a lot of little tiny jurisdictions. Some of them don’t have a website, believe it or not.”

That the ports association supports transparency of government was clear to me from my conversation with Johnson. On the flip side, the association supports proposed legislation that would protect government entities from individuals and groups that misuse the right to access public records.

The WPPA is part of a coalition of local governments that have in recent years advocated for “tools that will help limit the level of resources committed to meeting demands from serial requesters.”

Serial requesters deluge government agencies with records requests with the apparent intent to overwhelm agency resources and push government officials into noncompliance. One bill now under consideration in the House Rules Committee, HB 1128, takes a stab at curbing frivolous and or malicious records requests. The bill would allow local agencies to request a court to enjoin a public records request and allow the agency to adopt policies limiting the hours it devotes to records requests.

For advocates of sunshine laws, discussion of such bills could be seen as the first step down a slippery slope. On the flip side, no reasonable person wants to see taxpayer’s money intentionally squandered. The line between watchdog and gadfly is a thin one.

Brynn writes:

In January I wrote about Mary Jones, the Central Kitsap woman who has cared for some of the state’s most medically fragile babies while they were placed in state custody. (Read that story here).

Jones started fostering 31 years ago, but in December she terminated her foster care license with the state because she’d finally had enough with the state’s Department of Social and Health Services.

It takes a lot to get Jones that upset — this is a woman who has the patience of a saint — but after an infant in her care was not tested for HIV, even though the child’s mother gave permission, Jones had had enough. She was told by DSHS officials that a court order was needed to test the child, but it took close to six months for that order to be issued. Testing the infant as soon as possible would have been in the baby’s best interest, because if the infant tested positive it would have been given necessary antiviral medication to potentially keep the disease away.

It wasn’t until Jones terminated her license and the baby was moved to a different foster family that Jones received a call from the baby’s caseworker saying the court order had been issued. But even then if the infant tested positive for HIV, the state wouldn’t tell Jones the results because she longer was caring for the child — even though she’d cared for the baby for three months, potentially exposing herself to the disease.

This isn’t the first time Jones has run up against DSHS about its lack of policy on whether to test infants at birth for HIV. She has tried since 2004 to get legislation passed that would test infants for HIV if the status of the mother is unknown, and if the mother is at high risk for the disease (i.e. an intravenous drug user). Many pregnant women whose children enter state custody after birth receive prenatal care, so the percentage of women whose HIV status is unknown at the time of delivery is low. But it’s the babies born to women who are intravenous drug users, or who don’t receive any medical attention during pregnancy, and who don’t know if they’re HIV positive, that the bill aims to reach.

Working with Sen. Christine Rolfes, D-Bainbridge Island, Jones hopes to see legislation passed this year that would update state law to require the test in infants whose status is unknown.

The bill, SB 5454, made it out of the Senate Human Services and Corrections Committee and after a detour through the Senate Ways and Means committee (an inaccurate fiscal note was attached to the bill, which is how it ended up there) the bill is now waiting on the rules committee to be brought to the floor for a vote.

This is the first time this legislation has made it out of committee. Rolfes is optimistic the bill will pass once on the floor, but she’s also pragmatic and knows it faces an uphill battle.

“The challenge is right now we have hundreds of bills waiting to get to the floor for a vote,” Rolfes said Wednesday. “We have another week or so to get the bills out and the Senate moves very slowly. Whether I can get it to the floor is the big ‘if.’”

Jones has been holding her breath, waiting to see if the bill finally passes. Seeing this legislation approved might help heal Jones’ wounds — the 63-year-old planned to retire this spring when her license ran out; terminating her license early was an act of desperation. While she knows she did the right thing, there’s still a part of her that is upset she didn’t get to retire the way she wanted.

Even though she’s no longer caring for the medically fragile babies, she’s still fighting for them in Olympia.

“When I go down there to testify I am always just focused on who I am there for, which is always my babies,” she said earlier this month.

If the bill doesn’t make it to the floor this session, Rolfes isn’t discouraged, in fact she’s optimistic that it will be even easier to get it passed during the next session.

“A lot times when the bills get this far you can get them out the next year,” she said. “Where we are right now is strategically a good spot. We’ll know in another couple of weeks if it’s still alive. It’s certainly my priority.”

Here’s some excerpts from SB 5454, which updates RCW 13.34.315:

When an infant under one year of age is placed in out-of-home care under this chapter, the department or other supervising agency shall request that the infant’s treating physician test the infant for human immunodeficiency virus, if the human immunodeficiency virus status of the mother of the infant:

(i) Is known to be positive; or

(ii) Is unknown and the department has specific information indicating that the mother is at increased risk of human immunodeficiency virus infection, including, but not limited to, a history of drug abuse.

The bill goes on to indicate the supervising agency must then follow a treating physician’s recommendation for follow-up testing and care for infants that test positive. It also says the child’s parent must be asked for consent. If they object for any reason, including conflicts with religious beliefs, a court order is required to perform the test.

Click here to see the TVW footage of the Feb. 12 Senate Human Services and Corrections Committee hearing on SB 5454.

Click here for a history of SB 5454, which includes links to a pdf of the original bill.

Josh Farley writes:

It’s February, and you know what that means: the beginning of political campaign season.

OK, maybe that’s not the first thing on your mind. February’s supposed to be about groundhogs and hearts, while voting’s more more akin to pumpkins and the Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria. But those running are already plotting their courses to November. And while the fireworks of 2012 included a presidential and gubernatorial election and our state’s historic legalization of marijuana, 2013 will have some firepower of its own — at least at the local level.

In Bremerton, the city council will be reduced in size, from nine to seven, thanks to a staunchly voter-approved measure a few years back. Increasing the population of each district could make the races more competitive, in a city where it’s not uncommon to see council members run unopposed.

Greg Wheeler, first-term councilman currently representing district 5 (an area that includes a chunk of West Bremerton near Evergreen Park and a portion of East Bremerton near East Park) called me Monday to say he’s throwing his hat in the ring for what will be the new council district 4. That new district will encompass a big portion of West Bremerton, from the Port Washington Narrows to the Shipyard north to south and from Warren Avenue to about Hewitt Avenue east to west.

I asked Kitsap Sun political guru Steven Gardner if he’d heard of anyone yet filing with the state’s Public Disclosure Commission (candidates have to wait until May to file in the county officially) and he took a look at the PDC’s web site. Wheeler’s not there yet, but Adam Brockus, city councilman representing Manette, is — and he appears to be the first from Kitsap’s local governments to file.

Brockus, in seeking a third term on the council, is running for a district 3 seat that will expand to encompass downtown Bremerton as well as its existing Manette territory.

We’ll keep you posted as filings come in. I should also mention that aside from all council members being up, the terms of Bremerton Mayor Patty Lent and Municipal Court Judge James Docter are coming to an end this year. Before you know it, the campaign signs will be up.