Newly-anointed state Senator Christine Rolfes was named to Senate education, environment and transportation committees this week.
Rolfes, who is taking over the Senate seat vacated by fellow Bainbridge Islander Phil Rockefeller, said the committees are a good match with the work she did in the state House of Representatives.
For more information, read the press release below.
Head over here to read my Sunday story about Sage, an iconic fly fishing rod manufacturer that was founded on Bainbridge 30 years ago.
Sage is a bit of a rarity on Bainbridge. It’s a company that makes things – real things that you can actually hold in your hands.
And despite the challenges of manufacturing on Bainbridge (let alone the United States), Sage says it’s staying put. Sage may, in time, move its distribution wing, but the hands-on work of making high-end rods will remain on Day Road.
Even if that happens, Sage will probably remain the island’s largest private employer. Sage has 180 people working for it; the runner-up, Messenger House, has just under 100.
Gay marriage
Bainbridge Rep. Christine Rolfes and other Kitsap legislators are
throwing their support behind a
gay marriage bill. It appears to be gaining momentum in
Olympia.
Lock your doors
Several
unlocked homes were burglarized in the Commodore neighborhood
this week. Police are urging islanders to lock their homes at night
and when they are not at home.
Ah, Bainbridge
The romance of Bainbridge Island was mentioned in an
MSN article about love-inspiring destinations.
BPA minds its manners
Kitsap Sun arts reporter Michael C. Moore has a story on Bainbridge
Performing Arts’ ‘Philadelphia Story.’
“…there is much to be taken from Barry’s comedy of manners — make that a mannered comedy, if you will — including witty dialogue, classic screwball plot machinations and a pointed observation or three about the social upper-crust: mainly, why we less crusty folk are so enamored of it,” Moore writes.
Read more here.
The two Bainbridge school levy measures were passing by healthy margins on Tuesday night.
Early returns showed the technology levy passing with 54.65 percent of the vote, and the operations levy lid lift passing with 60.64 percent.
Bainbridge’s Jay Inslee appears headed for another term in Congress. He was besting his Republican challenger, James Watkins, with 56 percent of the vote.
Rep. Christine Rolfes was beating fellow islander James Olsen to retain her state House seat. She had 55 percent to Olsen’s 44.8 percent.
Longtime Bainbridge attorney was in a tight battle with Supreme Court Justice Richard Sanders on Tuesday night. Wiggins had 49.15 percent, Sanders had 50.85 percent.
See more Kitsap Sun election coverage HERE.
Read my story about the school measures below.
Islanders Jay Inslee and Christine Rolfes took early leads as the first batch of primary election results were released last night.
Inslee, who is seeking his seventh term in Congress, had 56.8 percent of the vote, according to early returns. Of his three challengers, Republican James Watkins had the strongest support, with 26.1 percent.
Inslee’s support in Kitsap was actually slightly lower than in the rest of his district, which includes Redmond, Kirkland, Edmonds and Shoreline. The Kitsap portion of his district (Bainbridge, North Kitsap, Silverdale) gave Inslee 53.6 percent of the vote. Kitsapers also cast slightly more ballots in favor of Inslee challenger Matthew Burke than the rest of the district, and gave just a little less support to Watkins.
Rolfes, a former Bainbridge city councilwoman who now represents the 23rd Legislative District in the state House, drew 56.6 percent of the early return votes. Republican challenger and fellow islander James Olsen had 32.8 percent. A second Republican candidate, Aaron Winters, drew 10.3 percent.
For more coverage of the primary, head over to the Sun’s main page, HERE.
The Kitsap Sun has endorsed
Rep.
Christine Rolfes, a Bainbridge Island resident, for re-election
to the state House seat she’s held for almost four years.
Here’s what the Sun had to say about Rolfes and her Republican challengers, James Olsen of Bainbridge and Aaron Winters of Poulsbo:
“Rolfes clearly offers a more reasonable and thoughtful approach to the state’s problems than her challengers, and has been an advocate in maintaining a freeze on ferry fares during her term. Even one vote we take issue with — her endorsement in suspending I-960 last session — still remained in tune with the sentiment of her constituents, who overwhelmingly had opposed the initiative. Her challengers fall back on rhetoric too often, and neither demonstrate the ability to work in the collaborative way that the coming session will likely demand.”
To read more about the Sun’s endorsements for the state Legislature, and to see the Sun’s video interview with Rolfes, Olsen and Winters, head over HERE.
Rep. Christine Rolfes (D-Bainbridge Island) has a fellow islander challenging her for the state House seat she’s held for nearly four years.
Retired U.S. Coast Guard officer and local Republican activist James Olsen is running against Rolfes on a smaller-government, pro-business platform.
They are joined by Poulsbo Republican Aaron Winters, an unemployed construction foreman.
Watch the above video to see all three discuss the economy, state spending and other matters with Sun editor David Nelson. That’s Rolfes on the left side, Olsen’s in the middle and Winters is on the right.
Rep. Christine Rolfes announced today she’ll seek a third term representing the 23rd Legislative District.
Rolfes, a Bainbridge Democrat, is a former Bainbridge city councilwoman. She’s been focused on state ferry, environmental and education issues since being elected to the House in 2006.
She kicks off her re-election campaign in Poulsbo on May 23.
Her campaign press release is below.
Continue reading
Steven Gardner reports in the Kitsap Caucus blog that Bainbridge city councilwoman-turned-state representative Christine Rolfes recently passed bills in the Legislature:
A bill to let crime victims weigh in when the criminal is eligible for work release passed both houses of the Legislature. So did a bill that would make National Guard members deployed overseas eligible for county benefits they currently don’t get. Both bills were sponsored in the House by state Rep. Christine Rolfes, D-Bainbridge Island.
Read Gardner’s post here.
Despite calls from transportation experts for a statewide tax to maintain the ferry system, the idea appears to have gained little traction in Olympia.
“I don’t think you’ll see an (motor vehicle excise tax) or anything else that the Transportation Commission put forward,” said Rep. Christine Rolfes, D-Bainbridge Island, who attended a briefing Monday about the state’s long-term ferry plan. “We’re looking at the transportation budget to see how we can accelerate the boat-building process without revenue increases. If we don’t have new state taxes and we’re serious about the ferry system, then we need some agreement on making the ferry system a priority for the first time in a decade.”
Postponing highway projects to meet ferry system needs by well-placed legislators, Rolfes added.
Read Ed Friedrich’s story about the the proposed ferry funding here.
State Rep. Christine Rolfes’ bill allowing out-of-state firms to build state ferries was debated at a House hearing on Monday.
Listen to the Bainbridge Democrat discuss her bill in the video above, and read Ed Friedrich’s coverage of the bill here.
A bill allowing Bainbridge Islanders to vote early on changing their form of government passed the state House by a wide margin on Wednesday.
Sponsored by Rep. Christine Rolfes (D-Bainbridge Island), House Bill 1066 passed 95 to two. The bill now moves to the Senate, where it is scheduled for a committee hearing on Monday.
If expedited through the Senate, the bill could allow a public vote in May on whether to replace the city’s elected mayor position with a hired city manager.
“It was remarkable,” Rolfes said of the bill’s easy passage. “It passed by such a large margin most likely because it’s a very straightforward bill. Legislators, all of whom have run for office, many of whom come from local government, could see the difficulty of the situation and were willing to fix it.”
Sen. Phil Rockefeller (D-Bainbridge Island) persuaded his colleagues on Thursday to allow the bill an early hearing on the Senate Government Operations and Elections Committee.
“This will expedite action on the special election bill, and I hope we can get it voted out of that committee quickly,” he said.
UPDATED: An emergency bill that would grant Bainbridge Island an early vote on changing its form of government will have a hearing before members of the state Legislature on Thursday.
The House Committee on Local Government & Housing will hear from the bill’s prime sponsor, Rep. Christine Rolfes, and supporters of a public vote that may replace the city’s elected mayor with a hired city manager.
The bill would alter state law, allowing cities to schedule special elections to alter the structure of local governments. Current state rules require that change-of-government ballot measures go to voters only in November. The rule was enacted to save small cities from having to spend thousands of dollars on special petition-driven elections.
The Bainbridge City Council and petitioners who gathered signatures for the ballot measure support a vote on May 19, about six months earlier than the law allows.
Rolfes, a Bainbridge Democrat and former Bainbridge city councilwoman, said the rule change is good for Bainbridge and other Washington cities.
“I believe that the proposal itself is good public policy – it makes better sense for the people of a city to decide their form of government prior to council and mayoral elections,” she said on Monday. “And that makes sense statewide, not just on Bainbridge. I’ve talked with a number of legislators, and there is general agreement that it’s a good change to make.”
