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  • Where a tax increase is coming from

    The last Washington legislative session was something remarkable: Facing a time of tax revenue shortfalls, a heavily Democratic state legislature opted to slice state government, in a big way, rather than raise taxes. (Their counterparts in Oregon chose otherwise.) In the next Washington session, however, making cuts sufficient to balance the [...]
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    Posted: November 22, 2009, 1:06pm EST
    by Randy Stapilus

  • A religious charter

    This one looks just about ready to blow up. The Nampa Classical Academy is an Idaho charter school, running grades 1-9, which emphasizes, to a great extent, a traditional “classical” education – they note, “very strong in phonics, classical literature, grammar, composition, mathematics, “modern” sciences, history, geography, and rhetorical analysis and [...]
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    Posted: November 21, 2009, 4:29pm EST
    by Randy Stapilus

  • Substantially completed

    Idaho Statehouse reconstruction/YouTube There was some concern, expressed publicly during the last legislative session, that the reconstruction work at the Idaho Statehouse might not be done in time for the next session. But evidently it is, or just about. A press release from the state Capitol Commission says that “Capitol restoration construction [...]
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    Posted: November 20, 2009, 2:20pm EST
    by Randy Stapilus

  • Wyden’s addition

    Number of comments: 1
    It’s being billed as a three-senator deal – Senators Max Baucus, Harry Reid and Oregon’s Ron Wyden – but the history demonstrates that this is Wyden’s baby: A change in the Senate version of the health care bill that would dramatically change the health insurance picture for not just a [...]
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    Posted: November 20, 2009, 1:16pm EST
    by Randy Stapilus

  • A Northwest Nobel option?

    Number of comments: 10
    Linus Torvalds Former Vice President Al Gore’s visit to Portland today and tomorrow has prompted some Nobel Peace Prize thoughts, and in Oregon the idea of nominating a Northwesterner. The prospect shot around the Portland-area Linux circles (drawing some debate as well as approval as it did), starting with this email [...]
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    Posted: November 19, 2009, 10:17pm EST
    by Randy Stapilus

  • A clinic in Pasco

    The Pasco City Council has approved a new medical clinic in town – not one, it should be noted up front, that offers abortions. It has been the subject of demonstrations and protests, though, because it will be run by Planned Parenthood. There’s an overview in this post at McCranium, which [...]
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    Posted: November 18, 2009, 10:12pm EST
    by Randy Stapilus

  • Whitopia

    Number of comments: 1
    A book we’re going to track down and check out: From a black scholar writing about race relations in a different way, “Searching for Whitopia: An Improbable Journey to the Heart of White America.” Usually, we’d wait to read it before writing about it here, but this is an unusual case [...]
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    Posted: November 16, 2009, 8:37pm EST
    by Randy Stapilus

  • An Olympic freezeout

    An excellent Seattle Times report details where the Vancouver Olympics tickets, which are supposed to number about 1.6 million, actually are slated to go. About a third go in-house, to the “Olympic family,” and of the rest just 35,000 originally were slated to be available to the general United States [...]
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    Posted: November 16, 2009, 9:42pm EST
    by Randy Stapilus

  • Kitzhaber/McCall: Running parallels

    Tom McCall In our nation’s history, just one president, Grover Cleveland, got elected to the job in two separate runs, with someone else (Benjamin Harrison) serving in between. It’s an uncommon thing for governors, too, a point somewhat relevant now since a former Oregon governor, Democrat John Kitzhaber, is running in [...]
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    Posted: November 15, 2009, 3:17pm EST
    by Randy Stapilus

  • Precinct mapping – Boise and Spokane

    Number of comments: 3
    For the true polisci junkies, a couple of posts with precinct maps – of how the elections went in Boise and Spokane. In Spokane, Jim Camden’s Spin Control blog contains a series of maps from the last Spokane elections – tracing voter turnout, population, fire bond results and so on. Nothing [...]
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    Posted: November 14, 2009, 6:37pm EST
    by Randy Stapilus

  • Wilbur out

    This could be a transition to note. Kirby Wilbur, a conservative talker in KVI radio in Seattle since 1993, is out, effective yesterday. The KVI statement says that “Since 1993, Kirby’s voice has been heard on KVI and part of its conservative talk line-up. His introduction to KVI listeners came as [...]
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    Posted: November 14, 2009, 10:15pm EST
    by Randy Stapilus

  • The November Oregon Digest

    Our November 2009 Oregon Public Affairs Digest is out, with reports on Wyden’s actions in health care, unemployment developments, in Oregon political races (including the local government races coming to a head), congressional actions and much more. There’s a substantial list of state rules and regulations just out, along with [...]
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    Posted: November 12, 2009, 4:18pm EST
    by Randy Stapilus

  • The November Idaho Digest

    Our November 2009 Idaho Public Affairs Digest is out, with reports on the changes in dairy country, in Idaho political races (including the local government races coming to a head), congressional actions and much more. There’s a long list of state rules and regulations just out – October this year [...]
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    Posted: November 12, 2009, 9:36pm EST
    by Randy Stapilus

  • And Labrador in?

    Number of comments: 1
    Raul Labrador Was the last post a little premature? Maybe, or maybe not . . . Within a couple of hours after state Representative Ken Roberts said he was out of the Idaho 1st District Republican congressional race, another Republican state Representative, Raul Labrador, said he plans to enter. According to a just-out [...]
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    Posted: November 10, 2009, 3:50pm EST
    by Randy Stapilus

  • Idaho 1st turns to the general

    Number of comments: 1
    Ken Roberts When Democrat Walt Minnick was elected to Congress from Idaho’s 1st congressional district about a year ago, one of the scenarios for his re-election campaign went like this: Republicans would be crowding the field to take on this unlikely Democrat in 2010. The large field would mean, as happened [...]
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    Posted: November 10, 2009, 10:26am EST
    by Randy Stapilus

  • Sports guys

    Number of comments: 1
    Is there some reason longshot races in Washington and Oregon seem to be drawing the interest of pro sports figures, as Republican contenders? . . . Albeit two very different candidates. Clint Didier There’s the new report in Washington of – finally, very late in the cycle – a candidate against three-term [...]
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    Posted: November 10, 2009, 10:23pm EST
    by Randy Stapilus

  • The November Washington Digest

    Our November 2009 Washington Public Affairs Digest is out, with rundowns of the conviction of Tacoma judge, pre-election activities, developments in Congress, health issues and much more. There’s an except on the efforts to pull ballots from younger voters. And the usual rundown of important court decisions, regulatory actions, calendar [...]
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    Posted: November 09, 2009, 1:09pm EST
    by Randy Stapilus

  • Minnick’s split

    Number of comments: 1
    Walt Minnick One more obligatory note, political, on the health care votes last night on the U.S. House floor. It was the occasion of one of Idaho Democratic Representative Walt Minnick’s tougher votes, and what he did may have some significant political repercussions. The votes may simply have been votes of [...]
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    Posted: November 08, 2009, 5:38pm EST
    by Randy Stapilus

  • The incumbent rout

    Among the various major national returns on Tuesday, one of the more notable and less-discussed is the close re-election win by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg. He has been popular (at least according to polls and surveys), widely regarded as competent, setting policies that have been widely acceptable in town. [...]
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    Posted: November 08, 2009, 4:52pm EST
    by Randy Stapilus

  • Pungent

    The problem with getting so many tweets on Twitter (hold your comments for a moment, please) can be that you miss a lot of the periodic good stuff for the dross. Had missed, for example, Representative Earl Blumenauer’s tweets about this weekend’s health care voting activity. There was “Trial Lawyers [...]
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    Posted: November 08, 2009, 10:17pm EST
    by Randy Stapilus

  • McGinn the activist

    Mike McGinn Well, now. For a second time, the attorney and environmental activist Mike McGinn has edged past businessman Joe Mallahan in the race for mayor, and this time it seems likely to stick: After several days of leading by only a few hundred votes, with the returns in today (giving [...]
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    Posted: November 07, 2009, 3:34pm EST
    by Randy Stapilus

  • A report on 50 Meds

    Just a link to a newspaper report on our new book, 50 Meds: for a Sick Health System (more about which, look to the column to the right). The lead: “In the midst of the national tussle over health care comes a book by a local author who has taken [...]
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    Posted: November 07, 2009, 9:50pm EST
    by Randy Stapilus

  • Bradbury, Gore – and Kitzhaber

    It may be that no one in Oregon’s campaigns in this next cycle gets a bigger national drawn than Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bill Bradbury has: former Vice President Al Gore. Gore will be doing a fundraiser for Bradbury in Portland on November 19. There’s some background involved these two, of course. [...]
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    Posted: November 06, 2009, 3:24pm EST
    by Randy Stapilus

  • WW at 35

    Lots of interesting stuff in this week’s Willamette Week, which is celebrating 35 years on the news stand. There’s a lot of comparison between 1974 Portland and PDX 2009. A good deal of it should provoke some thoughts. Dig in. [...]
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    Posted: November 05, 2009, 6:23pm EST
    by Randy Stapilus

  • Angles on R-71

    As of this afternoon, the vote on Washington Referendum 71 – whether to sustain the state law providing “everything but marriage” for same-sex domestic partnerships – continues close but has been holding steady, at 51% yes, 49% no. The potential for a flip remains, but the odds are growing that [...]
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    Posted: November 04, 2009, 2:19pm EST
    by Randy Stapilus

  • ID: The partisan/non-partisan thing

    Number of comments: 1
    There might be some useful lessons drawn (for both parties, really) from the first paragraph of this post today from Spokane Spokesman-Review reporter Betsy Russell: After the Idaho Republican Party took the unusual step of passing a central committee resolution backing party involvement in non-partisan city races, one county’s GOP central [...]
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    Posted: November 04, 2009, 2:00pm EST
    by Randy Stapilus

  • ID: A Pocatello shocker, non-surprises elsewhere

    Number of comments: 1
    So far as we can see, there’s one big shocker in Idaho elections today: Two-term Pocatello Mayor Roger Chase ousted by newcomer Brian Blad. The margin was around 53%-47% – not large, but enough to decide. That we didn’t see coming. On a recent visit to Pocatello, the word from [...]
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    Posted: November 04, 2009, 11:05pm EST
    by Randy Stapilus

  • WA: Tales of two issues

    Number of comments: 1
    We’ll make that recurring pitch again: Washington, do what Oregon does and require that ballots be at the courthouse on election day, not merely postmarked. You’d save a lot of blood pressure that way, among other things. Indications so far are that Washington voters (1) decisively are rejecting the severe tax [...]
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    Posted: November 04, 2009, 10:39pm EST
    by Randy Stapilus

  • WA: As alliances become clearer . . .

    For a while, conservative-under-wraps Susan Hutchison seemed to be pulling off enough of a play-to-the-middle campaign to hang on to enough votes to win as King County executive. But in liberal King County, it was always a tall order, and in the end the task was too much, and the [...]
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    Posted: November 04, 2009, 9:51pm EST
    by Randy Stapilus

  • Power savings

    There’s a tendency to think that conservation is something that helps only at the edges, if there. But it can amount to more than that. What’s more surprising is how much it evidently has amounted to already. From the Northwest Power & Conservation Council, which recently oversaw a study on electric [...]
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    Posted: November 02, 2009, 7:48pm EST
    by Randy Stapilus

  • ID: Watching for Tuesday

    Tuesday will be an election day in Idaho, but not a big election day. When the most interesting elections in the state are apt to be city council races, you know you’re scratching. The top rank races in a sense will be mayoral. But Boise’s mayor isn’t up this year, and [...]
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    Posted: November 02, 2009, 9:41pm EST
    by Randy Stapilus

  • WA: Watching for Tuesday

    Tuesday will not be a big political day in Oregon; only a few scattered local races, few of much significance, will get attention, and then not much. Tuesday will be an election day of a little more import to the north and east, though, most notably in Washington. The real importance [...]
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    Posted: November 02, 2009, 9:13pm EST
    by Randy Stapilus

  • A Boise streetcar

    Number of comments: 2
    Early Boise streetcar A century ago, most cities of much size had streetcars, electric rail systems running through the populated areas. Boise had an extensive system that run through most of what then was town (which was a lot smaller than it is now) and out west into the farm country, [...]
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    Posted: October 31, 2009, 8:07pm EDT
    by Randy Stapilus

  • At high cost

    There’s a lot of moaning around the Puget Sound about the Boeing decision to located its secondary 787 assembly plant at Charleston, South Carolina, rather than at Everett, which is near existing Boeing facilities and was of course badly wanted by the Seattle region. It’s not good news for the Northwest, [...]
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    Posted: October 31, 2009, 11:28pm EDT
    by Randy Stapilus

  • Another every-vote-counts post

    At a recall election in Clatsop County, Commissioner Anne Samuelson apparently has lost her seat by the margin of four votes. Once again: Every vote counts. Although in a way this may not be a shock, since she was actually recalled from the Jewell School District board just last year (though she [...]
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    Posted: October 29, 2009, 4:37pm EDT
    by Randy Stapilus

  • Ward’s emergence in the Idaho 1st

    Vaughn Ward Campaign finance reports from the Northwest for the cycle ending September 30 showed mostly the expected. The two Democratic incumbent senators in Washington and Oregon have big mega-million warchests, and no one in their states comes close. The House incumbents are all raising substantial money, which for present purposes [...]
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    Posted: October 29, 2009, 2:02pm EDT
    by Randy Stapilus

  • Snow in the Cascades

    Number of comments: 1
    Near Willamette Pass, Tuesday/Linda Watkins Linda was on the road Tuesday from Klamath Falls to Eugene. Here’s some of what it looked like near Willamette Pass. [...]
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    Posted: October 28, 2009, 11:04am EDT
    by Randy Stapilus

  • Town and Dairy: Social impacts of dairies

    Dairy belt/University of Idaho Large swaths of southern Idaho have been transformed in the last couple of decades by dairies – not the little norman Rockwell dairies of yore but megadairies, with populations of cattle that overshadow those of people, most notably in the Central magic Valley. Most of the discussion has [...]
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    Posted: October 27, 2009, 5:44pm EDT
    by Randy Stapilus

  • Appalling numbers

    The fall audited circulation numbers for newspapers nationally are out, and they are . . . awful. From a year ago to this fall, paid circulation for a whole bunch of newspapers around the country is down by more than 10% – that’s more the norm than the exception. (The average [...]
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    Posted: October 26, 2009, 3:09pm EDT
    by Randy Stapilus

  • About the opt-out

    The current round – getting much closer to the end game – on congressional health care action, puts this as a final package headed toward Senate vote: Inclusion of a public health insurance options, with “opt out,” meaning the included ability of individual states to decide not to participate. While [...]
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    Posted: October 26, 2009, 2:38pm EDT
    by Randy Stapilus

  • Sides in Boise

    The sides have very much divided up in the city council races in Boise. Two readings make clear a good deal of it. One is the Idaho Statesman editorial endorsements in the races, out today: Backing incumbents Vern Bisterfeldt and Maryanne Jordan, and T.J. Thomson best known in the area until [...]
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    Posted: October 26, 2009, 10:23pm EDT
    by Randy Stapilus

  • Indications of allegiance

    The usual rule here is that we’ll refer to people with the name and indentifiers – such as profession or political party – of their choice. But we won’t make that an absolute because of the occasional, if unusual, cases in which people are simply deceptive about such things. Clarity [...]
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    Posted: October 24, 2009, 5:34pm EDT
    by Randy Stapilus

  • The real bill

    Never enough any more, apparently, to argue on the actual merits or demerits of a specific idea: The obligation seems to be to press it beyond the point of reason. Even when the core issue seems to be on your side. So we have Idaho’s two senators, Mike Crapo and Jim [...]
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    Posted: October 23, 2009, 5:42pm EDT
    by Randy Stapilus

  • Suspension in absentia

    Jason Atkinson State Senator Jason Atkinson, R-Central Point, who ran for governor in 2006 and emerged third in that Republican primary, has indicated he expected to run again this year. That was expected and made sense. He displayed strong campaign skills during his governor run, he has a strong constituency among [...]
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    Posted: October 22, 2009, 3:58pm EDT
    by Randy Stapilus

  • Not enough title

    Number of comments: 2
    Nothing unusual (or Oregon or Washington) on the face of this: Someone’s unhappy about the title being placed on a ballot issue, and don’t be surprised if a lawsuit develops. What we have here is actually two ballot issues, Oregon Referenda 66 and 67, both referring to the voters the question [...]
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    Posted: October 21, 2009, 6:02pm EDT
    by Randy Stapilus

  • An electronic voter sheet

    In pre-electronic times past, political machines would give their voter backers the ticket – a sheet of paper showing how the voter ought to vote, up and down the line. Political parties in effect do that, naturally, as a matter of course, but more broadly, voters tend to be on [...]
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    Posted: October 20, 2009, 8:07pm EDT
    by Randy Stapilus

  • A wheelie

    This is the sort of thing you do if you’re in trouble, in an election where the dynamic is different from the one before: You change basics about what got you this far. And if that sounds on its face like a risky maneuver, you’re right. Referencing here Mike McGinn, one [...]
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    Posted: October 19, 2009, 6:53pm EDT
    by Randy Stapilus

  • Tight polling in the straw

    It may be that former Governor John Kitzhaber winds up running away with the 2010 governor’s race, primary and general, but stray indicators have been floating by suggesting the contrary – maybe that Kitzhaber very much still has to make his case. One of the most interesting emerges this weekend from [...]
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    Posted: October 18, 2009, 3:35pm EDT
    by Randy Stapilus

  • Hutchinson’s hold

    Susan Hutchinson Dial back a couple of months to the August primary election for King County executive, and the results carried a clear portent – noted here – for the way things were likely to go in the November general. The first place winner was former local news anchor Susan Hutchinson, [...]
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    Posted: October 17, 2009, 10:25pm EDT
    by Randy Stapilus

  • Where Idaho is

    A concise summary of Idaho’s present governmental financial woes, on Betsy Russell’s blog: “One in five Idaho school districts has declared a financial emergency. State prisons are managing 500 more offenders than a year ago, with $28 million less in funding. Part-time state employees already hit with furloughs and other cutbacks [...]
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    Posted: October 15, 2009, 1:29pm EDT
    by Randy Stapilus

  • “a massive giveaway to the rich”

    That may sound simply ideological, but Seattle Times columnist Danny Westneat has one of the best rundowns yet of the impact of Initiative 1033, the Tim Eyman special that’s been sold as restraint on government but does oh so much else. Westneat delivers lots of specifics. They come down to this: [...]
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    Posted: October 14, 2009, 11:11am EDT
    by Randy Stapilus

  • Why Mormons should be wary of Glenn Beck

    Number of comments: 1
    The TV talker Glenn Beck has spots of real popularity in the Northwest. The attention he has gotten is massively outsized compared to his actual audience (on Fox, about two million, or about two-thirds of one percent of the American population – not even a major sliver). But it has [...]
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    Posted: October 14, 2009, 10:17am EDT
    by Randy Stapilus

  • Buying commerce

    Number of comments: 1
    The long-term move of consumers from trading in small towns toward the mega-commercial centers in urban areas long has been one of the most serious problems small towns face (in the Northwest and elsewhere). Here’s one approach for encouraging buying local, from an article on the city of Emmett (about 20 [...]
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    Posted: October 13, 2009, 12:05pm EDT
    by Randy Stapilus

  • Reichert on health

    Dave Reichert The only Northwest Republican left representing an area west of the Cascades, Dave Reichert of the district located roughly east and southeast of Seattle but west of the mountains, has been through the political wringer. He was elected in 2004, in a fairly tight race, then re-elected more closely [...]
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    Posted: October 13, 2009, 9:58pm EDT
    by Randy Stapilus

  • No records, no poll?

    Sid Leiken You remember the case of Sid Leiken, the Springfield mayor who said he planned to run for the 4th U.S. House seat presumably against incumbent Democrat Peter DeFazio. In the month since candidate filing has opened Leiken hasn’t, maybe because of the August 21 tearful press conference announcement of [...]
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    Posted: October 11, 2009, 12:37pm EDT
    by Randy Stapilus

  • Rally the base, or expand support?

    Number of comments: 1
    On R-71 Say you’re pushing a socially conservative concept is a state where the population is, as a majority, socially liberal or moderate at most. How do you do it? You might try a pivot to a non-morals-based argument, something relating to finance, legal complications or some other area. What you don’t [...]
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    Posted: October 10, 2009, 6:58pm EDT
    by Randy Stapilus

  • Green votes, green behavior

    If you’re a plitician, best to assume you’re never off-camera – and that goes well beyond the range of traditionally scandalous stuff, down to what kind of car you drive. Oregon Representative David Wu, who has a generally green voting record, also drives an SUV, as a Republican video which has [...]
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    Posted: October 10, 2009, 5:24pm EDT
    by Randy Stapilus

  • Facebooking-off on health

    John Kitzhaber, the former Democratic Oregon governor who’s seeking a third term, tried something a little different this afternoon: A Facebook discussion on health care. People would post and comment, and Kitzhaber would weigh in with comments and some answers to questions. It may be a useful direction for his [...]
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    Posted: October 09, 2009, 5:12pm EDT
    by Randy Stapilus

  • Registration update

    Number of comments: 3
    At just over a year to the next general election – close to the midway point – seemed a useful point to review the party voter registrations in Oregon. A note: Ind refers to the Independent Party; non-af is nonaffiliated. None that the drops in the interim (which are across the [...]
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    Posted: October 09, 2009, 4:15pm EDT
    by Randy Stapilus

  • Cubist health

    Not a bad little metaphor . . . Somewhat complex, with each move having an effect on every other, but ultimately solvable. (Nice imagery for Merkley, too.) A side note: The idea of a state opt-out for health care public option, if pursued, could be the shrewdest and most devastating political move [...]
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    Posted: October 08, 2009, 5:38pm EDT
    by Randy Stapilus

  • Feelin’ like carrying

    Number of comments: 1
    Those of us not much into guns – that majority of us for whom guns aren’t, maybe apart from a hunting expedition or such, a part of ordinary daily life – have one kind of mindset when it comes to firearms. Even in these western states where guns certainly aren’t [...]
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    Posted: October 08, 2009, 10:08pm EDT
    by Randy Stapilus

  • Lobbying for a prison

    There’s something sad about this. Time was when communities scrambled to avoid being a “prison town” – as in, put that thing somewhere else. Now, they can be considered moneymakers. And money is invested. From the Twin Falls Times News, in a report on Cassia County’s commissioners’ pursuit of a new [...]
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    Posted: October 08, 2009, 9:45pm EDT
    by Randy Stapilus

  • The real Olympians

    Number of comments: 1
    Keep watching these trademark cases; you’ll see a disquieting pattern that reaches ever closer to home. The Washington capital city of Olympia has had, as its leading newspaper since 1860, the Olympian – a logical choice for a name, since that also is what residents of the town are called. (And [...]
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    Posted: October 05, 2009, 11:25am EDT
    by Randy Stapilus

  • Chuck Oxley

    Number of comments: 1
    I just concluded a week-long, 1,600-mile road trip around southern Idaho. One of the people scheduled for a coffee visit, in downtown Blackfoot, was Chuck Oxley, a long-time Idaho newsman, for a couple of years communications director for the Idaho Democrats, and most recently managing editor of the Morning News. [...]
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    Posted: October 04, 2009, 4:51pm EDT
    by Randy Stapilus

  • Washington tax increase?

    People don’t like tax increases. Pretty nobody does, not even those on the left accused of being in love with them – they have to pay taxes too. So this quote from Washington Governor Chris Gregoire in a Seattle Times story about potential tax increases – something the governor has [...]
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    Posted: October 03, 2009, 7:27am EDT
    by Randy Stapilus

  • NW . . .

    Washington is considering closing one or more prisons, and cutting back on other corrections activities. Depending on how some of this play out, it could turn into a notable social experiment, though corrections officials warn about public safety problems . . . Idaho’s Otter okays a delay in moving gas [...]
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    Posted: October 02, 2009, 8:51am EDT
    by Randy Stapilus

  • NW . . .

    In economic sweepstakes, the Tacoma News Tribune’s Peter Callaghan writes, “Gregoire made the state’s case with Boeing, but said no to shameless begging.” What? . . . Oregon State Representative Scott Bruun, R-West Linn, says he will run against new Democratic U.S. Representative Kurt Schrader in the 5th. Bruun, on [...]
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    Posted: October 01, 2009, 9:00am EDT
    by Randy Stapilus

  • Things that change slowly

    Buddy’s at Pocatello It’s been a while since I’ve been to Pocatello, just a little over 30 years since I moved to it the first time, to report politics at the Idaho State Journal. Given the pall over so many places in the Northwest, and Pocatello’s history of never collapsing but [...]
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    Posted: October 01, 2009, 8:44am EDT
    by Randy Stapilus

  • Was there ever much doubt?

    Around here, we never had much doubt that Senator Ron Wyden was a yes vote for the public option on health insurance (for which he voted favorably twice in the Senate Finance Committee). In many places, his advocacy for his own bill (the Wyden-Bennett) seemed to be read as opposition [...]
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    Posted: September 30, 2009, 7:08am EDT
    by Randy Stapilus

  • NW . . .

    The politically marginal east Clackmas/Multnomah Senate district held for years by Democrat Rick Metsger will be sought by Brent Barton, new House member from the area; he’s helped with a $50,000 infusion from his attorney father . . . Proposed in King County: budget cuts killing 367 jobs and support [...]
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    Posted: September 29, 2009, 6:57am EDT
    by Randy Stapilus

  • The Nampa mayoral

    Melissa Sue Robinson Not that the end result necessarily will be much different, but one of Idaho’s most unusual candidates this year – Melissa Sue Robinson, running for mayor of Nampa against incumbent Tom Dale – is creating a larger stir than you might have expected. What there was at first was [...]
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    Posted: September 28, 2009, 9:27am EDT
    by Randy Stapilus

  • Chunnel

    From early on, the Alaskan Way viaduct – or rather, whatever will replace it – has seemed to be at the core of the Seattle mayoral race. Now there doesn’t seem much doubt. Headlines last week seemed to raise the image of incumbent and outgoing Mayor Greg Nickels poised to push [...]
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    Posted: September 28, 2009, 10:45pm EDT
    by Randy Stapilus

  • A more strategic fit?

    No one in Eugene (well, at least, hardly anyone) wanted the Hynix computer semiconductor plant in that city to shut down – as it did last year – and thereby wipe out about 1,300 jobs. There’s not any way to spin that as good news for the city. But . . [...]
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    Posted: September 26, 2009, 5:16pm EDT
    by Randy Stapilus

  • NW . . .

    It’s a ballot issue – two of them – in Oregon, for early next year. Signatures submitted for 301, personal tax increase (129,500 unverified signatures submitted, 55,179 required), and 302, corporate tax increase (126,183 submitted, same number needed), almost certainly enough for ballot status. . . . Clackamas County Commissioner [...]
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    Posted: September 26, 2009, 10:31pm EDT
    by Randy Stapilus

  • The holdback

    Officials in Oregon or Washington might actually breathe east at the amount, but the $150 million revenue shortfall – a result of the latest revenue estimates coming in lower than they were earlier in the year – is a tough nut for Idaho. Today Governor C.L. “Butch” Otter did what he [...]
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    Posted: September 25, 2009, 6:20pm EDT
    by Randy Stapilus

  • A disproportionate sentence

    Oregon Supreme Court This is what they’re talking about when they talk about a court throwing out a policy explicitly backed by the voters, and imposing its own. At least, it probably will be presented that way. Or maybe what the people had in mind to do violates the state constitution, [...]
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    Posted: September 25, 2009, 9:12pm EDT
    by Randy Stapilus

  • NW . . .

    Boeing continues to scramble for that air tanker business, but the Pentagon says it is opening up another round . . . A fine first-person blog post from Chuck Sheketoff, getting very specific on how people are being misled about the actual impact of this year’s pair of Oregon tax [...]
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    Posted: September 24, 2009, 8:47pm EDT
    by Randy Stapilus

  • On end of life

    Check out the fine New York Times blog post by writer Timothy Egan, telling the story of Annabel and Albert Kitzhaber – parents of former and possibly future governor John – and how they chose to die: Peacefully at home, with family, rather than “the tubes and the needles, the [...]
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    Posted: September 24, 2009, 4:01pm EDT
    by Randy Stapilus

  • NW . . .

    Traffic fatalities in Washington lowest (in raw numbers) since 1955 . . . A driver-texting ban may happen in Idaho. From Kevin Richert’s blog: “Boise Democratic state Sen. Les Bock is taking another run at the texting ban; a similar bill stalled earlier this year. He has some key allies: [...]
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    Posted: September 23, 2009, 8:00pm EDT
    by Randy Stapilus

  • Replacing commercials

    The tools for bypassing political TV commercials – the price hogs of campaigns – are in place on the web: Web video is inexpensive and easily goes viral. But wait, there’s more: Now there are web videos that provide excellent rundowns for voters trying to decide what to do about [...]
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    Posted: September 22, 2009, 7:53pm EDT
    by Randy Stapilus

  • New: 50 Meds for a Sick Health System

    ORDER IT HERE or on Amazon.com More about this book by Randy Stapilus One or two won’t do. Most books (articles, speeches) about fixing America’s health care mess address two or three very real problems and corresponding solutions. But they don’t cover the waterfront, and the problem areas are too many to [...]
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    Posted: September 21, 2009, 3:15pm EDT
    by Randy Stapilus

  • The DUI ban

    Number of comments: 1
    Great article in the Seattle Times about the combination of (a) Canada’s strict (stricter than in the United States) enforcement of DUI laws, coupled with the use of shared US-Canada criminal databases at border crossings. You get this at the end of a ferry ride from Washington state to Vancouver [...]
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    Posted: September 21, 2009, 10:42pm EDT
    by Randy Stapilus

  • The word from Packwood

    Every so often, someone wonders what Robert Packwood – the former Oregon senator who resigned in 1995 ahead of possible expulsion over sex harassment charges – is up to, and what he might think of politics today. The question is worth asking, because among the other things he was, Packwood was [...]
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    Posted: September 19, 2009, 8:22pm EDT
    by Randy Stapilus

  • Nope, Smith’s not running for governor

    There’s been some chatter that Gordon Smith, who was the Republican senator from Oregon until he was defeated last year for re-election, might try a comeback in a run for governor. Not gonna happen: He has just been named president and CEO of the National Association of Broadcasters. You can figure, for [...]
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    Posted: September 18, 2009, 10:07am EDT
    by Randy Stapilus

  • Thoughts after a DMV visit

    Number of comments: 1
    From Linda Watkins, after a visit to the Division of Motor Vehicles . . . I used to work for state government. I worked in a couple of departments as well as for one statewide elected official. I am not one of those people who believes that all government workers are [...]
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    Posted: September 17, 2009, 7:48pm EDT
    by Randy Stapilus

  • A shout from the past

    Number of comments: 1
    Three decades ago, when I was covering politics in eastern Idaho for the newspaper at Pocatello, the most conservative of the local Republicans (a few office holders, and a few additional candidates, and all or nearly all Mormon in faith – that being the other characteristic they had in common) [...]
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    Posted: September 17, 2009, 3:30pm EDT
    by Randy Stapilus

  • Kitzhaber’s roster

    The list of endorsers today for John Kitzhaber, in his bid for a third term as Oregon governor, was pretty long – a large slice of the Democratic legislative contingent, three other state officials, and some former major office holders – enough to provide some more real demonstration that he [...]
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    Posted: September 16, 2009, 4:05pm EDT
    by Randy Stapilus

  • On site

    Number of comments: 1
    An opinion piece in today’s Los Angeles Times by physicist Frank von Hippel makes the case that storing, rather than reprocessing, nuclear waste is the best way to go. The issue is of considerable interest in the Northwest, where nuclear cleanup activities in two areas – the Hanford site in [...]
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    Posted: September 15, 2009, 9:54am EDT
    by Randy Stapilus

  • A chamber’s picks

    So who does the Seattle business community want to fill the two big local open slots – mayor of Seattle and executive of King County? There’s something of a formal choice enunciated in the picks of the Alki Foundation, which in effect is the Seattle Chamber of Commerce public affairs [...]
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    Posted: September 14, 2009, 4:14pm EDT
    by Randy Stapilus

  • Fish in the Klamath

    The Northwest generally has had a decent water year, for the most part not enough water for flooding, but enough to at least come close to normal averages for purposes from agriculture to domestic to fish habitat. California has been less fortunate. California is in a bad drought, and those conditions [...]
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    Posted: September 14, 2009, 10:01pm EDT
    by Randy Stapilus

  • There’s cutting, and there’s cutting more

    For the states, what’s coming will be a season of budget cutting. In Idaho, budget holdbacks are likely - there may be no choice. In doing that, there’s a temptation to do it simply and “fairly” by cutting across the board. An understandable reaction, but one that often creates as [...]
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    Posted: September 12, 2009, 4:22pm EDT
    by Randy Stapilus

  • Ward or Roberts?

    Ken Roberts Vaughn Ward As the weeks go by, two Republicans between them seem to be moving into place to lock down their party’s nomination for the Idaho 1st U.S. House seat held by Democrat Walt Minnick. Former congressional staffer Vaughn Ward and state Representative Ken Roberts have been pulling in substantial [...]
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    Posted: September 11, 2009, 1:45pm EDT
    by Randy Stapilus

  • A study in motivation

    Number of comments: 1
    Jeff Mapes of the Oregonian calls the story “truly disturbing,” and it is. One of the disturbing aspects of it is a question of both private and public import that ought to be raised by now. Today’s specific case is that of Tony Marino, in 2008 a Republican candidate for the [...]
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    Posted: September 11, 2009, 9:09pm EDT
    by Randy Stapilus

  • A home of one’s own

    John Bradbury Yesterday Multnomah County Sheriff Bob Skipper said that he will resign from that job effective in a couple of months because he failed to pass a test which he had to take - under state law - like that administered to newly-minted cops, on law enforcement. Skipper, who had [...]
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    Posted: September 10, 2009, 3:36pm EDT
    by Randy Stapilus

  • Blue urban, red outlying, of course

    King Exec map/Seattle Times This is a slice of a map developed by the Seattle Times showing where the candidates for King County executive, in the recent primary election, came in first. First-place Susan Hutchison, widely viewed as the relatively conservative Republican candidate (bearing in mind that this is a nonpartisan [...]
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    Posted: September 10, 2009, 11:51pm EDT
    by Randy Stapilus

  • Speculation, state and federal

    Could not help but add a concluding thought to a letter to the editor in today’s Twin Falls Times News, from a retiree (from the College of Southern Idaho) who has been enrolled in the state government’s Blue Cross supplement for Medicare. “Imagine my surprise when I received a letter [...]
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    Posted: September 08, 2009, 11:12pm EDT
    by Randy Stapilus

  • Speculation, state and federal

    Could not help but add a concluding thought to a letter to the editor in today’s Twin Falls Times News, from a retiree (from the College of Southern Idaho) who has been enrolled in the state government’s Blue Cross supplement for Medicare.

    “Imagine my surprise when I received a letter [...]

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    Posted: September 07, 2009, 8:36pm EDT
    by stapilus

  • A bigger transformation

    The McMenamins brothers have done some spectacular rehabs over the years, saving a whole bunch of buildings in Oregon and Washington (stretching some distance from their base in Portland) that probably would have gone the way of the wrecking ball otherwise. The indications from this next one may suggest an [...]
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    Posted: September 07, 2009, 11:13pm EDT
    by Randy Stapilus

  • A bigger transformation

    The McMenamins brothers have done some spectacular rehabs over the years, saving a whole bunch of buildings in Oregon and Washington (stretching some distance from their base in Portland) that probably would have gone the way of the wrecking ball otherwise. The indications from this next one may suggest an [...]

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    Posted: September 07, 2009, 9:18pm EDT
    by stapilus

  • Closed primaries, maybe

    Those of us interested in political analysis will be poring over what the parties in Idaho Republican Party v. Ysursa provide in the coming weeks and months: Nothing less than evidence of who, exactly, votes in Idaho Republican Party primaries. Dry to some people, true, but lip-smacking to some of [...]
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    Posted: September 05, 2009, 11:14pm EDT
    by Randy Stapilus
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