NEWS ROUNDUP
Not voting for Pedro, Freedom staffers rally, 4-hour work day…
Thursday, August 7, 2014
ELECTION
► In today’s Seattle Times — Pedro Celis’ weak primary showing in 1st District race stuns GOP officials — Pedro Celis was supposed to be the anointed Republican challenger to first-term Democratic Congresswoman Suzan DelBene. But with just 15% of the vote, he’s in danger of not making it through the primary.
► In today’s Yakima H-R — Congressional front-runners Didier, Newhouse hold steady — Counties will continue updating ballot totals in the coming week, but none of the 10 other candidates — including Democrat Estakio Beltran (see Editor’s Note above) — who sought to replace retiring Congressman Doc Hastings statistically had any chance of gaining ground on the two front-runners.
► In today’s Seattle Times — Sen. Tim Sheldon locked in tight three-way battle — Sheldon now trails Democrat Irene Bowling, 35% to 33%. But he’s OK with that, as long as he can secure second place over the Republican with 31%, and move forward in the top-two primary because he expects that most Republicans will vote for him.
► At Politico — Poll: Party favorability falls near low — Pollsters have found that the favorability rating of both the Democratic and Republican parties is just one percentage point higher than the parties’ all-time lows with 29% of Americans viewing the Republican Party favorably and Democrats with 41% approval.
EDITOR’S NOTE — Which might explain this.
► At Politico — The woman who could beat Scott Walker — Mary Burke might be the last candidate you’d expect to potentially topple one of the Republican Party’s leading governors and upend the 2016 presidential field. The only elected office she’s ever held is a school board seat. She didn’t even become a Democrat until her 40s. Yet here she is, tied with Walker in the polls, finally getting some overdue attention from the national press — and within striking distance of delivering the biggest shock of Election 2014.
STATE GOVERNMENT
ALSO at The Stand — Right-wing Freedom Foundation wants open state employee contract talks, Ted Nugent (Aug. 6)
EDITOR’S NOTE — The Washington Federation of State Employees was kind enough yesterday during a break in negotiations to bring the protesting Freedom Foundation staffers some tea (their beverage of choice).
► In today’s Seattle Times — Ethics board drops Benton complaint against Inslee over grain inspections — The Executive Ethics Board has dropped the complaint Benton filed last week alleging Inslee acted unlawfully when he withdrew state patrol escorts of grain inspectors going into the Port of Vancouver. David Postman, Inslee’s communications director, called it unfortunate that Benton didn’t find a more productive way to help reach a solution on the labor dispute, adding, “Don Benton got his name in the newspaper and Senate Republicans did their best to promote this frivolous and totally unsubstantiated complaint.”
ALSO at The Stand — Benton demands escort service amid United Grain lockout (Aug. 5)
► From KUOW — Why Washington ferries are such a headache to replace — Washington’s fleet is getting older, and it’s impossible to predict how many ferries will break down at any one time. But for now, there is no quick fix, because of the way we fund the purchase of ferries in Washington state.
LOCAL
► In the Stranger — Should Seattle require local workers on its construction projects? — Seattle City Council member Sally Clark agrees that the Rainier Beach Community Center was a particularly “egregious example” of a big city project that didn’t spur local jobs; she calls it “the last straw for some people.” For more than a year, the city has been studying a potential “local hire” ordinance, which would put rules into place guaranteeing that some percentage of work hours on large capital projects go to local residents.
► In today’s Peninsula Daily News — ‘Pit-pier’ company challenges state-Navy coastline easement on Hood Canal — Hood Canal Sand and Gravel, the company seeking the long-planned “pit to pier” gravel operation, has filed suit in Jefferson County Superior Court in an effort to thwart a state and federal plan to block development along the Hood Canal coastline.
► In today’s Yakima H-R — Yakima teachers approve contract — In a unanimous vote, members of the Yakima Education Association ratified a two-year contract laden with new provisions, including a new teacher evaluation system linking their performance to student achievement.
► In today’s Olympian — Olympia considers charging B&O tax for Providence St. Peter Hospital — In an effort to generate more money, Olympia leaders are weighing a proposal to eliminate a tax exemption for Providence St. Peter Hospital.
FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
► At Politico — Obama says he’ll act on inversions — He hopes to act soon to stem U.S. companies moving their headquarters overseas.
► In today’s NY Times — The muddled road to overhauling corporate taxes — Most everyone agrees the corporate tax system is badly broken, but the debate over companies moving overseas shows how hard it will be to make changes.
NATIONAL
► At Think Progress — Tennessee drug tests welfare recipients, finds less than 1% use drugs — In July, Tennessee began a drug testing program for applicants to the state’s welfare program. Since then, just one person has tested positive out of more than 800.
EDITOR’S NOTE — It’s a safe bet that if the politicians who approved this law needed to pass a similar test to get their state paychecks, a far higher percentage would fail.
► Today in The Hill — Stagnating wages weighing on Americans’ economic outlook — Economists say that even though the labor market is improving, along with other areas of the economy, the main source of consumers unease is the lack of real wage growth.
EDITOR’S NOTE — Which brings us to…
SHARED PROSPERITY
► In the Seattle Times — Yes, inequality hurts the economy (by Jon Talton) — A powerful segment of political and business leaders deny inequality has been growing worse at all, and, if it has, it’s the fault of lazy “takers.” So it’s important that a new report from Standard & Poor’s, which represents the Wall Street establishment, lays out what should be obvious: As more income goes to the richest, who save more (and gamble in the markets and seek rents), there’s less demand and weak growth. This makes digging out of recessions even harder.
EDITOR’S NOTE — Which brings us to…
EDITOR’S NOTE — And as long as we’re thinking big….
TODAY’S MUST-READ
The Stand posts links to Washington state and national news of interest every weekday morning by 10 a.m.