The governor releases her IRS return; Dino Rossi still won't

Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire has released her IRS returns for the past three years. Gregoire’s Republican challenger, former state Sen. Dino Rossi, continues to decline to release his.

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Dino Rossi refuses to release his federal tax returns; the governor hasn't decided

We asked for them, they refused for now. Here's why that information could be helpful as voters evaluate the GOP challenger and incumbent Democratic Gov. Chris Gregoire.

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The Rossi contributor behind that traffic survey

It's an election year and my political antennae are up. So when I saw this story in The Seattle Times, my first thought was: This is a gift to Republican gubernatorial candidate Dino Rossi.

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Gregoire and Rossi, together again

For the first time in nearly four years, Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire and her Republican re-challenger, Dino Rossi, found themselves in the same room Friday night, May 9. The occasion was a retirement party at the Washington Supreme Court for veteran Associated Press reporter Dave Ammons, who has gone to work for Secretary of State Sam Reed.

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The Washington gubernatorial race goes hybrid

The 2008 Washington gubernatorial race is shaping up as a rematch between Democrat Chris Gregoire and Republican Dino Rossi.

But while the candidates may be the same as in 2004, their campaign cars are not. This year both Rossi and Gregoire plan to crisscross the state in hybrid SUVs.

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Winter in late April

Up to a foot of snow could fall in the Cascade Mountains over the weekend. And some Snohomish County lowlands are already seeing flakes. This wacky blast of winter has ski areas cheering and farmers worried.

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A departing swing-district Democrat takes a few swings

State Rep. Pat Lantz, D-Gig Harbor, is leaving the Legislature, having chaired the Judiciary Committee longer than anyone. She has many good memories and no regrets, but she wonders if Speaker Frank Chopp and other Democrats running the Capitol have lost their nerve.

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'Save Our Sonics' banner flying over Olympia

Spotted at 12:45 p.m. over the Washington state Capitol in Olympia: A single engine plane pulling a banner that reads "Save Our Sonics: Next Year is Too Late," with a TV helicopter in hot pursuit.

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Rep. Helen Sommers will indeed retire

The second-longest-serving member of the Washington Legislature has confirmed she will not run for re-election. Longtime House Budget Chair Helen Sommers, D-Seattle, told me: “This is my last session. I’m not going to run again.” Asked why, she laughed and said: “Because I’m 75 years old and I’ll be 76 in a couple weeks. That’s why.”

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The speaker ducks a desperate homeowner

Scott Thalhamer of Olympia came to the Capitol yesterday to confront Speaker of the House Frank Chopp, D-Seattle.

Thalhamer wants Chopp to allow a vote on Senate Bill 6385, the “Homeowners’ Bill of Rights” sponsored by Sen. Brian Weinstein’s, D-Mercer Island. The bill would allow homeowners to sue and recover damages for shoddy home construction. It was held up last year, too.

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2009 will be the year of health-care reform in Washington

The 2008 Washington legislative session hasn't even reached the halfway mark. But it's not too early to look to the 2009 session. Majority Democrats are taking a slow-and-careful approach to this election year session. Republicans – less charitably – call it "punting."

So what's being kicked to next year – after the gubernatorial election? Major health-care reform, a la Massachusetts and California.

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What? Are the caucuses on Sunday?

Updated: Oops. Barack Obama's campaign for president in Washington is recovering from an embarrassing slip-up. Thursday, the campaign made Get Out The Caucus (GOTC) calls to an undisclosed number of voters.

This is what the calls said:

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Political fodder for the state GOP: a very red budget outlook

A few weeks ago, I reported that minority Republicans in Olympia were spinning election-year conspiracy theories. Why? Because Gov. Chris Gregoire’s budget office has stopped producing six-year budget outlooks.

Sen. Joe Zarelli, R-Ridgefield, predicted a long-term outlook would show the state facing a $2 billion budget shortfall by 2013 – a number that wouldn’t help Gregoire any on the campaign trail. In an effort to confirm his suspicion, Zarelli recently asked the non-partisan staff at the Senate Ways and Means Committee to crunch the numbers.

That report is back and it’s even worse than Zarelli’s prediction.

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The governor robs the GOP of ammo: deficit data

Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire's budget office has robbed Republicans of a key piece of information they use to beat up on the governor. The Office of Financial Management (OFM) has stopped producing six-year budget outlooks. Instead, it's only producing four-year forecasts. These are one page charts that show whether the state is facing a budget surplus or deficit in future years – based on spending and revenues.

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The number for Democratic legislators to remember: 133

That's the margin of victory of Gov. Chris Gregoire over Republican Dino Rossi in 2004. With a rematch looming and a 60-day legislative session beginning today, Democrats in charge in Olympia must stick to a very prudent agenda.

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Unlike father, unlike son: The Gardners are split on 'death with dignity'

Or whatever it's called. Just don't call it suicide.

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The campaign begins to legalize physician-assisted suicide

Former Washington Gov. Booth Gardner files paperwork this week to launch a signature drive to put a measure on the ballot. Gov. Chris Gregoire says she will oppose it. And proponents and opponents are organizing.

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Governor Gregoire says she’ll sue EPA Over clean car standards

Washington Governor Chris Gregoire, a Democrat, announced late Thursday that she will join California in suing the Bush Administration over tailpipe emission standards. Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski, also a Democrat, is hinting he’ll do the same.

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Word is Rep. Helen Sommers might retire, and she's not commenting

One of Washington's most powerful politicians has been returning campaign contributions. That might not mean much at this early stage, but the Seattle Democrat, who chairs the powerful House budget committee, won't say she's definitely running again, either.

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In Olympia, a shouting match: Tim Eyman vs. state Sen. Adam Kline

A longstanding feud between initiative king Tim Eyman and Democratic state Sen. Adam Kline of Seattle boiled over this morning at the Capitol. Lawmakers are back for a one-day special session to reinstate Eyman's Initiative 747, a 1 percent cap on annual property tax hikes, which was thrown out earlier this month by the Washington state Supreme Court. At the end of an Eyman news conference outside the Senate chambers, Kline held up a copy of the state budget and challenged Eyman to suggest specific cuts in programs and services. What erupted next was a good old fashioned shouting match. By the end, Kline's voice was breaking and the two men were shouting over each other. Here's an audio file [940 KB]. This a good, but not perfect, transcription:

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Washington lawmakers plan to pass a major highway-tolling bill

No sense waiting: With failure of Proposition 1 in metro Puget Sound, they say, guidelines need to be established for the inevitable use of tolls to pay for transportation improvements.

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Ballot measures update: I-960 and R-4204

After a day on post-election clean-up, I can provide a couple of updates on two of Washington's statewide ballot measures.

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To Kelso by way of Pullman, Moscow, and Ireland

It's been a long journey to the trial of Frederick David Russell, who is charged with vehicular homicide related to an awful 2001 accident on the highway between Pullman, Wash., and Moscow, Idaho. He fled to Ireland, and now the trial is being held in Kelso, Wash.

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Speaking to the Thomas Wales Foundation, John McKay lets the Justice Department have it

The fired U.S. attorney for Western Washington, speaking to the organization named for the slain assistant U.S. attorney, levels his harshest criticism yet at the leadership of the department formerly headed by Alberto Gonzales.

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Washington Democrats and the GOP commence mud-slinging

The 2008 governor's race might not be official, but it's real.

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Purgatory in Tacoma: update

We've solved the mystery of the man held in isolation at the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma. His is a long story of life as an illegal alien who has exhausted his options for staying.

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Purgatory in Tacoma

An unidentified man from Yemen is being held at the federal Northwest Detention Center and awaits deportation. It could be a long wait. He's in a bureaucratic Catch-22 that requires him to formally request to be deported. Meanwhile, he holds occasional hunger strikes. So who is he? By law, authorities cannot say.

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Shake-up at the Washington governor's mansion

Two top-level departures signal preparation for Chris Gregoire's 2008 re-election bid, politicos say.

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The 2008 campaign for governor is begun

Chris Gregoire hasn't officially announced a re-election bid, and possible GOP opponent Dino Rossi hasn't agreed to a rematch, but the fundraising and rhetoric are under way.

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Democrats try on the idea of Lisa Brown for governor in 2012

She's the Senate majority leader, she's from Spokane, and a serious run might necessitate a run for treasurer, first, to gain statewide name recognition.

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Outside gay-rights supporters quietly targeted Northwest legislative races in 2006

A Denver businessman has been coordinating campaign contributions in a number of states, including Washington and Oregon, to affect legislative races.

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Democrats feel accomplished, Republicans can only wait, and everybody's exhausted

The legislative session in Olympia is over, and the Democratic agenda is enacted. Here's a quick assessment of the ruling party's 105-day reign.

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Washington House members answer to a higher authority: the piggy-bank cop

Meet Speaker Pro-Tem John Lovick, former state trooper.

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The Democrats try to restrain themselves for the sake of the kittens

Frustrating for some, Speaker Frank Chopp's moderate agenda is designed to leave no one vulnerable when election time rolls around.

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The wheels are coming off paid-family-leave legislation

Some major elements are still in flux: who gets covered and how to pay for it.

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An executive session is scheduled on the Sonics arena

One rep says a public subsidy is dead, but you never know.

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Reading the full, depressing report on parole supervision

The Washington Department of Corrections examination of what led to the deaths of three law officers is an account of mistakes, bureaucracy, misfortune, and systemic problems.

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