Agriculture and Natural Resources: Brian Blake (Aberdeen)
Audit Review and Oversight: Mark Miloscia (Federal Way)
Capital Budget: Hans Dunshee (Snohomish)
Commerce and Labor: Steve Conway (Tacoma)
Community and Economic Development and Trade: Phyllis Gutierrez Kenney (Seattle)
Early Learning and Children’s Services: Ruth Kagi (Lake Forest Park)
Ecology and Parks: Dave Upthegrove (Des Moines)
Education: Dave Quall (Mount Vernon)
Education Appropriations: Kathy Haigh (Shelton)
Environmental Health: Tom Campbell (Roy)
Finance: Ross Hunter (Medina)
Financial Institutions and Insurance: Steve Kirby (Tacoma)
General Government Appropriations: Jeannie Darneille (Tacoma)
Health and Human Services Appropriations: Eric Pettigrew (Seattle)
Health Care and Wellness: Eileen Cody (Seattle)
Higher Education: Deb Wallace (Vancouver)
Human Services: Mary Lou Dickerson (Seattle)
Judiciary: Jamie Pedersen (Seattle)
Local Government and Housing: Geoff Simpson (Covington)
Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness: Christopher Hurst (Enumclaw)
Rules: Frank Chopp (Seattle)
State Government and Tribal Affairs: Sam Hunt (Olympia)
Technology, Energy and Communications: John McCoy (Tulalip)
Transportation: Judy Clibborn (Mercer Island)
Ways and Means: Kelli Linville (Bellingham)

Additionally, two vice chairs were also selected:
Ways and Means: Mark Ericks (Bothell)
Capital Budget: Timm Ormsby (Spokane)

Bonus explainer from the caucus: "The major change in committee structure is the creation of the Ways and Means committee. The Education Appropriations, General Government Appropriations, and Health and Human Services Appropriations committees are now standing committees that will make funding recommendations to the Ways and Means committee. "

After a hand recount in a razor-thin race, Spokane election officials say that challenger John Driscoll, a Spokane Democrat, has successfully ousted state Rep. John Ahern, R-Spokane.

Driscoll will represent the largely suburban 6th district, a crescent wrapped around western Spokane.

Both men are in Olympia today for committee days. Ahern has also been doing interviews about a controversial atheist sign posted alongside a nativity scene this week in the capitol.

Driscoll's squeaker of a win means that the Ds and Rs fought to a draw in the 6th. The Democrats lost state Rep. Don Barlow's seat to Republican Kevin Parker, but the Democrats ousted Ahern.

Counting Democratic state Sen. Chris Marr (who wasn't up for election this year), that means that Democrats are 2-1 against Republicans in the district, which until two years ago was a longtime Republican stronghold.

Washington's teachers' union has agreed to pay nearly $1 million to settle state allegations that it improperly spent non-members' money on politics.

The settlement includes up to $240,000 in small refunds to thousands of teachers.

“After eight years, it was time to settle this case so members could focus on what they do best: educating students,” said Eddie Westerman, interim communications manager for the 80,000-strong Washington Education Association.

The union, which has maintained for years that it does not spend non-members' money on politics, did not acknowledge any wrongdoing. And state lawmakers last year amended the law to make it easier for the union to comply.

“It was an unclear law, and now it's been cleared up, which we're thrilled by,” said Westerman.

State law requires most teachers to pay dues or fees to the union. The payments from those who don't want to join the union are considered “agency fees” to cover the price of collective bargaining and other WEA services. If they request it, they can get a refund of the percentage of the money that the union would otherwise spent on politics.

“The union says basically that by not asking for a refund, they've authorized it,” said Mike Reitz, general counsel for the Evergreen Freedom Foundation, which frequently clashes with the WEA.

In 2000, Washington sued the union, saying it was wrongly using non-members' agency fees to pay for political activities. In such cases, the law required “affirmative authorization” from those people first.

The WEA challenged that law, saying it was unconstitutional. A state appeals court and the state Supreme Court agreed. Then, last year, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the law was valid.
Despite the fact that the WEA didn't admit guilt, Reitz said, “I think that a Supreme Court ruling and a million dollar settlement says a lot about who was at fault.”

In a statement, the WEA acknowledged that the settlement is a lot to pay, “but continuing this case in the courts would cost a lot, too.” And members, it said, clearly have a legal right to be involved in political issues that affect public schools.

Under the settlement, Westerman said, the payments will amount to $15 per year for agency fee payers from 2003 to 2007. The union will also pay $735,000 to the state.

The settlement does not affect a related case, Davenport v. WEA, brought by non-member teachers suing the union over alleged political spending.

Can't go home for the night without noting a story by Jim Brunner in today's Seattle Times.

Brunner went to a legislative task force hearing Monday on the University of Washington's controversial proposal to tap $150 million in local taxes to help pay for part of a major overhaul of Husky Stadium.

Cougar fans, not surprisingly, are unenthusiastic about this idea. Here's a story I wrote in September about their efforts to derail the proposal, which one critic described as "just a brazen money grab."

Fast-forward to Monday. From Brunner's story:

During a break in the hearing, (Huskies booster Ron) Crockett bluntly told Bernard, "You guys are fools," adding for good measure that the WSU alums' arguments were "ludicrous" and "insane."

Sen. Ed Murray, D-Seattle, publicly berated the WSU alumni for their testimony.

"I think you are launching a provincial and parochial war," said Murray, whose district includes Husky Stadium. "You should be ashamed."

Murray warned the men they would be "setting off a bomb" if backers of UW and WSU started fighting against one another's projects.

(WSU alumnus Mike) Bernard responded that UW was to blame for that because of its unprecedented stadium-funding grab.

"The one who dropped the bomb is the UW, not WSU," he said.

Over at the UW's state blog, meanwhile, college president Mark Emmert dismissed the objections as "some dust getting thrown up."

In an open letter to the school's faculty senate, Emmert points out that boosters, high-end seats and other sources would pay for half the $300 million project. And in a weak economy, he suggests, the sensible thing to do is to spend the $150 million in local taxes on Husky Stadium.

From Emmert's letter: "What we have is a public works project to renovate the state's largest football stadium -- creating thousands of jobs at a time when the construction industry badly needs the work -- and the public dollars to help pay for the project are still years away."

Stay tuned.

Hat tip: April Coggins at Red County.

Only weeks before leaving office, Commissioner of Public Lands Doug Sutherland has signed a controversial 30-year lease that would allow Northwest Aggregates to build a new dock for its gravel mine on Maury Island. The annual rent for the state land under the dock: $1,500.

The long-running fight over mining, barges and the dock at Maury Island, an arm of Vashon Island, spilled over to Olympia two years ago, where environmentalist lawmakers tried to halt the project. The dock, they argued, would be located in a critical piece of Puget Sound habitat: the Maury Island Aquatic Reserve. Proponents, including local Sen. Bob Morton, R-Kettle Falls, argued that the company had already spent millions of dollars in a lengthy permitting process from local, state and federal agencies.

Sutherland says the lease will require more long-term environmental protection "while allowing existing commercial activities." The new dock would replace a crumbling old one, allowing the company to expand its gravel mining on the island.

Sutherland's successor, Okanogan County rancher Peter Goldmark, expressed concern over the mining operation during the campaign, but didn't say he would refuse a lease for a new dock. The mining company contributed to Sutherland's campaign and to a political action committee that backed him for re-election.

The Department of Natural Resources says the lease requires that the dock be in deep water, away from eelgrass beds. It will be narrower than the old dock, and adjacent tidelands must be put into a permanent conservation easement, with no development allowed. Except for navigation, lighting on the dock will be banned for much of the winter so the feeding and spawning of herring won't be affected.

Update: Shortly before 8 p.m., Goldmark released a statement saying he was "deeply disappointed" by Sutherland's 11th-hour move. And Goldmark again raised an issue he brought up months ago on the campaign trail: does the mining company or the state own the rights to the gravel?

The timing of this decision, only one day after the Puget Sound Partnership brought forward their plan to clean up Puget Sound, is very troubling. While I understand there is only one Lands Commissioner at a time, this decision does come after the voters of Washington sent a very clear message.

The low lease fee of $1,500 a year gives the impression that corporate interests are greater than the public interest. Moreover, it is unclear whether or not the mining company or the taxpayers even own the gravel deposits.

State Fish and Wildlife head Jeff Koening's resigned under pressure last night, apparently a victim of the tug-of-war between commercial fisherman and sport anglers. See The Olympian's story here.

That was followed this morning by news of the impending departure of Jone Bosworth, the head of the new state Department of Early Learning. Bosworth, appointed by Gov. Gregoire in 2006, will leave early next month.

Next up: Cheryl Stephani, the high-profile assistant secretary of the Department of Social and Health Services' Children's Administration. Stephani said today that she'll leave the agency by the end of the year. Other than taking some time off, she said she has no immediate plans.

"I am proud to have been part of Children's Administration, and although there is never a good time to leave, now seems to be the time to make a change," she said.

Update: State Sen. Pam Roach, who is probably the Legislature's sharpest critic of DSHS, has some advice for DSHS head Robin Arnold-Williams re: replacing Stephani:

"Robin...let's get it right. No more promotions from your institutions. Let's get new blood into this department. Let's get some citizen over-sight. My God...It is Christmas after all."

It's the kind of energy you'd expect from a guy who owns a chain of coffee shops. With nearly six weeks to go before he's sworn in, state Rep.-elect Kevin Parker is already scheduling fact-finding tours and proposing a bill.

In fairness, the bill was inherited from the lawmaker Parker ousted: state Rep. Don Barlow, D-Spokane.

The still-unnumbered House bill would require funeral homes holding the unclaimed remains of veterans and eligible dependents to transfer those ashes to the state Department of Veterans Affairs. Idaho has a similar law, Parker says.

As things stand now, he said, the unclaimed ashes of veterans (as well as other people) can sit for decades at funeral homes. Sometimes there are no family members to claim them, or a remaining family member is too ailing to make arrangements for the remains.

The draft of the bill doesn't specify what would happen next, but presumably the department would inter the ashes at one of the state's two veterans' cemeteries.

Cost? Parker said the agency assured him that they can do the extra work within their existing budget.

Why so quick off the line? Parker said he doorbelled 21,000 homes during the campaign, and promised he'd work hard.

"I looked so many people in the eye and said as I see a need, I would do things as quickly as possible," he said.

From the print paper:

OLYMPIA _ On Monday in the Washington state Capitol, Christians on one side of the rotunda will erect a Nativity scene, with a 3 1/2-foot-tall Joseph and Mary and a baby Jesus in a manger.

On the other side of the echoing dome, members of an atheist group will post their own display: a 4 1/2-foot-tall sign declaring that there is no God and that "religion is but myth and superstition that hardens hearts and enslaves minds."

Welcome to the latest chapter in the annual tussle to stake out a piece of holiday real estate in what lawmakers like to call "the people's house."

Things were simpler in 2005, before state Rep. John Ahern, R-Spokane, decided to launch a protest against the long-standing offend-no-one practice of declaring the annual evergreen towering inside the Capitol a "holiday tree." (The 30-foot trees, surrounded by gifts, are donated by the Association of Washington Business.)

Ahern objected, saying the thing was clearly a Christmas tree. In protest, he gathered with a few dozen supporters on the steps of the Capitol to sing carols that year. Then he tucked a little "Merry Christmas" sign at the base of the tree, along with a shiny cardboard cutout of a Jewish menorah.

And so it began. The next year, bearded orthodox rabbis gathered with Gov. Chris Gregoire to light a large menorah in the rotunda. That triggered a request by Olympia real-estate agent Ron Wesselius to erect the Nativity scene.

State officials balked. Wesselius sued. The state settled, and Wesselius last year was allowed to prop up the figures on the Capitol's third floor.

As a result, Capitol officials now say they'll honor virtually any request for a religious or political display.

As long as it's not disruptive, costs taxpayers nothing and is not seen as the state endorsing any viewpoint, "it's pretty much wide open," said Steve Valandra, spokesman for General Administration, the state agency that issues the permits. "It's free expression."

After all, he pointed out, state officials had to let about a dozen uniformed neo-Nazis use the Capitol steps for a white-separatist rally in July 2006. Hundreds of state troopers spent the afternoon keeping the Nazis and hundreds of counter-demonstrators separated.

Still, some think the religious expressions go too far.

The Olympian newspaper recently decried the competing displays as "an out-of-control struggle for religious superiority" and "escalating nonsense."

"How long will it be before the Capitol is filled with competing displays?" the paper asked. "Goat sacrifices?"

Ahern said religion is under attack in popular society, and all major religions should be free to have a display in the Statehouse.

"We are a Judeo-Christian nation, and we need to honor the different times of year for Christians, Jews and even Muslims," he said.

Christmas trees, menorahs and displays for Ramadan should all be welcomed, Ahern said. But the atheist sign,

Washington state Supreme Court Justice Richard Sanders has ended days of speculation about whether he was the heckler that on Thursday shouted "Tyrant! You are a tyrant!" at U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey during a speech in Washington, D.C.

He was.

Sanders minutes ago sent out a five paragraph statement. He said he was particularly irked at Mukasey's noting that Al Qaeda is not a signatory to the Geneva Conventions, which Sanders said prompted a laugh from the Federalist Society crowd.

Attorney General Mukasey received a standing ovation. I passionately disagree with these views: the government must never set aside the Constitution; domestic and international law forbids torture; and access to the writ of habeas corpus should not be denied.

Sanders wrote.

The program provided no opportunity for questions or response, and I felt compelled to speak out.  I stood up, and said, “tyrant,” and then left the meeting.  No one else said anything.  I believe we must speak our conscience in moments that demand it, even if we are but one voice.  

Sanders argues that the expression doesn't mean that he heckled Mukasey. Although the video shows Mukasey pausing in his speech and other audience members can be heard telling Sanders to sit down, Sanders says he didn't disrupt the meeting. Only later did he learn that Mukasey fainted about 15 minutes afterward.

I hope those who know my jurisprudence will agree that to truly love the Constitution is to uphold it, to speak out for it, not just in times of peace and prosperity, but also in times of chaos and crisis.
 

Sanders wrote.

Read his full memo here.

Calling for "an immediate, firm and direct response," the governor's budget director, Victor Moore, today called for $260 million more in state budget cuts.

Now.

Among the new cuts: another $4.5 million from Washington State University and $1 million from Eastern Washington University. The Department of Social and Health Services will have to cut nearly $181 million from its $4.6 billion budget.

"You should aim to cut or save from your remaining FY 2009 General Fund appropriations as indicated on the attached list," Moore wrote this morning to state agencies, college presidents and others. "I want to clarify that this is in addition to cuts you made in August and October."

Find more efficiencies, he told them. "Continue to pull back on new programs not yet fully implemented." And scale back current programs and activities that aren't top priorities.

The cuts work out to about 6.2 percent of the state agencies' money for the rest of the year, and 3 percent to 3.5 percent for higher education.

And this is just to balance the budget in the remaining 7 months of this fiscal year. Further cuts will undoubtedly come for the $4.6 billion -- or more -- to be pared from the budget over the next two years.

"Thank you again," Moore closes, "for all of your efforts during these challenging economic times."

Here's part of the speech by U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey, just before he was allegedly heckled last week by Washington state Supreme Court Justice Richard Sanders. (I note the part where the heckler interrupts him. The link to the Federalist Society recording is in the post below.)

Mukasey was praising U.S. troops and intelligence staffers for their work to protect the nation against terrorism. He continued...

“Much of that credit also goes to the president. (applause). In this area, as in many others, leadership and resolve matter. As the end of this administration draws near, you would expect to hear broad praise for the success at keeping our nation safe. Instead, I'm afraid what we hear is a chorus with a rather more dissonant refrain.

"Instead of appreciation or even a fair appraisal of the administration's accomplishments, we have heard relentless criticism of the very policies that have helped to keep us safe. We have seen this in the media, we have seen it in the congress, and we have heard it from the legal academy as well.

"In some measure, these criticisms rest on a very dangerous form of amnesia that views the success of our counterterrorism efforts as something that undermines the justification for continuing them. In an odd way, we have become victims of our own success.

"In the eyes of these critics, if al Qaeda has not struck our homeland for seven years, then perhaps it never posed much of threat after all, and we didn't need these counterterrorism policies. Other critics question the premise, almost universally accepted following the Sept. 11th attacks, that the United States is engaged in a war against al Qaeda and other groups.

"Even more common is the casual assumption among many in media, political and legal circles that the administration's counterterrorism politcies have come at the expense of the rule of law. I'm quite familiar with these criticisms having heard many of them myself during my tenure as attorney general."

(Voice from the audience): “Tyrant! You are a tyrant!”

(Other voices in the crowd): “Sit down!...Sit down.”

Someone heckled U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey last week during Mukasey's speech before The Federalist Society in Washington, D.C. (About 15 minutes after the incident, Mukasey slumped at podium and fainted.)

Who was the person shouting "Tyrant! You ARE a tyrant!" from the audience?

Allegedly Washington State Supreme Court Justice Richard Sanders, famous for his libertarian-leaning dissents.

Lawyer Wendy Long said on Fox News Friday night that it was Sanders. The statement was picked up by conservative writer Michelle Malkin.

Yesterday, the Wall Street Journal's James Taranto opined that yes, it was likely Sanders. Taranto was in the room at the speech.

We were seated close enough to the heckler to note that he was at Table 50--Sanders's assigned table, according to the dinner program. Although we did not recognize the heckler, we observed that he had white hair and a mustache, as does Sanders...

Here's a new post from today from Malkin, who queried Sanders about the incident and got an equivocal response. He told her "I had personally left the dinner long before he collapsed and first knew of it watching the news from my hotel room the next morning," but didn't answer whether he was the heckler.

In the audio recording from The Federalist Society web page, go to the 17-minute, 28-second mark and you'll hear a voice -- which sounds a lot like Richard Sanders' -- shouting out "Tyrant! You ARE a tyrant!" as Mukasey touts the Bush Administration's achievements combating terrorism. (Note: the video, not surprisingly, is very slow to load. Once it's loaded halfway or so, scroll to the time mark above.)

On the recording, you can hear other members of the audience telling the heckler to knock it off.

"Sit down!" says one voice. "Sit down."

Sanders is arguably the court's most colorful personality, routinely weaving quotes from sources as diverse as Dickens, Shakespeare, the Bible, and the Rolling Stones into his rulings. See also this excellent 1998 profile by former Seattle Times writer David Postman.

Sanders told The Olympian's Adam Wilson yesterday that he wasn't present when Mukasey collapsed. But he declined to answer whether he was the heckler.

"As to that, I don't have any comment. But I wasn't there when he collapsed. I heard it on television the next morning, I was very sorry to hear it." Sanders told Wilson. Sanders also left Wilson with the strong impression that Sanders wasn't even at the speech.

Stay tuned. I've got calls in to both Sanders' Olympia office and home office. I'm told that he and state court officials are working on a statement that will explain more.

UPDATE: Sanders minutes ago sent out a five paragraph statement. He said he was particularly irked at Mukasey's noting that Al Qaeda is not a signatory to the Geneva Conventions, which Sanders said prompted a laugh from the Federalist Society crowd.

Attorney General Mukasey received a standing ovation. I passionately disagree with these views: the government must never set aside the Constitution; domestic and international law forbids torture; and access to the writ of habeas corpus should not be denied.

Sanders wrote.

The program provided no opportunity for questions or response, and I felt compelled to speak out. I stood up, and said, “tyrant,” and then left the meeting. No one else said anything. I believe we must speak our conscience in moments that demand it, even if we are but one voice.

Sanders argues that the expression doesn't mean that he heckled Mukasey. Although the video shows Mukasey pausing in his speech and other audience members can be heard telling Sanders to sit down, Sanders says he didn't disrupt the meeting. Only later did he learn that Mukasey fainted about 15 minutes afterward.

I hope those who know my jurisprudence will agree that to truly love the Constitution is to uphold it, to speak out for it, not just in times of peace and prosperity, but also in times of chaos and crisis.

Sanders wrote.

Read his full memo here.

"It's smarter, it's cheaper, it's faster -- and we can actually get it done."
-state Sen. Chris Marr, D-Spokane, on a proposal to shave nearly two thirds off the price tag of a massive Spokane transportation project.

From Tuesday's paper:

OLYMPIA _ Trying to kick-start the next phase of the years-in-the-making North Spokane Corridor, state lawmakers this morning will propose a slimmed-down, much-cheaper version.

The plan, crafted by state engineers, trims costs on a three-mile stretch from Francis Avenue south to the Spokane River.

Instead of the expected $720 million, the new plan is pegged at $285 million.

“Instead of building a Cadillac, we're building a Chevy,” said state Sen. Chris Marr. “It'll get us where we need to go, and we can always upgrade.”

Marr, Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown and state Rep. Timm Ormsby, all D-Spokane, will hold a press conference this morning in Spokane to discuss specifics.

Among the changes:

-A planned Wellesley interchange northwest of the Esmeralda Golf Course would be added later,
-the number of lanes would be slimmed from 8 to 4 for now,
-and plans to put parts of the new freeway below ground level will be shelved.

The interchange and additional lanes can be built afterward, Marr said. The right-of-way for the project, he said, will be designed to accommodate future growth.

He likens the proposal to cash-strapped family pouring a foundation for a 5-bedroom home, but only building three bedrooms for now.

“Let's build the capacity we need today,” he said.

Having the next phase ready to go also positions it well for a potential federal or state economic stimulus plan, he said. Congress, President-elect Barack Obama and Gov. Chris Gregoire are also discussing plans to spur jobs with public construction projects.

Marr said the Francis-to-the-river route would change slightly to save costs and skirt commercial land in favor of industrial tracts. No homes would be affected, he said.

Originally proposed in 1946, the 60 mile-an-hour link between US 395 and Interstate 90 was stalled for decades. It's aimed at removing much of the stop-and-go heavy truck traffic that now inches between stoplights on city streets. The initial 8 ½ mile stretch now takes an average of 27 minutes to drive, Marr said.

From the print paper:

OLYMPIA _ The specter of layoffs is looming over a sector of the economy that rarely sees it: state workers.

As Olympia struggles to bridge a record budget shortfall of $5.1 billion - or more - over the next 2 1/2 years, lawmakers and budget officials say that cutting jobs looks more likely.

"It's difficult to imagine that we'd be able to balance the budget without there being some reduction in the size of the work force," said Glenn Kuper, spokesman for the state budget office. Retirements and attrition, he said, aren't likely to be enough.

"I would say it's very likely," state Sen. Margarita Prentice, when asked about layoffs. The Renton Democrat leads the Senate's budget-writing committee.

There are about 16,000 state-paid workers in the Spokane region, including social workers, probation officers, prison guards, mental health workers and the staff and faculty at two public universities.

Teachers also are largely state paid, but are more insulated from budget woes because the state constitution mandates that funding schools is the state's "paramount duty."

The news worsened last week, when a state economist announced that a weak economy has caused the expected $3.2ƒ|billion shortfall to mushroom into a $5.1 billion mess. That's nearly twice the size of Idaho's entire general-fund budget.

"It's worse than anyone has imagined," said Prentice.

And the shortfall could grow even larger due to growing numbers of students in public schools, apparently as parents pull their children out of private schools.

In Pullman on Saturday, Gov. Chris Gregoire told the Associated Press it could get as bad as $6 billion.

All of which has some state workers worried.

"People that haven't been here very long are definitely concerned for their jobs," said Greg Streva, a plumbing foreman at Washington State University. "People are scared."

In early August, The Spokesman-Review reported that legislative candidate Shelly Short's husband was under investigation for allegedly stealing $3,318 from a local fair board.

The husband, Mitch Short, called it "a political smear job at its worst" that would send "a chilling message to anyone considering public service."

Two weeks later, he was charged with aggravated first-degree theft -- for stealing $3,318 from the local fair board.

Shelly Short promptly called the charges "nothing less than a public lynching, done to derail my campaign."

She told voters Mitch Short would be exonerated.

"The vicious attacks on my husband, Mitch, came as a complete surprise," she wrote in a fundraising letter for her campaign.

In October, the newspaper reported that court records showed she faced a $36,000 IRS lien, a state tax warrant for another $1,000, and a $12,000 judgment for delinquent credit-card debt. She was also nearly $2,500 behind on property taxes. A 2007 lawsuit by an employee over back wages also included a promissory note from Mitch Short acknowledging he owed the woman more than $9,000.

On the campaign trail, meanwhile, Shelly Short was touting her fiscal conservatism.

"I made this pledge because it is time to draw a line in the sand and say enough is enough. Frankly, the state should buckle down and handle its financial affairs in the same way our families do when times are tough," her campaign website told voters.

Also in late October, voters received an e-mail, signed "Shelly Short," thanking them for their support, reminiscing about being hired in the mid-1990s to work for Congressman George Nethercutt and blasting the "attacks" and "propaganda."

"Don't Let The Spokesman-Review Steal This Election" it began. The paper, it said, would "say and print anything in order to destroy my campaign."

"In contrast, the local press has been very fair in this election," the e-mail continued. "A local reporter said that the Spokesman's latest attack was a blatant example of downtown Spokane elitist biased journalism written for the sole purpose to destroy my campaign...I guess I'm too much of a country girl for them."

"...Many years ago, there were some very wise words passed down to all," the note to voters continued. "Thou shall not bear false witness against thy neighbor."

Voters apparently believed her. Two weeks ago, Short was elected to the statehouse with 57 percent of the vote. She'll represent northeastern Washington's rural 7th District.

Yesterday, in a Spokane County courtroom, Short's husband, Mitch J. Short, pleaded guilty to third-degree theft.

In a plea agreement, he was sentenced to a year in jail with 360 days suspended and the remaining 5 days converted to community service. A Spokane County judge ordered him booked and released at the Stevens County Jail and put him on probation for a year.

In court, he apologized for stealing the money.

"He made a mistake," said his attorney, Robert Critchlow. "It was a dumb mistake. And he's sorry."

House and Senate Republicans have picked their leaders for what's going to be a very interesting year.

-Rep. Richard DeBolt, R-Chehalis, remains House Minority Leader.
-Rep. Joel Kretz, who's putting Wauconda back on the map, is deputy minority leader.
-Rep. Dan Newhouse, R-Sunnyside: floor leader.
-Rep. Dan Kristiansen, R-Snohomish: caucus chair.
-Rep. Bill Hinkle, R-Cle Elum: whip.
-Reps. Judy Warnick, R-Moses Lake, and Charles Ross, R-Naches, assistant floor leaders.

Kretz is the only real surprise here, replacing Rep. Doug Eriksen, R-Bellingham, in the No. 2 post. In a statement, the conservative rancher said "Olympia could use a dose of Seventh District values," and that the job gives rural northeastern Washington "a strong voice at the table."

The Senate also held few surprises, other than the election of Sen. Mike Carrell, R-Lakewood, as deputy leader. He replaces Sen. Cheryl Pflug, R-Maple Valley, who will be caucus vice chair.

Senate Minority Leader Mike Hewitt, R-Walla Walla keeps the post he's had since 2005. And local Sen. Mark Schoesler, R-Ritzville, will remain floor leader.

Elsewhere on the roster: Caucus chair: Sen. Linda Evans Parlette, R-Wenatchee; whip: Sen. Dale Brandland, R-Bellingham; deputy floor leader: Sen Jim Honeyford, R-Sunnyside, and deputy whip: Sen. Jerome Delvin, R-Richland.

Here are a couple of clips, lifted from Tuesday's meeting of the state's task force on basic education finance, that illustrate exactly the sort of debate that's going to dominate Olympia for months. It's the classic budget tug-of-war between a good idea and what the checkbook can bear.

In this case, several people want to add early learning -- pre-kindergarten teaching aimed at getting all kids ready to learn -- to the state's definition of basic education. Why that matters: Washington's constitution famously declares that such education is the state's "paramount duty." That means that schools can, and are, going to court to force the state to cough up adequate cash.

Research suggests that early learning helps struggling kids at a critical time, and the idea was backed by both Republicans and Democrats. In the clip below, you'll hear from state Sen. Rodney Tom, who argues that it's essential.

But first you'll hear from Laurie Dolan, who heads Gov. Chris Gregoire's policy office. Dolan, a former Spokane school official, is clearly a fan of early learning. But she's also well aware of how bad the budget looks. Here's what she said:

Then came a round of discussion, with proponents essentially arguing that the state cannot afford NOT to add early learning to the definition of basic education.

Dolan followed up with this:

These sorts of discussions are only going to ramp up as the state wrestles with at least a $5.1 billion deficit over the next 2 1/2 years.

(Video clips courtesy of TVW.)

Excerpts from this morning's paper:

Facing an unprecedented budget shortfall, Washington state officials are scrambling to shave billions of dollars in state spending.

That likely means layoffs and deep cuts in state programs.

“We are not immune to these immense headwinds that are buffeting the economic landscape,” said Arun Raha, the state’s new chief revenue forecaster.

Raha on Wednesday predicted that state revenues will be $5.1 billion less than expected over the next 2 ½ years. That’s $1.9 billion worse than expected just two months ago.

and

Lawmakers and state officials are also increasingly saying that layoffs look likely, although they’re not sure how many.

“I don’t think you can cut state government without cutting jobs,” said Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown, D-Spokane. “It’s not like we purchase a lot of things. We mostly purchase services.”

and

“Lawmakers made promises that they are finding that they can’t keep,” said Paul Guppy, research director with the conservative Washington Policy Center. “The bright spot is that this will give Olympia something it hasn’t had in a number of years: a seriousness about how it spends people’s money.”

Guppy also noted that the state is still expected to collect more money over the next two years than in the current two-year budget. It just won’t be as much as originally expected. Republicans on Wednesday argued that overspending, not the economy, is the problem.

“No one can say they didn’t know a huge deficit was coming, because the warning signs have been up for at least the past year, when revenues began to drop,” said Sen. Joe Zarelli, R-Ridgefield.

and

“There will be folks out there saying ‘I told you so,’” said Brown, “But I don’t think they can say with a straight face that they would have had the pre-existing budget reduced by $4-$5 billion.”

Sen. Craig Pridemore, D-Vancouver, said lawmakers are also hoping for a national stimulus plan, hopefully by the end of the year, to give the state’s economy a boost.

Much of the decrease in expected revenue, Raha said, comes from sales and use taxes. With jobs uncertain, home values declining and a plummeting stock market, he said, consumers have clearly decided “to just sit on their wallets.”

“The problem is not employment or personal income,” Raha said in an interview. “The real problem is consumer confidence and access to credit. People have been able to spend, using their homes as ATMs.”

Washington's colleges and universities are being asked to come up with $600 million in budget cuts over the next two years -- which would be about 20 percent of the money they get from the state.

"We're just asking them to prepare for us a plan that they could use to reach a 20 percent cut," said Glenn Kuper, spokesman for the state's Office of Financial Management. "We don't know yet how all the cuts are going to be apportioned out, but we want to have those options in front of us. Twenty percent is a rough estimate of what the final cut could be."

And they'll have to come up with the lists fast. Gov. Chris Gregoire intends to roll out here 2009-2011 budget proposal the week of Dec. 15th, and by law has to do so by Dec. 20th.

Kuper said that virtually all state agencies are being asked to put together similar lists. But much state spending isn't discretionary. K-12 schools are protected by the state constitution, which declares education "the paramount duty" of the state. Some medical and social service spending is mandatory as well. And things like prisons are pretty hard to substantially cut.

"Unfortunately for higher ed, they're one of the vulnerable areas of the budget where there is flexibility," said Kuper. Universities do have other sources of cash, like tuition and federal grants, but most of their money, he said, comes from the state.

The 20 percent request -- $600 million in cuts out of a roughly $3.3 billion two-year budget -- was prepared prior to Wednesday's announcement that state revenue will be much less than expected. The weak economy means that the state will collect $5.1 billion less than anticipated over the next 2 1/2 years, the state's chief revenue economist predicted Wednesday.

Asked if the list of cuts could grow more in the wake of the bleaker forecast, Kuper said it's unclear. Some bad news was already factored in, he said.

"We want to be careful not to do too much to higher ed because the value is so great," he said. "We're going to have to look real hard at everything and see what we can afford."

Feeling the pinch from a dramatic slowdown in consumer spending, state revenues will likely be far less -- down $5.1 billion -- between now and the end of fiscal year 2011.

That's a huge hit.

"We are not immune to these immense headwinds that are buffeting the economic landscape," said Arun Raha, the state's new chief revenue forecaster.

Developing...

That's what we'll find out this morning in hearing room B of the House office building in Olympia.

At 10 a.m., the state's Economic and Revenue Forecast Council will be told what the state treasury's likely to look like over the next two years. TVW, the state's public affairs network, will air the meeting live.

A year ago, the 2009-2011 forecast looked a bit cloudy, but nowhere near as bad as it does today. The state's economists last December figured Washington's government would be short about $500 million.

Over the spring and summer, that grew to $2.7 billion, and in September, it jumped to $3.2 billion. This morning, we'll see where things now stand. The shortfall is already nearly 10 percent of the state's general fund.

"I think this has not hit home with people," said Sen. Margarita Prentice, chairwoman of the Senate's budget-writing committee. "The cuts that we're going to have to make are going to be awful. People are going to be very unhappy and hope that there will be an exception for the things they care deeply about."

How about staving off cuts with tax increases? Prentice said she agrees with Gov. Chris Gregoire that a sagging economy isn't the time to boost taxes. Businesses are struggling, Prentice said, and "I can't think of too many places we can start taxing even if we wanted to."

Prentice said the focus is likely to be on trying to create jobs, in hopes of growing quickly out of the economic slowdown.

"That's going to be the refrain you're going to hear from us," she said.

Last week and again this week, a small group of lawmakers, school officials and others have been grappling with ways to re-tool K-12 education in Washington.

The primary mission of the state's Basic Education Finance task force is to rewrite the complex formula through which the state steers billions of dollars a year to local schools. As things stand now, state Rep. Ross Hunter said recently, that formula “is impenetrable not only to normal people, but it's impenetrable to us.”

That discussion has evolved into a larger debate about school reforms, with some members proposing merit pay for teachers, the state taking over salary negotiations for all 295 school districts, and other major changes. One thing that most members seem to agree on: schools need more money.

“We're grossly underfunded, and that needs to stop,” said Davenport school superintendent Jim Kowalkowski, a member of the group.

Many of the changes are likely to face fierce resistance from the state teacher's union. Arguing to preserve local control of schools, the Washington Education Association's Randy Parr said more state control would result in “McSchools.”

“You know what kind of hamburger you're going to get no matter where it is in the state,” Parr said, “and you also know it's not going to be very good.”

Also controversial: a proposal to attract more math- and science teachers by paying them more than other teachers. That idea “has been one of those that causes people's hair to catch on fire,” said Hunter.

Faced with the recession, the group is now proposing launching the changes over 6-8 years. And despite skepticism about significant reforms, group members insist that change is coming.

“I know a lot of people have blown this process off for the last year and a half and said this will never amount to anything,” said state Superintendent of Public Instruction Terry Bergeson. “Well, get over it.”

And that means more money for schools, task force members say.

“If this doesn't come out at the end with a substantial amount of new money for districts, I'll eat my hat,” said Hunter.

Washington has long run an employee suggestion program, asking workers how to save taxpayer dollars or make things more efficient. (Examples: set printers for double-sided prints, use digital recorders instead of cassette tapes, set up a web page where different departments can swap excess office supplies.)

With Washington now facing a multi-billion-dollar budget shortfall over the next two years, Gov. Chris Gregoire is soliciting ideas from...everyone.

"If you know of an effective strategy to significantly trim costs, I want to hear from you," Gregoire said. "It is becoming clear that we will need to cut spending and rethink the way we provide services to responsibly balance the next budget."

Unlike the state version, you won't be cut a check for part of the money that's saved. But here's the online suggestion form.

Specifically, Gregoire and her budget writers want to know:

-"What government programs should we sacrifice to ensure that we can continue to provide the essentials to the people of our state?"
-"What ways can we reform state government to provide services more efficiently and cost-effectively?"
-and "What government functions and programs might be better handled in the private sector or the nonprofit arena?"

Gregoire has already frozen some hiring, cut travel, contracts and equipment purchases. She's also called for deeper cuts in state agencies, and halted lawmakers' proposal to launch a new paid family leave program for parents who take time off from work to bond with a new child.

Senate Democrats re-elected Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown, D-Spokane, to the same post at a meeting this weekend in Sea-Tac. Under a variety of scenarios (minority, slight majority, and big majority), Brown has headed up the Senate Democrats since 2002.

Also re-elected: Tracey Eide, D-Federal Way, as the D's floor leader.

But with Harriet Spanel, D-Bellingham, retiring this year, the Democratic caucus chair job now goes to Ed Murray, D-Seattle.

"Whether you raise horses or cattle, when you come to the back porch after a long day your boots still smell the same."

Rep. Bill Hinkle, R-Cle Elum, apparently arguing for solidarity between horse-boarders and cattlemen in contesting a new ruling by state tax officials.