Kitsap Legislators to host Town Hall Meetings

 
Kitsap legislators are set to host Town Hall Meetings this weekend to offer an opportunity for constituents to learn about the issues facing the 2010 Legislature — now in session through mid-March — and to share ideas for balancing the state budget and promoting economic recovery. The events are free and open to the general public.

State Reps. Sherry Appleton (D-Poulsbo) and Christine Rolfes (D-Bainbridge Island) will host two local town hall meetings for constituents of the 23rd Legislative District:

9:30-11 a.m.
Bainbridge Island High School Commons
9330 NE High School Road
Bainbridge Island

1- 2:30 p.m.
Eagles Nest
1195 NW Fairgrounds Rd
Bremerton

Meanwhile, Sen. Derek Kilmer and Rep. Larry Seaquist will hold three meetings in the 26th Legislative District:

Noon
Bremer Student Center at Olympic College
1600 Chester Ave.
Bremerton

2 p.m.
Givens Community Center
1026 Sidney Ave.
Port Orchard

4 p.m.
Peninsula High School Auditorium
14105 Purdy Drive NW
Gig Harbor

Jan Angel opposes budget cuts

  

This week, the House approved HB 2921, which reduces the states spending in the 2009-2010 Operating Budget by about $45 million over the next year.


The bill was passed on a bipartisan vote of 77 to 19, with Rep. Jan Angel (R-26, Port Orchard) opposing - which seems somewhat curious considering that Angel talks a good game about the need to cut state spending.



With the state facing a $2.6 billion revenue shortfall, every effort has to be made to re-balance the budget. With Angel adamantly opposed to any ideas concerning new revenue, you think she'd jump at the chance to cut $45 million dollars in state spending.


So what's up with this?


Maybe she doesn't really think our budget hole is so bad?


Maybe she doesn't really think we need to cut state spending?


Or maybe it was just her "Republican Reflex"- voting against any bill sponsored by a Democrat unless the Republican leadership tells her otherwise?

Marathon Man

  

There aren't many people in the Legislature with a more well-earned reputation for hard work than Sen. Derek Kilmer (D-Gig Harbor), and his chairmanship yesterday of a marathon session of the Senate Higher Education & Workforce Development Committee only emphasize his dedication.

A typical committee session in Olympia is scheduled for two hours, but yesterdays hearings in Kilmer's committee included four related bills that would attract a larger-than-usual slate of advocates hoping to testify, including:

• SB 6276 (Granting the University of Washington tuition-setting authority)

• SB 6562 (Regarding tuition-setting authority at institutions of higher education)

• SB 6509 (Modifying the budget recommendations developed by the higher education coordinating board to include recommendations on tuition and fees)

• SB 6625 (Changing higher education tuition and financial aid provisions)

So many people showed up to offer testimony and comments that a second hearing room was opened up to accommodate them; they could witness the hearings via a live video feed and were notified when they were "up to bat" for testimony in the main hearing room.


Kilmer had the insight to schedule these bills for hearings during a committee meeting at the end of the day: without having to vacate the rooms for another committee, he could ensure that everyone who wanted to testify had their voices heard and their comments entered into the record.


What was scheduled to be a two-hour session ran to over three hours - you can watch the entire thing on TVW below.

No Pot for You (yet...)

 
State lawmakers on Wednesday killed two pieces of legislation that would've legalized or decriminalized marijuana in our state, but Washington voters may still get a chance to weigh in on the matter this fall if enough signatures are collected to put a citizen imitative legalizing marijuana on the November ballot.


By a six to two vote, the House Public Safety & Emergency Preparedness Committee defeated House Bill 2401 - that's the bill that would have made pot use legal for people over aged 21, with revenues taxed by the state.


I'm all for reforming marijuana laws - but "legalization" at the state level simply isn't practical unless the Federal government is on board.  Did the supporters of HB 2401 really think that "this Washington" could sell pot without having "the other Washington" send in DEA agents to close the state stores?


That's why House Bill 1177 was a much more practical approach - it would have "decriminalized" possession of small amounts of pot, making it a civil infraction subject to a fine, but was defeated by a vote of five to three.


"Decriminalization" would have effectively removed the state from the "War on Drugs" as far as marijuana was concerned, saving the state millions of dollars in enforcement, prosecution and incarceration costs for something that is widely considered to be a victimless crime.


A KING5/SurveyUSA poll found a majority of people from ages 18-64 thought legalization was a good idea The poll of 500 adults, which had a margin of error of 4.5 percent, found that overall 56 percent of respondents supported legalization. Of all the age groups surveyed, only people older than 65 were against it.


Meanwhile, activists have filed a ballot initiative with the WA Secretary of State's office that would legalize all adult marijuana possession, manufacturing and sales.

The "Port Orchard Independent" isn't

  

What do you call a newspaper that has a clearly demonstrative editorial bias, makes factual errors in news stories favorable to one particular political party, and uses any opportunity it can to dump on the other political party?

Well, you shouldn’t call it “independent” – yet those are exactly the kinds of things the local newspaper in Port Orchard does.

For example, their most recent issue contains the following:

•  “Government needs to change how it does business, legislators say” -  a news story accompanied by a photo of Jan Angel (R), the most junior of the legislators in attendance but the only Republican; and a botched quote by Sen. Tim Sheldon (D) which was probably just sloppy reporting/editing rather than bias.

•  “Business will create jobs — if government lets it” – an editorial offering a favorable review of an opinion piece by Jan Angel (R) and critiquing one from Derek Kilmer (D).

•  “From Kilmer, more sleight of hand” – an opinion piece from a guest contributor.

•  “How much more could Angel have done?” – a piece from columnist Robert Meadows offing tongue-in-cheek advice, not to Jan Angel, but to Sumner Schoenike, who has announced that he is running against Angel for the Legislature.
  

•  “Tolls without tollbooths? Only if it’s really cheaper” – an editorial critiquing a legislative proposal, supported by Sen. Derek Kilmer (D) to do away with tollbooths on the Tacoma Narrows Bridge once electronic tolling becomes the statewide standard for toll roads.

• “By ‘poisonous, partisan politics,’ Schoenike means dissenting voices” – a partisan rant by Jeff Rhodes which he opens by referring to Sumner Schoenike as "Spencer Schoenike."

Sure, a newspaper is entitled to its editorial opinions – even if they're so biased as to make a mockery of that paper’s very name.

But here are things that a newspaper isn’t entitled to do, at least not if it wants to be considered a serious journalistic enterprise:

•   Delete online reader comments simply because those comments are critical of the newspapers editorial bias.

•  Consistently print Letters-to-the-Editor that are favorable to that papers editorial bias, while only printing an occasional token LTE that offers support contrary to the editors’ bias.

It’s hard to fathom that the reader comments and LTEs that appear on the pages and website of the Port Orchard Independent are a true representation of those received by the paper, especially given the demographics of the community in which it is distributed.

•   Gig Harbor is generally acknowledged to be politically more conservative than Port Orchard and the rest of South Kitsap, yet LTEs in the Peninsula Gateway are generally equally divided along the conservative-progressive continuum.

•   Bremerton is generally acknowledged to be politically more liberal than Port Orchard and the rest of South Kitsap, yet LTEs in the Kitsap Sun are generally equally divided along the conservative-progressive continuum as well.

•   Meanwhile, the Port Orchard “Independent” regularly publishes guest editorials by Rep. Doug Ericksen (R-Ferndale) and Rep. Dan Kristiansen (R-Snohomish) – conservative legislators from the other side of the Puget Sound – while ignoring politically divergent voices in our own community.

For a publication – let’s not continue to dignify it by calling it a “newspaper” – to demonstrate such a clear, politically conservative bias and call itself “Independent” is an insult to the intelligence of its readers.

Pete DeBoer declares against Appleton - can't decide if he's a Republican or not

  

According to late-breaking news in the Kitsap Sun, the outgoing president of the Kingston Chamber of Commerce has announced that he'll be challenging state Rep. Sherry Appleton, D-Poulsbo, for her 23rd District seat.

Also according to the Sun, "DeBoer has not declared a party."

What's that all about?

He's declaring against a three-term incumbent who's a Democrat, and PDC filings show he's only made a single campaign contribution - $100 to Beverly Woods, who ran as a Republican against Christine Rolfes, a Democrat, in 2006.


Am I missing something here?


Look for DeBoer to pull a "Hutchison" - that is, hide his party affiliation as long as he can while trying to gain support with pro-business, fiscal-conservative rhetoric.
 

Is threre a Doctor in the House?

        
Actually, no - there is no doctor in the state House of Representatives, but a standing-room-only crowd at Tides Tavern in Gig Harbor gathered to change that this evening as local pediatrician Sumner Schoenike announced his candidacy for the 26th Legislative District seat currently held by Jan Angel (R-Port Orchard).

"We need a doctor in the House," exclaimed Sen. Derek Kilmer (D-Gig Harbor), who can himself be addressed as "doctor," having earned a PhD from the University Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar.

Dr. Schoenike, MD, MPH, FAAP, is a board-certified pediatrician with over thirty years of pediatric experience. During the last twelve years, he has provided general pediatric care to South Sound residents, as well as practicing at Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital, St. Clare Hospital, and St. Joseph Hospital.

According to Kilmer:

“Dr. Schoenike’s wealth of public service to Washington State residents, as well as to our military, will add just the dimension we need in state government to assure quality health care for our citizens, a great education for our kids, and advancing job growth for the 26th Legislative District."

Dr. Schoenike also has a record of local civic engagement, having served on the Board of Trustees for the Pierce County Medical Society, the Board of Directors of the Franciscan Health System, the Board of Communities in Schools of Peninsula, and on the capital campaign for the Community Health Care clinic system.

Dr. Schoenike has a straightforward agenda:

"I will act on improving access to affordable health care, ramping up our economy by growing jobs – not taxes – championing our public schools, and protecting our extraordinary quality of life."

That said, he also offered a rational for challenging the incumbent, noting that:

“The people of the 26th Legislative District are poorly served by the incumbent, Jan Angel, at a time when real leadership is critical.”

Angel sponsored only four bills during her first session in the Legislature:

• HB 2230 - renaming the state ferry system (failed)
  
• HJM 4011 - renaming the Tacoma Narrows Bridge after a conservative Republican (failed)
  
• HB 1834 - an unfunded mandate to put GPS monitors on sex offenders (failed)
  
• HB1835 "Relating to using respectful language in state laws" (passed)
  

Considering that Angel collects more that $50,000 per year in salary, per diem and benefits - and that taxpayers also pick up the tab for her Legislative Aide and district office - you can look for her to try to pad her legislative resume with what little time is left before she starts to run for re-election.


Angel has already adopted the Republican stand-by proposal to eliminate the estate tax on family businesses and some more feel-good ideas to change antiquated language that's still on the books from a bygone era - but it's going to be hard for her to use such last-minute token efforts to justify re-election, especially when her seatmates Sen. Kilmer and Rep. Larry Seaquist are doing serious heavy lifting.

The voters of the 26LD might very well think that a doctor is just what they need in Olympia to replace Jan Angel's anemic performance.
    

Happy New Year from Peninsula Politics

  

  

It's a new year, a new decade, and time for a new source of political news on the Peninsulas...

Welcome to Peninsula Politics!

2010 promises to be an exciting year for politics in our neck of the woods, and I'm eager to bring a new perspective to the local political scene.

What's in store?

• The Legislature will be convening on January 11th for the "short session" of the 2009-10 biennium, and the top item on their agenda will be to adopt a Supplemental Budget to balance out declining revenues due to the Great Recession.
  
  
• Along with budgetary issues, the Legislature will be addressing some additional policy issues - including a review of our state laws on marijuana which has already garnered the attention of at least one of Kitsap Counties senior legislators, the perennial look at privatizing our state's liquor stores, and measures to improve our business climate.
  
  
• Elections, including those of every member of the House and one member of the Senate - both at the state and federal level.
  
  
• If we're talking about politics, we need to save a spot for "The Unexpected" - something always happens that even the keenest prognosticator can't anticipate!

To paraphrase Bettie Davis as Margo Channing in All About Eve: "Fasten your seatbelts, it's going to be a bumpy ride!"