Subject:

King County

  • Blogs

    November 4, 2009

    Election Night '09, the Round-Up: What You Missed by Going to Bed at a Reasonable Hour

    FlickrYour new overlord and his right-hand man.​- Dow Constantine had the King County Executive's race wrapped up by prime-time. - But that doesn't mean opponent Susan Hutchison has to do anything hasty, like concede. - Joe Mallahan kind of, sorta, almost surely wants to be your next mayor. ... More >>

  • Blogs

    October 15, 2009

    King County Executive's Race Gets Televised

    The first campaign ad of the King County Executive's general election is out, and Dow Constantine hits all the high notes. Did you know that Susan Hutchison is...anti-choice, environment AND light rail? If you did, you're probably already with Dow.

  • Blogs

    October 14, 2009

    Battle of the PDC Complaints

    ​In other parts of the country, campaign mud-slinging involves digging up old girlfriends or fellow soldiers to bash the candidates. But here, we go after our opponents in the most boring way possible, dueling complaints to the state Public Disclosure Commission. King County Executive hopefu ... More >>

  • Blogs

    October 12, 2009

    Seattle Transit Blog Points, Stares at Susan Hutchison

    Seattle Transit Blog commenter TrikeTike gestures towards King County Executive candidate Susan Hutchison (out of frame).​Last week, King County Executive candidate Dow Constantine's campaign got its hands on the oppositional research equivalent of a wet dream. In a video of her speech to cons ... More >>

  • Blogs

    September 10, 2009

    What Is It With People Getting Wasted and Wandering Around the Woods These Days?

    ​Maybe it's something we've always done--and we just can't hold our intoxicants like we used to. Either way, last Friday, King County Sheriff's deputies rescued a 39-year-old man who had wandered through some woods in Burien for a day-and-a-half, clad only in boxers and reportedly high. (Check ... More >>

  • Blogs

    September 3, 2009

    It's No Group Hug, But Constantine Gets the Nod From Former Rivals

    Constantine's more affectionate supporters Dave Meinert and Christine Gregoire got company from his former rivals.​They didn't have a hand-holding press conference or anything, but former King County Executive candidates Fred Jarrett, Larry Phillips and Ross Hunter all officially endorsed Dow ... More >>

  • Blogs

    September 2, 2009

    King County May Be Hot, But It's Not Smokin'

    ​Our famously bright, sunny weather may have us leading the league in sunglasses sales, but King County-ers aren't enjoying that hot weather by taking smoke breaks--unless they're working the types of jobs that tend not to be as friendly towards smoke breaks. The County just released new figur ... More >>

  • Blogs

    August 31, 2009

    Million-Dollar Definitions: Big Education Money Rests on Judge's Interpretation of "Ample" and "Paramount"

    ​Just like everyone wants to go to heaven but no one wants to die, everyone wants good schools but no one wants to pay for them. Local levies can't cover all the costs, and the state, which has a "paramount" Constitutional duty to provide "ample" school funding, is so enamored of anti-tax ideo ... More >>

  • Blogs

    August 26, 2009

    It's Not Just King County: Snohomish County Loves Its Painkillers, Too (and to Deadly Effect)

    ​A few weeks ago, Vernal Coleman noted that King County loves its painkillers--in fact, they're the leading cause of drug-related death here. (We also learned that Washington State as a whole is fond of the drugs.) Now, the Snohomish County Health Department announces that poisoning, particula ... More >>

  • Blogs

    August 21, 2009

    "Non-Partisan," "Bring People Together," and "Executive Experience" Are All Under 140 Characters

    ​In her radio debate with Larry Phillips, leading King County Executive vote-getter Susan Hutchison exasperated KUOW host Steve Scher with her adherence to the talking points in the headline above. Now, she has another forum in which to deliver them--one that is more tolerant of, er, brevity. ... More >>

  • Blogs

    August 14, 2009

    Thank You, Sir, May I Have Another? Yes, You May

    ​Mail-in voting has its advantages--depending on where you live, you may not even need to leave the house. But it has some disadvantages, too. You can lose your ballot. And if you move around a lot, it may be tough to get one in the first place. Enter King County elections, who let you pick ... More >>

  • Blogs

    August 14, 2009

    In the End, the Puppies Always Win: Political 101 With Kurt Triplett

    ​When last we left Interim (with a capital "I") King County Executive Kurt Triplett, he was waxing reluctant on the county's $56 million shortfall and all of the services he might have to cut in attempt to navigate the H.M.S. King County through budgetary equivalent of Syclla and Charybdis. ... More >>

  • Blogs

    August 4, 2009

    State's Largest Gun Control Group Endorses Constantine

    Washington Ceasefire has endorsed Dow Constantine for King County Executive. Their rationale for doing so can be found here. This announcement is somewhat surprising when you consider Ceasefire honored one of Constantine's opponents, Ross Hunter, at its annual banquet in May.

  • Blogs

    July 31, 2009

    Deputy Who Put Man in Coma Won't Face Charges

    You may recall the case of Christopher Harris, the man who was mistakenly identified as an assault suspect, chased by a King County Sheriff's deputy, then, while standing still at the end of that chase, slammed into the wall of the movie theater Cinerama, knocking him into a coma from which he's yet ... More >>

  • Blogs

    July 29, 2009

    Primary Election Ballots Mailed Today

     With an open King County Executive seat and polls saying the incumbent mayor might be in real trouble, this one is a pretty big deal. Off-year primary elections have notoriously bad turnout, but this time all you have to do is wait for your ballot to show up in the mail, put a mark next to som ... More >>

  • Blogs

    July 22, 2009

    There's a Silver Lining, Folks: At Least Some Things Will Get Paid for

    So it looks like public health clinics, County parks, and a few other King County services will probably get cut, since King County can't raise any money. And, last session, the state government knocked a bunch of old, sick, disabled people off of its bennies list because it couldn't raise any money ... More >>

  • News

    July 22, 2009

    Somali Silence Holding Up Murder Investigation

    Officers say this growing community takes “don’t snitch” to new heights.

  • Blogs

    July 22, 2009

    King County Loves Its Painkillers

    Spend enough of time talking to hardcore drug addicts (and, believe me, I have) and you'll inevitably get drawn into a debate over a particular locality's narcotic of choice, debates that in the absence of hard data often devolve into arguments over the quality of what could be copped and how popula ... More >>

  • Blogs

    July 17, 2009

    Behold the Moon, Say Candidates; Behold a Big-Ass Budget Deficit, Says Incumbent

    You want the truth? You can't handle the truth!Everybody knows that King County's got a little budget problem, though if you listen to the executive candidates talk, you'd get the feeling that $50 million can be covered just by being more efficient. Taxes, of course, are pretty much out of the quest ... More >>

  • News

    July 15, 2009

    So, My Home Is Worth How Much?

    King County’s taking unusual measures to assess homes in an unusual market.

  • Blogs

    June 26, 2009

    Ignition Remix: King County Driving Less, Busing More

    It's not exactly shocking, since these sorts of stats have been coming out for a while. But it is good news. King County announced a report yesterday showing that per capita gas consumption and vehicle miles traveled in the county have been on the decline since 1999, continuing its drop last year. E ... More >>

  • Blogs

    June 17, 2009

    In an Election Year Everybody's Got a Touch of Republican

    Read his lips: no new taxes. Probably.Despite making a big deal about Susan Hutchison's secret Republicanness, Dow Constantine and the rest of the King County Executive candidates aren't exactly champing at the bit to hike taxes to pay for beloved social programs either. Yesterday King County Exec ... More >>

  • Blogs

    June 4, 2009

    The County's Boat Sinks, But With a Lifejacket

    Swine Flu fears are receding, but King County will stop the cuts to communicable disease investigations, originally scheduled to hit at the end of this month. Last fall, Ron Sims managed to balance the budget by funding $8 million in programs for only six months. He called it the lifeboat and thre ... More >>

  • Blogs

    May 20, 2009

    Trains in the Tunnel, Money in Metro Couch Cushions, and No Love From the Governor

    Today, light rail will begin regular test runs with buses in the tunnel; there's less than two months to go before you can ride them through instead of just watching. Yesterday, we learned that Metro found $105 million in its couch cushions, which should help it avoid some of the service cuts that w ... More >>

  • Blogs

    May 20, 2009

    King County Doesn't Drive Quite as Hard a Bargain as Michael Scott, but It Does Okay

    You may recall that about the time The Office's Michael Scott's own miscalculations forced him to negotiate his job back at Dunder-Mifflin, King County found itself in the same position, using the same bluffing strategies to try to get a larger-than-originally-agreed-upon share of a federal criminal ... More >>

  • Blogs

    May 6, 2009

    County Feeling a Little Lifeboat Remorse

    Who's going down with this ship?King County bought an $8 million boat, put up public health as collateral, and basically tried to assure voters that the state would have to give them new taxing authority to actually pay for that boat. But the state didn't. Sims at first didn't even acknowledge tha ... More >>

  • News

    May 6, 2009

    We Failed the Ozone Test

    To be fair, the test was a lot harder than last year’s.

  • News

    May 6, 2009

    Sims Loses His Budget Gamble in Olympia

    Just in time for swine flu, the county’s left without money for communicable-disease investigations.

  • Blogs

    April 30, 2009

    Michael Scott, er, King County Continues to Drive a Hard Bargain

    Last week, if you'll recall, King County mimicked The Office's Michael Scott in its brinkmanship renegotiation strategy, demanding a larger-than-originally-agreed-upon share of a federal criminal justice grant to the County and local cities--at the risk of losing the grant altogether. The approach w ... More >>

  • Blogs

    April 29, 2009

    Ross Hunter: Budget Wrangler for KC Exec

    As Don Ward reports below, Ross Hunter, the man who first brought legislation to bail out the King County budget, is in it to win it in an increasingly expanding pool of candidates to replace Ron Sims. Speaking by phone this morning, he says he didn't want to announce earlier since he'd been so enme ... More >>

  • Blogs

    April 29, 2009

    How Bad Is Our Air Quality 'F'?

    Wikimedia commonsThe local web is abuzz over the fact that King County got an F for Ozone levels from the American Lung Association. This on the heels of our Clean Air Act violation last summer. So how bad is it? As noted, it wasn't so much that the county's air got worse as it was that standards g ... More >>

  • Blogs

    April 29, 2009

    Swine Flu Has Probably Hit Seattle, Etc.

    Six suspected cases in the state. Wash your hands often, and read King County's press release after the jump.

  • Blogs

    April 17, 2009

    Lifeboat One Step Closer to Floating

    Today the state House passed Senate Bill 5433, the bill that came out of negotiations in both branches of the state legislature to try and save the King County budget. The final version sent off to the governor allows the county to impose a .1 percent sales tax, with voter approval, and gives more f ... More >>

  • Blogs

    April 9, 2009

    What's Good for the Democrats? Who Cares?

    Upon hearing yesterday's news that former anchor and Republican Susan Hutchison was throwing her hat in the ring for King County Executive, state Democratic Chair Dwight Pelz exploded. "This is why the Republicans ran the initiative to make it a nonpartisan office--to sneak a right-winger like Susan ... More >>

  • News

    April 8, 2009

    The Water Taxi Remains a Virgin Voyage

    But mini-beers could be in the offing.

  • Blogs

    April 3, 2009

    The Water Taxi: Where Every Voyage Is a Virgin

    This Sunday, the King County (née Elliott Bay) Water Taxi will mark its inaugural voyage of 2009 by offering passengers free rides and refreshments. Conspicuously absent from the refreshment table will be a staple -- perhaps the staple -- of the seafaring lifestyle: alcohol. What's an Argosy crui ... More >>

  • Blogs

    March 18, 2009

    Ombudsman Says Israel Violated Ethics Rules

    King County Ombudsman Amy Calderwood today found that city council candidate Jessie Israel improperly used her position as marketing manager at the county parks department to solicit campaign support from her fellow county employees. "There is reasonable cause to believe that Jessie Israel violate ... More >>

  • Blogs

    March 17, 2009

    The King County Budget Deficit Is Back

    County Budget Director Bob Cowan went before the Council Fiscal Management Committee today to predict a $40 to $50 million budget deficit in 2010. This isn't actually unexpected to anyone following the budget process last year, but it's another reminder of why legislation in Olympia to give King Cou ... More >>

  • Blogs

    March 12, 2009

    King County Government Shutting Down for One Day

    King County's legislative branch has just announced that it will take "an unpaid furlough" for one day, tomorrow on Friday. This is one of ten unpaid furloughs that have been implemented as a cost savings measure to bridge the county's budget deficit. A total 154 employees will be getting a head st ... More >>

  • Blogs

    March 4, 2009

    Supremes Say No CAO

    Rural landowners rejoice! The state Supreme Court declined to review the earlier appellate decision tossing the hated King County Critical Areas Ordinance. Three of the four Republican council members--Reagan Dunn, Kathy Lambert and Jane Hauge--all praised the decision in a press release today. Thei ... More >>

  • News

    March 4, 2009

    Medina Rep to the Rescue

    Will a "Republicrat" ex-Microsoftie carry King County's water all the way to the Executive's seat?

  • Blogs

    February 24, 2009

    Will Sims' Legacy Lifeboat Float Or Will Taxes Sink It?

    The battle for King County's lifeboat got under way today with a hearing in the House Finance Committee. Rep. Ross Hunter, D-Medina, introduced a 12-page bill created specifically to solve King County's budget crisis last week. Currently $10.5 million in county programs from mental health court to t ... More >>

  • Blogs

    February 17, 2009

    The Lifeboat Is in the Water, Will It Float?

    Lifeboat from Titanic.Here it is, King County health and justice programs. Your lifeboat. Last October, we explained Ron Sims' creative plan for keeping essential programs like family court services alive by floating them out of the deep-in-the-red county budget for six months, then going to Olymp ... More >>

  • Blogs

    February 3, 2009

    You Can't Take the Politics Out of Politics

    Krist Novoselic's column runs every Tuesday on the Daily Weekly. Anyone who needs further convincing that it's impossible to take the politics out of politics should look no further than King County, Washington. Like the Florida butterfly ballot that wrecked the 2000 presidential election for Demo ... More >>

  • Blogs

    February 3, 2009

    Will Low Voter Turnout Steel Irons' Chances?

    Today's special election, in order to select a new non-partisan King County Elections Director, promises to be an ill-attended venture with voter participation numbers likely to come in at around 25 percent. That's a disappointing showing, considering how all-mail voting has been touted to incr ... More >>

  • Blogs

    February 3, 2009

    Sherril Huff Wins Elections Director Race

    It wasn't as close a race as most political observers thought it would be. Hell it wasn't even close at all. Current King County Elections Director Sherril Huff won today's special election, by an insurmountable margin. Initial vote totals were posted on the King County Elections Office website ... More >>

  • Blogs

    February 2, 2009

    And the County Council Response

    From Dow Constantine: I would like to offer my sincere congratulations to King County Executive Ron Sims on his appointment as deputy secretary for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. I commend him for taking on this new challenge and stepping forward to serve our citizens as a fed ... More >>

  • Blogs

    February 2, 2009

    Sims to Council: Don't Pick Phillips

    Ron Sims sent out a much longer explanation of his new role than the one we posted earlier today. In it, he notes that in DC, he'll be responsible for, in his words, managing the "day to day operations of HUD's 8,500 employees and 39 billion dollar budget." As Aimee Curl discovered last November, a ... More >>

  • Blogs

    January 17, 2009

    Candidates nearly outnumber audience in KC Elections Director Debate

    The Bellevue Reporter's top ink-slinger Joshua Hicks has an excellent rundown of the King County Election Director debate held Thursday night at the Seattle Public Library's Central Branch. The complete article can be read here. The particularly distressing aspect of the debate is that less than ten ... More >>

  • Blogs

    January 15, 2009

    Sims, County Face Bigger Court Fine

    And yet another open-records victory for Armen Yousoufian, the Dumpster-diving seeker of public information: The state Supreme Court today sent Yousoufian's case against King County Executive Ron Sims back to the trial court to refigure the penalty for withholding public documents on the backroom de ... More >>

  • More >>
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