News & Updates

Monday’s Chronicle of Higher Education (subscription required) had an eye-catching story about our local airplane manufacturer and their plans to rank colleges around the nation based on the job performance of the more than 35,000 engineers who work for the company worldwide.

Richard Stephens, Boeing’s Senior VP for Human Resources and Administration and a member of the Spellings Commission on the Future of Higher Education asked Boeing officials to match internal data from engineer personnel evaluations with the information about the colleges that they attended.  It will use this analysis to create an internal ranking system (which it plans to unveil in about a month), that will show which universities produce the workers that Boeing considers most valuable.

While Boeing plans to keep its ranking system confidential, it does plan to share the information with individual colleges and universities in an effort to help them improve themselves.  The top-ranked colleges, however, may be less interested in keeping the news quiet, according to Stephens in the Chronicle story.

Interested to see how the UW fares in this new system and whether other major employers in the nation develop similar ranking programs.

Some big changes this week at the Senate Ways and Means committee (as you know, my old stomping grounds).

David Schumacher, who has served as senior staff coordinator for the past four and a half years will be leaving at the end of the month to become Director of NW State and Local Government Affairs for the Boeing Company.  As Joe Turner from the Tacoma News Tribune so aptly put it, that’s a really long title for “lobbyist.”  David previously served as Ways and Means capital budget coordinator and as revenue analyst during part of my tenure on the committee staff.  David is also a proud Husky and it will be fun to have him on the outside of the big doors with us during the next session.

David’s replacement will be Mike Wills, who has served since 1996 as the Ways and Means budget coordinator.  There are few individuals in state government who understand the intricacies of the budget as well as Mike and he will do a great job in this new role.  Mike previously worked as budget director for the Department of Social and Health Services and as a consultant for Mathematica.

Last week, the state Senate held committee hearings in Vancouver, WA as part of their September “assembly days.”  Tomorrow and Friday, the House of Representatives takes their turn in Olympia.

Rep. Helen Sommers will chair what might be one of her final hearing as chair of the House Appropriations Committee tomorrow at 3:30 p.m.  Sommers, who has served in the state legislature since 1973 is retiring this year after 16 consecutive terms.  On the committee’s agenda is a presentation by UW Vice Provost for Research Mary Lidstrom on the status of the University’s “advanced technology initiatives” which were originally funded by the state beginning in the 1999-01 biennium.

This was one of the first attempts by the state legislature in a number of years to provide state funding for UW research activities — especially activities which had a great chance of leveraging other non-state research dollars.  In each case — infectious diseases precision forestry, computer animation and digital media — the return on investment has been significant.  An additional initiative in photonics was funded in 2001-03 which has also been quite successful.

On Friday, the House Higher Education Committee will hold a joint hearing with House Health Care and Wellness on health care provider shortages and training.  School of Medicine Dean Paul Ramsey will be one of the presenters at this meeting which begins at 10:00 a.m. in House Hearing Room A.

I meant to note this on the blog last week, but I got so darned sick on Friday I actually had to go home (and that last happened around Thanksgiving in 1990 — I think).

David Postman, chief political reporter for the Seattle Times and a fixture in Olympia for years is leaving the profession.  Postman announced on his “Postman on Politics” blog last Friday afternoon that he has accepted a new position as head of media relations for Vulcan Inc. — Paul Allen’s development company which among other projects, is transforming the Seattle South Lake Union area where UW Medicine is successfully expanding much of their biomedical research enterprise.

I first met Dave when he was a reporter for the Tacoma News Tribune where he worked briefly after moving to Washington from Alaska where he covered their state government.  He quickly got picked up by the Seattle Times and for the next several years, we developed a good relationship given his interest in the state budget process (I was on Ways and Means staff at the time).  David was hard working (I mean really, really hard working), thorough, always interested in getting beyond just the obvious story line and we shared a pretty similar sense of humor and impressions of the state political scene.

So how much did David like to get the scoop?  Not long after I was named to my current UW position, I was driving home to Olympia after a men’s basketball game in March 2004 and I get a phone call from Postman. “Hey” he says, “rumor has it the Board of Regents have decided on a new president and they’re going to announce it tomorrow.  Can you confirm what I have found out?”  “Dave,” I said “you don’t cover higher ed, why do you care?”  “It’s a hot story and I’m helping out a co-reporter,” he says.  “So, Randy, can you confirm the new president is Mark Emmert, the chancellor of LSU?”  “Who’s Mark Emmert?” I said back.  To be totally honest, I knew an announcement was going to be made but I didn’t have a clue who was going to get the job and I was so new to higher ed and the UW, I barely knew all the members of the current administration.  But Postman knew already, because he is that good.

David’s best quality was and is his intellect and curiosity about a wide variety of topics.  You can see it in the range of issues and subjects that are covered in his widely read and highly respected blog.  It’s informative, interesting, insightful and often quite funny.  Those of us who dabble in this very new medium are really just trying to keep up with Postman most of the time. 

This is truly a changing of the guard here in the capitol press corps (especially when combined with Ralph Thomas’ previously announced departure).  Change is inevitable and part of the process and I’m sure Dave is truly looking forward to his new career where I’m sure he will be very successful.

Best of luck Panis.  “Ca plane pour moi”

Yesterday afternoon, a friend of mine sent me a link to a blog post on the website of the Washington Policy Center — a conservative think tank based in Seattle.

Seems they ran across a personal services contract between the UW and Robert Longman which they correctly pointed out was for “legislative drafting and fiscal analysis related to the 2008 request for state financial assistance to remodel Husky Stadium.”  The post also correctly pointed out that the contact was extended until next June 30 and that Mr. Longman’s services are charged at $175 per hour.  That’s where the accuracy ends and the spin begins.

Both the headline and the text of the post incorrectly infer that Mr. Longman is being paid through this contract to “lobby” the Husky Stadium issue.  A more careful interpretation of the contract (and perhaps a phone call to me or interim athletic director Scott Woodward) would have revealed that Bob Longman was hired only to draft the bill which we introduced last session and to run the numbers of tax revenues from the hotel/motel, rental car and food and beverage taxes in King County which were being used to finance the stadium renovation.

You see, Bob Longman is recently retired from more than 25 years as a non-partisan attorney and revenue expert for the House of Representatives, where he worked for many years as the staff coordinator for the House Finance Committee.  Anyone who has worked in Olympia for any length of time on tax and revenue issues is aware of Bob’s impeccable credentials and the fact that since his retirement, he has had other contracts with clients in the state to perform the very same services.  Mr. Longman has never testified before a legislative committee on this issue (nor will he), he has never met personally with an elected official to ask for their support of funding for renovating the stadium (nor will he) and he is not involved in helping to write or even edit any publications that we use to help advocate for funding for the stadium (nor will he).  He’s a legal and tax consultant on the stadium project — not a lobbyist.

So, while part of my job is to help advocate for funding for Husky Stadium, it’s not part of Mr. Longman’s job or his contract with the University.  Unfortunately, information does tend to travel fast in the blogosphere, even when it isn’t completely accurate.

The state has found a permanent replacement for Dr. ChangMook Sohn as executive director of the Economic and Revenue Forecast Council.

Arun Raha, Vice President for Economic Research and Consulting at Swiss Re in New York was named yesterday as the state’s second “chief economist” the person who decides how much general fund money the Governor and the Legislature will have to write the state budget.  At Swiss Re (the world’s largest reinsurer headquartered in Zurich) Raha was responsible for forecasts of North American macroeconomic, financial and property-casualty markets.  Prior to joining Swiss Re, Raha managed Economic Analysis at Eaton Corporation in Cleveland and also served on the Ohio Governor’s Council of Economic Advisors.

Raha earned his PhD in Economics at Washington State University and has been a faculty member at Boise State University where he forecast general fund revenues for the Idaho State Legislature.  He is a recipient of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago’s top overall forecast prize in 2007 and the Wall Street Journal’s forecasting award in January 2005.

ChangMook Sohn, who retired in February after serving as head of the Forecast Council since its inception in 1984 recently ran unsuccessfully in the August primary for State Treasurer.  Steve Lerch, who has been serving as interim executive director of the Forecast Council since February will return to his position at the State Investment Board.

Here’s a blog post I wish I hadn’t read today.

Ralph Thomas, one of the Seattle Times political reporters who works out of the Olympia bureau is leaving the paper to work for the Katz Communications Group.  As his co-worker and office buddy David Postman points out in his entry this morning, Ralph is not only one of the best reporters I have seen in the state capitol in two decades, but he’s just a really, really nice guy.  It doesn’t even bother me that he kicks my butt everytime we play golf, because he is the first one to compliment you on a good shot and the first one to cheer you up when you duff it.

Not only is Ralph perhaps one of the hardest working and fairest reporters I have been around, he also has an uncanny ability to make you want to talk to him even when you are incredibly stressed out and busy.  Reporters call when something major is about to happen or has just happened and if they are calling you, it’s because you are in the middle of it and probably know something.  That means you are busy, high strung and worried about saying the wrong thing.  Somehow, Ralph always knew how to put you at ease and seemed willing to let you dole out the information at your pace (even though I always knew he was on a deadline and had his own pressures to deal with).  Sounds simple but let me tell you, its not that easy to get staffers or lobbyists to really open up.  His genuine fairness, accuracy and nice guy approach made him one of the best in the capitol press corps.

He will be missed — but maybe he’s got more time for golf.

The Bellingham Herald reported this week that Western Washington University’s waterfront development plans took another step forward when the Port of Bellingham approved an agreement to partner with the school to create an independent development entity to develop a key portion of the city’s waterfront.  Dubbed the “Viking Development,” the move permits the Port to sell or lease at fair-market value 10 to 16 acres of downtown waterfront property to Western.  University officials have said that they will use the property to build a new home for the Huxley College of the Environment and is also considering using some of the space to house the College of Business and Economics and the Northwest Consortium for Technological Innovations.

The Kitsap Sun reported last Sunday that one of the options emerging for providing additional baccalaureate education in the Bremerton and greater Kitsap County area is to use existing infrastructure in the area (office buildings, transit centers, etc.) and allow multiple higher education partners to offer degree programs.  Higher Education Coordinating Board consultant Bill Chance (who is conducting the study with funds provided in the 2008 supplemental budget) states that the Roanoke Higher Education Center in Virginia uses a former Norfolk Southern Railway building and that six public and eight private colleges and universities offer degree programs there.  Olympic College President David Mitchell is quoted in the story as preferring the model used in Washington State where a new building is constructed on a two-year college campus with a four-year institutional partner providing baccalaureate education, such as Highline Community College’s long standing partnership with Central Washington University.

The Senate Higher Education Committee will hold a work session on Thursday September 4 as part of the Washington State Senate Assembly days in Vancouver, Washington September 3-5 at the Vancouver Hilton and Convention Center.  Topics at the hearing include the availability of student loans, utilization of tuition waivers, customized training programs and higher education and economic development.  The hearing is scheduled from 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.

Now that I have managed to pour over Tuesday’s primary election results the way I used to read baseball box scores in the newspaper when I was a youngster, here are my highlights (or maybe races worth noting) for you blog readers who just can’t get enough political insider stuff.  Enjoy!

Governor

No big surprise here.  Incumbent Democrat Gregoire picked up 49% of the primary vote while Republican challenger Rossi received 45%.

Treasurer

The race to succeed three-term incumbent Mike Murphy will be between longtime Seattle democratic state legislator Jim McIntire and current deputy state treasurer Allan Martin.  Former state chief economist Chang Mook Sohn, who resigned last February to run for the office, placed a distant third.

Lands Commissioner

In what may be a closer than expected contest, two term incumbent Republican Doug Sutherland garnered 50% of the primary vote while Democratic challenger Peter Goldmark picked up 49% of the vote.

Superintendent of Public Instruction

Three term incumbent Terry Bergeson outpolled former state legislator Randy Dorn 41% to 31%.  The two will square off in the November general election in this non-partisan race.

Attorney General

Incumbent Republican Rob McKenna picked up 56% of the vote while former Pierce County Executive John Ladenberg grabbed 44% as the Democratic challenger.

Other State Elected Officials

Lt. Governor Brad Owen, Secretary of State Sam Reed, State Auditor Brian Sonntag and Insurance Commissioner Mike Kriedler all outpolled their primary opponents.

State Senate

In the closely watched 10th District (Island, Skagit and Snohomish counties) race, longtime incumbent Mary Margaret Haugen picked up 52% of the primary vote.  She will face Republican challenger Linda Haddon (an Oak Harbor businesswoman) who received 42% of the vote.

In the 11th District (Renton, Tukwila, Seattle) longtime incumbent Margarita Prentice had two Democratic candidates challenge her in the primary.  Prentice picked up 49% of the vote while her two challengers – Juan Martinez and Scott McKay received 26% and 24%, respectively.  Martinez (most recently interim co-director of the Washington Tax Fairness Coalition) gets the nod for the general election contest.

In the 28th District (Lakewood, Steilacoom), Republican incumbent Mike Carrell received 50% of the vote but has a strong challenge from Democrat Debi Srail (a teacher and community activist) who also received about 50% of the primary vote.

In the 40th District (San Juan, Skagit and Whatcom) where longtime incumbent Harriet Spanel is retiring, San Juan county councilmember Kevin Ranker (29%) defeated four other Democratic challengers and will face former Republican state representative Steve Van Luven (37%) in the general election.

In the 41st District (Bellevue, Mercer Island) race to replace retiring Democratic incumbent Brian Weinstein, Democratic house member Fred Jarrett picked up 59% of the vote and will face Republican Bob Baker (a pilot for Alaska Airlines) who received 41% of the vote in the November election.

State House

In the 5th District (Issaquah, Fall City), Republican incumbent Glenn Anderson received a surprisingly strong challenge from Democrat David Spring who is an educational researcher at the University of Washington.  Anderson picked up 51% of the vote while Spring earned 49% of the tally.

In the 6th district (Spokane), Republican incumbent John Ahern received a strong challenge from Democratic challenger John Driscoll (a nonprofit health care director).  Both garnered 50% of the primary vote and will face off in the November election.

In the race to succeed retiring Rep. Bob Sump in the 7th District (NE Washington counties), Republicans Sue Madsen (a partner in a local architectural, design and construction management firm) and Shelley Short (a former staffer for both federal and state officials) will face off in the general election.  Madsen received 27% of the vote while Short picked up 25%.

In the race to succeed retiring Rep. Shirley Hankins in the 8th District (Benton County), Democrat Carol Moser (former Richland councilmember) will face Republican Brad Klippert who works for the Benton County Sherriff’s Office.  Moser, the lone Democrat secured 40% of the vote while Klippert beat three other Republican candidates earning 19% of the vote.

In 14th District (Yakima) where Republican incumbent Mary Skinner is retiring, Democrat Vickie Ybarra (a public health nurse) was the leading vote getter with 32% while Republican Norm Johnson, a Yakima City Councilman, outpolled five other GOP candidates with 21% of the vote.

In the 17th District (Clark), embattled incumbent Jim Dunn who was stripped of his committee assignments last session, came in last place with 18% of the vote in a three person primary and will not be able to run for re-election.  The November contest will be between Democrat Tim Probst (CEO of the Washington Workforce Association) who received 49% of the vote, and Republican Joseph James (a local businessman) who garnered 33%.

In the 25th District (Puyallup) where Republican incumbent Joyce McDonald is stepping down, a close race between two newcomers is shaping up.  Republican Bruce Dammeier, a local business owner and school board member, picked up 48% of the vote tally.  He will face Democrat and local fourth generation farmer Rob Cerqui (47%) in the November general election.

In the 26th District (Gig Harbor, Port Orchard) where longtime incumbent Democrat Pat Lantz is retiring, Republican Jan Angel, a commercial banker, picked up about 53% of the vote while former Port Orchard mayor Democrat Kim Abel polled 47%.

In the 33rd District (Des Moines, SeaTac) where longtime Democratic incumbent Shay Schaul-Berke is retiring, Democrat Tina Orwall (a social worker and housing advocate) picked up 62% of the primary vote.  She will face Republican Todd Gibson (an owner of an advertising agency) who received 38% of the vote total.

In the 35th District (Mason, Kitsap) where Democratic incumbent Bill Eickmeyer is retiring, Democrat Fred Finn (a local businessman) who picked up 38% of the vote, and Republican Randy Neatherlin (a local entrepreneur and community volunteer) who received 31% of the vote.  The two will face each other in November.

In the 36th District (Seattle) where longtime incumbent Helen Sommers is retiring, the November contest will feature two Democratic challengers Reuven Carlyle (a wireless industry executive and citizen activist) and John Burbank (founder of the Economic Opportunity Institute).  Both candidates received about 42% of the primary vote.

In the 45th District (Kirkland, Woodinville), Democratic incumbent Roger Goodman (51%) received a strong challenge from Republican Toby Nixon (49%) who previously held the House seat before stepping down in 2006 to run unsuccessfully for the state senate.

In the 46th District (Seattle) race to replace incumbent Jim McIntire, Democrats Scott White, chief of staff for the King County Council picked up 48% of the vote and Gerry Pollet, a public interest attorney and environmental advocate received 36% of the vote.  The two will face off against each other in the November election.

In the 49th District (Clark County) where Democratic incumbent Bill Fromhold is retiring, Democrat Jim Jacks who is Governor Gregoire’s SW Washington representative picked up 58% of the primary vote.  He will face Republican Debbie Peterson, a teacher and community activist, who outpolled another Republican challenger 27% to 15%.

Today of course is Tuesday August 19 — primary election day and the unofficial beginning of the state 2008 political season.  You might think the most controversial issue in the state capital would be the impending Gregoire-Rossi rematch for the Governor’s office, or perhaps which of three candidates for State Treasurer will come out ahead today, or maybe even how some close legislative races will play out.  Sorry, none of the above.

The most controversial issue in Olympia today involves the potential development of a thin strip of land (isthmus if you will) that connects Olympia’s downtown with the Fourth Avenue bridge and separates Budd Inlet from Capitol Lake.  In the 20 years I have lived here, the area has remained virtually unchanged, a mix of office buildings, a grocery store, a vacant lot and more recently, a refurbished Olympia Oyster House and a popular fountain that acts like the most powerful kid magnet in the world when the temperature reaches more than 70 degrees.

For the past year or so, the city council has been hotly debating a proposal from a local developer to demolish some of the now vacant and underutilized office buildings on the west side of the isthmus and replace them with market rate condos. The council has tried unsuccessfully for years to encourage more market rate housing development in the downtown area, but with the exception of a few new units for seniors, most downtown housing is low cost rentals.  Now, a local Vietnamese-American named Tri Vo wants to bring in exactly what the city has asked for.  The problem, however, is the location he has chosen is perhaps the most coveted view corridor in the city and opponents have emerged in droves to implore the community to oppose the plan.

You can’t drive anywhere in the neighborhoods near Olympia’s downtown without seeing “Don’t Wall Off the Waterfront” signs with huge skyscrapers looming on either side.  The issue has really divided the community and resulted in near shouting matches at recent council meetings on the issue.  The condos that Tri Vo wants to build are not skyscrapers, but rather five story units that might sell for up to $1 million.  If you know the area, a 10-story office building currently sits empty on the isthmus and used to house the state Department of Corrections.  Even though the Tri Vo development wouldn’t be as tall, it has still earned the enmity of a large and very vocal opposition group that would like the entire area to be turned into a park.

Local legislators, former Governors and mayors and a host of others have been drawn into the controversy.  There are some alternative compromise plans on the table that call for a mix of condos and parks but at this point, it’s anybody’s guess which way the council will vote on the issue later this year.  David Nicandri, director of the Washington State Historical Society penned this column which appeared in Sunday’s Olympian that argues that Walter Wilder and Harry White — the original architects of the Olympia capitol campus actually envisioned multi-story buildings on this site more than 100 years ago.  If you have time, take a look at the posted comments to Nicandri’s piece to get a sense of the different positions on this issue.

So if you are heading down to capital city anytime soon on business or pleasure, fair warning.  Be careful if you bring up this issue with a local resident.  You may get an earful you didn’t bargain for.