Results tagged “chrisgregoire”

In her inaugural speech [pdf] on Wednesday, Governor Gregoire hearkened back to the Great Depression and called for "generosity among all Washingtonians" in the next few years as the state navigates the worst economic recession since the 1930s. She also hinted at a new program she has named "Washington Jobs Now," saying that she thinks it could create as many as 20,000 new jobs for the state by cutting unemployment taxes for businesses and pushing forward some $1 billion in public works projects. Yesterday, she revealed the details of the plan [pdf] at the 37th Annual Economic Forecast Conference at enterpriseSeattle.

It's opening day of the 2009 duck-hunting season state legislative session, and all signs point towards an interestingly contentious set of months in Olympia as the legislators deal with a deepening budget crisis. The Times notes that since Gregoire isn't campaigning anymore, state Democrats are now free to complain as loudly as their hearts desire without fear of giving an advantage to Dino Rossi's camp. For more information about the agendas of each committee meeting today, check Access Washington's calendar page.

Gregoire just got hit with a second lawsuit over her proposed 2009 budget, which--unlawfully, according to the unions suing the governor--reneges on certain contracted pay raises for state employees and home-care workers. Gregoire's office has responded, saying the money simply isn't there to fulfill the terms of those contracts. Seattlest is a union girl (we have a fraction of Irish blood coursing through our veins, and some stubborn Midwest farmer blood in there too), but we have to wonder: what exactly are the two angry unions hoping to accomplish? A different budget allocating non-existent money? A token acknowledgment that though what's done is done, what's done was illegal? Good luck with that.

Part of the Capitol's holiday display, an "atheistic billboard" from the Freedom From Religion Foundation that caught the eagle eye of Bill O'Reilly and caused Gregoire some embarrassment on national television, was filched and delivered to a radio station here in Seattle this morning. What radio station did the thief deem worthy to possess said billboard? KMPS, naturally: 94.1, the country station. Yeeeehaw, let the games begin!

Thank you all for participating in our Seattlest Vote 2008 Polls over the last week! Though the polls were informal, they still give us a fairly good reading on how the Seattlest community will be voting today.

Not that kind of bathhouse. Our sources tell us that Governor Gregoire will be doing a boat tour of Puget Sound tomorrow and Friday in her quest to remind people she's a better option than Dino Rossi. Her Seattle stop will be at the Golden Gardens Bath House at 2:30 tomorrow afternoon. Not really the greatest time for a high-yield political rally, considering it's Way Out There, and people work and all. But it's a valiant effort. Other stops on the tour include Tacoma, Des Moines, Edmonds, Bainbridge Island, Hood Canal, and the big finale in Bremerton. Full details are at the King County Democrats website.

STEP UP YOUR BRUNCH GAME: Brunch for Seattlest usually means stumbling to the closest eggs-and-bacon joint, slamming some coffee, and thanking God we didn't have to put on real clothes for the occasion. But we will make an exception and actually dress up (ish) for a fancy weekend brunch, now offered at the Saint, if only for the opportunity to taste Tecate-marinated Carne con Huevos (yum) and sip on a house mimosa. The Saint's from the classy people at Havana, so we're sure brunch here will wake you up and calm you down in style.

Woot! Slowly, but surely this Seattlest is starting to see some semblance of equal rights for ourselves and others like us, as a bill has passed the state legislature granting us over 100 more rights. Chris Gregoire is expected to sign it, no problemo.

A week ago a helpful neighbor of Seattlest's reported the fact that our car hadn't moved in ten months to the city. Chalk on the tires, then a ticket and then an impound notice appeared in quick succession. Fair enough. However, the car hadn't moved since 2006 partly because we despise the automobile and all of the congestion, traffic and earthly ruination it stands for, and partly because it wouldn't start. At 11:59 on Sunday this car--which has zero cash value and, in fact, requires several hundred dollars of repair to be drivable--would be towed and impounded at our expense. The greatest thing that could possibly have happened would be for it to be stolen and never recovered. Alas. If only we'd seen the P-I's handy guide today we'd have known to leave it unlocked and running in a dark spot, crammed full of valuables...

We saw the news articles on the internet sales tax stuff that the Governor signed recently. We also saw a few blurbs about it on the TV news, but we still feel like a caveman when we attempt to wrap our mind around what is actually happening here.

We know, we know. What could they have possibly done now that they haven't done before? We blame the P-I for following the epic saga in the first place -- for years we had no idea that anyone ran the Port and, you know, its constant blundering seemed par for the course.

Seattlest got invited to the screening of the new Al Gore flick, An Inconvenient Truth, at Pacific Place last night. (It opens Friday, June 2 in Seattle.) For an Al Gore flick, Mayor Greg Nickels and King County Executive Ron Sims show up. (And they pretend to make nice, because columnist Brodeur scolded them about not playing well together.) Then after the film, Chris Gregoire comes out and introduces surprise guest Al Gore and the crowd goes wild. Especially when she says how a few years ago at a rally, she had the privilege of introducing Gore as the next president, "-- and I was right!"