And just like that, there’s one less potential mayoral candidate. Joel Connelly over at the PI is reporting that Councilmember Tim Burgess is no longer in the hunt for mayoral gold. I guess that’s what an exploratory committee is for, eh? Explore, examine, and when it’s clear that you don’t have a shot, extinguish.
The mayor’s race puts this song into the Bus’s head:
In the pecking order of elected officials here in Washington, one of the tippy top folks is the Senate Majority Leader (and no, it’s not an elected position, per se, but you can’t get it without being elected to the senate, sucker fool!).
Our current Majority Leader (and friend of the Bus) is Lisa Brown (D – Spokane), and yesterday she sat down with members of the media to go over many of the nuances of the budget and legislative process thus far in the session.
It’s long, but if you’re willing to give it a listen, it’s a pretty insightful look at the reasoning behind some of the laws that are coming out of Oly. Here’s the first one, and the rest can be found here.
Ah, Bellingham. Close to nature, but with that zesty little bohemian pep in its step. We love the Ham. One of the most notable features about B’Ham is its well preserved downtown. Unfortunately, one building that didn’t make it through unscathed (in fact the opposite of unscathed… what, scathed?) was Beck’s Theater (lated known as the American). Home to a fantabulous organ, this bad boy was once a dominant feature of Cornwall Street in downtown Bellingham, until it was knocked over for a JC Penney’s (remember them?) and a Woolworths.
There's no business like show business. Pic courtesy of PSTOS.
Every Friday during session, the Bus gives its Legislator of the Week award. Nominations are culled from our homeskillets in media, politics, and the non-profit worlds.
Mike Carrell: Silver Fox
There are some huge equal rights bills working their way through Olympia this spring, and one of the biggest of them is SB 5952. Currently, Washington’s law against malicious harassment includes hate crimes based on sexual orientation. This bill, sponsored by Joe McDermott (D – West Seattle) would expand the definition of sexual orientation to include gender identity, which is pretty badass and cutting edge.
A lot of bills died in their committees this week, but not SB 5952. It passed out of the Judiciary Committee, helped in large part by a yes vote from the ranking Republican on the committee, Mike Carrell (R-Lakewood).
For his leadership on a key vote, especially on an issue that has not traditionally been embraced by his party, Senator Carrell was nominated to be the Bus’s Legislator of the Week. We concur! Congrats, Mike.
Yes.
Quincy Poindexter does what he does. Damn. Photo courtesy of the Seattle Times.
One Washington.
Every month (on the last Thursday, to be exact), the Bus posts up at one of our favorite bars (Moe Bar!) for our regular happy hour, the Washington Buzz. In addition to being the pun of the century (or at least the pun of the week?), the Buzz is a chance for Bussers to rub elbows with each other and the world informally, and with a higher than average propensity for beverages.
Well, the Buzz is going on right now. Like RIGHT now. This is a little liveblogging action, and yes, we’re excited. Want to see what a Buzz looks like? Check out the pics below:
Sexy, sexy, sexy, and sexy.
Sabrina and Paige, reppin' hard
More pics after the jump…
We all know the economy’s hitting harder than… well, something really, really hard. There are a lot of people out there who will try and give you some tips to survive the recession, but you already know most of those. We here at the Bus did some heavy research for you guys. By “heavy research,” we mean we clicked around a few websites in between Facebook status updates and asked a couple of friends over coffee. Here are some great tips you probably haven’t thought about that will help you put that shiny new money clip to use.
1. Have a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Not only are they delicious and ridiculously cheap, but every time you make yourself a PB&J, you’re also helping out the environment. No, really! Look!
2. Coupons. Your spare quarters could go towards a newspaper and save the world of print journalism. Those quarters will also usually get you a few pages of coupons that could save you dozens of dollars in one trip to the supermarket. Not willing to cut up one of your last issues of the PI? Try searching online for free coupons.
3. Take advantage of your local library! A lot of us stop going to the library the minute we stop having to write essays, but we’re quick to buy the latest bestselling novels from a bookstore. Instead of shelling out cash for books and movies, see if your neighborhood library branch has what you’re looking for.
4. And speaking of movies, how about catching a matinee instead of a late movie? Become an early bird. A lot of places (restaurants, theaters, nightclubs, etcetera) will often knock a few dollars off your tab for coming a bit earlier than you usually would.
If you’re really wanting to save money, there’s always freeganism.
Now what are you going to do with all of this extra money you’ll have laying around? Exactly.
Hey blog world! Do you like good music (hands go up)? Do you like good music for free (more hands in the sky)?
Excellent. Because the Bus has a deal for you. Through the goodness of one of our friends, we have two tickets to tonight’s Total Experience Gospel Choir show at the Triple Door in Seattle. It starts at 7:30 this evening, and it’s a benefit for Voices, an organization that works to raise awareness of alternatives to conflict and war.
And we want you to have the tickets for free!
All you have to do is be the first person to email the Bus (toby@washingtonbus.org) with the answer to this question: how many counties are there in Washington?
Note: it’s not a tough question. This is a speed thing!
Aaaaand go!
As in hella nice. Hope you’ve got a view to match. If not, enjoy!
Courtesy of the Seattle Times
Cut-offs. Family friendly version.
Yesterday was a big milestone for lawmaking in Oly. When a bill is first proposed, it’s assigned to a “committee of origin,” and yesterday was the last day for Senate bills to be read in their committees of origin. What’s that mean in non-legalese? Basically this: if your bill hasn’t been read and voted on yet, it’s dead to the world.
So today we have a much better sense of what bills are actually going to work their way through the legislative process, and which ones we can tearfully bid adieu to.
That’s a lot of bills, and luckily, our friends at Publicola have put together a nice comprehensive list of which bills are sitting on a Senate committee-chair’s desk. It’s interesting to see, and if you’ve never seen the huge scope of bills that the legislature considers every year, this will give you a taste of it.
Hella Bus 