As the primary dust settles, let’s see what we’ve got

Phew. Feels a tad like November, doesn’t it? Some primaries go softly into that good night. Others – notably our current 2010 version – go out with a bang.

So now that the returns are (in large part) in the door, what can we say about the state of the Bus, the state of you, the awesome volunteer, and the state of our state? Let us begin.

The State of the Bus: behold the rise of young politics.

Let’s just come straight out and say this first and foremost: young people have never mattered more in Washington State politics. Sure, we could quote our recent op-ed in the Seattle Times about voting trends, but there’s an even simpler metric to go by: young candidates, across the board, owned this primary election. In the three primary races the Bus was working on, Joe Fitzgibbon in the 34th Legislative District, Andy Billig in the 3rd Legislative District, and Nick Harper in the 38th Legislative District, the younger candidates came through the primary across the board. The Bus is proud that young people are headed towards elective office, and we’re glad that with each election, more and more campaigns realize that young people are a key constituency to be considered and valued. Pow!

The State of You: every door counts.

Did you know that you were the most important person in the primary? It’s true. In each of the Bus’s three primary races, the difference between the top two vote-getters was razor thin: as close as 21 votes, and no more than 246. Oooooweee! Bus volunteers knocked on thousands of doors, and made thousands of calls – more than enough to be decisive in each of these races. Your work as a volunteer is what made these races so competitive, and as we take a deep breath and look towards the general election together, know that your time and energy is going to be as important, if not more. It’s an exciting time – and you’re the reason it’s happening!

The State of the State: engaged.

The Bus is proud to be a part of a most excellent trend, which is a higher-than-usual turnout in a primary election. As the ballots continue to pour in (watch out this afternoon for another update), the Secretary of State’s office is predicting a primary turnout of 38 percent – enough to tie the recent (2006) record – and is crossing their fingers for the grand total to break 40. Now, we realize that means there’s much much more to do, but the fact that the dial is moving in the right direction, and that young people are a big part of it, is making us do the “high fiving my cousin” dance (fyi, there is no such dance. It simply sounds like fun).

The moral of the story? The wheels are in motion, the Bus is rolling, and you’re in the driver’s seat. Whether you’re in Vancouver, Spokane, Tenino or Tacoma, the Bus is going to be in your area this fall! We have miles to go before we sleep, so get your catnap in now, and let’s get ready to rumble!

The Progressive Voter’s Guide Guide

lay-zhurrrs

Question: what is the most diabolical piece of new technology to hit the streets in the last week? Frikkin’ sharks with frikkin’ laserbeams on their heads? Good guess, but no. Indeed, it is the Progressive Voters’ Guide.

Hwa!? A Voter’s Guide for progressives? To tell them what candidates are progressive, hardworking legislators? Or would be progressive, hardworking legislators? This is madness. Madness! Only progressives could be this diabolical.

…right. Uh, so, anyway, we here at the Bus are big fans of this Guide and we want to make sure you can use it as you fill out your primary election ballot (and put in the mailbox by no later than Tuesday, August 17). The Guide is hella easy to use, but we want to make it even more user friendly so that you can do your ballot up like “whoa that was hella fast.” So: the Progressive Voter’s Guide Guide starts after the jump.

Front page- click to expand

The state: not exactly stacking paper

ironic

Governor Gregoire must not have heard about the whole panhandling thing, because she’s hitting us up for ideas. I mean money. I mean both. I mean Leo’s dreams because they’re worth money.

Uh… yeah. Basically, our Governator wants people to submit their budget-balancing ideas so that she doesn’t have to come up with them or raise taxes can fill the multibillion dollar donut that is our state budget, because she wants to turn it into a maple bar.

Here’s the ideas the Bus is going to submit:

• Sell lemonade.
• Derivative credit swaps.
• Sell naming rights for the Capitol.
• Sell sponsorship rights for Mt. Rainier.
• Sell sponsorship rights for Christine Gregoire’s forehead.
• Operate a state-controlled monopoly on liquor distribution.
• Auction off Monopoly dates with Sam Reed

Meet the Bus’s 2010 candidates

Here at the Bus, we like good people. And we like good politics. If you were to make a Venn diagram of those two universes, the overlap would encompass a select group of elected officials, whose very existence makes Washington a better place.

Hyperbolic? We don’t think so! Good public officials fight for access to education and health care, for equal rights and social justice, and for environmental protections and local businesses. They’re pretty key to this whole thing we call “good government.”

With that in mind, we’re very proud to present to you the Bus’s selected 2010 candidates, all of whom will fight for young people and our issues. It’s a great list, and in a year with a ton of amazing candidates, it was no easy thing to select these few. But select we did, and we’re extremely proud of the results.

Each candidate submitted a video explaining why they wanted the Bus to support them, and since we know a video is worth a thousand pictures, and therefore a million words, we’ll stop talking and let our candidates take it from here!

1. Andy Billig, repping central Spokane

2. Joe Fitzgibbon, repping West Seattle, Burien and Vashon Island

3. Randy Gordon, repping Mercer Island and Bellevue

4. Nick Harper, repping Everett and Marysville

5. Claudia Kauffman, repping Kent and Covington

6. Geoff Simpson, repping Kent and Covington

Special session demystified

It's special, dammit.

Happy day one of special session! Special session is that magical time of the year when… wait, what? How does this work again?

Yes, it’s true: the ins and outs of a special session can be confusing. Luckily, our good friends (we’re besties) down at the Tacoma News-Tribune have produced a hard-hitting interview that gets to the bottom of a) why are we having a special session, and b) the history of said parliamentary phenomenon. Here’s an excerpt, check the link for the full enchilada.

Q: What’s so special about a special session?

A: It’s special only because it isn’t regular. They used to call them extraordinary sessions but no one was buying that.

Q: But doesn’t this reflect poor performance by our politicians?

A: That depends.

Q: On what?

A: On whether you’re a Democrat or a Republican. Democrats point out that the state is in extraordinary – or maybe they meant special – times. They need more than 60 days to fill another big hole in the state budget. Republicans say the only reason more time is needed is because Democrats couldn’t quite find enough votes to raise taxes.

Q: Who’s right?

A: These are extraordinary times and they need more time to find enough votes to raise taxes.

Q: You sound like a politician.

A: YOU TAKE THAT BACK!

Get the rest of it here.

Some light at the end of the tunnel?

And then we crossed the Rubicon. Cool like that.

Throughout this long legislative session, we’ve been waiting and waiting and asking and calling and emailing and facebooking and waiting some more to see what sort of revenue package our legislators are going to come up with. We’ve always known that an all-cuts budget is just no bueno – you can’t cut more when you’ve cut everything, and that’s pretty much where we are. And now, we have some indication of where we might end up:

Firstly, yesterday the State Senate passed, for the first time in 17 years, a budget that includes a general tax increase. Shocking? Sort of. But mainly it’s the sort of Rubicon that, when crossed, makes a lot peoples’ eyebrows go way way up at the possibility of what might come next.

Secondly, Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown (D-Spokane) has kick-started an idea that she’s thrown around since at least last year: a high-earners tax. specifically targeted at individuals, heads of families and couples making no less than $200,000. It’s appended to Senator Rosa Franklin’s annual income-tax proposal, and if passed would go before voters in November.

It’s a bit late in the session to feel jolly, but for the millions of Washingtonians who have been watching Olympia and hoping for some sort of hand up in this time of hardship, it finally feels like there might be something good coming our way. Watch this space.

You + state needs grants

Though delicious, this is NOT the type of need we're talking about.

Alright then. So you’ve heard all about how the economy isn’t doing so hot, yes? It’s true – and as you’ve learned at each and every installment of Oly in a Can, it’s meant that a lot of important programs are on the chopping block. One of the most-impacted areas is higher education, and specifically, needs-based grants.

You know why they call them “needs-based”? Because they’re based on students’ needs! And it turns out there are 73,000 students in Washington who NEED them. If they get cut, then poof! Gone. And 73,000 students are left holding the bag.

That’s crap!

So, now that the Senate and (looooooong-awaited) House budgets/revenues (yes, they are that sexy) have been released, we know exactly what we’re dealing with. And it’s not a ton – some new revenue, but a drop in the bucket compared to the need.

You don’t like cuts – they suck and they hurt us. Our state government should support our people, and that means we need to find a way to pay for these essential programs. The solution? Finding new revenue sources, and a budget that isn’t all-cuts. When you write to your legislators, ask them to support a budget that has new revenue, and that protects a vibrant Washington.

So here’s what you should do – email some legislators! It really is that easy. Email them and tell them that new revenue is vital, and that legislators must prioritize funding for need-based grants. Here’s their emails, go to it!

Speaker of the House:
Frank Chopp: chopp.frank@leg.wa.gov

Senate Ways and Means Committee Leadership (who delegate the ca$h)
Margarita Prentice: prentice.margarita@leg.wa.gov
Rodney Tom: tom.rodney@leg.wa.gov
Karen Fraser: fraser.karen@leg.wa.gov

House Ways and Means Committee Leadership
Kelli Linville: linville.kelli@leg.wa.gov
Mark Ericks: Ericks.mark@leg.wa.gov
Pat Sullivan: Sullivan.pat@leg.wa.gov

Boom!

The 2010 Oly in a Can Awards – la bonne affaire

Last night was AWESOME. We couldn’t think of a better way to wrap up our Oly in a Can series than last night’s soiree. As always, Grey was full of good people, smart politics, and great energy. You all rocked the Facebook (that’s a lot of messages for legislators to wake up to…), and our 2010 awardees made the stage stairs shine with awesome. They then attempted to eat their trophies (don’t believe? Just look below…).

Again, thanks to everyone who came out last night, especially to the members of our awesome board of directors! Big shouts to Eric, Matt, Tara, and the other awesome people of Grey, and to Selector Tang for holding down the musics so nice.

Check the pictures, and thanks for coming through!

Lobbying 2.0

Looking up those legislative districts.

Alternate text: Buck a shot for your state.

Obey the bears.

The crowds gather.

Like father, like daughter.

The 2010 Oly in a Can Awardees!

We sort of thought the trophies would be bigger...

...but we're still psyched!!!

No, noooo, DON'T eat the trophy. Liz? LIZ? DO NOT eat the trophy! Are you even listening?

Enviro Star

It’s going down 2 nite

Of course it is. It’s Oly in Can, Episode 3: The 2010 Oly in a Can Awards!

Prepare yourself for the spectacular Olympi(a)c champions of 2010! Steel your nerves for the awesome power of Facebook! Test your mettle against that most diabolical of disc jockeys, Selector Tang!

Yes, it’s free. Yes, it’s all-ages. And yes, you should be there. Pow pow boom!

The Oly in a Can Awards
Tonight! 6 to 8 pm
Grey Gallery (1512 11th Ave)

Tomorrow, tomorrow, we’ll love ya, tomorrow

It’s only a day away.