Constantine’s Treasurer, Consultant Become Issue

Politics

The public’s right to know about the financing of political activity in Washington State is embodied in our state’s strict campaign finance laws.  The intent of the law as written is to assure that candidates operate campaigns in an open and honest way.

local blogger in King County has done some interesting leg work that implicates the Dow Constantine for King County Executive campaign in a tangled we of relationships, that likely violate Washington’s campaign finance laws.

The blogger, Angie Vogt, suggests Constantine sharing a treasurer and consultant with groups spending big bucks to “independently” attack his opponents (first in the primary, and now in the general election), is likely a violation of our state’s campaign finance laws:

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Bag Tax: Fail, Mayoral: Tie, KC Exec: 37 to 22

Politics

The Seattle Bag Tax, as earlier polling suggested, was dead on arrival. No word yet on whether the enviro-left campaigners who championed the measure believe this result will cause the world to end tomorrow.

The big city news, however, is that incumbent Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels is currently sitting in third place.  Nickels hasn’t thrown in the towel quite yet, but has a tough fight on his hands, even if he manages to eke out a second place, or first place finish–he’s essentially in a 3-way tie with the other two lead contenders, Joe Mallahan and Mike McGinn.

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King County: The Campaign for Incompetence

Opinion

In case you missed it, from yesterday’s SeattlePI.com:

There’s a fight within the fight for King County executive. It’s a tag team grudge match between the four high-profile Democrats running for the job that pits King County Councilmen Dow Constantine and Larry Phillips against state lawmakers Fred Jarrett and Ross Hunter. It boils down to this question – which budget is more busted, the state’s or the county’s?

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King County Prosecutor Fighting Climate Change

Politics

The King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office detailed in their latest e-mail update that they are “advocates for Clean Air and Reduced Greenhouse Gas Emissions.” The civil division of the PAO has been “litigating and advising County agencies on an important, developing climate change situation.”

Recently, in an amicus brief filed in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, the PAO “supported California’s argument that it should be permitted to enact auto emissions standards that are more stringent than the minimum national standards and that doing so is consistent with the Clean Air Act.”

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