ITEM: U.S. Rep. Jennifer Dunn, R-Bellevue, announces she will not run for re-election this year, after 14 years in Congress. She has remarried and aspires to making some big bucks in private industry. Washington Republican leaders fear losing her 8th district if the “wrong” Republican becomes their candidate.
COMMENT: It would be a rarity for the GOP to lose the 8th since it was drawn for them, just as the 7th was drawn crawling with Democrats for “Baghdad Jim” McDermott. That’s what’s wrong with the way redistricting is done. Theoretically, the state should hire a geographer to split the population into nine fairly even chunks for Congress and subdivide into 49 legislative districts, without regard to where any of the incumbents live. In reality, two Democrats and two Republicans do it, making deals to protect their incumbents. Dunn is the only Washington congresswoman, maybe the only congresswoman, so far as I know, to be described in the national print as “drop dead gorgeous.” (That by editor in chief Wes Pruden in The Washington Times.)
ITEM: Some black leaders still demand resignation of State Sen. Alex Deccio, R-Yakima, for a racial slur said by the white lawmaker to another white member in a closed meeting, despite his apology. Deccio called Rep. Tom Campbell, R-Roy, a “nigger in the woodpile” on reforming health care. He apologized on the Senate floor after which he was hugged by Sen. Rosa Franklin, D-Tacoma, the only black senator, and forgiven by Campbell.
COMMENT: I’ve known Deccio since he came to the Legislature via the House in 1977 and don’t recall ever hearing him tell a racist joke or make a racist comment. I was sitting in the Senate years ago when the late Sen. Perry Woodall, R-Toppenish, was voicing his suspicions on the bill before them, just as Rep. Sam Smith, D-Seattle, a prominent black leader, strolled into the wings. Woodall shifted gears instantly and declared he was convinced that in dealings on the bill, “there is a colored gentleman in the lumberyard!” Sam laughed as hard as anybody.
ITEM: If any skeptics remain that Janet Jackson’s disgraceful finale to her performance at the Super Bowl was a last minute thing as she says, all they have to do is demand the garment she wore be produced. It obviously had been specially tailored to be unsnapped at the shoulder and jerked off.
COMMENT: As a precut piece, Super Bowl entertainment planners should have seen this coming when they let Michael Jackson do his thing where he grabs at his crotch as if he had fleas. Who knows? Maybe if they’d stopped him then, he wouldn’t have gotten into all the trouble he’s in now. And if showing off a breast was supposed to be the highlight of half time, why didn’t they at least make it worthwhile and invite Dolly Parton instead?
ITEM: Almost eight months since the doors opened to a lavish, new gambling operation, the Tulalip Casino north of Marysville announced the layoffs of 240 employees. In accordance with tribal employment preference policies protected under federal law, none of the 240 workers are tribe members.
COMMENT: What have I been telling you all along? With every tribe wanting a casino and some more than one, it wasn’t going to be long before we’d have more gambling establishments than we have gamblers to keep them all operating. New ones are still going up. And what do you bet the state doesn’t have the power to say no to pending applications.
ITEM: Latest projections in Olympia are for a $1 billion budget gap during the next biennium.
COMMENT: Look in the mirror if you want to blame somebody, folks. What do you expect when you vote for automatic minimum wage adjustments so we’re now the highest in the nation, automatic cost of living increases for teachers, and class size reductions without proof that will stop the decline of education. Next time you’re asked to throw money at a problem, first ask if you’ve got it to throw. If not, ask where it’s coming from, then decide whether to go along.
(Adele Ferguson can be reached at P.O. Box 69, Hansville, Wa., 98340.). |
