Two-time gubernatorial candidate Dino Rossi announced his candidacy for U.S. Senate on his website this morning. He sent out a message to his supporters on Facebook and Twitter but did not hold a traditional press conference with the media.  Rossi, a republican who lost to Gov. Chris Gregoire twice, will have to beat a crowded field of republican candidates to challenge democratic Senator Patty Murray in November.

In his online video, Rossi said he’s running to tackle the federal deficit, saying “policies being passed in Washington D.C. have put us on the edge of a fiscal cliff.”  He also says he wants to roll back the health care reform package and replace it with “reform that gives power back to patients and their doctors and takes it away from big government and insurance company bureaucrats.”

Candidates have until June 11 to file for office.  The primary will be held Tuesday, August 17, and the general election is Tuesday, November 2.  For more information on the election calendar, go here.

Tags: Dino Rossi, Patty Murray, Senate

Add Sen. Ken Jacobsen of Seattle to the list of members who have decided this is the year to retire.

Jacobsen, who has served in the Legislature for 28 years, said in a statement that he’s given the matter “careful thought and consideration,” and decided that the stress of the job — which has lead to high blood pressure and a stay in the hospital — lead him to reconsider running. “I’m proud of my work on behalf of veterans, the environment, higher education, Holocaust education, gender equity in college sports and helping to solve my constituents’ problems,” he said.

Read after the jump for the list of accomplishments Jacobsen included in the press release: (more…)

Tags: retirement, Sen. Jacobsen, Senate

This week’s Q&A is with Sen. Rosa Franklin, who announced last week that she’s retiring from the Legislature after 20 years.
I spoke to Franklin, who was at home in Tacoma, over the phone. I’m also trying to reach Sen. Dale Brandland, a Republican who also announced his retirement this year. I’ll keep you posted on that interview.

Q: Why did you decide to retire?

Franklin: Well, it was after a long consideration and talking with my family and then looking at the length of time that I had been there, plus my granddaughter is graduating from high school. Two (of my grandchildren) were born since I’ve been elected — and one was born the year I was elected. So I want to now also spend maybe a bit more time with them. The youngest is 11, my granddaughter is graduating from high school and is going to enter college in August and I want to be ready to go — if she has an event, I want to be a bit more free to travel. Then, our 11-year-old, the youngest, is in Renton and is in school and I want to be able to attend more of his functions and be available to go and be with him, to spend a bit more time with my family.
And then I also figure 20 years was a long enough time for me. It’s my second career, I had already had one career. Also, I wanted to come back and work more closely – to return to what I refer to as becoming a community organizer — not like Obama, but a community organizer.
I want to rebuild my district — it seemed to become a bit stagnant. And then I want to work with young people — and not only just young people. I really want to work within the community to encourage people to become more engaged in the political process, learn more about how it works and for the average person to say your voice on an ongoing basis makes a difference, and to learn what the issues are, to have the information so that they can make decisions without a lot of the ra-ra-ra, if you will, that goes around, especially with some of the more controversial issues.
And then I want to encourage them to participate on an ongoing basis and not just to come out for one election. And also to encourage young people to look forward to running for office. I want to help the everyday, average working person become knowledgeable, become active, become involved.

I want our government to be open and responsive to everyone — not just a select few. That is one of the things that I worked on before I became a legislator.

Q: What do you consider your biggest accomplishments in the Legislature?
Franklin: I had worked on several bills — prime sponsored and also cosponsored and supported several. One was planning community designs for walkability and physical activity. Way back then, I felt communities were not designed so that people will be able to go out and walk and have their physical activity and stay healthy. It was one of the first bills in the nation and so our communities are designed for physical activity. (more…)

Tags: Franklin, retirement, Senate

Sen. Rosa Franklin announced today that she will not run for re-election.

“It’s been such a rewarding experience representing the 29th District for so long,” she said in a press release. While she won’t run for re-election, she said she will continue to devote herself to serving her community.

Franklin was elected to the House in 1991 and was elected to the Senate in 1993.

Update: Rep. Steve Conway told The News Tribune’s Jordan Schrader that he will run for Franklin’s seat.

Tags: Conway, elections, Franklin, Senate

Sen. Darlene Fairley announced yesterday that she won’t run for reelection. Get the full scoop — including her letter to colleagues — at the Seattle Times.

In other news, Seattle City Attorney Pete Holmes has asked the state Supreme Court to block Rob McKenna from continuing with the lawsuit over federal healthcare reform. Get the rest of the story at the P-I.

Tags: elections, healthcare reform, lawsuit, McKenna, Senate

The Senate Ways and Means committee just passed the first bill of their tax package — the part that addresses tax loopholes and the sales tax increase.

Sen. Mike Carrell: “This may be one of the few times we get a chance to say at least what I’m thinking about the full tax package.” He said it seems that “some don’t want the public to know what’s going on. We don’t keep our word but we do want your money.”

Sen. Mike Hewitt: “(Republicans have) offered some solutions, I think .. but the minority party never has anything positive or good to say.”

The committee passed the package. Now they’re discussing the tobacco tax.

Sen. Mike Carrell: “I don’t smoke. I don’t have any other interest in this other than the truth,” he said, “I don’t think smoking is going to go down in the state of Washington. What I think is going to happen is that smuggling is going to go up.” He said it makes trips to Oregon “a lucrative thing to do on the weekend.” He said the bill is rife with problems. (more…)

Tags: Senate, tax package

The Senate just voted to adopt Sen. Jim Hargrove’s striking amendment. That means Initiative 960 would not be changed — just suspended.

Now, onto debate on final passage:

Sen. Jim Hargrove: “This is a significant issue and we do not take lightly changing or even suspending the will of the people in this action,” he said. “I remember that when Initiative 601 was passed, it was the will of the people and I supported it,” he said, but it, too, was amended. “It was altered in a major way the following session,” he said. And then initiatives 732 and 728 were suspended several times. He said lawmakers cannot “simply vote no and go home.”

Sen. Jerome Delvin: “In 2007 or 8, we talked about the upcoming financial crisis,” he said, but it didn’t stop the Legislature from spending.” He urged people to listen to voters in their districts.

Sen. Ed Murray: “In all of our districts, we see homes foreclosed and we see the empty businesses. It wasn’t state government that got us there.” Murray said it was “waste, fraud and greed” from corporate America that ravaged the economy. “There just isn’t enough cost savings to be found” to fund public schools and other state functions.

Sen. Mike Carrell: “Some of us … didn’t vote to repeal those initiatives,” he said. “Washington state hit the budgetary iceberg, and kinda like the Titanic, it appears that the message is we need to put more coals down in teh burners to get … moving faster,” he said. “I just simply cannot support something like this.” He said if the state is going through an emergency, why is it spending $150,000 on art projects at a special commitment center? “It is simply wrong to be doing that.” He said half of one percent of every construction project in Washington — including the $4 billion Alaskan Way Viaduct replacement tunnel — has to be spent on art.

(more…)

Tags: 960, Senate, taxes

The Senate is now considering two budget-cutting bills: One to close state government for one day a month starting in June, and another to prohibit raises and bonuses for state workers.

Tune in now on TVW or read-along here.

Sen. Rodney Tom: “With this bill and the one that follows, they are very difficult bills. A lot of our state employees provide some incredible, incredible service,” he said. “I’ve worked with a lot of talented professionals throughout my career, and these guys can hold a candle to anybody out there,” he said.

The Senate passed the bill to limit employee compensation. Much of the debate was over a failed amendment proposed by Sen. Joe Zarelli.

Sen. Rodney Tom said the bill to close state government is based on the premise that it’s better to have “less of a job than no job.”

Sen. Joe Zarelli said the temporary nature of the bill “does not solve the problem long term. We have an unsustainable budget … nothing about our situation is temporary. Furloughs, temporary layoffs — these things are not going to solve anything.”

Sen. Karen Fraser: “We aren’t looking at this yet in the full context,” she said. Fraser said the bill is premature. “I think this is going to end up having a lot of arbitrary and unexpected consequences that we’ll be a little bit sorry about.”

Update: The Senate passed the bill.

Tags: Budget, close state government, Senate

Just a quick note: If you’re trying to reach a lawmaker or staffer in Olympia right now, don’t use e-mail. The computer system on the capitol campus is down, a computer systems representative with the Legislature told me.

The system died about an hour after lawmakers and staffers reported to work for the first day of the 2010 legislative session. E-mail and file access had not been restored as of 11:20 a.m. Update: As of 11:50, they are recovering services. E-mail and files saved on the system should be available soon.

The first floor session of the day is scheduled to start at noon for both the House and Senate.

Tags: computer systems, House, Senate

Here’s the rundown from Jennifer Huntley about what’s to come on The Impact tonight. The show airs at 7 and 10 p.m. on TVW — or anytime online (as soon as it’s available, of course).

• The Department of Corrections is facing millions in cuts to its health care system. We’ll go inside Stafford Creek Corrections Center in Aberdeen to see how officials are managing the cuts. We’ll also talk with the Secretary for the Department of Corrections Eldon Vail to get his thoughts on a number of cost-saving measures that are making their way through the legislature this session.

• Expanding benefits to domestic partners is taking center stage this session. We’ll talk to both sides of the aisle and hear testimony on the bill.

• And an early childhood preschool program could be cut in half in the House budget proposal. Find out what other education programs facing funding shortfalls from education leaders in the House.

Tags: Budget, House, Senate, The Impact, TVW