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WENATCHEE -- Reeling from a courtroom rout, Republican Dino Rossi decided today not to press ahead to the state Supreme Court with his legal challenge to the 2004 election of Democratic Gov. Christine Gregoire. With today's decision, and because of the political makeup of the Washington State Supreme Court, which makes it almost impossible to overturn this ruling, I am ending the election contest," Rossi said at his campaign headquarters in Bellevue. Rossi and the GOP sued in January in Chelan County Superior Court to set aside the closest governor's race in the nation's history, which Gregoire won by 129...

A small, weekend item in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer was missed by many, yet it's another example of a dubious trend: liberal Democrats switching between journalism and partisan political positions..... (AND) Election Decision Live Blogging GOP Loses First Round In Gubernatorial Challenge...

A Washington state judge found that more than 1600 votes were illegally cast in the gubernatorial election last year. They were nearly all cast in overwhelmingly Demonrat-controlled regions, and constitute several times the margin of "victory" by the Demonrat candidate, Christinie Gregoire. The judge acknowledged the injury due to the fraud. But, he found that as defined by the Washington State election statute the fraud provided no basis for overturning election. The statute states that the challenging party would have to not only demonstrate that fraud occured, but that the perpetrators of the fraud intended to commit fraud. Merely being...

A judge on Monday upheld Washington's 2004 gubernatorial election, rejecting Republicans' bid to nullify the 129-vote victory of Democratic Gov. Christine Gregoire. Chelan County Superior Court Judge John Bridges denied Republican claims that election errors, illegal voters and fraud stole the election from GOP candidate Dino Rossi. He announced his decision in court, saying the state's election process was flawed but that he was not the proper person to remedy those flaws. "This court is not in the position to fix the deficiencies in the election process," Bridges said. "However, the voters are in a position to demand of their...

A state judge has upheld the election of Washington Governor Christine Gregoire. In turning back the Republican challenge to the Democrat, Judge John Bridges says there was no evidence of fraud in last fall's election. The judge did find there were more than 1,600 illegal votes, but he says it's up to voters to fix errors in the state's election system. Republicans have said they will appeal to the state Supreme Court.

OK, this thread may be partially vanity...but it looks like breaking news based upon what I'm reading on the soundpolitics web site. Go there and read it for yourselves...but it looks like the county jdge isn't gonna allow a new election. This looks bad for democracy. Check it out and let me know what you think.

Live thread, discuss.

Audio link courtesy of TVW: 6/2/05 Inside Olympia OLYMPIA—Appearing on the June 2 edition of TVW’s Inside Olympia hosted by David Ammons, State Auditor Brian Sonntag agreed with the criticisms offered by the Evergreen Freedom Foundation (EFF) and Initiative 900 sponsor Tim Eyman concerning the performance audit law passed this session. EFF and Eyman have complained that under the new performance audit law (HB 1064), an unelected political board unnecessarily restricts the state auditor’s ability to conduct performance audits. The text of HB 1064 clearly states that the unelected board will “establish criteria for performance audits” as well as be...

In its 85 years of existence, Smith Brothers Dairy in Kent has survived all manner of misfortune and mistakes. There was the Depression, when milk sales plummeted. There were cow-killing floods. There were modern times, when it appeared the old-fashioned idea of fresh milk delivered to the doorstep had died. And there was the crackdown when society realized cow manure could be as toxic to fish as anything produced at a nuclear plant. "None of that compares to this," says Alexis Smith Koester, 60, dairy president and granddaughter of the founder, Ben Smith. "This is the biggest threat we've ever...

A man fell from a Seattle overpass early this morning onto Interstate 5 where he was hit by two vehicles and killed, police said. The man, who has not been identified by investigators, and another man, age 31, had been drinking and were trying to see who could hang above the interstate from the Olive Way overpass the longest, Seattle police spokeswoman Debra Brown said. The unidentified man struggled and could not pull himself up, Brown said. The other man tried to help him, but he slipped and fell to the traffic below. The man was hit by a semi-truck,...

WENATCHEE, Wash. - The state elections director testified Tuesday that he believes the problems in Washington's incredibly close 2004 gubernatorial election were innocent mistakes. "I saw inadvertent mistakes and errors of human beings who were working their hearts out," said Nick Handy, who was appointed to the post. He said he disagrees with his boss, Secretary of State Sam Reed, a Republican, who has called the problems in heavily Democratic King County "appalling." Handy testified as a trial to determine whether the results of the election should be thrown out entered its second week. Democrats are trying to defend the...

NewsweekJune 6 issue - For the true commitment-phobe, living among the Na people in southwestern China would be paradise. The Na are the only known society that completely shuns marriage. Instead, says Stephanie Coontz in her new book, "Marriage, a History," brothers help sisters raise the children they conceive through casual sex with nonfamily members (incest is strictly taboo). Will we all be like the Na in the future? With divorce and illegitimacy rates still high, the institution of marriage seems headed for obsolescence in much of the world. Coontz, a family historian at Evergreen State College in Washington, doesn't...

On Monday, four US military recruiting offices in Seattle were shut down when students blocked the entrances to protest recruitment practices and to oppose the occupation of Iraq. Meanwhile the Parent Teacher Student Association at one school has passed a resolution recommending that military recruiters be barred from the campus. [includes rush transcript] Students from nine local universities, community colleges and high schools joined in simultaneous demonstrations. A military recruiting office near the University of Washington and another near Garfield High School were also blockaded by groups of students. Garfield High School also made news recently when the school's Parent...

When adopting the record $26 billion tax-and-spend 2005-07 budget, the legislature and governor with each tax increase and spending addition signaled their intent to carve R.I.P. on the tombstone of Priorities of Government (POG) budgeting. POG, the highly successful and renowned budget process that requires state officials to prioritize all state spending within available revenue, was used in crafting a no-new-taxes 2003-05 budget under the direction of then Sen. Dino Rossi and former Governor Gary Locke. In fact, current Governor Christine Gregoire, prior to signing the tax-and-spend $26 billion budget, highlighted the state’s nomination for Harvard’s Innovation in Government Award...

The trial to determine whether Christine Gregoire stole the governor's election last November began today at 9am Pacific time. (I can save everyone a lot of time . . . SHE DID! . . . . but for some reason the lawyers insist on playing their silly games. My link is to TVW (essentially local C-SPAN), which is broadcasting the trial live on regional cable, and streaming on their website. More coverage is available here on NWCN as well. This is a landmark trial, as it looks to expose massive 'Rat corruption and voter fraud.

For months, state Republicans have insisted that hundreds of votes cast illegally by felons put Democrat Christine Gregoire in the governor's mansion. But a Seattle Times analysis finds that even if those votes were disqualified, Gregoire would still prevail over GOP challenger Dino Rossi. That finding undercuts what has been the most prominent element of the Republicans' case to overturn the election. The case moves to trial in Wenatchee tomorrow. Gregoire won the election by a scant 129 votes — and only after Rossi finished ahead in the first two of three vote counts. ...

Gregoire: 'No meek and mild' for this embattled governorBy DAVID AMMONS AP POLITICAL WRITER OLYMPIA, Wash. -- In recent days, Gov. Christine Gregoire has signed a passel of "sin taxes" and the largest gas-tax hike in state history. She has sacked 1,000 middle managers and sent a number of Gary Locke's appointees packing. The activist rookie was an unexpectedly effective dealmaker in the Legislature, showing the timing and finesse of a seasoned card sharp, even her critics said. On a parallel track, she was prodding the bureaucracy and looking for concrete ways to hold agencies accountable. She threw some sharp...

Mother Who Killed Little Girl Jailed After Flunking Drug Test POSTED: 8:00 am PDT May 20, 2005 EVERETT, Wash. -- A woman awaiting sentencing for the death of her 4-year-old stepdaughter has been jailed after flunking a drug test, an outcome her lawyer blamed on crack cocaine smoked by friends of her father. After deputy prosecutor Craig Matheson said Thursday in Snohomish County Superior Court that traces of cocaine had been found in the blood of Heather B. Ewell, 25, of Lake Stevens, Judge George N. Bowden issued the order and set bail at $300,000. "I'm not willing to tolerate...

I can only post a link. It's a disturbing story about anti-military activities in Seattle.http://www.armytimes.com/story.php?f=1-292925-861303.php

When snatching defeat out of the jaws of victory, as happened this session with performance audits, it is tempting to settle for anything that comes close to what you have fought for, especially if the journey has been difficult and fraught with failure. Such is the case with performance audits of state government. We have been working for more than a decade to secure independent, comprehensive performance audits, and lawmakers came closer than ever to adopting them this past year. Instead, we got HB 1064. Unfortunately, the new performance audit law requires that an “advisory” board of political appointees “establish...