Olympia Business Watch

Governing Magazine on Supreme Court and Governor

The 13th Floor blog of Governing Magazine, which recently carried a cover photo of Gov. Chris Gregoire, takes a look at the governor's response to the Supreme Court's jettisoning of I-747.

The governor's response to the court: Thanks, but no thanks.

She's calling for legislation to reinstitute the cap. If local governments rush to raise property taxes, Gregoire says she'll call a special session to stop them.

The subtext here is that Gregoire is up for reelection next year and her opponent, Dino Rossi, was ready to pounce on the issue. Gregoire is part of a trend among Democratic politicians in state government. She's willing to advance many progressive causes, but more cautious on taxation issues -- especially 12 months from an election.

I'm not sure I see that trend, nor would it necessarily apply to the governor. I-747 strikes me as a special case. State government - Gregoire's primary executive responsibility - is relatively unaffected by the initiative. And while state spending has grown substantially in the last 3 years, the strong economy allowed the spending to grow with minimal increases in state taxes.

Meanwhile, the Tri-City Herald, would like to see a "workable solution." Apparently, that's somewhere between 1 and 6 percent.

Editorial Opinion Split on 747 Decision

The Everett Herald says, "don't even think about ignoring voters." The editorial has a clear view of what should happen next.

Local governments should stay out of taxpayers' pockets and the Legislature should reinstate the 1 percent cap.

The News Tribune calls it "a disastrous ruling," but wants lawmakers to tinker.

I-747 ought to be replaced by a property tax cap – one that holds annual increases in collections to the rate of inflation, not that arbitrary, draconian 1 percent.

With an inflation-based cap on the books, anyone who attempts to clone the 1 percent lid would be forced to explain why local budgets that pay for emergency services, etc., shouldn’t be allowed to keep pace with the actual cost of providing those services.

And the Seattle P-I is pleased.

The Washington Supreme Court delivered a reasonable ruling Thursday when it deemed Initiative 747 unconstitutional because of misleading language. ...

While we see the point of the dissenting justices, that it should always be assumed that voters can, in fact, think for themselves, we agree with the 5-4 majority in this case.

Wisely, they don't explain why they agree in this case. Apparently, it's because they liked the outcome. Unsurprisingly, they're already looking past it.

We can only hope that the courts get to take a very close look at Initiative 960.

Should we infer that the P-I believes I-960 represents another case of the voters not being able to think for themselves?

MORE This editorial cartoon by Eric Devericks sums it up well.

747 Media Roundup

Yesterday's state Supreme Court decision filled the news and opinion pages today.

The Seattle Times headline, "Higher taxes? Court clears way," nicely captures voter concerns. The Legislature will clearly have to deal with it in January.

Republicans warned that huge tax increases are in the offing. Democrats, who control the state Legislature and the governor's office, vowed to pass legislation early next year to protect taxpayers.

Times reporters Andrew Garber and Ralph Thomas put some numbers to worst case scenarios.

Bellevue has enough banked capacity that, coupled with the 6 percent allowable increase, it could raise property-tax collections by nearly 50 percent, said King County Assessor Scott Noble.

Seattle could increase tax collections by nearly 28 percent, while King County could bring in 13 percent more tax revenue, Noble said.

Here's a helpful Times Q&A.

The Spokesman-Review has this story by Richard Roesler, with a good reality check from the revenue department.

Suggestions by I-747 proponent Tim Eyman and others that total property taxes could immediately spike by 30 percent are not true, state Department of Revenue spokesman Mike Gowrylow said. The vast majority of local property taxes are from large districts that – barring a supermajority vote by the officials in charge – are limited to increasing at the rate of inflation. Their total extra taxing capacity in the wake of Thursday's ruling is about 8 percent, he said.

Also, he said more than a third of the average property tax bill is for voter-approved tax levies, like schools and some fire districts, which are unaffected by Thursday's ruling.

"Yeah, property taxes can go up more than they have in the past," Gowrylow said. "But in no way are your local property taxes going to go up 30 percent. It just can't happen."

That's probably not enough assurance for most voters, particularly after passing I-960 Tuesday.

Neil Modie's story in the Seattle P-I sums it up right from the start.

Tossing a potential grenade into the 2008 political scene, a divided state Supreme Court ruled Thursday that Initiative 747, a 2001 measure limiting property tax growth to 1 percent a year, is unconstitutional.

In the Olympian, Brad Shannon makes a similar point.

... the court threw a potential bomb to the Legislature — just in time for the 2008 legislative session and a campaign season already under way.

Grenade, bomb, hot potato, whatever: the decision alters the 2008 political landscape. It's unlikely lawmakers will simply reinstate I-747 as passed, and even that would not end the discussion. A lot of folks objected to the 1 percent cap, including key Democratic leaders and constituencies.

MORE Here's the governor's statement on the court decision, with this sentence foreshadowing the session.

I believe that it is our responsibility to move quickly, recognizing taxpayers’ concerns and reinstating the will of the voters.

Reactions to the Election

Let's get this one out of the way first. Tim Eyman's jubilant. In another email to everyone, he writes:

Politicians are spinning like tops trying to explain away the no-new-tax election results. They're not listening.  Voters have repeatedly said "use our existing tax revenue more effectively, don't raise taxes" (and yes, that includes fees, tolls, and other 'revenue-raising' measures - no matter what you call it, if it takes more of the people's money, then the answer is 'no way').

His take on the outcome his echoed in this Crosscut piece, with commentary from several Seattle-area analysts.  Here's Knute Berger's assesment.

The results of the Nov. 6 election should be sobering to Seattle. Not only did mass transit — and the largest transportation tax increase in state history — get voted down with the defeat of Proposition 1 in King, Pierce, and Snohomish counties, Seattle nemesis Tim Eyman is baaaaaack with an anti-tax measure designed to tie Olympia, and perhaps the courts, in knots....

State voters want to keep a leash on taxes — even the proposal to remove the supermajority for school levies failed — and central Pugetopolis is shy about big spending on transportation.

In The News Tribune's Political Buzz, Kris Sherman points out that defeat of the simple majority has plenty of precedent.

... it appears that Washington voters want to retain the supermajority, just
as they have on at least six occasions since the 1930s.

And Chris Mulick suspects we won't see it on the ballot again soon.

 

A good argument can be made that if this thing goes down you shouldn't expect to see it again any time soon.

"We're not feeling like we're getting this chance again next year," Lisa Macfarlane, president of the League of Education Voters, told us recently.

... there's not much incentive for legislative leaders to put it right back on the ballot again after voters shot it down, especially in an election year.

And due to the difficulty of getting a two-thirds vote of both houses of the Legislature on anything this significant, it's plausible to think it could be years -- many years even -- before voters see this measure again.

Danny Westneat in the Seattle Times continues the theme.

Forget the big fixes and the megaprojects. Forget extending light rail, or any new freeways. t's time to think smaller. Much smaller.

It's clear people feel taxed to the max. It wasn't just the big no vote on Prop. 1. Tim Eyman's anti-tax Initiative 960 appeared to be passing. A constitutional amendment to make it easier for schools to raise taxes appeared to be failing.

It doesn't mean we do nothing. ...

But big new stuff? Forget it. It costs too much. And there's too little trust.

Anyone disagree?

 

 

 

Washington Voters Show Populist Streak

That, at least, is how I'm looking at it this morning.

Initiative 960, which makes it harder for the Legislature to raise taxes, appears to have passed 52-48 statewide. (County results here.)

ESSJR 8206, setting up a constitutionally-protected  budget stabilization account aka rainy day fund, received an overwhelming 68-32 endorsement. (County results here.)

And EHJR 4204, which would have lowered the threshold for passing school levies to a simple majority, went down 48-52. (County results here.)

There never was much doubt about the rainy day fund. And the endorsement of several major dailies made I-960 more likely to pass than not. But defeat of the simple majority measure surprised me. I figured a low turnout election would have helped the education activists who poured a lot of energy and money into the campaign.

The other money measure on the ballot - Proposition 1 in the Central Puget Sound area - also fell by a decisive margin. There are a lot of possible explanations for its defeat -  too much roads, too much Sound Transit, too much money, too little impact on congestion, too little impact on climate change - so it's hard to peg it's defeat as a populist response. Still, it does fit the theme. Most of the business, labor, and government establishment endorsed Prop. 1, with varying degrees of enthusiasm. Most voters rejected it.

The other major ballot issue, Referendum 47, passed handily 57-43. (County results here.) Framed as an unlovely contest pitting insurance companies against trial lawyers, the opponents had the support of most business groups, including AWB. Its passage continues the populist theme.

Open Government?

In Sunday's Seattle Times, Mike Fancher comments on a national study giving Washington an F grade for open government.

No excuse that 37 other states got the same failing grade. We expect more from ourselves, don't we?

The study, by the Better Government Association and the National Freedom of Information Coalition,

used five criteria to assess each state. The criteria were chosen as an effort to conduct the most objective analysis of the law in each state. The procedural criteria are designed to assess the procedural guidelines in each state for obtaining public records, while the penalty criteria examine the punishment, if any, which is levied against an agency that wrongfully denies access to a public record.

As noted here,Washington gets good marks from some for open government. But we have a long way to go.

MORE For some background on current struggles, read our earlier posts here, here and here.

She's Gotta Like This

Gov. Chris Gregoire made the cover of Governing Magazine as one of the magazine's nine "Public Officials of the Year."

With that distinction comes an effusive profile, celebrating the governor's accomplishments in office. For example, after noting the "cliffhanger" election and initial bad poll results, profiler Jonathan Walters writes:

With each passing year, Gregoire's approval rating has increased, and her standing as a deft and inclusive deal-maker has grown more solid. The list of her accomplishments would be the envy of any governor, ranging from budget surpluses to ambitious education and economic development initiatives to the resolution of some of the state's longest running legislative battles.

Most of the focus is on her skill as a negotiator and legislative player, with special attention to her Government Management Accountability and Performance program.

She also runs one of the most open state governments in the country. Her Government Measurement, Accountability and Performance (GMAP) initiative includes regular meetings featuring frank discussion among top state staff about various agencies' performance.

For folks unfamiliar with the magazine, here's the description from its website.

Governing is a monthly magazine whose primary audience is state and local government officials: the governors, mayors, legislators, council members, program directors, agency heads, policy advisors and other officials spanning the entire range of responsibility for state and local government. They are the men and women who set policy for and manage the day-to-day operations of cities, counties and states, as well as such governmental bodies as school boards and special districts.

Congratulations, Governor.

Media Panel Covers State Political Landscape

The media panel just left the stage. Denny Heck moderated a discussion with columnist Peter Callaghan of The News Tribune, reporter Deirdre Gregg with the Puget Sound Business Journal, and Seattle Times political columnist/blogger David Postman.

TVW, which apparently will be looking for a new president,  is covering the Summit.

More later.

MORE The media panel is always a highlight of the annual policy summit. The conversation. Early on, Peter Callaghan got my attention by calling the simple majority measure "a solution in search of a problem," noting how rare it is for a district to have a double levy failure. He predicts that if the voters approve the amendment, "no levy will ever fail in the state again."

Postman hit on the biggest challenge associated with Referendum 67. It's another in a series of ballot issues pitting unpopular interest groups against each other. Will either the trial lawyers or the insurance industry be able to substantial expand their support base?

Watch the whole discussion on TVW. (Not yet scheduled.)

I think someone forgot to send the media advisory...

  AP - Tue Sep 4, 3:06 PM ET

Republican presidential hopeful, U.S.,Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan. during a speech at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics at Saint Anselm College in Manchester, N.H., Tuesday, Sept. 4, 2007.(AP Photo/Jim Cole)

Hat-tip: Drudge Report

Carr Crash II: More Editorials

Along with our colleagues at the Open Government blog, we've been watching the editorial page reaction to the Star Wars-esque drama unfolding over the chairmanship of the public records Sunshine Committee.  The gist: 

The Seattle Times:  Carr's appointment puts him — and the governor — on the hot seat.

The Port-Townsend Leader:  The bad news is that apparently at the insistence of Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels, Gregoire has named none other than Tom Carr as chairman of this committee. This is a grave mistake. It impugns from the outset the work of what otherwise could be an outstanding enterprise.

The Wenatchee World:  The optimistic view, that the committee will be a vigorous advocate for open government, was dealt a blow this week as Gov. Chris Gregoire appointed the new committee's chairman. She chose Seattle City Attorney Tom Carr, known as one of the state's most effective proponents of secrecy, or at least the kind of piecemeal openness that makes a mockery of the basic concept of open government.

Ouch.  It bears remembering, though, as the Vancouver Columbian points out in their own offering today:

In any case, there are strong voices on the committee in support of open records, including Aberdeen Daily World Editor and Publisher John Hughes, Seattle Post-Intelligencer Associate Publisher Ken Bunting, and Assistant Attorney General Tim Ford, representing McKenna. We hope they have plenty of company on the panel in their efforts.

Like we've said before, the issue is of great public importance and we hope, despite a wobbly take-off the committee is productive.

UPDATE: Olympian weighs in

It takes an issue like public records access to galvanize the diverse editorial boards of the state into firm agreement.  The seventh major daily in Washington has weighed in with it's editorial on the controversial chairmanship appointment to the public records Sunshine committee.  The Olympian confers its editorial "thumbs down" on the appointment, saying:

Gov. Chris Gregoire blew it with her appointment of Seattle City Attorney Tom Carr as chairman of a new committee to examine the more than 300 exemptions to the state’s public records act.

At the same time, the Olympian echoes our thought (and penchant for bad puns) in its concluding line "Let’s hope the other members on the sunshine committee can steer Carr in the right direction."

Trial Lawyers Astroturf Ref. 67

Congratulations to Cheryl Tucker at The News Tribune. In the papers Inside the Editorial Page blog, Tucker describes the WSTLA letter-writing campaign against Referendum 67.

The letter writers fail to identify themselves as lawyers (or staff of legal firms), although a quick check of Google and the Yellow Pages confirms that that's exactly what they are. You'd think with all those law degrees between them that the mouthpieces could come up with their own words and not have to crib.

Why are lawyers so intent on passing Ref. 67? It might have something to do with how the measure calls for up to triple damages plus attorney fees for claimants if an insurer is found to have "unreasonably" denied a claim for coverage or payment of benefits.

She adds that the biggest opponents to the R-67 are insurance companies. AWB and a lot of business groups also oppose the measure, figuring it will drive up insurance costs, hurt small businesses, and lead to a deluge of opportunistic litigation and hurried settlements.

She also says:

I fully expect we'll get a similar deluge of anti-67 letters, and they're likely to be maddeningly similar, too.

I hope not. We can do better. For a good (and brief) video overview of the referendum, check out my interview with AWB general counsel Kris Tefft.

 

Public Records: The Empire Strikes Back?

At AWB we've been generally supportive of recent open government and public records initiatives in Washington, and have written supportively about federal reform efforts.   

Over the weekend, this issue reached a boil as news came that Governor Gregoire has appointed Seattle City Attorney Tom Carr to chair the 13-member "Sunshine Committee" set up by the Legislature to review exemptions in the state's public disclosure law.  Not everyone is pleased. 

This puts "Darth Vader" in charge of the committee, charges Greg Overstreet, formerly the AG's Open Government ombudsman, at his new law firm's Open Government blog.  Open government advocates have crossed light sabers with Carr's client before and have not forgotten.   

This controversy will likely burn hot before it burns out.  David Postman picked it up, as did Strange Bedfellows and Sound Politics.  But it'll go beyond the blogosphere.  Overstreet is definitely right when he says:

We suspect the editorial pages of the papers around the state will be discussing the Carr appointment in the coming days .... Just a hunch.

And it won't be a love-fest.  It's hard to understate the zealousness of the newspapers on public records issues.  This should prove the old adage about picking fights with those who buy ink by the barrel.      

At the same time, Tim Ford, Overstreet's successor as the Open Government Ombudsman in the AG's office, casts a more conciliatory tone, quoted in the PI:

"I can work with anybody, and we're going to have productive meetings," he said.

We hope it all works out.  May the Force be with you.

No Thanks

Bloggers consider forming labor union.  The concluding quote, as descriptive of blogging as any I've read, is worth the read.

Her Majesty's in Town, REALLY

If you watch the gaggle of television news networks scrambling to cover Queen Elizabeth's visit to the White House, you'd think that all of Washington, D.C., is shut down and buttoned up.  Oh Really!

 

My hotel is five blocks from the White House, my Metro stop (subway) is "The White House," and my meetings are a scant two blocks from the White House.   Being that close, you'd think we need armed escorts---if you use deductive reasoning from watching the news networks trip over one another for camera angles.

 

Well, life goes on.  Traffic on the streets except directly around the White House flows as normal.  Last night during the first-ever white tie dinner of the Bush Presidency, a colleague and I took a walk through Lafayette Park across from the White House and along the sidewalk in front of the White House.  The streets were closed to car traffic, and there were police with dogs in front of the president's residence.  Don't get me wrong, it was well protected from what you saw and, more important, what was not visible.

 

But to people in Washington, it was just May 7, 2007, another work day.  Sometimes do you wonder with all the news networks that perhaps, perhaps, there is just a little too much news?  To the average Joe or Jane on the streets, the bigger news was the winning jockey and his wife from the Kentucky Derby were the surprise guests or that actor Mickey Rooney broke protocol and kissed the Queen's hand. 

Ho-Hum, the Public Worries About Global Warming

No disrespect intended - well, not much anyway - but this New York Times report of an emerging bipartisan consensus that the world is getting warmer and something must be done about it says nothing useful. That's not exactly right. Public opinion can and will be used to move public policy in support of a climate change agenda.  The poll is, then, a good gauge of the political climate, but not the, well, global warming climate. (On that, you've got to like the way "climate change" has replaced "global warming" - now it's no longer necessary to predict the direction of the change, just posit that it's changing. Nifty.)

Anyway, here's what the Times reports.

Ninety percent of Democrats, 80 percent of independents and 60 percent of Republicans said immediate action was required to curb the warming of the atmosphere and deal with its effects on the global climate. Nineteen percent said it was not necessary to act now, and 1 percent said no steps were needed.

Several recent international reports have concluded with near certainty that human activities are the main cause of global warming since 1950. The poll found that 84 percent of Americans see human activity as at least contributing to warming.

Not that we're inclined to do too much about it.

Respondents said they would support higher gasoline prices to reduce dependence on foreign oil but would oppose higher prices to combat global warming. By large margins, respondents opposed an increase in pump prices of $2 a gallon, or even $1, to deal with environmental and energy-supply concerns.

There's a lot more, so I'd recommend reading the story, keeping this in mind from a recent column by Johah Goldberg.

Huge numbers of Americans don’t know jack about their government or politics. According to a Pew Research Center survey released last week, 31 percent of Americans don’t know who the vice president is, fewer than half are aware that Nancy Pelosi is the speaker of the House, a mere 29 percent can identify “Scooter” Libby as the convicted former chief of staff of the vice president, and only 15 percent can name Harry Reid when asked who is the Senate majority leader.

Any reason to believe they know more about climate change?

Legislative Round-ups Continue

The News Tribune offers a quick wrap-up of the session.

And TNT columnist Peter Callaghan presents his personal overview.

In the Seattle Times, Joni Balter thinks the governor's on a roll.

And in the Yakima Herald-Republic reports that Republicans occasionally felt rolled.

Was There Ever Any Doubt?

The State Supreme Court today ruled for free speech. Or, as AP's Rachel La Corte reports,

A unanimous state Supreme Court ruled Thursday that two radio talk show hosts who used airtime to support a gas-tax rollback initiative they launched were not required to report their commentary as an in-kind political contribution.

She quotes Bill Maurer of the Institute of Justice.

"This is a victory for free speech and a free press in Washington state," said William Maurer, executive director of the Institute for Justice Washington chapter, who argued the case before the high court. "Washingtonians can rest assured that the news and voice and commentary they hear has not been censored or restricted by the government in any way."

David Postman's Seattle Times blog  has more, including a link to this context-setting story by Ralph Thomas and Andrew Garber.

The decision is here and the harder-hitting concurrence is here.

The court got it right.

A Good Use of an Editorial Blog

Yesterday The News Tribune ran an editorial reviewing the legislative session, concluding that the Democrats generally had a good session, showing more restraint than expected but spending too much. In an afternoon post, also yesterday, editorial writer Kim Bradford used the paper's "inside the editorial page" blog to go into more detail, including additional  information on gainsharing provided by Senate Republicans.

It's a neat way to continue the paper's dialog with readers, provide additional insight, and update information on current events.

What's Wrong with Seattle Schools?

Matt Rosenberg offers some answers in this short and incisive piece on the Seattle public schools in the debut issue of Crosscut.  I'm looking forward to see how this online news source evolves, and to reading more from Rosenberg, who merits a larger audience.

As Rosenberg writes, the estimable Joanne Jacobs will be in Seattle tomorrow. Here's how she describes her talk in an e-mail to a supporter.

Our School: The Inspiring Story of Two Teachers, One Big Idea and the Charter School That Beat the Odds (Palgrave Macmillan) brings readers inside a San Jose charter high school that prepares students who are “failing but not in jail”  to succeed at four-year colleges.  The paperback is now available online (see links on joannejacobs.com) and at some book stores.

I’ll be in SeattleUniversityof Washington April 4 to speak at 11:30 am in the Commons, third floor of Parrington Hall. The Center for Reinventing Education will host the “Policymakers Exchange” and provide lunch. Please RSVP by March 30 to bardacke@u.washington.edu or Maggie Bardacke at 206-685-2214. ... 

Most Downtown College Prep students come from Mexican immigrant families and read at the fifth-grade level when they start ninth grade.  DCP promotes the work-your-butt-off style of education.  Teachers don’t tell students they’re wonderful. They tell them they’re capable of improving, which is true.  The school now has one of the highest pass rates in  San Jose on the state graduation exam. All graduates are accepted at four-year colleges.

After 19 years as a Knight Ridder columnist,  I quit in 2001 to write Our School, freelance and to start an education blog,  joannejacobs.com, which now draws more than 1,000 visitors a day.   

With all the despair about educating "left behind" kids, I think people need to know about a school that's making a difference.

I think so, too.

MORE It seems unlikely that this will help.

 

State of the State Roundup

This morning's coverage of Gov. Gregoire's State of the State address highlights the familiar themes - a "One Washington" pledge, a recapitulation of past accomplishments, and a restatement of her agenda (education, family wage jobs, affordable health insurance, clean environment, safety, and government accountability).

In his account the Olympian's Brad Shannon says:

  The speech offered little new but put Gregoire's dozens of legislative priorities into a single story line.

That's pretty much the view of the Seattle Times:

Past governors often used their annual speech to the Legislature as an opportunity to roll out new initiatives. But Gregoire's speech was mostly a rehash of the budget proposals she has trickled out during the past month in appearances around the state.

If a rehash, the largely Democratic audience was encouraging. Jerry Cornfield counted the applause lines:

Gregoire's 44-minute address contained no new initiatives from what she's proposed in her budget. Still, it earned her applause 36 times.

Republicans were skeptical, as Richard Roesler reports in the Spokesman-Review.

"I think tonight what we really saw was a classic speech from a big-government liberal," said Rep. Doug Ericksen, R-Bellingham. "Every solution that she offered required new government programs or massive new spending to get it accomplished."

 

Here's the story from the P-I, with Chris McGann and Melissa Santos getting the WEA reaction. The teachers' union liked it.

I look forward to these speeches, which define the governor's goals for the session. Lawmakers may ignore the message, but state government - like most large and complex organizations - tends to be driven by the vision and drive of the executive. Last night, she laid out her agenda in one, comprehensive,ambitious and expensive package.

We think her budget spends too much and saves too little, and we'd like to see the Legislature exercise more restraint. That said, we strongly support her commitment to economic competitiveness, math and science education, and global trade, which she reinforced again last night.

More: This News Tribune headline hits the mark.

Paper Folding

Ever since I can remember, I've liked newspapers. Good ones, bad ones, liberal, conservative or confused ones. It doesn't matter. Traveling, I always buy the local paper and read it as thoroughly as time allows. The prep sports page, local news, obituaries for people I never met, the whole thing fascinates me. I like the feel, the variety, the sense of place, the rootedness of a community paper.

That's why, though I read it rarely, I'm sorry to see the January 21 folding of the King County Journal.

The King County Journal, which has a daily circulation of approximately 39,000 copies, was formed in 2003 by the merger of two long-time suburban daily newspapers, the Eastside Journal and South County Journal. Those papers previously had been known as the Journal-American and Valley Daily News.

Both were owned by Horvitz Newspapers, which bought the chain that also included the Mercer Island Reporter, in 1994.

The closure will cause 40 full-time employees to lose their jobs. The loss of the daily will hardly be cushioned by this:

Black Press, which purchased King County Journal Newspapers from Horvitz Newspapers on Nov. 30, will continue to publish the nine non-daily community newspapers that were included in the sale.

Six of those papers — the Auburn, Bellevue, Covington/Maple Valley, Kent, Renton and Redmond Reporter newspapers — will switch from being published twice a month to twice a week, beginning Jan. 24.

The Bothell/Kenmore Reporter will switch from twice-a-month publication to once a week on that same date.

The Mercer Island Reporter and Snoqualmie Valley Record papers will continue to be published once a week.

Don Kendall, general manager of King County Publications Ltd., the newly formed subsidiary of Black Press, said the Reporter papers will be revamped to include more local news, sports and features content.

The Puget Sound Business Journal has more on the circulation and revenue slide.

Mark Briggs, who  blogs on new media for The News Tribune, has an insider's perspective.

Some observers will chalk this up to the pending demise of all newspapers. But from my point of view, it says more about the previous ownership’s failures than it does about the changing media landscape. After all, this is a newspaper that lost money during the delirious 1990s of the dot-com boom, a time when other newspapers were swimming in cash.

Whatever led to this day, it's a shame ... and not solely for the paper's soon-to-be former employees and readers. We're all a little poorer for the loss.

Blogs vs. Newspapers in the TNT

David Seago at the The News Tribune considers the recent Wall Street Journal opinion piece panning blogs  in the TNT's Inside the Editorial Page blog.  The commentary by Joseph Rago, an assistant editorial features editor at the WSJ, got a lot of folks in the blogosphere excited.

I liked this comment from Seago:

Quoting novelist Joseph Conrad, The Journal's Rago notes that blogs too often appear to be "written by fools for imbeciles." Unfortunately, Conrad was talking about newspapers at the time.
I know what that says about me. But what does it say about you?

This was also very nice.