Tagged: Election 2012

OLYMPIA, Wash. — Gov. Chris Gregoire is calling a special election to fill former U.S. Rep. Jay Inslee's seat for just one month.

Meanwhile, Republican gubernatorial candidate Rob McKenna is calling on lawmakers to pass several reform bills as part of their negotiated budget deal, and he strongly criticized House Speaker Frank Chopp, saying he is blocking a vote on those bills.

OLYMPIA, Wash. — Republican gubernatorial candidate Rob McKenna has challenged his Democratic opponent Jay Inslee to 15 debates in the coming months. Inslee's campaign says they had already confirmed three so far.

OLYMPIA, Wash. – We’re hearing a lot these days about Super PACS and who’s funding them. At the state level, Washington gets high marks for requiring full disclosure of who’s bankrolling political campaigns. Even so, a new public radio study highlights weaknesses in Washington – especially when it comes to transparency.

It’s not always so easy to follow the money.

OLYMPIA, Wash. — U.S. Rep. Jay Inslee's decision to resign from Congress to focus full time on his gubernatorial race has triggered questions that have state elections officials scrambling to determine if they need to hold a special election on the same day as the regular November election to fill the final month of his term.

OLYMPIA, Wash. – Over the next few months , someone may approach you with a petition. Opponents of same-sex marriage are trying to force a referendum vote on Washington’s new marriage equality law. There’s also a separate initiative to define marriage as between one man and one woman. Meanwhile, gay rights supporters are also collecting signatures for their own non-binding pledge. Confused?

Rep. Jay Inslee is resigning from Congress to focus full time on running for governor of Washington state this fall.

The Democrat announced his decision Saturday at a news conference in Seattle. Inslee is in his eighth term representing a Seattle-area district in the House.

Less than two weeks ago, Inslee told KPLU that he would remain in Congress while running for the governor's seat.

Inslee said then: “Listen, that did not stop me from putting out my job creation agenda. … Yes, I've got some responsibilities in Washington D.C., but we are pursuing a very vigorous effort to [get] people back to work.”

Attorney General Rob McKenna is temporarily able to raise money again for his gubernatorial bid.

The Republican's campaign is asking people to donate money between Friday and midnight Sunday. The narrow window is between when the state Legislature adjourned and when lawmakers reconvene for a special session to deal with budget issues they failed to resolve the last time around.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints teaches that each Mormon in good standing should tithe 10 percent of his or her income.

"That's written in stone, and preached from the pulpit," says Gordon Dahl, an economist at the University of California, San Diego, who is Mormon.

But while the church is very precise about that figure — 10 percent of income — it does not tell its members what income means.

"Which is really interesting to us economists, because we want to know how people define income," says Dahl.

Now that U.S. Representative Norm Dicks has announced he’s retiring, western Washington will have three open seats for Congress in this fall’s election. That’s unusual, and it could mean a lot of national attention for those elections.