Olympia Time

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Category: Washington Politics (Page 9 of 27)

The shrinking Washington State liberal blogosphere

January 3, 2009 / / 1 Comment

Evergreen Politics is going the way of Pike Place Politics, Blog Reload Olyscoop and Better Donkey, and I’ve been meaning to write a post about where things have been going in the liberal political blogosphere around here.

Things aren’t like they were in 2004. Yeah, there are a handful of new blogs out there (Spokane Skeptic and the Other Side) which are pretty good, but it isn’t like there are a bunch of people diving into blogging lately. Washblog is pretty stale and has been for awhile.

Horse’s Ass is still going strong, and gobbling up other bloggers while they shutter their own blogs (see Pike Place Politics and Blog Reload). Even Josh Feit found a paying gig over there for awhile, and it seems like they’re becoming the liberal vesion of crosscut. Nothing wrong with a big blog, but I wonder about some things.

Do the big blogs left in the state-level liberal political blogoshere do enough linking to smaller blogs trying to make their way? It seems like I can’t go a day without seeing them link back to the Seattle Times or the Vancouver Columbian, but I seriously can’t remember the last time they linked to another bog not Effin’ Unsound.

Do A-list bloggers have a responsibility to link to smaller blogs (here and here)? Yes, in the interest of the blog ecosystem. Hell yes.

I pulled out of the community I’m addressing here as a serious participant awhile back. It had to do with a lot of things, some within that group of bloggers, but also because I found other reasons to blog. Also, I had a feeling that no matter what point I made, it wouldn’t be linked to. There were some nice exceptions, but those guys stopped blogging awhile back.

Rich Nafiziger, state Democratic senate caucus chief of staff and blog father

December 24, 2008 / / 0 Comments

To me, there’s a striking resemblance between former Olympia school board member Richard Nafziger’s on-again-off-again blog and the new blog of the state Senate Democrats (mostly penned by majority leader Lisa Brown).

Makes a lot of sense for Nafziger to be Brown’s blog father, but the similar blogging styles almost makes you think that its Brown’s chief of staff that’s doing the blogging. Both write long (almost too long) and really smart discussion posts, rather than short, clippy newsy posts. I would assume that the short clipply post would better serve a legislative caucus blog.

Nafziger’s current personal blog has only two posts up on it, though he’s been blogging for at least three years. But, on the internet, nothing is really gone. I’ve subscribed to his blog since before he quit the school board, so I shared some of his old deleted posts here.

To me, it doesn’t matter at all if Nafziger is really doing the blogging. Good on him, good on the caucus, good on Brown.

The only thing I’d like to see improved is the length of the posts. In my internet reading habit, I’ve never been able to get my head around his posts in time to comment, though I’d like to.

The changing press corp who happen to work in Olympia

December 19, 2008 / / 0 Comments

If we sent the Seattle Times $100,000, do you think they’d be able to bring David Postman back?

I’m not eager to link to him two days in a row, but Goldy is proposing raising $15,000 to send Josh Feit (who I have my own immature problems with) to Olympia to cover the legislature. I’d assume that people would chip in, maybe even the entire amount, because not only do they fear the effects on democracy of a shrinking press corp, they particularly like Feit’s politics.

Fitting that Goldy puts this out there on the same day that Andrew Garber from the legacy Seattle Times points out he doesn’t have that many people of the same profession to hang out with.

I think its fitting that now that we have a state budget database, that the governor can release her budget during a snow storm and get it out online and that TVW is more robust than ever, that the actual press corp is shrinking.

I do see a real role for honest brokers (along the lines of Fact Check), but the role’s of people like Josh Feit will be more and more imporant. Garber’s piece noted that former reporters, lobbyists and PR folks outnumber actual reporters in Olympia. That’s not exactly a bad thing, as long as some of them are keeping eyes on each other.

I envision organizations hiring more people like Feit to do thingly vieled partisan journalism. Instead of paid reporters standing between the sides, telling you what’s going on second hand, you’ll actually see hand to hand combat, sort of like the opinion page blew up all over the front living room. With searchable databases, of course.

Or, sort of like the good ol’days of Publius and Silence Dogood.

Two links about us still talking past each other

October 29, 2008 / / 0 Comments

Washington or Oregon are the most politically polarized states.

And, red and blue talk past each other on sex:

Social liberals in the country’s “blue states” tend to support sex education and are not particularly troubled by the idea that many teen-agers have sex before marriage, but would regard a teen-age daughter’s pregnancy as devastating news. And the social conservatives in “red states” generally advocate abstinence-only education and denounce sex before marriage, but are relatively unruffled if a teen-ager becomes pregnant, as long as she doesn’t choose to have an abortion.

No matter what happens next week, the people that disagree with you will still exist, will still be engaged, and will try to make their political world happen.

Fact checking Ken Balsley on “Chris” Gregoire

October 4, 2008 / / 0 Comments

Ken this morning:

When did Christine Gregoire become Chris Gregoire? When her political handlers decided she needed to become more friendly and approachable. In her first run for governor she ran as Christine Gregoire, in an effort to appear professional and in charge. This time around, she wants to be seen as just one of the girls.

This is a nice little myth that the governor has tried to repackage herself as a kinder, gentler version of herself. Convenient for a subset of folks that think a strong female leader should be “kinder and gentler.”

Poor Ken though, these internets sure are tricky for him, because he’s 100 percent wrong (from Internet Archive circa September 2004):

Chris Gregoire was raised in Auburn by her mom, who made a living as a short-order cook. She worked her way through college with a job at a print shop and earned a teaching certificate before attending law school. Chris shares our views and values. She’ll lead Washington in the right direction.

I guess in 2004 she wasn’t interested in packaging herself as “professional and in charge.”

Dino Rossi and Robin Edmondson (and others) on the same sign

September 30, 2008 / / 0 Comments

I saw the weirdest signs while driving around today. Throughout southern Pierce and eastern Thurston County, there were Dino Rossi signs that featured local candidates. Signs along Highway 507 in Pierce County had Dino Rossi’s name on one side and Randi Becker (who is running for state senate) on the other.

There are similar signs in Thurston County with Rossi on one side and Robin Edmondson (county commission candidate on the other.

I took a short video of the Rossi/Edmondson sign on Pacific near Marvin outside of Lacey:

Just a few questions:

1. Who’s paying for the sign? Dino Rossi trying to establish coattails? Local party? State party?

The individual candidates (who are both challengers) working together to try to establish connections with a popular Republican candidate who will likely win in their districts, while they have a harder go at it?

2. What is the reporting requirments on a sign that supports two candidates?

3. No matter who paid for it, does this mean that Dino Rossi is bigger than the Republican party in these rural districts that elect Democrats?

Oh, that Pam Pugel!

August 19, 2008 / / 0 Comments

Joe Nilsson, via email:

Folks,

I’m sure many have seen the BIAW front group’s anti-Christine ads focused on transportation. They feature a woman, identified as Pam Pugel, talking about living on a tight budget and slamming the Governor on taxes and transportation.

All is not as it seems. Googling Mrs. Pugel and a little net surfing reveal she is a Republican PCO who lives in a $935,000 Mercer Island home. Her husband works for a high end construction outfit and she works for a Texas based military supply company. She also provides a web testimonial for her tennis coach – I don’t think she clips coupons.

I share this as an FYI and in case anyone wishes to pen letters to the editor to the Times, P-I, TNT, or Olympian.

In Solidarity,
Joe Nilsson

Her work in the defense industry

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