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Earlier this week, the 36th District Democrats' executive board declined to support the district's longtime Democratic state rep, Helen Sommers, in the upcoming primary. (Sommers has held the seat since 1973.)

The non-endorsement highlights this year's unusual election in which Sommers, whose 36th District includes Ballard, Queen Anne, and Magnolia, is actually facing a challenge from another Democrat--Church Council leader Alice Woldt. Woldt has the adamant backing of the health-care workers' union, the SEIU, which is upset that Sommers, chair of the House Appropriations Committee, didn't back raises for home health-care workers. JOSH FEIT

Food Fight

When the Edmonds Chamber of Commerce denied Planned Parenthood the right to set up a commercial booth at the August 13-15 Taste of Edmonds food festival, while simultaneously allowing three local church groups to have booths, a mudslinging festival ensued in this otherwise quiet city north of Seattle.

Round 1 began when Planned Parenthood landed an article in the Seattle Times, pointing out the double standard. However, the Times' article stayed above the more tasteless exchanges. Planned Parenthood's press release had peddled the idea that the ECC played favorites, allowing numerous church groups to have booths "because those organizations had members on the chamber's board of directors." Chamber of Commerce executive director Chris Guitton flatly denied this accusation to The Stranger.

Another bit that went unreported: The ECC retaliated when director Guitton sent an e-mail to "concerned citizens" that included the personal e-mail address and phone number of Planned Parenthood staffer Brian Cutler.

Planned Parenthood may have lost round 1 (the church groups get to have their booths), but the pro-choice group won round 2 when Guitton decided to exclude church groups next year. "The controversy has politicized the issue to the extreme," Guitton says. JASON BAXTER