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Gregoire: Doubly Disappointing
For those who have been fretting about Christine Gregoire's anemic showing in her run for governor against Republican Dino Ross (Democrat Kerry walloped Bush here this year and a Republican hasn't been elected governor in Washington state since 1980), you might take comfort in the fact that Gregoire may not actually share your blue values anyway.
As both Gregoire and Rossi began appointing transition teams last week, Gregoire tapped former state Department of Agriculture director Jim Jesernig as her team leader. Jesernig had also been a Democratic state legislator in Olympia during the early '90s when gay rights groups rounded up a majority of state house members and a near majority of state senators to pass gay civil rights legislation. The bill failed repeatedly thanks to the lack of majority on the senate side. According to Wayne Ehlers, a lobbyist at the time who pushed the gay rights bill, Jesernig was one of the key Democratic votes that disappointed them. "He was one of a couple of Democrats that we couldn't get," Ehlers remembers now. "He should have been there, and he wasn't." JOSH FEIT
Stranger Personals
Ave. Addition
The space that formerly housed the University District Pier 1 store, the most prominent vacant space on University Avenue since the shop closed in 2001, is about to be filled. American Apparel--the L.A.-based sweatshop-free basic clothing company (think Gap, with a lefty, socially conscious bent)--lists the location on their website as the site of their first Seattle retail shop, which could open as soon as March. The building's real estate agent confirms that American Apparel has made a proposal, but "there's no signed lease yet." For the Ave., a retail strip that's been second only to Broadway Avenue over the past few years in the vacant-storefront count, the addition of a tenant in that space is great news. AMY JENNIGES
Cop Contract?
According to the Seattle Police Guild's website, the officers in the cop union will have been working without a contract for 695 days as of Wednesday. But on Thursday, November 18, the guild's board started briefing members on a settlement offer they recently received (the city's Labor Relations department and guild leaders were mum on the details), and ballots will go out to the rank-and-file Thanksgiving week. If the members give the thumbs-up, the contract goes to the city council for approval. But if the guild rejects the offer, both sides may end up in arbitration. AMY JENNIGES
Shrinking the Shrinkers
Now that the King County Council is set to shrink from 13 members to 9, speculation is rampant about which council members will get to stay--and which are likely to get the ax.
Under an initiative approved by voters in November, all county council members will be forced to duke it out to retain a place on the council in 2005. Two current council members, Republican Rob McKenna and Democrat Dwight Pelz, lucked out of the ugly intra-party reelection battle. McKenna is already leaving the council (he ran for state attorney general this year, and won) and Pelz has announced he's leaving the county council to run for Seattle City Council.
Of the 11 other council members, two pairs--Democrats Larry Phillips and Bob Ferguson, and Republicans David Irons and Kathy Lambert--are viewed as likely to have to run against each other under a newly redistricted county map. Of those four, two--Irons and Ferguson--supported shrinking the council and are viewed as vulnerable. Could it be that this tentative redistricting plan is intended as a bit of hardball payback from their angry colleagues? NANCY DREW
Re-Recount?
As The Stranger went to press on Tuesday afternoon with Republican Dino Rossi apparently headed to victory in the gubernatorial race recount, state Dem chair Paul Berendt issued a press release calling for a second recount, by hand this time. "We continue to discover new problems," Berendt said of the machine recount, citing "missing ballots, found ballots, machine malfunctions, machine error rates, and a razor thin difference between the candidates." But could it be that Berendt's biggest problem is that Rossi appears as if he is going to win? SANDEEP KAUSHIK
Seattle Times: Super Annoying
Last summer, The Stranger broke the news that the FBI was investigating the Seattle Police Department for possible corruption ("Off-Duty Officers Draw Attention of FBI," Josh Feit, July 8). A source had been interviewed by the FBI about the possibility that off-duty police officers working security at clubs were ignoring, and perhaps participating in, drug trafficking.
The article, which we hyped with screaming text on our cover and ran prominently in our news section, must have drawn the attention of the Seattle Times, although you'd never know it from reading that paper.
The Saturday, November 20, edition of the Seattle Times, included a front-page article on the exact same investigation, but failed to note that The Stranger first reported the story months earlier.
After siccing three investigative reporters on it, the Seattle Times was able to flesh out our story with more details on the investigation. So begrudging kudos are certainly in order for their investigative team. However, a slap on the wrist is also in order as the Seattle Times doesn't appear have the professional courtesy to begrudgingly recognize The Stranger. NANCY DREW
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