King County recently found out that public officials can't be protected from getting teased during public hearings.

This lesson was learned in the aftermath of a union grievance hearing, where some union activists shouted mean things at Lynn Baugh, a supervisor for the county's Department of Development and Environmental Services (DDES). Baugh was there to testify about the problems her division was having with the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers Local 17 ["Gag Effect," March 9].

Thanks to the noise, the County filed a motion to the Public Employment Relations Commission, which oversees union grievance hearings, seeking a ban on people who "taunted and acted to intimidate" Baugh. DDES also tried to bar journalists who might report on the unpleasant things protesters said about Baugh.

But the commission refused to act. Last week it denied DDES' request, claiming that it doesn't have the authority to selectively kick people out of open meetings. Thomas Jefferson could not be reached for a comment about the need to guarantee free speech for all people. PHIL CAMPBELL

Quote of the Week #1

"You're here to represent low-income people."

-- Kate Joncas, executive director of the Downtown Seattle Association, attempting to help Rogelio Riojas -- the CEO of South Park's Sea Mar Community Health Centers -- explain why he's on the search committee to find a new Seattle police chief. Joncas is on the committee to represent high-income downtown businesses.

Heidi Heave-Ho

Maybe he couldn't stand dealing with all those crazy animal-rights activists who rallied around Heidi Wills' advocacy of the "Exotic Animals Ban," or maybe he decided she truly is as annoying as Tracy Flick (the crazed high school politician played by Reese Witherspoon in Election). Whatever the reason, Tony Gepner is no longer working for team Wills. "He just wasn't a good fit," says Wills' other staffer, Michaelanne Ehrenberg. "We needed someone to do constituent work, and he wanted to do policy." Ehrenberg, who handles the policy work, said the parting of ways was amicable; but she didn't seem to know how to get in touch with her former officemate. NANCY DREW

Prison Suit

Prison Legal News, the activist newspaper that operates from within the Big House, is suing the Washington Department of Corrections (DOC) again. PLN editor Paul Wright, an inmate housed at McNeil Island Correctional Center, has been trying for months to get access to DOC documents ["Punishing Prisoners," Feb 3].

Wright wants to see records that evidently support inmates' allegations of sexual harassment by jailers at Airway Heights Correction Center in Eastern Washington. Wright also wants the DOC to produce documents related to a telemarketing venture that operated inside the Washington State Reformatory in Monroe.

With 3,200 subscribers worldwide (prisoners and non-prisoners alike), you'd think the DOC would have more respect for PLN. Maybe if they issued Wright a suit and tie instead of that lame prison garb, they could trick themselves into understanding that he has most of the same rights as everybody else. PHIL CAMPBELL

Unleavened Bread

Getting fired from your $8-per-hour job is bad enough. Not getting paid for your last two-and-a-half weeks of work is, well, illegal. That's why Jenny Dorey, the former operations manager at Spot Bakery -- a QFC bread-and-bagel contractor located near the Kingdome -- filed a complaint with the Department of Labor and Industries on behalf of more than 40 delivery drivers, packagers, and bakers (mostly immigrants), who lost their jobs when the bakery abruptly closed its doors on March 6. Dorey, who did the bakery's books, says the owners are still collecting accounts receivable, but they're turning the cash over to the bank rather than paying the dissed employees. Dorothy Lyon, the wayward owner, couldn't be reached for comment. JOSH FEIT

Quote of the Week #2

While most politicians (like Governor Gary Locke, for one) are scared to offend the masses by applauding the King County Superior Court's ruling against I-695, outspoken Rainier Valley Senator Adam Kline had this dose of sarcasm for one of the many self-righteous pseudo populists who wrote in to complain about the decision: "The Constitution is a damned inconvenience, so let's get rid of it. It frustrates the will of the people by making them think before drafting an initiative. No one, nowhere, should be required to think. Let's get rid of the Constitution and fire the judge and the legislators that disagree with us. First thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers!" If only more politicians would lean into loudmouthed constituents with such elegant candor.

Student Rebellion

Administrators at the University of Washington are trying to figure out what to do with their unruly students -- grad students, that is.

The students, many of whom work at the university as teaching assistants, readers, and tutors, filed a motion last week with the state's Public Employment Relations Commission (PERC) to form a collective bargaining unit. PERC won't respond to the petition until it has first received background data from UW officials.

The unionization of grad students at major universities is becoming a national movement. The students want better working conditions, health care, and benefits. Union organizers at UW claim they managed to get 80 percent of the 1,650 grad students on campus to sign union cards in less than two months.

Flushed with success, the organizers now need to figure out what to do next. "We just want to move toward collective bargaining," says organizer and clinical psychology grad student Christopher Hibbeln. "Right now our membership doesn't have specific demands." PHIL CAMPBELL

Keeping Our Options Closed

The March-April issue of Spotlight, a newsletter published by Washington Advocates for the Mentally Ill (WAMI), bashes the pols in Olympia for failing to pass key legislation this session. The biggest disappointment for Eleanor Owen, executive director of WAMI, was the legislature's failure to pass House Bill 2364. The bill would have prevented disabled (including mentally ill) poor people from losing Medicaid coverage. Owen says this bill was a no-brainer. It was a follow-up to recent federal legislation that gave states the option of extending Medicaid coverage. Thanks to cheapskates in the Olympia Senate (states split the cost of Medicaid with the federal government), coverage in Washington will now vanish when recipients earn more than a whopping $1,700 a month. ALLIE HOLLY-GOTTLIEB