Trouble for Mayor Nickels in Olympia
In yet another blow to Mayor Greg Nickels’s $3.6 billion to $5.5 billion tunnel plan, Democrats in Olympia named Representative Judy Clibborn (D-41, Mercer Island, Issaquah, Renton) the new chair of the House Transportation Committee. Clibborn signed onto the dramatic letter (first reported on by The Stranger) that speaker of the house and tunnel detractor Representative Frank Chopp (D-43) sent to Governor Christine Gregoire. JOSH FEIT
Trouble for Chief Kerlikowske in Olympia
Seattle Police Department Chief Gil Kerlikowske has made closing the state’s gun-show loophole and passing an assault-weapons ban (as many states have already done since the federal ban expired in 2004) two of Seattle’s top legislative items for the upcoming session in Olympia. Unfortunately, Democratic house leadership, which is nervous about alienating moderates and Republicans, told the city that pushing gun control isn’t going to fly. NANCY DREW
Hidden Agenda
Mayor Greg Nickels’s staff retreats, unlike the city council’s, aren’t open to the public. However, a hot tipper tells us that the mayor, along with about 30 city staff members, were spotted carpooling their way toward the Suquamish Clearwater Casino Resort on the Kitsap Peninsula on Monday, December 4. Asked about the retreat, a receptionist for the mayor demanded to know “why you want that information,” and then refused to confirm that any retreat was taking place. A public-records request for the agenda (noon: strippers; 2:00 p.m.: gambling?) has been filed with the mayor’s office. NANCY DREW
No Hidden Agenda
The Seattle Times announced Saturday, December 2, that it is canceling the column of Mars Hill Church Pastor Mark Driscoll. The paper says, however, that the move is not in response to the recent national controversy surrounding the conservative pastor. Driscoll created a furor in November when he posted on his blog that Ted Haggard’s adulterous gay sex and meth-buying spree should be blamed on “a wife who lets herself go.”
Seattle Times executive editor David Boardman says, “We were coming to the end of the contract period and felt he had run his course with us. We thanked him for his services.”
A local progressive Christian group, People Against Fundamentalism, planned a major protest for Sunday, December 3 [“Mars Attacked,” Angela Valdez, Nov 30], which they called off after the Times canned the column and Driscoll apologized. SARAH MIRK