If you voted in last week’s primary, pat yourself on the back.

The word from the State Elections Division is that voter turnout for last week’s Primary Election cracked the 40 percent mark today, exceeding the 38 percent turnout that Secretary of State Sam Reed predicted.

According to Elections Director Nick Handy, it’s likely that the final turnout for this primary will be around 41 percent. Regardless, this sets a new modern record for a Washington State Primary held in an even-numbered year in which there was not a presidential election, Handy said. Washington’s 2006 Primary turnout was about 38.8 percent of the state electorate. The 2008 Primary, which was the first to use the Top 2 system, resulted in 42.6 percent voter turnout.

The top four counties for turnout so far in this year’s Primary are Wahkiakum (64 percent), San Juan (63.2 percent), Columbia (62.2 percent) and Lincoln (60.9 percent).

The four counties with the lowest turnout so far are Pierce (35.3... (more)

Washington’s voter-approved Top 2 Primary says the two voter favorites for each office move forward to the November General Election, without regard to party preference of the candidates.

As in the two previous years we used the new system, this week’s winnowing of the field produced mostly traditional R-D matchups for November.  Neither the U.S. Senate nor the nine U.S. House races will have two people with the same party preference, and most of the 123 legislative contests likewise.

But if the latest numbers hold up, there will be eight House races and three Senate contests that will have finalists with the same party preference. The House races are Districts 2, Position 2; 9, Pos. 2; 12, Pos. 2; 14, Pos. 1; 27, Pos. 1; 31, Pos. 1; 34, Pos. 2; and 37, Pos. 2.  The Senate seats are in Districts 8, 31 and 38. [Find your district via this interactive map.]

Of the 11 seats, many were in districts with a dominant political party and the only people who filed in June were those... (more)

Spending on state supreme court elections has more than doubled in the past decade, according to a new report from the Brennan Center for Justice, Justice at Stake, and the National Institute on Money in State Politics. The report shows that $83.3 million was spent in judicial elections from 1990 to 1999--a far cry from the astounding $206.9 million spent in the subsequent decade 2000 to 2009.

The report also found that a select group of "super spenders" is seriously outgunning small donors. In the 29 most costly judicial elections in ten states, the top five spenders each averaged $473,000 per election to help install judges of their choice, while all other contributors averaged only $850 apiece.

Some states have already taken steps to insulate their judicial elections from this tide of money, with tools such as public financing of judicial elections, consideration of new judicial appointment/retention election systems, and tougher ethics rules forcing judges to sit out cases that involve campaign... (more)

The Washington Public Disclosure Commission reports that state initiative efforts have drawn over $20 million in contributions.  This includes the $10 million raised by Stop the Food & Beverage Tax Hikes, promoters of Initiative 1107, which would roll back recently adopted taxes on pop, bottled water and candy.  Most of the money and in-kind contributions came from the American Beverage Association.

The commission said Washington Citizens for Liquor Reform, backers of I-1105, brought in $2 million from only two sources [Young’s Market Co. LLC and Odom Southern Holdings LLC].  This is one of two liquor privatization initiatives.

A rival proposal, I-1100 by Modernize Washington, brought in $1.2 million, mostly from Costco.

Washingtonians for Education, Health & Tax Relief, supporting I-1098, raised $1.9 million. The measure would create a high-wage earner state income tax and trim the state property tax and the tax on smaller businesses.

Save Our Jobs Washington, supporting... (more)

The state Elections Division, preparing for another court challenge of the Secretary of State’s policy of releasing initiative petitions under terms of the voter-approved Public Records Act, notes that nearly 2 million signatures have been released in recent years, without apparent incident.

By the numbers:

ALSO BY DAVID AMMONS

Gregoire: Prepare for budget cuts and more cuts

R-71 public records update: release ban continues

Gun rights activists overpowered gun control advocates in political giving this decade. A new report from the National Institute on Money in State Politics examined the money given by both sides of the debate, and found that gun rights advocates contributed $2.3 million to state-level politics from 2003 through 2008, vastly dwarfing the $74,546 contributed by gun control advocates.

Two-thirds of all contributions from gun rights advocates went to Republican candidates and committees. Michigan's ballot measure committee, "Citizens for Wildlife Conservation," was the top single recipient of money from gun rights advocates, at $294,600. That was followed by the Florida Republican Party ($105,000), and the Republican State Senate Campaign Committee in Illinois ($40,8000).

Gun control advocates didn't come close to matching this level of giving. Ninety-five percent of gun control advocates' $74,546 contributions went to Democratic candidates and committees. The top recipient of their money was Illinois... (more)

U.S. District Judge Benjamin Settle has ruled that Washington state will continue to be blocked from releasing Referendum 71 signatures while challengers mount a federal court case that aims to keep the 138,000 names confidential forever. In a brief hearing in his courtroom in Tacoma on Wednesday, but did agree to the Secretary of State Ralph Reed’s request to an expedited hearing schedule. 

The challengers, Protect Marriage Washington, will release a list of its witnesses so Attorney General Rob McKenna and other backers of public release will be able to do discovery.  Both sides will then submit briefs and a trial will proceed as scheduled by the court, possibly in November. 

Shane Hamlin, assistant state director of elections, said he was disappointed the judge ruled against the release of the signatures but was pleased that the court is putting the case on a fast track. The state strongly objected to maintaining the temporary restraining order,... (more)

You’d hardly notice, but Washington state voters have a ballot to fill out right away.

The suspense is, uh, not riveting. With the exception of idle curiosity as to how many votes the Palin-endorsed Tea Party candidate will siphon off from Dino Rossi’s coronation as the “Prefers GOP Party” alternative to Patty Murray come November, there’s not a whole lot going on this summer. The action this year is in the initiatives, which are on the general election ballot in the fall.

Nonetheless, some of us insist on filling out and mailing these silly pieces of paper (yes, it’s another all-mail election; ballots must be postmarked by August 17).

Full story at Eat The State!

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ENDORSEMENTS

Seattle Times

The Stranger

Eat The State!

Washington Conservation Voters

Sarah Palin

Alan Durning's view of Tim Eyman's initiative I-1053; Seattle Times takes opposite view here

Five of the nation’s largest health insurers are in serious discussions about creating a new nonprofit group and bankrolling it to the tune of about $20 million to influence tight congressional races and boost the image of their industry.

The two sources tell the Center for Public Integrity they expect millions of dollars will be pumped into issue advertising in a number of races where candidates sympathetic to health industry concerns have a shot at winning.

“The objective is to make the House more accommodating to concerns... (more)

Editor's note: Jeff Mapes of the Oregonian reports that Washington Democratic Sen. Patty Murray is on the list of targets of American Crossroads, "a group set up to take big-dollar donations from wealthy conservatives." Below comes news from the nonprofit Center for Public Integrity about American Crossroads:

To jumpstart fundraising, the pro-Republican American Crossroads 527 group is reaching out to powerful politicos such as ex-Sen. Phil Gramm of Texas and aggressively using a new money-collecting entity that can give donors more privacy.

Lackluster fundraising in April and May pulled in only a total of roughly $1.25 million, prompting American Crossroads to recently set up a 501(c)(4) nonprofit arm that is also allowed to get involved in political campaigns, but is less transparent in reporting requirements. Deploying both entities, American Crossroads raised about $8.5 million in June, says Steven Law, the group’s president. Politico first reported the $8.5 million total and some... (more)

From the Hella Bus blog:

Republican Senate candidate Clint Didier is having a good month, folks. The brawny Connell resident won $10,000 on the slots at the Emerald Queen picked up national endorsements that are sure to delight his conservative base.

Didier, who, like Burt Reynolds, knows the indomitable power of the mustache, picked up the endorsements of libertarian idol Rep. Ron Paul and former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, whom you may have heard of.

Those endorsements should further legitimize the former Redskins tight end as the Tea Party candidate in the Republican segment of the primary. Dino Rossi, the “mainstream” Republican, has to be looking over his shoulder.

Full story...

It’s a logical question to ask: What if Washington voters approve BOTH of the rival initiatives to take the state out of the liquor retail business?

Logical, but not easy to answer.

In short, the state Constitution, the statute books and the courts haven’t laid down a rule to follow in cases like this.  Some states use the common-sense approach that the one getting more votes will be implemented, but it’s no certainty what happens if both Initiative 1100 and Initiative 1105 get the green light from the voters.   Both would take the state out of the liquor business and let retailers offer hard booze along with their wine and beer. I-1100 would let retailers buy stock directly from manufacturers; I-1105 would require use of wholesalers.

The attorneys in our Elections Division and the Attorney General’s office say the usual rules of implementing conflicting statutes don’t address this unique situation where voters address the same subject matter at the... (more)

Tom Donohue, the combative president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, is upping the ante for the fall elections.

The Chamber aims to raise $75 million for the business behemoth’s electoral efforts, a 50 percent jump from its earlier stated goal of $50 million, Donohue said in a tough closed-door speech on June 28 to about 100 business and industry group leaders, according to a source who attended the meeting.

The Chamber’s ambitious $75 million goal would be more than double the $36 million that it spent in 2008, the group’s previous high.

Donohue’s speech was delivered at the Chamber’s semi-annual meeting of its elite “Committee of 100” at a resort in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif. He urged the business community to work together to “change the composition” of the Congress, the source said.

Full story at the Center for Public Integrity...

There’s been quite a hubbub in Washington around initiative signatures, so it only seemed right to throw a little extra twist onto the story: apparently, you can remove your name from petitions you’ve already signed.

Let me just say that again: you can sign a petition, and then the next week contact Sam Reed, our Secretary of State, and have your name removed from that very same petition.

So why does that matter? Simple: up to 10 initiatives may make it onto the November ballot, and a handful of campaigns are already popping up to try and keep those initiatives off. (more)

more at Washington Bus blog (a.k.a. Hella Bus blog)

Here is the list of the nearly 6,000 people, businesses and organizations who fought Referendum 71 by donating a combined $2.09 million to Washington Families Standing Together, according to data from the National Institute on Money in State Politics. Chart is in descending order of dollar amount.

The names of people who signed petitions to try to overturn Washington’s  "everything but marriage" same-sex domestic partner law can be revealed for all to see, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled today. While those names aren’t available yet, here’s the next best thing available today.

Courtesy of the National Institute on Money in State Politics, the PostGlobe obtained names of people who donated money toward Referendum 71 to try to overturn the gay rights law.

See the names of people who donated money to overturn the law here.

Here are names of their opponents, people who donated money to protect the gay-rights law by fighting Referendum 71.

See lots of interesting data on money in state-level political finances at National Institute on Money in State Politics. 

The names of people who signed petitions to try to overturn Washington’s  "everything but marriage" same-sex domestic partner law can be made public, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled today. While those names aren’t immediately available (pending final release by a lower court), here’s the next best thing available today.

Money talks, right?

Well, courtesy of the National Institute on Money in State Politics, the PostGlobe obtained names of people who donated money to Referendum 71 to overturn the gay-rights law. We also obtained names of their pro-gay opponents, the people who donated money to fight Referendum 71.

See the names of people who donated to overturn the law below.

Here via this link are their opponents.

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Here is the list of the 861 people and organizations who contributed money -- a combined $283,052 -- to PROTECT MARRIAGE IN WASHINGTON, a.k.a. Referendum 71. (They sought to overturn the everything-but-marriage domestic partnership law.) Data is from National Institute on Money... (more)

While candidates with big war chests hold a significant advantage over their opponents, the advantage is diffused when most of the money comes from a candidate's own pockets. The traditional advantages of being the top fundraiser in a race, or being an incumbent, don't confer the same level of success to self-financiers.

That trend holds true for candidates from all parties. In fact, in the last nine years, only 11 percent of self-financed candidates won their races. Early primary results in 2010 show this trend may be continuing, according to a new report from the National Institute on Money in State Politics, which  found that self-funded candidates were elected at a much lower rate than candidates who raised money from other sources.

The Institute specifically examined the 6,171 candidates who provided most of their own campaign contributions during the years 2000 through 2009 (self-financiers comprise 8 percent of all candidates). These candidates contributed $700 million dollars to their... (more)

From the Washington Ledge blog of Austin Jenkins:

Local soda pop bottlers and distributors are the ones crying foul. But it's the American Beverage Association that's bankrolling an effort to repeal Washington's new tax on carbonated beverages. It's a sign that the pop industry takes very seriously what's happening in Washington state.

According to Washington's Public Disclosure Commission, the DC-based association has dumped more than $1M into the Initiative 1107 campaign. This proposed ballot measure would repeal the legislature's newly enacted taxes on soda, bottled water, candy and gum.

That's a huge amount of money for a signature-gathering effort. But then again, time is short... (more) (more)

From the Washington Ledge blog of Olympia reporter Austin Jenkins of the nonprofit Northwest News Network:

For weeks now, I've been asking Patty Murray's campaign for a list of campaign staffers: campaign manager, finance director, consultants, ad people. I've repeatedly asked the same of Dino Rossi's campaign in the two weeks since he announced his candidacy.

The response so far from both the Murray and Rossi camps - silence. (more)

A recent NBC/Wall Street Journal poll found that 31 percent of people believe that America's two-party system is seriously broken and the country is in need of a third party. Despite these numbers, the facts show that only 2 percent of the third-party candidates won their races over the last nine years.

About 100 political parties fielded more than 6,000 candidates to run for state offices around the nation from 2000 through 2009, representing 8 percent of the total candidates. A new report from the National Institute on Money in State Politics examined 6,181 third-party candidates who ran for state offices from 2000-2009. Those who identified themselves as members of the Independent and Progressive Parties were most successful at the polls, while Libertarian and Green Party candidates were the least successful. Third-party candidates fared the best in Vermont, where 14 percent of the 236 third-party candidates who sought office were successful. They fared worst in California, where not one of the... (more)

While conventional wisdom holds that an anti-incumbent mood is sweeping the country, statistics indicate that mood faces long odds of overcoming the overwhelming power of incumbency and the unyielding fundraising advantage that comes with incumbency. The success of incumbents has been gradually increasing since the 2001–2002 elections, when 89 percent of incumbents won.

Two new reports from the National Institute on Money in State Politics examine the role that money and incumbency played in the 2007–2008 elections. The first report, The Role of Money & Incumbency in 2007–2008 State Elections, found that incumbents who held the fundraising advantage were re-elected 96 percent of the time. In fact, in 12 states, not a single top money-raising incumbent was defeated. Candidates with just the incumbency advantage were re-elected 94 percent of the time.

The second report, Competitiveness in 2007–2008 State Legislative Races: No Contest?, found that only 22 percent of state... (more)

We all patronize our local small businesses. Owned and operated by our neighbors, they provide our coffee, sandwiches and the small things to fix up our homes. They fix up our cars, and sell us bicycles and books. Most of all, they create the web of neighborhoods and community.

One thing that irks small businesses is the business tax. It is not a high rate, but it is onerous: You have to pay it even when you lose money. The large corporations have figured out tax loopholes and avoidance schemes so that their proportion of state and local taxes is about half that paid by small businesses.

So if you run a small business, and you are offered an exemption from paying the business tax, would you turn it down?

This time is the time of year when the semi-annual property tax bill comes due. Property taxes are crucial for public services, for fire protection, public safety, schools, roads, and most of the things we take for granted because we don’t pay for them directly. But these taxes weigh heavily on homeowners... (more)

From Followthemoney.org:

Executives of health insurance titans WellPoint, UnitedHealth Group, Humana and Aetna were called before Congress in March to explain stiff rate increases and claims denials. Despite the publicized wrangling at the federal level, state governments actually bear primary responsibility for health insurance regulation--and that has not escaped the notice of health insurers.

These four companies were major players in state politics, giving a total of $8.7 million to candidates and committees in 42 states from 2005 through 2008, according to a new report,  "Health Insurance Companies Give Healthy Donations to Political Campaigns," released by the National Institute on Money in State Politics.

WellPoint Inc. and subsidiaries gave almost half of this money ($4.3 million), with 42 percent of its contributions going to California political campaigns.

Office-holders received 52 percent ($4.5 million) of the contributions from the four insurance companies, followed distantly by party... (more)