Local News

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State Sen. Rodney Tom

A new take on Rodney Tom conversion? The new leader in the state Senate, he of the Majority Coalition Caucus, is an enigma for some Democrats who wonder how he can call himself a Democrat when he joined with Republicans to form the Republican-leaning group. Republican John Carlson has an interesting piece on Tom in Crosscut.

What do you think of the bill to change the state code to use gender-neutral language? Bye bye, firemen, fishermen and other such terms. If I am not mistaken, the University of Washington Daily has done something similar.

High marks for Washington’s charter school law.  The charter bill is brand new and implementation will take time. But still the bill wins high marks for the way it is drafted. No. 3 in the country, according to the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools.

Oregon going to pot, well, maybe sometime. The Oregonian says Oregon could be one of the next couple of states to legalize marijuana , perhaps in 2014 or 2016. Oregon had a pot measure on the ballot this past year, but the measure was very broad and did not pass voter muster. 

State Rep. Gary Alexander

Good days and bad days, bad mornings followed by better afternoons: Tuesday morning, state Rep. Gary Alexander was part of an AP inquiry into lawmakers’ expense reports, dry cleaning expenses, to be specific. The story included Alexander’s cleaning bill. Uh oh.

Later in the afternoon, Alexander was announced as as the new Thurston County auditor, filling a spot vacated by  Secretary of State Kim Wyman. Question for Alexander: Does he intend to become Secretary of State? Just asking. Both Wyman and former Secretary of State Sam Reed were Thurston County auditor before becoming Secretary of State.

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From The Olympian:

The Thurston County commission unanimously chose state Rep. Gary Alexander on Tuesday to replace newly elected Secretary of State Kim Wyman as county auditor.

The Olympia Republican will serve as auditor until the November election. Then, he will have to run to retain the seat. He said if he is elected in November, he will consider resigning from the state Legislature.

Alexander began working in the Auditor’s Office during Sam Reed’s final six months of service 12½ years ago.

Alexander was selected over Olympia real estate agent Carol Person, the Thurston County Republicans’ top choice. The commission chose from a field of Republicans because Wyman is a Republican.

The third candidate, Yelm Mayor Ron Harding, pulled out of the running Monday, citing the desire to focus on “several high impact issues still unresolved” in Yelm, according to a letter addressed to the commissioners

I feel that even though becoming the next auditor would be a great honor, leaving my responsibilities as mayor at such a critical time would not be honorable,” Harding said in the letter, citing the city’s various road projects, water rights and the city’s park master plan.

Commissioners said they chose Alexander for his experience working in the Auditor’s Office and time as a legislator.

“Our job is to find a person we feel has the best qualifications and can hit the ground running,” said Commissioner Cathy Wolfe.

Alexander is looking to a four- or five-year plan as auditor, hoping to continue to move the Auditor’s Office to paperless filing and streamline the county’s election process.