During the recent filings for elective office in Thurston County, there were 19 school board seats up for election or re-election.

And, of those 19 seats in 17 of them the incumbent ended up unopposed.

No opposition in 17 school board races.  That’s incredible!   In a society that questions everything the government does, we couldn’t find a few people to challenge incumbent school board members?   This is the part of our local government which takes in and spends more money than almost every other facet of government  – - and we couldn’t find anyone to be involved.

Why is it that no one runs for local school board positions?

The usual answer is that people are satisfied with the way their school runs.

But, I think it goes deeper than that.

Most parents don’t really understands how the state’s educational system works.  They don’t know where the money comes from and they don’t know how the money’s spent.   They don’t even really know who runs the school districts.   Hint:  It’s not the school board  or the superintendent.

School board positions are not glamorous.  People seeking higher elective office usually don’t start at the school board level – - with some exceptions.  Former congressman and current insurance commissioner Mike Kreidler is the exception.

School board members have to be policy wonks.  They have to delve into the details and they have to love to do homework.

And, school board meetings are boring – - really boring.

There’s not a lot of glamor and there’s a great deal of work involved.

No wonder people don’t want to run for their local school board.  It’s hard work.

After the dust had settled Friday, only two local races will have a Primary run-off in August.

Lacey incumbent city council member Ron Lawson has drawn two opponents in his effort to retain his seat and out in Tumwater three candidates are running for an all but open seat on the city council.

Lawson has drawn two candidates for his seat – - Lacey planning commission member Michael Steadman and newcomer Jacob Vaughan.

In Tumwater, Kyle Taylor Lucas who was appointed a few weeks ago to the seat left vacant by the resignation of Betsy Spath has drawn two opponents David Reeder and Debbie Sullivan.

Those are the only two races which will be on the primary ballot.

But, the filing period was not without some interesting twists.

For the first time ever in his history, Lacey Mayor Virgil Clarkson has drawn opposition.   His opponent is Walker Morton.   Clarkson in more than a decade and a half on the council, has never had any opposition to his election.

Lawson, and fellow councilmembers  Andy Ryder and Cynthia Pratt, were swept into office nearly three years ago in a campaign financed by Lacey firefighters who were upset with the council’s position on starting its own fire department.   This time around Pratt has drawn an opponent Raymond Payne while Ryder escaped without an opponent.

It’s not expected that fire fighters have much interest in the contests this time around since they’ve already accomplished their goal of stopping a city fire department.

In that vein, incumbent fire commissioner Judy Wilson has drawn an opponent – - Gary Hartloff.    The position left open by John Christiansen, who chose not to seek re-election, had drawn two candidates – - Dan Cathers and Dennis Jones.  It’s anticipated that fire fighters will concentrate their efforts in those races.

And, the two incumbent members of the North Thurston school board – - Chuck Namit and Aaron Owada drew no opponents and will continue in office.

Ports in this state were established in the 1920′s by the Washington State Legislature for the purposes of providing economic opportunities by creating and running public ports.

That measure stopped the growing struggle and conflicts between competing private companies that was causing economic chaos to the state’s economy.

Making the water front public property and creating public port districts allowed for some public control over the water front.

In creating public port districts, the legislature also authorized them to levy taxes.

The Port of Olympia was one of the first public port districts.  But, instead of confining itself to the Olympia water front, the Port of Olympia was set as a county wide port district.

In that capacity, it not only runs the Olympia port but also operates the Tumwater airport.  The port also owns land and property throughout the entire county.

But, for decades, very few people knew or understood the port’s operations; and even fewer people knew that the port of Olympia is actually a county wide entity.

Although we see on our annual property tax statement a fee for the Port of Olympia, we often don’t understand what that money goes for.

Ask a port commissioner and he will tell you that the property tax we pay each year goes to pay for environmental clean up of polluted port property.

Almost all ports in Washington state depend on some form of public tax support although many of the ports are financially sound.  The Port of Olympia just signed an agreement with Weyerhaeuser to continue log exports, but it still depends on taxpayer support.

The port also, just recently, gave $10,000 to each of the cities of Rainier, Tenino, Yelm and Bucoda to help them with local civic projects.

It’s the port’s way of letting them know that it’s a county wide port district.  Giving away $40,000 of taxpayer money is just their way of letting the smaller cities know that the port cares about them.

But, what about the taxpayers?  Why should taxpayers support the give away of their property tax dollars to something that has nothing to do with economic development?

Has the port changed its goals?

The next time you see one of your port commissioners  – - Bill McGregor, Jeff Davis or George Barner – - ask him that question.

The first dirt in Thurston County’s election this year has already been thrown by Roger Erskine, chair of the Thurston County Democrats.

Erskine has accused Thurston County Auditor Republican Gary Alexander, who is the county’s chief elections officer,  with trying to squelch voter turnout in the county.  Erskines has tried to tie Alexander to a 25-year old comment by a right-wing Republican saying that he didn’t want everyone to vote.

In the meantime, Thurston County’s chief elections officer has been a Republican for the last 30 years and voter turnout in the county has reached 80 percent – - one of the top voter participation rates in the entire United States.

For those last 30 years Republicans have been the chief election’s officer in Thurston County – - two of them – - Sam Reed and Kim Wyman – - have gone on to become Secretary of State and the state’s chief election’s officer.   When Wyman ran for Secretary of State last year she carried Thurston County by more than 22,000 votes.  An over-whelming endorsement of a Republican in a Democratic county.

Democratic chair Erskine said that Republicans hate the fact that “we have 80 percent voter turnout .  They hate the resounding success of our voter turnout in Thurston County.”

All of which have come under Republican auditors who have been at the forefront in encouraging voter turnout.

Erskine is pushing Alexander’s opponent, Mary Hall.

Endorsing Hall, and in essence endorsing Erskine’s rhetoric are Lacey councilmembers Jeff Gadman, Cynthia Pratt and Andy Ryder.

Other local elected officials endorsing Erskine’s remarks are Sandra Romero, Steven Drew, Shawn Myers, Sam Hunt, Pete Kmet, Nicole Hill, Tom Oliva and Jim Cooper.   They all signed an endorsement ad for Mary Hall

I’ve been getting a lot of invitations to attend kick-off or fund-raising events for our local people who are seeking election or re-election this year.  Usually its early in the morning and breakfast is dangled as a reason to go.

All serious candidates have announced and are in the process of gathering support and that usually starts with getting the endorsement of other elected officials.

Most of the local races are non-partisan but you can usually tell who’s a Republican or who’s a Democrat.  All you have to do is look at the list of those who endorse them.  You can also tell by whom they’ve received campaign funds from.    You can do that by going on line to the Public Disclosure Commission’s web page.

It appears to be a lonely campaign this year. There are few declared candidates and many of the incumbents have yet to receive an opponent.

As of now, I can almost predict the outcome of the races this fall, but I’m going to refrain from doing so right yet.

All I can say is that other candidates will come out of the woodwork as we get closer to filing week next week – - May 13-17.  But, for the most part, those are candidates with little hope of getting elected.

Campaigning for public office, while not a full time job, does take considerable time.  When the candidate is not out shaking hands and door belling houses, she has to be meeting people whose opinion counts.

And, she has to be out raising money.  Even a city council race can cost $10,000 or more.

In a few weeks it will be all worked out.  We’ll know which incumbents will get re-elected and which opponents stand a chance to win.

Until then, I’ll see you at one of the kick-off activities.   I’ve already attended one and have three more in the pipeline.

And, I don’t have to contribute a dime for breakfast, if I don’t want to.

Lacey is still a relatively new city, at least compared to its sister cities of Olympia and Tumwater which are past 150 years old.  Lacey has yet to reach its 50 year mark.

But,  just because something is new, doesn’t mean that it doesn’t have older sections that need review.

That’s the case with the Lacey Woodland District.  It’s been under review for nearly a year trying to determine if and how this section of the city should re-develop.

For many people, the Woodland District is the city’s downtown.  It encompasses South Sound Center, Fred Meyer and Huntamer Park.  It’s bounded College Street and the west city limits and Pacific Avenue and I-5.

It contains nearly 2.5 million square feet of commercial space, around 350 businesses and about 4800 people  who work in the district.

But, it also has some problems.  Since 2008 and the cutback in state government, it has 240,000 square feet of vacant office space and two of its major buildings are sitting empty.

That’s the situation facing the steering committee which is looking at the future of Lacey’s downtown core.

But, while it has problems, it also has some things going for it that makes it perfect for an Urban Village.

That’s something that planners love – - Urban Villages.  That’s the kind of place that make a planner’s heart sing.  The kind of place they can point to and say – - see – - you too can have an alternative lifestyle – - free from the confines of an automobile.

That’s an Urban Village  and planners love them, so local planners have fallen in love with Lacey’s Woodland District.

It has parks, businesses, jobs, two colleges and an Intercity Transit hub.  It’s perfect for a 21st Century Urban Village.

But, it has some problems.  It doesn’t have many people living in the area and it has too much concrete and asphalt.

So, urban planners have been working for a year to develop a plan which will make the Woodland District something to be proud of and maybe bring a song to your heart as well.

Wednesday night May 8 at 5:30 p.m. at Lacey City Hall, these planners, their consultants and the steering committee will  release their concept of what the Woodland District can become.

Is it destined to be an Urban Village or is it just a concept with no relationship to reality?

Impossible is not a fact.  It’s an opinion.   Impossible is not a declaration.  It’s a dare.  Impossible is potential.  Impossible is temporary.  Impossible is nothing. – - Muhammad Ali

Does anyone, besides me, think the search for a million dollars from the state legislature, to buy up two old buildings and then demolish them, is the wrong use of taxpayer money?

Think about it for a minute.  Your taxes, my taxes, should be used to benefit the most people possible, but more significantly, our taxes should only go to do those important things that need to be done.

If you’ve been out of town lately – - here’s the run down.

The City of Olympia wants a million dollars from the state legislature to purchase the old Health Department building and an adjacent building, for the purposes of tearing them down.

The city mothers and fathers think that the buildings distract from the waterfront view and thus need to be demolished in order to create a view corridor from the Capitol to Budd Inlet.

OK – maybe.  But why should taxpayers put up any money for the project when there are other significant needs.

A million dollars will hire a dozen school teachers.  A million dollars will keep eight or ten state troopers on the road.   A million dollars would help keep a state park open full time.

There’s a lot of need that a million dollars could buy.  Giving that money to the City of Olympia to tear down two old buildings so that someone can get a better view of Budd Inlet just doesn’t make any sense.

While this attempt at getting money from government is just the most recent and the most visible, it’s been going on for years.

Both the Hands on Children’s Museum and the Regional Athletic Complex in Lacey were all built with state money.  And, the City of Lacey is looking at getting state funds to build its new Train Depot Museum.  This is echoed throughout the state and isn’t just confined to Olympia and Lacey.

Maybe – - when times are flush and state government has more money than it needs – - then maybe they could use state funds for local projects – - maybe.

But, in this time of austerity, when we’re trying to come up with more money for education and we’re trying to find ways to keep our state parks open – - why are we even considering spending a million dollars to buy and tear down two old buildings?

It just doesn’t make any sense.

Dan Cathers, former chair of the Thurston County Republican party, has announced that he is a candidate for the Lacey Fire Commission.

Cathers will run for the seat currently held by John Christiansen.  Christiansen has said he wouldn’t seek re-election, but he hasn’t made it final.

In making his announcement Cathers said he has always had an interest in fire protection and emergency management.

Christiansen has been on the fire commission since 2007.

Also up for election this year is the seat currently held by Judy Wilson.  She has not yet indicated whether she will seek re-election.

Click on the Decision Makers button up top to hear an interview with Pat Kohler, director of the Washington State Liquor Control Board and project manager Randy Simmons who is coordinating the efforts to legalize marijuana in this state.  The interviews were done on Tuesday, April 23 at 1240AM  KGY Radio.

It must be tough to be a member of the Washington State Legislature.   Not only are the hours long and the pressure great, but they also have to put up with lobbyists beating down their doors for some special favor.

It’s been said that lobbyists run the legislature.  That the lobbyists write the laws that legislators sponsor.   Even if she wanted too, the legislator can’t  move against them because she needs their support and purse strings to get re-elected.

So, I’m glad that our state legislators haven’t bowed to those dirty lobbyists to get their special interest legislation passed.

You and I know who those top lobbyists are – - don’t we?

The top lobbying group this past year is the Service Employees International Union – - the SEIU – - which represents all the government workers who don’t belong to other unions.   It’s the most active, the most vocal and spent the most money lobbying this year.

Second is the Washington Education Association – - the WEA – - which represents the teachers and other school employees.

The number three top lobbyist group is the Washington Federation of State Employees, the second largest state government employee union.

OK – by now – you’re getting the picture.  The biggest lobbyists are those representing government workers – - but hang on – - we’ll get to the business lobbyists soon – - but right now we have to get through more government unions.

The fourth largest lobbyist is the Washington Health Care Association which is the union for health care workers whom depend on government support for much of their salaries.

And finally – - Boeing – - comes in fifth.   Although it is one of the largest employers in the state, it’s actually headquartered in Chicago.

Our legislators are constantly bombarded by lobbyists who want something from government and the biggest lobbyists are the unions representing government workers.

The next time you hear the media talk about the power of lobbyists influencing legislation, remember, it’s the government unions that apply the most pressure.

When you see them, tell your legislator thank you for not bowing to those dirty lobbyists.

Is it now time to ban the sale of pressure cookers?

They said it would be finished in 2011.  Then they said in 2012.  Now, the completion of the Chehalis Western Trail is set for September of this year.  Yet, Thurston County still hasn’t obtained all of the needed property to complete the missing link.

The Chehalis Western Trail runs from Woodard Bay on Puget Sound to Yelm.   It runs unimpeded for 22 miles with one notable exception.   There’s a missing section of the trail on Pacific Avenue, at the boundary between the cities of Olympia and Lacey.

There have been other missing links.  A bridge over Interstate Five was completed a couple of years ago, and a bridge and off-ramp was completed over Martin Way in November 2012.

But the missing section over Pacific Avenue is held up because of a conflict between the property owner and the county, not only of the price of the needed property, but also of the design of the bridge over the street.

The property is owned by DeTray Family Partnership LLC.  The company operates DeTray’s Quality Homes, which sells manufactured housing from its location on Pacific Avenue, among other ventures.

Paul DeTray said that he is willing to sell the property to Thurston County, the trail operators, if the county would be willing to make some design changes.   Currently the plan calls for a bicycle on and off ramp onto Pacific Avenue.   The design would take a significant amount of property as well as requiring large supporting columns to hold the ramp.

DeTray said the design would take too much property as well as block the view of his business from the road.  He points out that there is a bicycle off ramp just a quarter of a mile away on Martin Way and a bicycle cloverleaf set for construction a short distance away on the other side.  He doesn’t see the need for an off ramp on Pacific Avenue.

The county has had the design for bridge and  off ramp for several years and currently has no plans to make any changes.

As construction season nears, it looks less and less likely that the Chehalis Western Trail’s final missing link will be completed this year.

Despite bankruptcy of the founder of the Gateway project and the purchase of the property by two different owners, the Lacey City Council reaffirmed it support for the “future of the city.”

At its day-long retreat Friday, members of the Lacey City Council said the Gateway project was still their concept of a future city and that the proposed town center plan was still a viable option.

While the decision was unanimous it was not without some caution.  Some members of the council wanted assurances that city support for Gateway would not take away from city efforts to revitalize other sections of the city, particularly in the Woodland District.

In support of Gateway, the council again pledged to purchase five acres of property for construction of some form of civic project.   Estimates of the cost for the property could run to $2 million.   The city has set aside $6 million for the purchase and construction costs.

Lacey City Manager Scott Spence told the council that it was all contingent upon negotiations with the new property owners, but council support for continuing the project was crucial.

By Jan Teague, President/CEO

Washington Retail Association

This past Thursday U.S. Representative Suzan DelBene invited me to meet with her and Kirkland reporters during a small business tour to talk about online retailers not collecting the state’s sales taxes.  I was reminded why our small retailers are having so much trouble competing with out-of-state online retailers who don’t collect taxes on sales.

These small retailers have to buy enough product to stock their shelves.  They pay ahead of time and incur shipping costs.  Once the shelves are stocked, people come in and find what they are looking for and may stand right in the store with their cell phone and shop for the same item online.  Often the item comes right from a warehouse and the customer gets a lower price and doesn’t pay the state’s sales tax.

In one bicycle store, the owner said that he can spend an hour helping a customer with an expensive bike that needs to be fitted to the customer, then the customer goes online and orders the bike. In this digital age the trend is expected to continue.  These small retailers need help with this situation and the Main Street Fairness Act being considered by Congress will help by requiring online retailers to collect sales taxes like traditional retailers do.

I appreciated Representative DelBene working on this issue and it makes perfect sense.  She was Washington State’s Department of Revenue Director prior to her election last fall and now sits on the House Judiciary Committee where the Main Street Fairness bill is expected to be heard.  DelBene has signed on as a sponsor.  It’s great for Washington State to have her in that position because DelBene really understands the issue, particularly the tax revenue losses that the state continues to see because taxes from online sales aren’t getting collected.

State residents are required to pay sales tax on their purchases.  That is how we fund the state’s services that these same residents use.  But there is no way to enforce having online customers send in their tax obligations.  It must come from the online retailer who should collect it when the sale is made.

Representative DelBene pointed out during the tour that the bill now being considered is the first step to getting businesses the competitive relief they need. There is an exemption in the bill that online retailers who do $1 million or less business a year would not have to collect sales tax.  Online retailers argue that it would be too hard to do for a small online retailer who does business in a lot of states.

But DelBene believes that the technology to make it extremely easy is just around the corner.  The burden will melt away.  At that point Congress can take up the exemption threshold and fully level the playing field

The news that one out of every five boys in high school is being treated for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)  was shocking.   Could it really be that number of boys actually have ADHD or is there something else at work.

Recently the Center for Disease Control released those statistics and said that six and a half million children, most of them boys, are being treated for the “disease”.  Almost $9 billion is spent every year to control these children.

No one is certain the reason for the increase.  It could be due to a number of things.  It could be environmental.  It could be better diagnosis.  It could be more promotion by the drug companies.  It could be all of these.

But, I think there’s an overriding reasons that millions of boys are being identified and treated for ADHD.

The American school system has been feminized.  Schools favor girls and are stacked against boys.

Currently, in our school systems, girls out-perform boys in almost every endeavor.  They’re better readers, they’re just as good as boys in math and science, and they’re going on to higher education in such numbers that boys are a minority in almost every college and university in the country.

Our modern educational system is stacked against boys.

Teachers like students who pay attention in class, are quiet during study periods, obey the rules and work cooperatively with others.  These are traits that favor girls.

Most boys don’t sit still for long periods, are disruptive in class, stretch the rules and always compete against each other instead of working together

And, those are all traits associated with ADHD.

Boys are different than girls – - from birth.   Our educational system has been shifted so far that girls are welcomed and boys are shunned.

Boys are just being boys, but since most elementary teachers are women, and since nearly 40 percent of all boys are being raised by single mothers, the decked is stacked against them.  These women just don’t understand boys.

Stop medicating the boys.  Just let boys be boys – - and hire more male teachers  for the elementary grades.

Betsy Spath, a four-year incumbent member of the Tumwater City Council will announce at Tuesday evening’s council meeting, that she is resigning her seat.

Spath has recently retired, sold her home and is moving to Arizona with her husband.

She is the second member of the Tumwater council to recently resign.  A few weeks ago, Judi Hoefling also resigned her council seat.

Spath said her greatest accomplishment while on the Tumwater council was protecting the rights of city residents who live in manufactured home parks.

It is expected the council will start its search for a replacement quickly.  Since Spath was finishing her term this year, her replacement will have to run for election to the seat in the fall.

Spath said that anyone who is outspoken should run for public office and have the opportunity to see the difficulties and the challenges involved in being part of the solution.

Efforts to ban some types of plastic bags in Thurston County took another step forward, as a majority of the Lacey City Council voted to ask the Thurston County commissioners to draft an ordinance doing just that.

But – the Lacey council also voted to put any such ordinance before a vote of the people.

The vote to ban the bags was 4-3 – - with Councilmembers Jeff Gadman, Cynthia Pratt, Ron Lawson and Andy Ryder voting in favor of proceeding with a ban.  Mayor Virgil Clarkson, Deputy Mayor Jason Hearn and Councilmember Lenny Greenstein voted against the ban.

Lacey now joins with Tumwater and Olympia in favoring a ban on some forms of plastic bags.  Yelm has gone on record as favoring a county wide vote.

But, in a twist not followed by Tumwater and Olympia, the council also voted to place any such ban on the ballot.

Six members of the council voted in favor of a public vote.  Lawson’s vote on a vote was not noted.

Mayor Clarkson said he’s had conversations with some members of the other jurisdictions and that there was some interest in going to the people for a public vote.

After a great deal of discussion and the two votes, Clarkson said about the issue, “we shoved it around the plate a little more.”

(A full report on the entire discussion may appear at some time.  For the most part it was just a continuation of already decided positions.)

In a liberal Blue state like this one, it’s difficult to tell that the Republican Party is alive and that it’s goals of smaller government and more individual responsibility is thriving.

Listen to these stats.  Some 30 of the country’s governors are Republican and the party holds almost that many state houses.  That’s 60 percent of all governors are Republicans.

The Republican Party holds control of the United States House of Representatives, the branch of Congress closest to the people.   And, if it  had  just a couple of better candidates last year it would have controlled the United States Senate.

All of the new, young rising stars in the American political arena are Republicans.  If the 2016 presidential election was to be held today, the Democrats would have to put up two old dogs – - Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton.

Next year the Democrats have four senators up for re-election who are running in Republican leaning states – - Arkansas, North Carolina, Alaska and Montana.   The Democratic Party is so concerned about holding on to those seats, that it allowed those senators to vote against the Senate budget so they can tell the folks back home that they favor smaller government.   The budget passed 50-49.

Here in Washington state, Republicans aren’t as bad off as it sometimes seems.   They’ve joined with their conservative Democratic friends and taken control of the State Senate.

Outside of Puget Sound, it’s OK to be a Republican.  Hell – - it’s expected in Eastern Washington – - and along the coast – - and in Southwest Washington – - and in the rural areas of the state.  You need to be a Republican to get elected in almost every part of our state except in the urban core.

The Republican Party is alive and well.   It just has one problem.

With all the moaning, shaking of the heads, crying in the hands and singing the blues, you wouldn’t know that the Republican Party is the party of the future.

The City of Lacey will vote to ban plastic bags when the Lacey City Council meets at its regular meeting on Thursday, March 28.

At a City Council work session Thursday night, a majority of the Council indicated they would vote to ban the grocery bags,  joining the City of Olympia and the City of Tumwater  in that effort.

While not an actual vote, only those members who favored a ban spoke up.  They constituted a majority of the Council.  It’s not expected that the vote will be unanimous.  At least two and maybe as many as three members will vote against the ban.

Thurston County staff have been pushing a plastic bag ban but have indicated they won’t do so unless the vote is approved  in all four of the major cities.  So far Yelm has not taken a stand.