Quotes & amp;amp; Notes

by Inlander Staff


Throw the Bums... Back In?--Friday, April 5, was the deadline for Idaho residents to declare their candidacy for 2002 elected office, and 415 people signed up, say officials at the Secretary of State's office.


Of those candidates, 67 are legislators who voted to overturn term limits, according to a count by the pro-term limits group Repeal the Repeal. Since 61 of the 67 are being challenged, either in the primary or general election, they could still be term-limited, so to speak.


Washington residents filing to run for office do so in July.





Sticks and Stones--"A right-wing extremist 'think tank.' " That's how the Washington Education Association (the state's largest teachers union) is characterizing the Evergreen Freedom Foundation in a current name-calling campaign that includes full-page newspaper ads.


Is this EFF a group of bomb-throwers or cross-burners? Not exactly. It's a conservative policy foundation in Olympia whose "extremist" actions include successfully taking the WEA to court for the union's illegal mixing of members' dues and nonmembers' fees in political campaigns.


Maybe these WEA ads aren't deliberately deceptive; they could just be a dumb idea.





A Helping Hand--When the Spokesman-Review blasted Spokane County Assessor Sadie Charlene Cooney a few weeks back on its editorial page (Cooney "flouts the law, bungles her duties [and] provokes expensive litigation..."), the assessor took up the pen in her own defense. Her forceful reply ran in the April 3 edition ("...the many fine people who truly run the most efficient assessor's office in the state.").


Turns out, there should have been a double byline: Cooney's right-hand man, Byron Hodgson, helped her write it. (He confirmed the team effort when asked by The Inlander.)





Redun-Dunce--Both Spokane County and the City of Spokane are planning to hire consultants to study their criminal justice systems -- the county because its jail is getting full, the city because its coffers are running empty. (See last week's Inlander news article, "Big House Blues.")


Here's a thought: How about chipping in for a shared study that examines the entire system from both sides -- much of the police investigation, courts and jail space get intermingled anyway -- and maybe save a few bucks?





Not Sure We'd Admit That--Bumper sticker seen in downtown Spokane: "I LUV MULLETS."





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