Stories for March 11, 2008

Rep. Helen Sommers will indeed retire

Tue, Mar 11, 7:19 p.m.

The second-longest-serving member of the Washington Legislature has confirmed she will not run for re-election. Longtime House Budget Chair Helen Sommers, D-Seattle, told me: "This is my last session. I'm not going to run again." Asked why, she laughed and said: "Because I'm 75 years old and I'll be 76 in a couple weeks. That's why."

The speaker ducks a desperate homeowner

Tue, Mar 11, 2:06 p.m.

By Austin Jenkins

Scott Thalhamer of Olympia came to the Capitol yesterday to confront Speaker of the House Frank Chopp, D-Seattle. Thalhamer wants Chopp to allow a vote on Senate Bill 6385, the "Homeowners' Bill of Rights" sponsored by Sen. Brian Weinstein's, D-Mercer Island. The bill would allow homeowners to sue and recover damages for shoddy home construction. It was held up last year, too.

Not just the Sonics want those stadium taxes

Tue, Mar 11, 10:06 a.m.

By David Brewster

The showdown in Olympia over the Sonics is much more than a shoving match between Speaker Frank Chopp, a populist who likes to defy bailouts for sports owners, and the Seattle establishment, which wants the team to buttress Seattle Center and tourism interests and for reasons of civic pride. A bigger issue is the years-long clamoring for a taxing source that might get away. Those are the so-called "stadium taxes," a mixture of taxes on car rentals, restaurants and bars, hotel rooms, and local sales tax. The money is all generated locally in King County, but instead of going into the Olympia general fund, it gets rebated back to pay off construction of Safeco Field and Qwest Field. And they are supposed to expire as the stadiums are paid off in the next decade.