Home | MAKUPFRONT: UP FRONT WITH ROBERT MAK

First take on the day’s political news from the Up Front team.

Up Front this morning: Enumclaw blues; New justice named; Wine gripes; The Bellevue venue.

Trouble in Enumclaw.  The State Auditor has dinged the Enumclaw Police Department saying it did not have “adequate controls” to safeguard property and funds.

The specifics?  No controls over the departments’ “investigative funds” used for undercover operations.  Police are authorized to maintain a $2,000 petty cash fund.  “One officer kept $500 of the fund in his wallet,” says the audit report.  “On the day we audited the funds, he had only $307 of this amount and no records to document the use of the balance.”

The audit also found problems in the property room.  “We were unable to verify whether two guns had been destroyed due to inadequate documentation…The Department has not destroyed illegal drugs in the property room since at least 2005,” according to the audit.  The police department says in its response that it has made immediate changes and it has accounted for all funds.

Gregoire appoints justice:  Governor Christine Gregoire will appoint a State Supreme Court justice this afternoon, to replace Justice Gerry Alexander who faces mandatory retirement at age 75.  This is Gregoire’s second appointment to the highest court; she appointed Justice Debra Stephens when Bobbe Bridge retired.  The new appointee will have to run for re-election as Alexander’s term ends next year.

Wait, what about wine shops?  KING 5’s Allen Schauffler reports on small wine shops upset that they’ll be excluded from selling liquor under Initiative 1183.  “I’m more than determined.  I will find a way to get a piece of this action,” says one shop owner, worried that grocery stores and large retailers over 10,000 square feet will lure customers away from his wine store.

Why Bellevue?  It wasn’t by accident that gay marriage supporters launched their campaign yesterday in Bellevue.  The battle will focus on the state senate, and while Democrats are in control, some Democratic senators aren’t willing to vote yes on gay marriage.  The coalition will need to attract a few key Republican senators in the suburbs and that explains the symbolism of the Bellevue event.

Field gets crowded:  Add yet another name to the list of candidates running to replace Secretary of State Sam Reed next year.  Former Democratic State Senator Kathleen Drew has jumped into the race, reports the Olympian’s Brad Shannon.  Already, Democrats Jim Kastama and Zach Hudgins are in the race, with Republicans having one candidate so far, Thurston County Auditor Kim Wyman.

Political Over-reach: Lynn Thompson notes that David Brooks of the New York Times used the failure of Seattle’s $60 Tab tax proposition as an example of over-reach on the left. He cited Seattle in response to the Washington Post’s EJ Dionne who called described failed propositions in Ohio and Mississippi as over-reach on the right.

Eastside light rail clears another hurdle:  Last night the Bellevue City Council voted 7-0 to approve a route through downtown Bellevue that includes a tunnel.