Judge rules to release names of Ref. 71 petition signers

From today's Seattle Times. And yes I will be looking!

By Lornet Turnbull
Seattle Times staff reporter

A conservative religious organization will appeal a federal judge's ruling Monday to release 137,500 names from Referendum 71 petitions to vote on the state's domestic-partnership law.

A federal judge on Monday issued a ruling to release the names of 137,500 people who two years ago signed Referendum 71 petitions to bring the state's domestic-partnership law to a vote.

The Secretary of State's Office said it would release the names immediately.

In his ruling, U.S. District Judge Benjamin Settle of Tacoma said that Protect Marriage Washington, a religious conservative group that had sought to keep the names sealed, failed to show that signers would be harassed if the names were disclosed.

Protect Marriage said Monday that it will appeal Settle's ruling.

"We still think the people who signed these peitions in good faith acted in a way they didn't think would expose them to the kind of ridicule and possible danger we feel is out there," said Gary Randall, a spokesman for the organization. "We disagree with the ruling. We're doing the paperwork as we speak."

The state has maintained that the petitions need to be open under the state's Public Disclosure Law.

The legal battle began after Gov. Chris Gregoire, in the spring of 2009, signed into a law a measure that expanded the state's domestic partnership law. The additional provisions allowed same-sex and some senior couples to use sick leave to care for each other and to claim one another's death benefits.

Through Ref. 71, Protect Marriage sought to repeal the expanded law and sued the state to seal the names of signers after a gay-rights activist said he would reveal the names on a searchable website.

In arguing before Settle earlier this month, Protect Marriage pointed to hostile fallout across California after voters repealed gay marriage there three years ago under Proposition 8: Churches and personal property were defaced and vandalized, and people lost their jobs — incidents the group documented in 263 news and blog clippings and videos submitted as evidence in the case.

But in his ruling Monday, Settle said Protect Marriage failed to show any "serious and widespread threats, harassment, or reprisals against the signers of R-71, or even that such activity would be reasonably likely to occur upon the publication of their names and contact information."



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Vote No on I-1183

If you live in Washington State please join me in voting no on I-1183 this fall. This initiative is more about corporate greed than it is about what is good for our communities. Costco has donated $10M to help pass this initiative which they have tried before while raising membership rates during a recession!

If passed, I-1183 calls for state-run liquor stores to close by June 2012. The measure also aims to require the state to license private enterprises to sell and distribute hard liquor, set license fees based on sales and regulate licensees.

This is bad for communities and good for those who stand to make huge profits. Please join me in voting no on I-1183!

Jim


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Final Day in DC

It's my final day here in DC following a very successful conference on Recovery Oriented Systems of care. Yesterday I went to three really good sessions including one on helping individuals with employment skills, emerging recovery technologies, and finally digital and web resources available to help individuals with recovery support. Today's sessions include linkage to primary care and health information technology.




I was able to get on an earlier flight so as opposed to getting home after midnight I'll actually get home just after 6 p.m!









I intended on taking the metro to the airport and was helping a lady I met while getting my luggage make her way via the metro to the airport but there was some kind of fire that closed the system so we hooked up with another person all headed for National and grabbed a cab.

Here are a few pictures from the hotel. Including a view from my room and lobby pic. I'll be back later in the month for another grantee meeting!












I went for a 5.7 mile run this morning from the hotel to the White House. Nice run with no rain finally! Last night we had a lot of rain with thunder and lighting and tornado warnings so it was nice to see it had passed by morning.














Finally, a few pictures from the flight between DC and Atlanta. Fall colors were very pretty!










Next stop Seattle!

Jim

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DC Update

I'm staying at a Kimpton Hotel near the Rosslyn Metro stop in Arlington. It's a great location for running and just across the bridge from Georgetown.


I decided to stay at a hotel other than than the conference hotel since it looked rather ordinary on the website and was located out in Bethesda. The Metro is so good here it's just a couple short trains and I'm there.

I arrived about an hour late to the conference yesterday which was not bad. There were three really good sessions that I attended and enjoyed one on health care reform, another on trauma informed care and finally one on military culture. Although I was tired it was not too bad a day.

After the conference yesterday I got off the metro and had dinner in Dupont Circle and then simply headed back to the hotel for an evening in of sleeping and watching True Blood. Finally finished season three!



As I usually try to do while traveling I got up and went for a short run of 4.5 miles. DC is a wonderful place to run. The trail options are seemingly endless. I've not been faithful in my running recently so it felt especially good to get out this morning. Below are a few pictures from this mornings run.























Have a good one.

Jim


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DC Bound

What the hell was I thinking when I decided it would be okay to book an overnight flight to DC and go from the airport directly to my meeting? It's going to be a very long day!

My work schedule feels slightly out of control at the moment. Between proposed budget reductions that would eliminate funding for much of my programs, implementing a new grant and work related travel I'm stretched to say the least!

To make matters worse, I pile on as much as I possibly can in my personal life to keep every moment filled! Add a new puppy to the mix and you begin to get a sense of the chaos.

Having said that - all is well. Kent is great about helping out when things get too out of control. Harry the new pup is settling in - albeit with potty challenges! He starts obedience class tomorrow which should really help! He's a great dog and in the long run it will all work out but to be honest adding a third dog and a puppy to boot is stressful!

It's hard to believe that it's already October! It's going to be crazy busy between now and the end of the year. I've got two more work related trips this year. One more to DC later this month into early November and another to Kansas City in mid November. Kent and I are also heading to the bay area for a football game in a few weeks and Oregon next month. In addition in December we are headed to New York to take in a few plays and watch the Huskies play basketball in Madison Square Garden. Yes - we bring a lot of this upon ourselves!

I'll be in DC until Friday. I leave late in day and arrive home early Saturday morning. Should be an interesting day - we have a football game at 12:30 a party in Olympia and a movie in Seattle.

On the metro in DC now. Headed to my meeting.

Have a good one.

Jim


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Nearly Home

Well here we are almost home some 850 miles later! We started off this morning in Salt Lake City just before 6am and will arrive home just before 6 pm tonight.



It was a great whirlwind trip that started in Seattle on Thursday and on to Wenatchee. Through eastern WA through Idaho, lunch in Missoula Montana at Five Guys and finally dinner at Red Iguana in Salt Lake City Utah. Stayed at the Monaco - the three dogs did great on their first long road trip together. Long run around campus and the football stadium, the capital campus and finally past the Mormon Temple. Farmers Market, lunch at Red Rock Brewery. Light rail to the stadium - big win over the Utes, final dinner and then the long drive home! I'm exhausted!

Home just in time to get ready for work tomorrow! Lots going on there.

Have a great week!

Jim

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