NEXT UPDATE — Wednesday, Dec. 4 by 9 a.m. Pacific — Why so long?

Links to commercial press stories are functional at the date of posting. In some cases, links "expire" when the source would like to begin charging you for old news. WSLC Reports Today  links to all stories of interest to organized labor; some positive, some negative. The intention is to inform.  The creation of a link does not constitute an endorsement of that story's content.

Reports for November 18-22, 2002

Previous weeks' news: Nov. 11-15 -- Nov. 4-8 -- Oct. 28-Nov. 1

FRIDAY, Nov. 22 -- Newspapers recite corporate tax "facts" to frame budget debate
At SEIU925.org -- Tentative agreement unites 500 more UW employees with SEIU 925
— In today's Seattle P-I -- 740 more area Boeing workers to get layoff notices today
— In today's Seattle Times -- One in 10 Washington residents now without health insurance
...plus -- It's time to rebuild state's tax system (op-ed)
— In today's Eastside Journal -- King and Pierce counties, some cities to challenge I-776 in court
— In today's Everett Herald -- Snohomish County drops $15 from license fees to comply with I-776
...plus -- California teachers are the nation's highest paid, says NEA report
— In today's Oregonian -- Grocery union prepared to strike as labor talks stall -- Albertsons, Fred Meyer and Safeway are seeking temporary scabs to replace some 1,200 workers if there's a strike.
Also today -- ACT NOW: Tell House leaders to extend jobless benefits TODAY
— In today's Washington Post -- House has last chance to break impasse on jobless benefits today
...plus -- Dropping the ball --- Editorial: If the extended unemployment benefits are allowed to lapse, President Bush will share the blame with House Republican leaders, who first proposed a narrow extension and then rejected bipartisan efforts at compromise. Bush wants credit for concern about working people, but, in marked contrast to his all-out push on the homeland security bill, he is not expending any of his famous political capital on the struggle over unemployment benefits.
— In today's L.A. Times -- Unions stage protests against Wal-Mart stores
...plus -- AFL-CIO blasts Morgan Stanley for analyst's advice to avoid union firms
— In today's N.Y. Times -- Madison Avenue plays growing role in drug research
...plus -- The sons also rise -- Krugman column: Underlying economic, social and political trends will give the children of today's wealthy a huge advantage over those who chose the wrong parents.

THURSDAY, Nov. 21 -- UPDATE: St. Clare workers win a fair contract, and union shop!
...plus -- Providence Yakima workers make gains with new contract
— In today's Everett Herald -- Boeing to eliminate 5,000 more jobs in 2003, half through attrition
...plus -- Wal-Mart cheated on OT, says testimony -- Don't forget TODAY's National Day of Action
— In today's Olympian -- ILWU officials hopeful of port agreement before mediated talks end Dec. 27
...plus -- Eyman tweaks new initiative -- I-800 would now allow simple-majority tax increases IF voters also approve the hike. Plus, it would no longer be "retroactive" to Nov. 1, but would still require legislature to "reaffirm" any tax increase approved in 2003 with a three-fourths majority.
— In today's News Tribune -- Sound Transit needn't hesitate to challenge I-776
— In today's Yakima H-R -- Providence union workers (SEIU 1199NW) gain new contract
...plus -- State needs more time to consider alternatives on workers' comp rates
— In today's Seattle Times -- State Senate OKs new committee lineup (drops all mention of "Labor") 
— In today's Bellingham Herald -- Ferndale meat plant facing federal probe, union dispute closes
— In today's Eastside Journal -- King County jail savings from fewer inmates could produce millions
...plus -- Homeland law could deliver new efficiency (editorial)
— In today's Washington Post -- United Airlines Machinists agree on wage givebacks
— In today's N.Y. Times -- Drug industry seeks to capitalize on election success -- The industry invested more than $30 million almost exclusively in Republicans, and now they want some returns.
...plus -- Stingy lame ducks -- Editorial: House Republicans argue the Senate'-passed extension of unemployment benefits is too expensive. They also promise to make everyone whole when they come back in January. This is a risky scenario. It's also callous, especially in view of the House's stated determination to lock in huge tax cuts for the wealthy when it returns. Mr. Bush should intervene.

WEDNESDAY, Nov. 20 -- Get "confidential" information about businesses from the state
...plus -- Election: Fairhurst, Cairnes and Seattle monorail are winners
— In today's Seattle P-I -- Fairhurst win gives State Supreme Court first female majority in nation
— In today's Everett Herald -- Boeing workers open their hearts and wallets (editorial)
...plus --  Snohomish County Jail far over OT budget
— In today's Olympian -- Thurston County commissioners ask sheriff for report on inmate labor
— In today's Seattle Times -- UAW sues Paccar over Tennessee lockout
— In today's Salem (Ore.) S-J -- Private talks under way for Oregon PERS reform
...plus -- Shipping woes go beyond port labor strife -- Shippers' worst enemy may be themselves, not 10,500 swaggering dockworkers. The industry is in financial straits, thanks in part to a glut of new ships ordered during the economic boom. Freight rates have tumbled. Carriers are bleeding red ink. Yet shippers continue to add gigantic vessels to their fleets in an arms race to grab market share.
At AFLCIO.org -- Senate passes "shameful" Homeland Security bill
— In today's N.Y. Times -- Establishing Homeland Security agency expected to take years -- Instead of debating whether creating this giant bureaucratic monolith will actually improve security, we spent all this time listening to the conservative media frame the debate as union rights vs. national security.
...plus -- National Academy of Sciences says U.S. health care system in crisis, presses Bush to act
— In today's S.F. Chronicle -- Trade groups warn of dire consequences if port dispute continues
— Today from The Boston Channel (?) -- A new twist in labor's ULLICO scandal

TUESDAY, Nov. 19 -- Bush's privatization scheme aims for return of "spoils system"
...plus -- Election update: Cairnes retakes lead in 47th, Seattle monorail losing by 3 votes
— In today's Olympian -- L&I complies with court order, releases files on ergonomic inspections
...plus -- Unions, social groups urge Wal-Mart to change working conditions
— In today's News Tribune -- Income tax advised for state, but no time soon
— In today's SCJ -- Boeing contract offer gets OK from Kansas SPEEA leadership
— In today's Everett Herald -- Even as their ranks dwindle, Boeing workers increase charity
...plus -- Many teachers in Snohomish County will take day off Jan. 14 for WEA rally in Olympia
— In today's Spokesman-Review -- Central Valley teachers vote to join in one-day walkout Jan. 14
...plus -- Potlatch to cut workforce by 106
— In today's Tri-City Herald -- Head Start strikers (IBT 839) seek rehire
— In today's Yakima H-R -- Diocese steps up to provide housing for farm workers (editorial)
— In today's Salem (Ore.) S-J -- Sizemore to challenge (labor-backed) signature measure in court
— In today's Oregonian -- Another ex-trustee (SMWIA) pleads guilty in capital Consultants case
— In today's L.A. Times -- United Airlines to slash more wages; pilots OK deal
— In today's N.Y. Times -- Critics say Homeland Security bill favors special interests -- No member of Congress has taken responsibility for inserting a provision into the already-passed House bill that limits certain legal liability for prescription drug companies. All the usual suspects deny it was them.
— At MotherJones.com -- Course correction required -- Democrats need to stop playing me-too politics and challenge the GOP on its weakest flank: its subservience to its big corporate paymasters.

MONDAY, Nov. 18 -- Election update: Fairhurst keeps her lead, looks like a winner
At AFLCIO.org -- "Unpardonable:" House skips town without extending jobless benefits
— In today's News Tribune -- Workers' medical premiums going up
...plus -- Privatization of hard liquor sales has more risks than benefits (Rep. Steve Conway op-ed)
...plus -- Rep. Adam Smith wants Dems to avoid a left turn 
— In today's Seattle P-I -- Boeing-SPEEA pact reflects labor market
...and Sunday -- Bush must pursue corporate reform (editorial)
— In today's Everett Herald -- Vote coming for Mill Creek union (AFSCME)
...plus -- Massive workers' comp insurance hike would be a big setback (editorial)
— In Sunday's Seattle Times -- First steps toward living within our means (editorial re: Locke budget)
— In today's Spokesman-Review -- 14 college faculty members disciplined for improper computer use
— In today's Salem (Ore.) S-J -- Miscalculations plague Oregon state pension system
— Today at MSNBC.com -- Homeland Security snag as Senate battle looms over GOP add-ons
— Also in today's News Tribune -- House proposes inferior version of Homeland Security (editorial)
— In today's P.S. Business Journal -- Grassroots efforts help GOP; labor "lonely" after election
— In today's L.A. Times -- Corporate reform has new allies: conservative Republicans and elite CEOs
— In today's N.Y. Times -- Democratic filibuster hopes fade -- Democratic lawmakers have come to realize that some big items on the Republican agenda are immune to filibuster. Republicans may be able to get approval of oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, passage of the GOP (drug company-supported) plan for prescription drug coverage and may even pass a measure to make President Bush's tax cuts permanent with simple-majority votes in the closely divided U.S. Senate.
— In today's USA Today -- Gains during '90s vanish as companies chisel away at workers' benefits

Previous weeks' news: Nov. 11-15 -- Nov. 4-8 -- Oct. 28-Nov. 1

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 22
Newspapers recite corporate "facts" to frame budget debate

Ever wonder why newspapers will sometimes editorialize on the same subject, in the same day, even though there doesn't appear to be anything timely in the news that has generated the opinions?

Welcome to the wonderful world of message marketing. Often this happens in the form of editorial board meetings, a series of sit-downs between special interest groups and the newspaper opinionmakers they seek to influence. Groups will coordinate strategies and talking points, tour the state's daily newspapers within a short time frame and hope their pitch earns an editorial that frames a debate on their terms.

Social service advocates do it. Charities do it. Universities do it. And unions do it, too. But rarely do any of these groups experience the spectacular dividends routinely achieved by corporate interests.

Today's Seattle Times and (Tacoma) News Tribune feature editorials about the recent Boeing announcement of 5,000 more job cuts in 2003. But both pieces evolve into a discussion of the state's $2 or $2.6 billion revenue shortfall (those $600 million details must be so annoying for the fact-checkers). Neither offers much of a segue from one subject to the other, other than to observe our state economy sucks.

But both editorials take a remarkably similar tack on how to deal with our revenue shortfall: By NOT raising corporate taxes under any circumstances. (That'll fix it.) Their arguments imply that state taxes on businesses may be extending—or even causing—the recession that created our budget problem, as opposed national factors like, say, the impact of corporate accounting scandals on investor confidence.

A couple questions: Is Boeing laying off 5,000 more people next year because their state taxes are too high or because terrorists flew planes into the World Trade Center towers? Before 9/11, did Boeing lie to us when they said moving their corporate headquarters to Chicago had nothing to do with taxes or regulations in this state?

So what, then, do more layoffs at Boeing have to do with our budget hole? Absolutely nothing, except that the company's announcement coincides with a recent message-marketing push by the Association of Washington Business to say the exact same thing: Don't raise corporate taxes to address the revenue shortfall.

The AWB, the state's principal corporate lobbying group, says the state's $2.3 billion shortfall (plus or minus $300 million) is a heckuva problem for legislators, given that "Washington’s tax system relies heavily on business" and "more than half of the state and local taxes are paid by employers."

The News Tribune recites, I mean, agrees with the AWB in today's editorial: "Washington's corporations already bear an unusually heavy share of the state's tax burden."

First of all, the AWB includes sales taxes in its calculations of the corporate tax burden. Last time I checked, YOU AND I pay state and local sales taxes on the stuff we buy and businesses merely forward the money to the state. Secondly, the argument can easily be made that ALL business taxes are paid by you and me because the cost of the Business & Occupation and other taxes are factored into the bottom lines of every business, and the prices they charge for their products and services.

If we are serious about addressing our state's revenue crisis, let's talk about what government services we are willing to do without, not which special interests think they are paying too much already. Like so many politicians, neither editorial offers any suggestions there. The Times tells us what NOT to cut (schools and higher education), but no suggestions on how to "slice the pork" (their words).

If newspapers insist on analyzing who deserves to pay less in taxes, try this one on for size. The truth is, it's LOWER- to MIDDLE-INCOME WORKING PEOPLE who are paying "an unusually heavy share of the state's tax burden." Washington's disproportionate reliance on sales taxes (that WE pay) routinely lands our state at the top of the list for the most regressive tax systems in the country. For those of you who don't understand what that means, it means WORKING PEOPLE PAY TOO MUCH and RICH PEOPLE DON'T PAY ENOUGH!

There, we said it. (Whew... that felt good.)

Now who do we call to get an editorial board meeting?

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 22
ACT NOW: Tell House leaders to extend jobless benefits TODAY

The leaders of the U.S. House of Representatives are ready to adjourn Friday without acting on a bipartisan Senate proposal to extend unemployment aid for more than 800,000 jobless workers—including 50,000 in Washington state—who will lose their benefits Dec. 28.

Every worker with a sense of what's right should be outraged at the House leaders' Scrooge-like choice to head home for the holidays while destroying the holidays for desperate workers. And President George W. Bush is doing nothing to help the jobless workers.

PLEASE ACT IMMEDIATELY to let President Bush and House leaders—Speaker Dennis Hastert
(R-Ill.), Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-Texas) and Majority Whip Tom DeLay (R-Texas)—know that their callous action is shameful. Click this link below to fax them NOW:
http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/houseleadersUI/b3s38z175x5

Unless House leaders change their minds suddenly and take up the Senate-approved measure extending federal emergency unemployment benefits for three months, an additional 90,000 unemployed workers every week will run out of their regular benefits—and they will have
no jobs or federal emergency benefits to fall back on. They'll join the ranks of 1 million others who have lost their jobs and their regular and emergency benefits.

Almost no time remains in this session of Congress. But it wouldn't take much time to be decent leaders and agree to the Senate's three-month extension of emergency unemployment benefits. And somehow they found time to sneak a $2 billion gift for rich drug companies into the homeland security bill!

Please act now.

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 21
UPDATE: St. Clare workers win a fair contract, and union shop!

Last week, we published a Call to Action asking union supporters to contact the President/CEO of St. Clare Hospital in Lakewood urging him to reach agreement with some 300 service, technical and maintenance employees represented by Service Employees International Union Local 6. The workers had been attempting to negotiate a contract for five months, but management was insisting on an "open shop" and resisting inclusion of a union-security agreement.

After receiving dozens of calls, letters and emails, management came to the bargaining table late last week and reached a fair agreement. And on Tuesday night, the St. Clare workers ratified the contract by a 110-to-2 vote. They now how a union shop and weekend premium pay ($2 an hour more for technical employees and $1 an hour more for service workers).

SEIU Local 6 and the WSLC would like to thank all of you who responded to the Call to Action, proving that Solidarity Works!

For more information about this campaign, contact SEIU 6's Jonathan Rosenblum at jrosenblum@seiu6.org.

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 21
Providence Yakima employees make gains with new contract

Following is a press release distributed Wednesday by Service Employees International Union 1199NW:

YAKIMA -- Hospital workers at Providence Yakima Medical Center have voted to approve a new collective bargaining agreement that will help protect and improve patient care quality at the facility.

"Staffing is a big issue at hospitals around the state and this new contract provides incentives for employees to come to our facility and keep working here. That's good news for patients," explained Irene Stewart, a supply technician.

Recruiting and retaining more health care workers at PYMC translates into better care for patients in the Yakima community.

In August, the Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) -- an oversight body for American hospitals -- released "Health Care at the Crossroads," a major report detailing how a shortage of health care workers is reducing the quality of care for patients in hospitals.

According to JCAHO, "Shortages of ancillary and other hospital workers have created 'scope creep' for the nurses' role, adding supply chain management, housekeeping, food service, and many other tasks that pull nurses away from patient care."

Some highlights of the 3-year contract include:

• Significant pay increases to retain staff. Hospital workers will receive an 11 percent wage increase over the life of the contract.

• Paid leave to upgrade skills. The agreement creates a new fund to pay for paid professional leave for staff to sharpen skills through Continuing Education.

• Better premiums for working during weekends, evenings, and nights.

More than 450 workers will be covered by the contract. PYMC hospital workers are members of the Service Employees International District 1199NW. SEIU is the nation's largest and fastest-growing health care union, uniting more than 760,000 health care workers in North America.

For more information, contact Carter Wright of SEIU 199NW at (425) 917-1199.

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 20
Get "confidential" information about businesses from the state

Union safety committees: Would you like to know whether your company ignored recommendations made by the state Department of Labor and Industries during a voluntary WISHA safety consultation? Union organizers: Is there anything the state government knows about a company you are seeking to organize that might be useful information for you?

Under a recent court decision, you may have the right to all that information, even if it was previously considered confidential.

The Building Industry Association of Washington and some media organizations were successful in a recent suit to force the Department of L&I to release its records regarding voluntary workplace safety consultations the agency did with Wal-Mart and other companies. In Wal-Mart's case, the company sought L&I's opinion on whether an existing distribution center in Texas would meet the company's obligations to provide a safe and healthy working environment under Washington state's new ergonomics rule.

After touring the Texas facility, L&I told Wal-Mart that if it enforced it's own existing policies and if a new facility planned in Yakima is consistent in design of the work environment with the Texas one, then it wouldn't involve any hazardous ergonomic exposure or require corrections. 

But ever since then, the builders and other business organizations opposed to the ergonomics rule have been telling anyone who'll listen (including many reporters who've taken the bait) that Wal-Mart was unfairly "exempted" from the rule, and they want to know what other businesses have gotten a "free pass."

So, what sounds like a simple "passed inspection" and good news for a business that the ergonomics rule is no big deal to comply with has turned into a political football. But without getting into the details the business community's "exemption" hooey (see our posting way back on Feb. 1 for that), it appears their legal strategy to force the state to disclose consultation records may have opened the door for anyone else seeking similar "confidential" information from the state. 

Although L&I argued that forcing disclosure of records on voluntary safety consultations will discourage other companies from seeking them and therefore hurt workplace safety, Thurston County Superior Court Judge Paula Casey ruled that these inspections are public record, and last week she ordered L&I to release them without blacking out any portions, as L&I had initially sought to do.

Citing Judge Casey's decision, Washington State Labor Council President Rick Bender has sent a letter to the Department of Labor and Industries seeking a copy of all WISHA consultations the agency has conducted in the past six months. We'll see if the new public disclosure rules apply to everyone and not just business groups with a political ax to grind. We'll keep you posted on the response our request receives.

But in the meantime, start thinking about the information the state has that could be useful to your union. We're guessing there's plenty. And now, all you have to do is ask!

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 20
Election: Fairhurst, Cairnes and Seattle monorail are winners

Today's the deadline for county auditors to certify election results and with the "final" counts in (there's actually an estimated 3,000 votes still floating around somewhere out there), labor-endorsed Supreme Court candidate Mary Fairhurst has won by 3,433 votes a nail-biter of an election against Jim Johnson.

This has been an unusually partisan judicial race because Johnson has defended initiative salesman Tim Eyman, helped draft some of his measures and also represented other conservative groups, including the Evergreen Freedom Foundation, property-rights groups and the Building Industry Association of Washington, the home builders' lobby (which spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on his campaign).

Here are the "final" about-to-be-certified results in other closely watched races:

STATE REPRESENTATIVE, 47th District: Republican incumbent Rep. Jack Cairnes appears to have been re-elected by 95 votes after a spirited challenge from labor-endorsed candidate Pat Sullivan. Cairnes' margin of victory is 0.3 percent. State law says a difference of less than one-half of one percent requires a machine recount, which must be completed by Monday.

Assuming Cairnes' victory survives the recount, Democrats will have increased their House majority by two votes, from 50-48 to 52-46.

SEATTLE MONORAIL: This King County Labor Council-endorsed measure passed by 868 votes. Unlike a race between candidates, there is no mandatory, state-funded recount for initiatives and none of the monorail opponents indicate they are willing to fork out tens of thousands of dollars to pay for one themselves.

Instead, they are saying the narrow margin of victory lack the "mandate" necessary to actually build the thing. In today's Seattle P-I, King County Councilman Dwight Pelz said he will be talking to state legislators to try to figure out a way to keep Seattle from building the monorail. Pelz said: "You don't want to tear up downtown over 800 votes."

So let the debate begin: How many votes does it take to declare a "mandate"? 800? 5,000? 20,000?

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 19
Bush's privatization scheme aims for return of "spoils system"
Brother Jeb blazed trail in Florida by rewarding only GOP contributors with contracts

Following is a must-read from New York Times columnist Paul Krugman that appears in today's edition:

VICTORS AND SPOILS
by Paul Krugman

Rule No. 1: Always have a cover story. The ostensible purpose of the Bush administration's plan to open up 850,000 federal jobs to private competition is to promote efficiency. Competitive vigor, we're told, will end bureaucratic sloth; costs will go down, and everyone — except for a handful of overpaid union members — will be better off.

And who knows? Here and there the reform may actually save a few dollars. But I doubt that there's a single politician or journalist in Washington who believes that privatizing much of the federal government — a step that the administration says it can take without any new legislation — is really motivated by a desire to reduce costs.

After all, there's a lot of experience with privatization by governments at all levels — state, federal, and local; that record doesn't support extravagant claims about improved efficiency. Sometimes there are significant cost reductions, but all too often the promised savings turn out to be a mirage. In particular, it's common for private contractors to bid low to get the business, then push their prices up once the government work force has been disbanded. Projections of a 20 or 30 percent cost saving across the board are silly — and one suspects that the officials making those projections know that.

So what's this about?

First, it's about providing political cover. In the face of budget deficits as far as the eye can see, the administration — determined to expand, not reconsider the program of tax cuts it initially justified with projections of huge surpluses — must make a show of cutting spending. Yet what can it cut? The great bulk of public spending is either for essential services like defense and the justice system, or for middle-class entitlements like Social Security and Medicare that the administration doesn't dare attack openly.

Privatizing federal jobs is a perfect answer to this dilemma. It's not a real answer — the pay of those threatened employees is only about 2 percent of the federal budget, so efficiency gains from privatization, even if they happen, will make almost no dent in overall spending. For a few years, however, talk of privatization will give the impression that the administration is doing something about the deficit.

But distracting the public from the reality of deficits is, we can be sure, just an incidental payoff. So, too, is the fact that privatization is a way to break one of the last remaining strongholds of union power. Karl Rove is after much bigger game.

A few months ago Mr. Rove compared his boss to Andrew Jackson. As some of us noted at the time, one of Jackson's key legacies was the "spoils system," under which federal jobs were reserved for political supporters. The federal civil service, with its careful protection of workers from political pressure, was created specifically to bring the spoils system to an end; but now the administration has found a way around those constraints.

We don't have to speculate about what will follow, because Jeb Bush has already blazed the trail. Florida's governor has been an aggressive privatizer, and as The Miami Herald put it after a careful study of state records, "his bold experiment has been a success — at least for him and the Republican Party, records show. The policy has spawned a network of contractors who have given him, other Republican politicians and the Florida G.O.P. millions of dollars in campaign donations."

What's interesting about this network of contractors isn't just the way that big contributions are linked to big contracts; it's the end of the traditional practice in which businesses hedge their bets by giving to both parties. The big winners in Mr. Bush's Florida are companies that give little or nothing to Democrats. Strange, isn't it? It's as if firms seeking business with the state of Florida are subject to a loyalty test.

So am I saying that we are going back to the days of Boss Tweed and Mark Hanna? Gosh, no — those guys were pikers. One-party control of today's government offers opportunities to reward friends and punish enemies that the old machine politicians never dreamed of.

How far can the new spoils system be pushed? To what extent will it be used to lock in a permanent political advantage for the ruling party? Stay tuned; I'm sure we'll soon find out.

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 19
Election update: Cairnes retakes lead, Seattle monorail losing

The latest King County results are in, and the numbers are concerning for labor-endorsed Supreme Court candidate Mary Fairhurst, disturbing for the King County Labor Council-endorsed Seattle monorail measure, and downright bad for labor-endorsed 47th District legislative candidate Pat Sullivan.

As county auditors face Wednesday's deadline to certify election results, here are the latest updates:

SUPREME COURT, Position 3:  Fairhurst slightly extended her lead to 2,339 votes over Jim Johnson, but didn't pick up as many votes as expected. Fairhurst had been receiving about 55% of King County votes but received barely more than 50% in yesterday's count of 25,000 additional mail-in ballots. With an estimated 24,500 votes remaining to be counted statewide — about 7,700 in King County, which will released additional numbers this afternoon at 5 p.m. — Jim Johnson would have to pull in nearly 55% of the remaining votes to win. So Fairhurst is still in the driver's seat, but it ain't over.

STATE REPRESENTATIVE, 47th District: Republican incumbent Rep. Jack Cairnes regained his lead over labor-endorsed challenger Pat Sullivan by 78 votes, a swing of 168 votes in his favor. It is not known how many of the estimated 7,700 remaining ballots to be counted in King County are from the 47th District, but yesterday's count was the first since election night in which Sullivan failed to gain votes. It appears this race will go down to the final count, promised by King County officials today at 5 p.m., and it will almost certainly be subject to an automatic recount.

If Cairnes wins, Democrats will increase their House majority by two votes to 52-46. If Sullivan wins, it'll be 53-45.

SEATTLE MONORAIL: This King County Labor Council-endorsed measure is now failing by a mere three votes -- 92,435 to 92,438 -- after watching it's election night lead dwindle with each release of late mail-in ballot counts. King County says the final count -- which includes "special" ballots (absentee voters who never received the ballots so they filled one out at the polls and voters who could not reach the correct polling station) and "add-on" ballots (where the original paper ballots were rejected by machines, improperly marked or stained) -- will be announced this afternoon at 5 p.m.

Unlike a race between candidates, there is no mandatory, state-funded recount for initiatives. To have a recount, someone would need to pay 25 cents per ballot for a hand count, or about $46,700. A machine count costs 15 cents per ballot, or $28,000.

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 18
Election update: Fairhurst keeps her lead, looks like a winner

With a few thousand additional mail-in ballots tallied over the weekend, labor-endorsed Supreme Court candidate Mary Fairhurst maintains a roughly 2,000-vote lead over Jim Johnson.

With an estimated 54,000 mail-in ballots remain to be counted statewide, and nearly two-thirds of those in King County where Fairhurst has won a strong majority, she appears likely to have won the closely watched unusually partisan election for the state's highest court. Johnson has defended initiative salesman Tim Eyman, helped draft some of his measures and also represented other conservative groups, including the Evergreen Freedom Foundation, property-rights groups and the Building Industry Association of Washington, the home builders' lobby, which spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on his campaign.

State Republican Party Chairman Chris Vance has said: "Some people in our party think this is the most important race on the ballot this year... The State Supreme Court is very evenly divided right now among people you would consider conservative vs. liberal, and having Jim Johnson I think would help give us a conservative majority on the court."

The last day for counties to certify election results is this Wednesday, and King County is scheduled to release a new count of late mail-in ballots this afternoon (Monday) at 4 p.m. (Click here for a county-by-county summary of votes remaining to count and when the next updates are scheduled.)

Unless an unexpected new trend develops in King County results for what appears to be a narrow victory by 47th District challenger Pat Sullivan, the Democrats will increase their House majority by three seats from 50-48 to 53-45, and that Republicans picked up one Senate seat with the successful challenge of 42nd District Sen. Georgia Gardner, handing them a 25-24 majority in that house. (Click here for the latest legislative results.)