TUESDAY, JUNE 13  ▪  Candidate fliers available for next week's worksite leafleting -- Next week -- Monday, June 19 through Saturday, June 25 -- is the first of several scheduled worksite leafleting events across Washington state. Affiliates are urged to download a new two-sided flier on the U.S. Senate and State Supreme Court races for distribution to members.

Speaking of political action...: 
▪  In yesterday's Columbian -- Laboring for respect (Evergreen Freedom Foundation column editorial) -- As thousands of workers flee the AFL-CIO for its partisan passions, Washington state lawmakers should demand ("right-to-work") an end to all mandatory unionism. (Respond by submitting a Letter to the Editor and/or, even better, joining in next week's worksite leafleting!) 

Political news:
▪  In today's Seattle P-I -- I-920 hurts higher education (op-ed) -- Repealing the state's estate tax will gut the Education Legacy Trust that funds higher education enrollment slots, provides for financial aid assistance and funds other K-12 education needs, including reduced class size.
▪  In today's Seattle P-I -- King County election director Dean Logan resigns -- Citing the "toxic environment" at the county department, he leaves to take an elections job in Los Angeles.
▪  At the HorsesAss blog -- Dean Logan resigns, right-wingers lose their bogeyman -- Logan is one of the most knowledgeable and respected elections officials in the nation... (and) due to the toxic political environment the Republicans have cynically promoted, King County has yet to find a qualified candidate willing to take on (Logan's) position after a year of searching.
▪  Also at the HorsesAss blog -- "Rossi recovery" is complete, utter load of crap -- Rossi doesn’t have very many legislative accomplishments to his credit, so it’s no surprise to see Republicans trotting out this tired old saw again (that he balanced the state budget in 2003).
▪  In today's Yakima H-R -- New Rossi group will lobby lawmakers -- The gubernatorial loser has found a new way to keep his name before the public while he waits to make a second run for the governor's mansion: forming a group to lobby the Legislature on issues affecting business.
▪  In today's Bellingham Herald -- Eyman referendum fails; fairness, decency triumph (editorial)

Local news:
▪  In today's Seattle P-I -- A tax bailout? Let Sonics go, Seattleites say -- Elway poll: Some 78% are "more inclined (to) let the Sonics leave Seattle" than to pay for renovation with "use taxes."
▪  In the P.S. Business Journal -- Boeing unveils world's biggest cargo loader 
▪  In the P.S. Business Journal -- Virgin Blue, Boeing announce $634 million 9-jet 737 purchase
▪  In today's Bellingham Herald -- Panel: Put city surplus into pension fund -- If Bellingham enjoys a budget surplus, it should pay off a looming $43 million pension obligation, a citizen group says.
▪  In the Seattle Times -- Federal judge strikes down Hanford nuclear-waste initiative -- Prohibiting nuclear waste shipments unconstitutionally infringes on federal prerogatives, the judge rules.
▪  Today from AP -- Hanford workers warned of security breach -- The DOE has warned about 4,000 present and former workers that their personal information may have been compromised.

Giant Sucking Sound news: 
▪  In today's LA Times -- China's trade surplus hits a record -- At an all-time high of $13 billion last month, the surplus is likely to heighten economic tensions with the U.S. and other countries.
▪  At AFL-CIO Now -- Trade deficit back on record course; adds fuel to AFL-CIO's China petition -- Using a model from the U.S. Int'l Trade Commission, the AFL-CIO calculates China's repression of workers’ rights gives Chinese exports a 43% cost advantage over U.S. goods, contributing to the loss of up to 973,000 manufacturing jobs and 1.23 million total jobs in the United States.
▪  In today's Washington Post -- In search of the new New Deal (Dionne column) -- The decline of good auto-industry jobs is a particularly dramatic example of a larger problem. Many jobs have moved abroad -- and many, many more will soon. Alan Blinder, a Princeton economist and former vice chairman of the Federal Reserve, writes that "we have so far barely seen the tip of the offshoring iceberg, the eventual dimensions of which may be staggering." 

National news: 
▪  In today's NY Times -- Somber tone and protest at UAW convenes -- They're in a familiar fighting mood, but with a new battle plan aimed at protecting what they have rather than gaining ground.
▪  In today's Washington Post -- Exxon pipelines may be at cross purposes -- It's competing with itself to get labor and steel for multibillion-dollar Arctic gas projects in Canada and Alaska.
▪  In today's NY Times -- U.S. gives charter schools big push in New Orleans -- The Bush administration cements the role of the city -- where the public school system is barely functional -- as the nation's pre-eminent laboratory for the widespread use of charter schools.
▪  Today from AP -- No charges for Rove in leak outing CIA agent, his lawyer says