See the article by Hunter George of the News Tribune:

House Majority Leader Lynn Kessler told The Daily World, the newspaper in Aberdeen, that she has no plans “now or ever” to endorse fellow Democrat John Ladenburg’s campaign for attorney general.

That’s because he continues to diss her open-government bill that would require local governments to record their executive sessions. The Pierce County Council was fine with it, but lots of other local governments weren’t, so the bill died.

“Local governments are, obviously, still afraid of my bill even now and are trying to come up with every kind of excuse possible to avoid it,” said Kessler, D-Hoquiam.

Local governments afraid of tape recording their executive sessions. That can’t be good.

And remember, John Ladenburg was Sound Transit Chair when the agency’s furtive behavior prompted the Washington State Legislature to create a new law to notify people when agencies are planning to act to take their property.

Ladenburg still defends Sound Transit’s extreme behavior in that matter, and is not supportive of increased government transparency.

Ladenburg was also one of the chief architects of the enormously bloated Sound Transit/Proposition 1 tax proposal that failed in fall 2007, reportedly because taxpayers weren’t able or willing to pay the huge additional cost in taxes.

Is that the recipe for a “people’s advocate” (Attorney General)?

Create a roads wish-list, Rep. Larsen says HeraldNet, WA - 7 hours ago Sound Transit officials are considering a smaller package for transit projects only to be put on the ballot this fall, but the proposal already is facing ...

In its election year "short session" concluded last week, the Washington state legislature took several important, albeit partial steps to advance tolling, commuter rail, passenger-only ferries and innovative transportation funding partnerships with non-government entities. Let's review some key '08 transportation bills that made it through both legislative chambers, and now await the signature of Gov. Christine Gregoire. ESHB 3096 (bill as passed - bill report - legislative history) has to do with the State Route 520 floating bridge connecting Seattle across Lake Washington to fast-growing Eastside business and residential centers such as Bellevue, Kirkland and Redmond. ...

The Legislature passed a measure this year to increase oversight of ports in the state following an audit that was critical of how the Port of Seattle did business.

The Republicans in Olympia have made two attempts in the last 24 hours to prevent Sound Transit from going to the ballot in '08. Yesterday, in the Senate Transportation Committee, Sen. Dan Swecker (R-20) proposed an amendment to the transportation budget bill saying Sound Transit was prohibited from going to the ballot in '08. Committee chair, Sen. Mary Margaret Haugen (D-10), ruled the amendment out of scope. Today, just a few hours ago on the Senate floor, Sen. Cheryl Pflug (R-5) (the GOP team captain this session as far as I can tell) tried a stealthier tactic. ...

State Senate plows through thorny transpo issues Seattle Post Intelligencer - Feb 16, 2008

Legislative bitterness about the RTID structure was reinforced last fall, after lawmakers' plan to unite the agency with Sound Transit in a huge regional ...

The Attorney General's Office (AGO) has produced a background memo on the proposal to tape local government executive sessions (HB 3292). From the AGO:

The Problem The Open Public Meetings Act (OPMA) allows elected officials to hold closed-door discussions regarding specific issues such as pending litigation, personnel matters and real estate transactions. However, the act requires that all votes be held in a public session. According to the State Auditor, from Jan. 1, 2004 to Nov. 13, 2007, there were 460 instances where executive sessions were an issue. These issues have varied from illegal executive sessions to improper notice. • ...