On October 15, the Washington State Supreme Court ruled 7-2 that the state’s Public Records Act does not apply to court records. The Public Records Act is the same law that serves as the basis for the Washington Secretary of State’s decision to release the names and addresses of people who sign referendum and initiative petitions. The recent State Supreme Court decision has no direct bearing on the pending lawsuits over whether petition signers’ names become public or not, but it is an interesting coincidence that this law is the subject of so many lawsuits almost simultaneously.

The recent State Supreme Court opinion is City of Federal Way v Koenig, 82288-3. Thanks to Howard Bashman’s HowAppealing for this news.

The Socialist Party held its biannual national convention in Newark, New Jersey, October 9-11. New national officers were chosen. The two new national co-chairs are William A. Wharton of New York and Andrea Pason of New Jersey. See the Socialist Webzine (http://socialistwebzine.blogspot.com) for more details of the convention.

According to this Los Angeles Times story, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger of California raised tens of thousands of donations for his political causes, including the “top-two” measure that will be on the ballot in June 2010, during September. Also during September, he was making up his mind whether to sign or veto 703 bills. He ultimately signed approximately half of them, and vetoed approximately half of them.