State Rep. Richard Curtis, the La Center Republican who allegedly was the target of an extortion attempt by a man he reportedly had sex with, has resigned his legislative seat.

He sent out this statement via the House Republican caucus:

"Today I submitted my letter of resignation to Governor Gregoire effective immediately. While I believe we’ve done some good and helped a lot of people during the time I served in the Legislature, events that have recently come to light have hurt a lot of people. I sincerely apologize for any pain my actions may have caused.

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We published a 36-page voter guide that was distributed with the newspaper on Oct. 21, and have lots left over.

If you missed the guide or lost it, come by our office and the friendly folks at the front desk will give you one. Our address is 1950 S. State St.

Jean Marie Christenson, a Democrat who ran for the Legislature in 2006, is among the first to announce she’s running again.

She announced last week she’s taking another run at incumbent Rep. Jim McCune, R-Graham, in the 2nd Legislative District.

Christenson, 59, is a personal growth counselor who lives between Rainier and Yelm. Last year, she won 43.5 percent of the vote to McCune’s 56.5 percent.

She said she got a late start last year, and has been told she’ll need an early start and $100,000 to even have a chance at winning a legislative race in

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In one of the stranger rituals of American elections, the officials who count the ballots predict how many people will vote.

This year, Secretary of State Sam Reed says 51 percent of registered voters (as opposed to eligible voters) will vote on or before next Tuesday. Interest in the ballot measures and the campaigns for and against them should boost turnout.

Reed used the prediction to beat the drum, yet again, for vote-by-mail.

And what are voters supposed to make of that prediction? Does it encourage more of them to join in the fun? Does it have

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Spokane police are investigating whether a man tried to blackmail a state legislator from Clark County after reportedly having sex with him.

Court records made public today say state Rep. Richard Curtis, a two-term Republican from La Center, met Cody Castagna at an adult store in Spokane early Friday morning. The two went to Curtis’ room at the Davenport Tower Hotel, where he was staying during a gathering of Republican lawmakers.

Curtis has denied having sex with the man. He told police he gave Castagna $100 for gas money.

Here’s more of what The Columbian reported today:

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The Washington Poll asked state voters what they thought of Gov. Chris Gregoire, President George Bush, the state Legislature and Congress.

For Gregoire, 25 percent said they strongly approve of her job performance and 38 percent said they somewhat approve. Generally, those numbers are combined to measure a politician’s standing with voters. A year ago, the same poll showed Gregoire with 28 percent strongly approve and 38 percent somewhat approve.

For Bush, 13 percent of state voters said they strongly approve of his performance with 22 percent saying they somewhat approve. Last year, 22 percent of those

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The new Washington Poll was released last night and shows that most of the statewide ballot measures – as well as Puget Sound’s Prop. 1 – are in the hands of voters who haven’t made up their minds.

So if you haven’t mailed in your ballot yet, expect to become very popular with the campaigns.

The poll asked 600 voters how they intended to vote. That means the results have a margin of error of 4 percent.

On Initiative 960, which would require two-thirds votes for future tax increases, 41 percent said they were certain to

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Results of The Washington Poll were released tonight.

The poll is a nonpartisan, academic research project sponsored by the University of Washington, Institute for the Study of Ethnicity, Race & Sexuality.

The poll, conducted each October, shows such things as:

-Referendum 67 has strong support.

-Initiative 960, the Tim Eyman measure, is in a statistical dead heat, with 18 percent undecided.

-The constitutional amendment reducing the threshold for approving school bonds from a supermajority to a simple majority has strong support.

Here’s a link to the poll. We’ll have more to say

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