Gorton Gains In Washington Senate
     The gap between the candidates in the Washington Senate widened this week, with Sen. Slade Gorton, R, gaining about 3,000 votes over Democratic candidate and RealNetworks executive Maria Cantwell. As of early Wednesday morning, Gorton was leading by 5,145 votes or .23 percent. On Thursday, his margin widened to 8,300 votes.
     There are still some 146,000 votes to count before the end of the day Friday, and about 70,000 of those are in King County, which may favor Cantwell. Washington law requires a recount if the winner's margin is .5 percent or less ahead. The recount would begin after the Nov. 22 deadline for canvassing ballots.
     About half of the state's 3.3 million ballots were cast by mail, and that may have contributed to the slow counting process, election officials have said.
     The Washington race ultimately may make the difference between an even Republican-Democratic split in the Senate or a 51-49 margin for Republicans.

Dot-Protests Urge Florida Action
     In an effort to organize a nationwide protest against a string of irregularities in the 2000 presidential election, CounterCoup.org is posing as an organizational site for groups to cooperate and protest against electoral controversies in Florida and other states.
     On Saturday, the group is backing its second "Pro-Democracy Protest" in cities from New York, Washington and Chicago to Albuquerque, NM, Ann Arbor, MI, and Austin, TX. Its first series of protests was held on Nov. 11.
     "If election 'irregularities' in one state are allowed to invalidate the nation's popular vote, then democracy is in real trouble," the CounterCoup.org site reads. It urges Texas Gov. George W. Bush, R, to concede the presidential race and urges electors to the Electoral College to cast their votes for Democratic Vice President Al Gore regardless of the outcome in various states.
     Demandarevote.com also is trying to mobilize support and is urging people to send letters to Florida officials like Gov. Jeb Bush, R, Secretary of State Katherine Harris, R, and Democratic Attorney General Bob Butterworth to urge a revote in Palm Beach County — the main area of controversy surrounding vote tallies.
     Meanwhile, computer and proofreading errors are occurring in states other than Florida, and they may affect the 2000 presidential race. New Hampshire's Secretary of State said Monday that one error gave Bush — who won the state — 1,000 votes too many in one ward. In other communities, a programming error miscounted votes for Bush and Gore, denying Bush 107 votes in Randolph and Gore 208 in Stark and Stewartstown. The official margin of victory for Bush as of Monday was 7,068, but election officials are still looking for possible errors.
     The programming error occurred because a computer program recorded the votes as a date, so 108 votes for one candidate was read as Jan. 8 by the computer. Before the errors were discovered, the original official results gave 274,290 votes to Bush and 266,121 to Gore. Officials said there were no recount requests before the Monday deadline.

The Rich Join The Richer
     Charter schools stand to benefit from a school-funding initiative Californians passed last week. With the backing of Valley business executive and state Board of Education member Reed Hastings, Silicon Valley entrepreneur John Doerr and Cisco executive John Chambers included in Proposition 39 language that makes make California's 270-plus charter schools major beneficiaries of the measure.
     Prop. 39 reduces the majority that school boards must get to pass funding for school repairs. The proposition also mandates that school districts accommodate charters just as they do traditional public schools — guaranteeing that every charter school in a district has facilities equivalent to those in public schools. Finding space for charter schools has been difficult, especially in the Bay area because they do not receive funds for facility needs that public schools do. Under Prop. 39, all districts must comply with the new mandate by 2003.

Whining About Wine
     States are finding it more difficult to apply age-old laws to the control what products are bought over the Internet and shipped into their states directly to consumers. Wine-selling has become the topic of heavy debate in several states as out-of-state distributors challenge Prohibition-era laws that let states control the liquor trade within their boundaries.
     The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago last week refused to reconsider its Sept. 14 decision to prohibit the unlicensed direct shipment of alcohol from Internet companies to consumers. Its decision had overturned a lower-court opinion and ruled that the Constitution's "commerce clause" that gives Congress the power to regulate interstate commerce does not bar states from regulating imports of wine, beer and liquor. The circuit court ruled that states have full authority to control alcohol distribution and importation.
     In a similar ruling in October, U.S. District Court Judge Richard Berman denied New York officials' request to dismiss a case challenging the constitutionality of that state's laws on out-of-state direct shipping.
     Meanwhile, President Clinton last month signed the 21st Amendment Enforcement Act, sponsored by Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-UT. It gives state attorneys general federal-court jurisdiction to seek injunctive relief for violations of state law regulating direct shipping of wine. Language added by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-CA, said states cannot drag winemakers into court arbitrarily.
     The law only applies to states where direct shipping is prohibited, and only against companies that repeatedly violate state law.
     Vivienne Nishimura, executive director for the Center of Free Trade (CFT), said the battle is not over, however. Her lobbying group and others plan to take their fight to the state level and initiate more litigation. "We believe the law's on our side," she said.

Tech Companies Keep On Giving
     The San Francisco Foundation (SFF) has cited Microsoft as the top corporate donor to Bay Area programs aimed at bridging the digital divide, according to a November study. The group found that Microsoft gave local tech groups more than $15 million. Most of the aid was in the form of a software donation to the SeniorNet and Compumentor organizations that distribute aid to other nonprofit groups. Sun Microsystems, which gave $264,000, was the second-largest donor. SFF estimates that Bay Area organizations will spend more than $20 million this year on charity programs, and at least 54 organizations will be providing computer services. In related news, Silicon Valley billionaire and Intel co-founder Gordon Moore had donated $5 billion to create the country's seventh-largest charity — the San Francisco-based Gordon E. and Betty I. Moore Foundation, which will underwrite scientific research, higher education and environmental protection.
- by Liza Porteus