MILESTONES IN NPI HISTORY
Even though it has existed for a relatively short period of time, the Northwest Progressive Institute already has a storied history. The following is a look back at the organization's most significant milestones.
August 22nd, 2003: The Northwest Progressive Institute is officially founded by Andrew Villeneuve. The NPI website and its original red and blue color checkered scheme is launched the same day, although most of the sections are completely empty. NPI also becomes the parent organization of Permanent Defense and SIFWA. In the following weeks, a few sections go online, including the Environment section as well as the Energy & Power section.
September 15th, 2003: Several new members join the Northwest Progressive Institute.
January 29th, 2004: NPI's Permanent Defense division relaunches to fight Initiative 864.
March 15th, 2004: NPI's homepage is revamped in an experiment to look more like a news page, offering analysis of top stories (the "newsline"). The experiment doesn't last long, however, and is at first dramatically scaled back, then dropped entirely within a matter of days.
March 29th, 2004: NPI officially debuts its Official Blog. The first items are snippets from the Center for American Progress' daily Progress Report and coverage of MoveOn's book, 50 Ways to Love Your Country. The Official Blog is announced as a replacement for the failed "newsline" experiment conducted just a few weeks earlier. Posting to the blog is intermittent throughout the rest of 2004, with most of the coverage on the presidential race.
July 26th, 2004: NPI provides special coverage of the 2004 Democratic National Convention in Boston, Massachusetts, from Monday the 26th through Thursday the 29th.
August 23rd, 2004: NPI celebrates its one year anniverary.
November 2nd, 2004: NPI's Permanent Defense division succeeds in its mission to defeat Tim Eyman's Initiative 892. However, election night is largely a disappointment for progressives as George W. Bush and the Republicans appear to have won the election. (Whether they won legitimately is unclear. Mounting evidence suggests that may not be the case) In Washington State, Senator Patty Murray is overwhelmingly reelected, as are Democratic incumbents for federal and state offices. But the outcome is uncertain in the gubernatorial race.
November 8th, 2004: The Associated Press reports that former presidential candidate Howard Dean is considering running for Chairman of the DNC. NPI endorses Dean for the position.
November 10th, 2004: NPI's Permanent Defense division, fresh from its victory over I-892, begins offering coverage of the Washington State gubernatorial race.
November 16th, 2004: NPI's Official Blog also begins offering coverage of the Washington State gubernatorial race. New ballots are discovered in King County and Grays Harbor County corrects its vote total, leading to more votes for Christine Gregoire, the Democratic candidate.
December 22nd, 2004: The Washington State Supreme Court rules unanimously (overturning a lower court decision) that King County may count 573 ballots that the Republicans claimed could not be counted. The ruling is announced live on NPI's Official Blog and on Permanent Defense's website.
December 23, 2004: King County officially completes its hand recount. Christine Gregoire wins the 2004 gubernatorial race. The news is carried live on NPI's Official Blog.
January 2nd, 2005: Intermittent posting to NPI's official blog ends. Near daily posting begins. The first hot topics are the tsunami in Southeast Asia and the Republicans' attempt to stop Christine Gregoire from being sworn in as Governor.
January 25, 2005: The Public Disclosure Commission fines Tim Eyman and his partners for violating the public disclosure law, acting several months after the filing of a complaint by NPI's Permanent Defense, TaxSanity, and Taxpayers for Washington's Future.
January 31st, 2005: NPI launches Pacific Northwest Portal, a regional information gateway and media center, to counter the local Republican Noise Machine. The launch is announced on NPI's Official Blog, on Daily Kos, on HorsesAss.org, and elsewhere. Traffic to the NPI network surges dramatically, quintupling in a matter of hours, and plateaus in the following days, never again returning to the previous low level.
February 1st, 2005: NPI debuts its Reading List, offering a selection of recommended books for members and supporters.
February 4th, 2005: NPI Executive Director Andrew Villeneuve becomes the first ever guest poster on David Goldstein's HorsesAss.org while its author is in midair, following the developments in the Republicans' court challenge to unseat Gov. Christine Gregoire.
February 16th, 2005: NPI Executive Director and Permanent Defense Chair Andrew Villeneuve testifies before the House Finance Committee, urging representatives to consider a tax reform proposal to address the regressive property tax.
February 27, 2005: NPI launches Pacific Northwest Portal Version 2.0, with a revamped homepage and an enhanced directory of local blogs.
March 1st, 2005: Lynn Allen of Evergreen Politics publishes a interview with NPI Executive Director Andrew Villeneuve.
March 29th, 2005: NPI's Official Blog celebrates its one year anniverary.
March 31st, 2005: NPI Executive Director Andrew Villeneuve publishes a lengthy analysis of Rep. Dave Reichert's Social Security "town hall" meeting. The analysis is subsequently picked up on Talking Points Memo. NPI's Official Blog receives several thousand visitors in twelve hours.
April 4th, 2005: NPI launches its National Defense section.
April 25th, 2005: NPI publishes another significant update to Pacific Northwest Portal.
May 10th, 2005: NPI publishes the transcript of a live interview conducted the day before with comedian and Air America radio host Al Franken. NPI's Pacific Northwest Portal also debuts a new Toolkit section and is recognized on Daily Kos.
May 15th, 2005: America Online carries a post from NPI's Official Blog in its Blog Zone section.
May 17th, 2005: NPI Executive Director Andrew Villeneuve's first column is published in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, entitled: Eyman out to destroy representative democracy.
May 20th, 2005: Frank Sennett from the Spokane Spokesman-Review publishes a column in the paper's "Weekend" section about Pacific Northwest Portal and NPI Executive Director Andrew Villeneuve.
May 22nd, 2005: NPI relaunches Washington Defense to fight Initiative 912, a right wing initiative to eradicate the 2005 Transportation Package - key legislation approved by the Legislature and signed by Gov. Gregoire to invest in roads, ferries, and transit.
May 23rd, 2005: NPI begins providing live coverage of the trial in the Republicans' court case to have the 2004 election results nullified and Gov. Christine Gregoire thrown out of office.
June 6th, 2005: In a landmark, decisive victory for Democrats, Chelan County Superior Court Judge John Bridges upholds the 2004 gubernatorial election of Christine Gregoire, confirming NPI's prediction about the outcome of the GOP lawsuit the day before. NPI announces the victory live to the world on Pacific Northwest Portal and Daily Kos. Later in the day, Dino Rossi announces he won't appeal the decision and ends his attempt to challenge the election.
June 22nd, 2005: NPI publishes a special guest column written by Dr. Reed Davis (previously the chair of the King County Republican Party), who explains why political parties are vital to a healthy democracy, and lead to stronger grassroots political involvement. The column is part of NPI's series defending the open primary system in Washington State.
July 8th, 2005: Initiative 912 proponents turn in well over the 225,000 required signatures to get on the ballot in November. NPI's Washington Defense division immediately begins preparing for a fall campaign.
July 14th, 2005: Washington Defense relaunches again, this time in preparation for the fall campaign against Initiative 912.
July 15th, 2005: The "Top Two" primary strongly opposed by NPI is struck down by U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Zilly. NPI applauds the ruling, which means the Secretary of State will have to prepare for an open primary for the second year in a row.
July 20th, 2005: NPI launches "True Blue", or Pacific Northwest Portal Version 3.0, in the biggest revamp of the website since its inception. Navigation and interface are overhauled, new pages are introduced, and feed reliability is greatly strengthened.
July 28th, 2005: NPI's Permanent Defense division relaunches to fight Tim Eyman's Initiative 900, which got enough signatures to make the ballot thanks to Eyman's wealthy multimillionaire backer, Michael Dunmire.
August 3rd, 2005: The Seattle Weekly announces that Pacific Northwest Portal is the "Best Local Website" in its 2005 "Best of Seattle" readers poll.
August 16th, 2005: NPI members attend the kickoff of the Progressive Legislative Action Network (PLAN) featuring speeches by John Edwards and Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer.
August 19th, 2005: NPI begins a "Disaster Picture of the Week" series, featuring a picture of a collapsed bridge or transportation structure every Thursday until Election Day. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer mentions the new series the following Saturday on its editorial page.
August 22nd, 2005: NPI's Official Blog gets a dramatic makeover, with a crisper template. NPI celebrates its two year anniversary the next day.
August 27th, 2005: Pacific Northwest Portal begins offering live coverage of Hurricane Katrina.
September 20th, 2005: NPI provides comprehensive coverage of the primary election in King County on its Official Blog and Pacific Northwest Portal.
October 9th 2005: The Vancouver Columbian publishes an editorial slamming Initiative 912 and mentions NPI's support for the 2005 transportation package and opposition to I-912.
October 24th, 2005: NPI launches "Marine Green", or Pacific Northwest Portal Version 3.5, which includes syndication changes, an improved navigation bar, new graphics, and new pages.
October 26th, 2005: NPI organizes a "Viaduct Hazard Demonstration", arguing that the passage of Initiative 912 will cripple the state's ability to invest in transportation infrastructure. KIRO and KCPQ, two of Seattle's four television news stations, carry the story (combined, the two stations' clips add up to about eight minutes of airtime), as does 710 KIRO News Radio. The Seattle Times also sends a reporter out to cover the press conference.
November 8th, 2005: NPI's hard work pays off in an amazing series of unbelievable victories. Initiative 912 is defeated by voters statewide, Ron Sims is reelected as King County Executive, and Dave Somers retakes his council seat from GOP shill Jeff Sax.
November 14th, 2005: NPI releases an upgraded version of its blog design (Version 3.1) which fixes some display problems.
November 21st, 2005: NPI names new member Alan Harvey as its Senior Economist and launches its new Economics section. The same day, Pacific Northwest Portal gets a minor update.
December 9th, 2005: NPI begins extensive network maintenance work for prepare for 2006.
December 19th, 2005: Buzzflash, Daily Kos, and several news services carry an NPI Official Blog post about Senator Maria Cantwell's efforts to block legislation which would permit drilling in the Arctic Wildlife Refuge. The resulting traffic, over six thousand visitors in one twenty four hour period, marks an a new high for the Official Blog.
January 3rd, 2006: NPI announces the first ever David Neiwert Awards to honor the achievements and accomplishments of the Pacific Northwest's most active progressive bloggers for the previous year (2005).
January 5th-6th: The first ever Pacific Northwest Progressive Bloggers' Conference is held in Olympia, Washington, organized by NPI. It includes a forum on Internet communications and workshops for attending bloggers. Darcy Burner is the featured guest speaker.
January 18th, 2006: NPI releases its first ever podcast, hosted by Media & Communications Director Andrew Tsao, and announces the return of the Special Projects section, as well as the launch of the newly redesigned Audio Archive, to house NPI's podcasts.
January 31st, 2006: Pacific Northwest Portal celebrates its one year anniversary and NPI releases a commemorative podcast to mark the occassion.
February 9th, 2006: NPI releases a minor upgrade for the Official Blog (Version 3.3), including the new Infocenter, which houses links to NPI's Atom and RSS feeds and allows readers to subscribe to an email digest of the blog right from the sidebar.
March 29th, 2006: NPI's Official Blog celebrates its two year anniverary.
April 6th, 2006: Daily Kos founder Markos Moulitsas links NPI's Pacific Northwest Portal on the Daily Kos front page on the eve of his arrival in the Pacific Northwest.
April 7th-8th, 2006: NPI helps coordinate and facilitate the Pacific Northwest segment of Markos and Jerome Armstrong's tour to promote their new book, Crashing the Gate. NPI later releases a podcast interview with both authors.
May 24th, 2006: NPI launches "Seaside" (Version 4.0), a major revamp of Pacific Northwest Portal. The new version of the website is sleeker, edgier, faster, and definitely more reliable. Compatability is greatly strengthened as the site is made more Mac and Linux friendly.
June 2nd-3rd: NPI Executive Director Andrew Villeneuve live blogs the Washington State Democratic Convention in Yakima on the Official Blog.
June 5th, 2006: NPI welcomes new member Larry Kalb as its Senior Policy Analyst on Healthcare.
June 6th, 2006: NPI breaks the news that Tim Eyman has failed to gather enough signatures to put his pro-discrimination ballot measure, Referendum 65, on the November ballot.
June 8th-11th, 2006: NPI Executive Director Andrew Villeneuve covers the first ever YearlyKos convention live from Las Vegas, Nevada.
July 19th, 2006: NPI and Permanent Defense break the news that Eyman's Initiative 917 may be in limbo until the end of September after the Secretary of State announces just a few days prior that Eyman may not have submitted enough signature to qualify for the ballot.
July 31st, 2006: NPI provides live coverage of President Clinton's visit to Seattle to raise money for Maria Cantwell and Jim McDermott.
August 23rd, 2006: NPI celebrates its three year anniversary as its executive director represents the organization in Olympia observing the signature verification process for Tim Eyman's endangered Initiative 917.
August 30th, 2006: NPI launches Northwest Roots (NWroots) an all in one service for e-mail, instant messaging (for real time conversations over the Net) and personal/event planning.
© 2006 Northwest Progressive Institute.
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