Those fighting to bring a University of Washington campus to Everett suffered a great setback yesterday.  The Senate Ways and Means Committee failed to act by a Tuesday deadline on competing bills to bring the University to Lake Stevens, Marysville or Everett, killing them in the Senate this session.

"We are not going to jump into any kind of decision prematurely," said the powerful chairwoman, Sen. Margarita Prentice, D-Renton. "This is a decision we take very seriously and we don't want to blow it."

While she said she can wait until 2009 to decide on a site and classes, the launch of a college is still possible this session.

"It just makes it tougher," said Rep. Mike Sells, D-Everett. "Nothing is impossible here."

Sells is focused on pushing through a bill to establish the college in Everett.

It appears there has been much discussion and many thousands of dollars spent on what location is best to house this university. The Legislature allotted $4 million last year to search out possible sites and begin designing an academic program for a new branch campus. This year, Gov. Chris Gregoire proposed spending $1.1 million on classes this year if a location is chosen.

Hopes were a location would have been decided this session and classes could start by September 2008 - that may be just a dream in the eyes of the beholder. Each municipality is fighting to have the campus built in their city.

Stay tuned for futher details. I'm one that hopes the Everett location wins. It just makes good sense. It would be located at our transportation hub, walking distance to the downtown core, easy freeway access, and is centrally located based on all the other locations. It would surely boost the downtown core renovation.

In my opinion, sometimes politics just gets in the way.