Political Desk: State Legislature

Now we're dealing with one of the most granular pieces of politics - the State Legislature, where representation can change over a mere matter of blocks. So I know this reaches a very small group. So for everyone else, I'd like to point out the League of Women Voter's site, which is a huge aggregator for election info across the US. And is easier to navigate than the Washington Elections site.

We're getting down in the weeds here, but this merits attention, because if nothing else my neck of the woods has changed Legislative hands and I'm looking at a new crew to elect. And while I still get mail from Mark Hargrove and Pat Sullivan, I just have to tell you guys, I've moved on. It's not you, its me.

And I am a little more hard-bitten about the State Legislature than about the executive positions, in that a few months back, the Republicans, aided by a trio of Dems that included now-Secretary-if-State candidate Kastama, seized control of their house and held the budget hostage for a couple days. There we much in the way of threats and demands, then ended up with the same budget anyway. This sort of confirmed the prejudice I've gained over the past few years that Republicans understand politics but not governing, and for this election (at least), you're going to have be damned good to get into my good graces.

So let's open the boxes see what the mystery ingredients are here in Legislative District #11.

STATE SENATOR, DISTRICT 11 - This has two candidates, and for these offices, the top go forward, so really this is just the world' most accurate poll. Bob Hasegawa is the Dem and the incumbent. His challenger sounds like a nice person, but I really don't want to see the Legislature fall into the hands of the guys who pulled the stunt. Sorry.

STATE REPRESENTATIVE, DISTRICT 11, POSITION 1 - This ALSO has just two candidates, and they're both Democrats (Looking good, Top Two Primary!) Both look good, and Zack Hudgins is an incumbent. Jim Flynn is the first guy I've hit in the Voters' Guide who actually wants to talk about replacing our antiquated and regressively weird sales and B&O taxes with an income tax. This is the third rail of State Politics, and yeah, let's start the discussion. For the primary, I'm going to vote the issue, and go for Jim Flynn.

STATE REPRESENTATIVE, DISTRICT 11, POSITION 2 - DOES have a Republican running among the five candidates, but she lists her Tea Party support as the rest of us quietly back out of the room and try not to make eye contact. Of the four other candidates, all of them have endorsements from different groups, which gives you a mix and match approach, and we'll likely see two Dems squaring off. And while Stephanie Bowman has done an excellent job in introducting herself to the community, I'm going with Bobby Virk for his pile of endorsements being just a tad bit higher.

Next, here come the Judges, More later.