The Political Desk: Final Edition

 I usually wait for a few days for the dust to settle, but the vote margins most of these races are pretty decisive. Let's take a look

Yes to Initiative Measure No. 2066 - Protect the natural gas industry This is tight, and usually late ballots skew to the left. However, it has been pretty stable for the past few days. 

NO to Initiative Measure No. 2109 - Repeal the capital gains tax.

NO to Initiative Measure No. 2117 - Destroying carbon tax credits.

NO to Initiative Measure No 2124 - Bankrupt the state-run long-term care insurance.

President - Donny Trump and JD Vance. Hey, color me surprised.  For what its worth, Washington State generally pummeled the heck outta the GOP - it looks like none of his minions got close to the levers of power on this side of the state.

US Senator - Maria Cantwell

US Representative Congressional District No. 9 - Adam Smith

Governor - Bob Ferguson

Lieutenant Governor - Denny Heck

Secretary of State - Steve Hobbs

State Treasurer - Mike Pellicciotti

Attorney General - Nick Brown

Commissioner of Public Lands - Dave Upthegrove

Superintendent of Public Instruction - Chris Reykdal

Insurance Commissioner - Patty Kuderer

Legislative District No 11 State Senator -  Bob Hasegawa

Legislative District No 11State Representative Position 1  - David Hackney

Legislative District No 11 State Representative Position 2 - Steve Berquist

State Supreme Court Justice Position 2 - Sal Mungia  The other tight one, but the late ballots had it for Sal.

Superior Court Judge Position No 41 - Paul Crisalli

Kent School District No. 415 Proposition No. 1 Capital Projects and Technology Levy - Yes, much to my surprise. This one is razor-thin, and could flip back as we move to fruition. 

Final thoughts before we cover the Political Desk with a tarp for the winter? Well, Washington State did a fine job protecting itself from Washington DC. And if the new/old administration does half the things that they promised to do, there's going to be a lot of buyer's regret for the rest of the country. But that's the nature of democracy (see Brexit). In the land of Ivar's, we'll keep clam and carry on.

More, as always, later. 

The Political Desk: The Jeff Recommends

We're a week out. I've been covering politics and elections for twenty years now in this space, and realize that I've gotten more serious and less snarky over that time. It's something I'll have to work on (regaining my snark).

The press has been particularly frustrating this election season. Yes, I know about a couple major newspapers were cowed into submission by the GOP into "No Endorsements", but it goes deeper than that. The Seattle Times published it endorsements in the open, but its individual endorsement articles are behind a paywall (which is amusing since its endorsement of Bob Ferguson is a master class at timidity and praising with faint damns). The Stranger has just been purchased, and just fired its news editor, Rich Smith. And you would not know from the Kent Reporter that there even was an election (plus they soft paywall as well). Small sites tend to be more localized and partisan, and they still provide some good general data, but lot of old standbys have gone by the wayside. They will be missed. 

Here's an interesting comparison of Stranger vs. Seattle Times endorsements, for your edification and amusement.

I do stand by my opinion of the GOP's "Flood the Zone" approach of doing so much so badly that no one can keep up with their crimes and errors. We've seen a new accusation of sexual assault, the revelation that the impeached former president withheld funds for blue-state disasters, military threats against anyone that looks at the convicted felon funny, a couple mental meltdowns on sympathetic podcasts, and a Nazi-ish Madison Square Garden seeping with hatred and rage. And that's just been in the past week. Yeah, it's been taxing. I just do this thing once every four years and I'm exhausted.

And there has already shenanigans and low-level violence on the ground. Most of them have been GOP-related, and their argument that there is election fraud, and to prove it they will commit election fraud. There have been fights and threats. In Washington State, we've had some ballot boxes vandalized already, so now you have the added task of checking to make sure you ballot was received and counted. Because there are jagoffs out there.

AND you can find one of your nearby ballot drops and voting centers here, or you can mail it in. No postage necessary. The deadline is 8 PM November 5 for the drop boxes, postmarked Tuesday, 5 November for the mail ins. You can even register to vote and vote the same day at the voting centers. 

Anyway, summing up the past week of posts, I've put in a simple format for you. These are my endorsements and belong to me. Go fetch your mail-in ballot and take us across the finish line. As I've stated before, I don't care who you vote for. But I would want you to vote. 

The Heywood Initiatives: NO on all of these budget-busters:

NO to Initiative Measure No. 2066 - Supporting natural gas by preventing regulation that encourages other energy sources

NO to Initiative Measure No. 2109 - Repeal the Capital Gains tax on people much richer than you while killing funding for education.

NO to Initiative Measure No. 2117 - Destroying carbon tax credits and in doing so kill funding for transportation, energy conversations, and emissions-reduction.

NO to Initiative Measure No 2124 - Bankrupting our state-run long-term care insurance, because they can.

So NO on the bundle of them.

President: Kamala D. Harris and Tim Walz. I never realized I had more guts that Jeff Bezos. Learn something new every day).

US Senator - Maria Cantwell

US Representative Congressional District No. 9 - Adam Smith

Governor - Bob Ferguson

Lieutenant Governor - Denny Heck

Secretary of State - Steve Hobbs

State Treasurer - Mike Pellicciotti

Attorney General - Nick Brown

Commissioner of Public Lands - Dave Upthegrove

Superintendent of Public Instruction - Chris Reykdal

Insurance Commissioner - Patty Kuderer

Legislative District No 11 State Senator -  Bob Hasegawa

Legislative District No 11State Representative Position 1  - David Hackney

Legislative District No 11 State Representative Position 2 - Steve Berquist

State Supreme Court Justice Position 2 - Sal Mungia

Superior Court Judge Position No 41 - Paul Crisalli

Kent School District No. 415 Proposition No. 1 Capital Projects and Technology Levy - Yes. Put this long electoral nightmare out of our lives.

That's it for the pre-election write-ups. I'll do a follow-up with results a few days after the election (We're mail-in, remember, so it takes a while to get the results, and in some cases lead changes). Then we're back to talking about games. And theatre. And if you're very good, collectible quarters. See you next time.

More, of course, later.

The Political Desk: Statements on the State

 Now we're down to the state level. Washington State elects its entire executive branch every four years, so the potential for massive turnover is always there. However, the state's been doing pretty good, has recovered well from COVID, and regularly gets high marks in various ratings as to the health and well-being of its citizens. So yeah, I am up for the Democrats in general.

Governor - This is an open position with Jim Inslee choosing not to run for a fourth term (and that's a good thing, in my opinion). The Democratic candidate is current Attorney General Bob Ferguson, who has been an activist is protecting consumers in the state. He's gone after corporate shenanigans, took on pharmaceutic companies over fentanyl, cleared out the rape kit backlog, and been a bridle on Trumpian nonsense for the past four years. He has been an activist, aggressive, AG, and don't see that changing when he becomes governor. It is kinda amusing that a lot of positive political candidates come out of the AG offices these days, but that's probably a beard-stroking analysis for later. So, Bob Ferguson.

A positive word, though, about Dave Reichert, who is likely the best candidate the GOP has put up for the past twenty years. The former King County Sherriff, former US Rep, he was not endorsed by his own party because he wasn't crazy enough. He may or may not support Trump depending on who he's talking to but I will take him at his (current) word. But I am happy to not recommend him purely on his political views (Tried to defund Planned Parenthood, doesn't support marriage equality, anti-climate science). Of late, he's been making a case for divided government (even though that has been a mess at the national level). So, no thanks.

Lieutenant Governor - The Lieutenant Governor presides over the State Senate, and does more than a little nudging on its priorities (like the current housing crunch). This is the department of "Don't Mess Things Up".  And Danny Heck has succeeded admirably with not messing things up and actually moving the ball forward on things in a bipartisan fashion. So yeah, let's keep him.

Secretary of State - OK, I will be honest, I'm a strong supporter of Steve Hobbs. He has maintained the integrity of our election systems that Sam Reed and Kim Wyman had built up, and kept our elections free and fair. But he's also a gamer, and an extremely vocal one, and has pushed to protect small game stores and game producers, as well as expand RPGs in school libraries and prisons.. We've got a lot of small companies out here, and I appreciate the support. I did attend a fund-raiser for him at the Mox Boarding House, where he not only committed to his support for the industry, but also went into extreme gamerly detail on the cases that his staff have handled over the years (A student voting in two places, people who died between when they mailed their ballot and when it was counted). He did so with the pride of DM telling about you about his latest adventure. So yeah, Steve Hobbs. 

State Treasurer - Now we get into the more boring but just-as-important positions. Meat and potato stuff.  The ones that handle the money. The State Treasurer is the state's CFO, collects the cash and distributes is Mike Pellicciotti has done a bang-up job, such that people who rate us on our financial stability and such give us high marks. Moody's gives us a AAA rating, Standard and Poors gives us a AA+, and we have strong state pensions. Not bad. So, Mike Pellicciotti.

State Auditor - The treasurer spend the money, the auditor makes sure it is spent correctly. Auditor is a watchdog operation. These are the accountants looking over the books. Pat (Patrice) McCarthy has been an auditor for twenty years, starting with Pierce County, and has picked up the torch in 2017, and has done a good job, not only checking up on pandemic funding, but also uncovering fraud and waste in the government (like $7 million in misappropriated funds for a local housing agency). McCarthy has a earned the position.

Attorney General - With Ferguson running for governor, the AG is an open position, and there is a game of musical chairs. Nick Brown has risen to the top of that scuffle, and is an excellent candidate for the position. He was Inslee's General Counsel. He was the first Black US Attorney for the state. He's pushed hard on the fentanyl crisis, consumer protection, and sex trafficking. Pro choice, pro gun safety, pro-consumer. Brown has large shoes to fill, but I think he can pull it off. 

Commissioner of Public Lands - This race is another win/win for voters, in that both candidates are good. Jaime Herrera Beutler was both a State and US Rep. She also voted to impeach Trump on the second go-around, and the state party will never forgive her for that. Dave Upthegrove has botanical name and has been on the King County Council and a State Rep for a neighboring district. . Either could run our extensive state forest lands. The big diff is dealing with our mature legacy forests (Not the old growth, but stuff has hasn't been lumbered since WWII). Upthegrove supports keeping them intact, Beutler wants to let in the logging companies that have been funding her campaign. On the other hand, few year's back Upthegrove got shirty with some traditional enviros that supported someone else in the primary. So, jump ball on this one, but I'm still going to give the edge on policy to Dave Upthegrove.

Superintendent of Public Instruction - Chris Reykdal is the incumbent and has navigated the department through some really choppy water of later - the COVID pandemic being part of this. However, he's got the numbers back up to pre-COVID times, and we have more graduations than ever. Also, school meals, CTE training, retaining teachers, and improvements for rural schools. And he takes a hit every time people have to pay their property taxes. (Did I mentioned that paying for the kid's education is literally in our state constitution. Yeah, it is). Reykdal has also been a bulwark against conservative culture warriors and voucher advocates. So, yeah, I'm going with him.

Insurance Commissioner - The previous guy who held this job for many years turned out to be a jagoff and as such is not running for re-election. The Democratic party actually does that - it's an accountability thing. Republicans? He'd be on the conservative talk shows complaining about persecution, demanding a trial, then pushing it back as far as possible. But that's just a personal rant. Patty Kuderer is an excellent candidate to hold the position of wrangling our insurance industry. Her background is from the state legislature, where she's been active in employment discrimination, which makes her a good choice to help the office recover from its previous commissioner. She's pro-consumer protection , pro reproductive healthcare, and pro-transparency with the insurance companies. Yeah, let' give her a shot.

OK, this was a long one, but it is all downhill from here. More later. 

More later, 

The Political Desk: Congressfolk

 Let's look at Congress. We have two races on the ballot, one at the state level for Senator, and one for the 9th Congressional District. The 9th is a rough trapezoid with the corners at the International District in Seattle, Sammamish in the north, Auburn, and Federal Way in the south, and includes Mercer Island and Bellevue.  So yeah, a lot of people in a relatively small space.

Let's do Senator first. Maria Cantwell has done a real good job in her tenure, and I would normally recommend her to keep her job but as a matter of course. But I want to enthusiastically recommend her based on her performance this senatorial season. This has been first and foremost due to her pushing through the CHIPS and Science Act, which has encouraged semiconductor  research, development, in the states in the States. This act has seen amazing benefits already, and will continue help our home-grown computer chip industry. That's a good effort on her part, and a recommendation to keep her and encourage more of the same in the future.

The 9th Congressional District is in one of those really good positions with two good candidates. Adam Smith has been the House Rep within our ever-shifting borders for nearly thirty years now, and in his seniority has a good position as the Senior Democrat on the Armed Services Committee. He's done good work in that time. Melissa Chaudhry, on the other hand, is from the more progressive wing, and has extensive experience in charities and NGOs. I recommended Chaudhry in the primary as new blood, but I have to admit that Adam Smith is competent, capable, and has done a good job, which is one of my base-line requirements. So I'm telling you both candidates have merit, and you need to do a bit more digging to find out if you think they are worth voting for. Myself? Walking around both of them for a day or so, I have to go ultimately with Adam Smith. But I'm going to say this is going to be real close.

More later,

The Political Desk: Trolling for Initiatives

 TLDR: NO on everything. There. That makes it easy.

The top of the Washington State ballot is not the presidential race, but rather a collection of initiatives. The initiative process is a pretty cool thing that Washington State does, in that it provides an alternate method for passing law. We have the Legislature, but the initiative process allows citizens to propose and pass state law. It is a nice bit of direct democracy, but the system has some challenges and can be gamed.

The challenge is that you need to get a certain number of signatures to but it on the ballot - 8% of the total votes for Governor the last election. And given the population of the state, that comes to roughly 325,000 signatures this time around. Which means you need a lot of dedicated volunteers to gather those signatures, or paid signature-gatherers, or most likely both, in order to succeed. As a result, the initiative process is normally the domain of people with a lot of money and resources at hand. Initiative gadfly Tim Eyman made good book on monetizing the process with initiatives that rarely won, but almost never stood up in court. Eyman got himself in trouble skimming off the top of his fundraising, and is no longer active in the process.

So, this year we have a wealthy hedge-fund manager, Brian Heywood, who is fled California because of the taxes and wants to get rid of them here as well. He and his mob collected the requisite signatures and got initiatives on the ballot for six items. The Legislature has the option of just passing them right there, and three of them we passed without having to go to the voters. Then he added another one, so there are four measures on the ballot this time. And all of them involve saving money for the wealthy and gutting state funding, and leaving you with the bill. 

Here's the quick and dirty.

Initiative Measure No. 2066 wants to repeal laws controlling natural gas regulation and/or promoting electrification. Natural Gas is a big polluter, so I see the point in encouraging more electric power through inducements. But I am personally involved here in that we use gas for cooking and hot water here at Grubb Street, which has proved to be a good thing when the power goes out (windstorms give us about two outages a year). But a blanket measure that gives a blank check to the natural gas operations, effectively putting them above the law? Yeah, no. I'd rather see this one fought out in the Legislature one piece at a time. Vote NO.

Initiative Measure No. 2109 eliminates the Capital Gain tax. This is a tax that takes a small sliver of the earnings of the wealthy, which is why Heywood wants it gone. If your assets are below $250 million, it's a moot point (unless you're planning on winning the lottery soon). Cutting it guts funding for education, which is something we are required to fund (it is in the state constitution), and have been kinda half-assed over the years about doing it as it is. Vote NO. 

Initiative Measure No 2117 eliminates the carbon tax credits. Carbon tax credits are a method to (long-term) reduce pollutants. The government sells indulgences to organizations that are churning out pollutants, which range from big businesses to things like UW (steam heat). Over time, the amount of credits are reduced, encouraging folk to upgrade their systems to healthier alternatives. Killing the credits defunds transportation, clean air, renewable energy, conversation, and emission-reductions (I'm just quoting the initiative language, here). So NO on this one

Initiative Measure No. 2124 makes long-term care insurance optional. Affordable long-term care is a growing issue, such that even the national Democratic party thinks it is a good idea. Making it optional is a great invitation to making it useless, and with defund Washing's public insurance programs providing long-term care benefits and services. I've been kicking in to long-term care for a while now, and think its a pretty good thing. Vote NO.

Everything these initiatives attack are "eat your broccoli" laws, which is good for the long-term health of the people of Washington, but have a price tag on it. And the people behind these initiatives don't want to spend any of THEIR money on YOU. You aren't going to get much if these initiatives pass (No, your gas prices are NOT coming down as a result of these), and things will be just a little bit crappier around here with them in place.

More later, 

The Political Desk: Go Time

 OK, folks, it all comes down to this. Election Day. Early voting has already started in a lot of states, and the ballots are out for Washington State. This year is important. Every year is important.

(And my ballot arrived while I was out at GameHoleCon, and excellent convention in Madison, WI, so I'm getting a late start on it this year. The Lovely Bride has already voted, and I will drive her to one of the convenient nearby ballot boxes to drop her vote in).

I really don't care how you vote, but I want you to vote. I'm obvious in my political views, so you'll find few surprises in this I provide these recommendations in the hopes of creating an enlightened and aware set of voters. They haven't drifted that far from the primaries. What I really want is competence and ability. These are people we are trusting with our money, out safety, and sometimes our lives. So this is important. It's not a wedding proposal, it's not a Saturday night date - it's a job hire.

But I want you to vote, not just vote for what I recommend. I provide other people's endorsements as well, and I'll update them as I go forward. 

Here's the summarized endorsements from the Stranger, now under new management. The full endorsements are long and detailed and most of the candidates don't tick off all their boxes. That's the nature of life. 

Here's the Seattle Times' endorsements, who has been grudgingly dragged more centrist over the years. The Times and the Stranger have been drifting closer together as time goes by. 

There are others, with their own political interests. Washington Conservation Action is here. Progressive Blue Voteguide is here. The Urbanist is here. Crosscut/CascadePBS does a nice job summarizing the candidates and issues here. I will add more as I come across them.

I'm (politely) left of center. I'm going to be endorsing Democrats, which is a relatively easy thing to do in Western Washington. The GOP (nationally) is a bit of a snake pit, and even those that are not involved in some messy political stance or personal scandal are problematic because they DO support the folks who do..  

But ultimately, it's all up to you. Even not voting is a choice (though I'll admit that its a bad one).

This is your chance, people. Don't pass it by. Don't blow it. For folk in Washington State, or wherever early balloting is permitted, you have two weeks. For everyone else, get out on November 5th.

More later,

The Political Desk: Results

 Hey, wasn't there an election last week? What happened? Why so quiet?

Good question. And while I could blame a recent bout with Covid for my lack of response (and in fact, I will be blaming Covid for a number of things in the near future), I've pushed of reporting the results until I had more firmer ground to stand on. On of the things about Washington State elections is that we have all mail-in ballots. And while it a really convenient way to vote intelligently (you can do it at home, check out candidates on the internet, you can have wine while you're voting ...) it means that it takes a while for dust to settle. In particular since late votes can and do move the needle, particularly in close races.

And we had it happen in this case as well, so this is the most updated results, a week out. No promise that it won't shift a little more again. In general, Incumbents did well, Democrats did well. If someone has 50% plus, they're doing OK. 

Oh, and Boldface is used for the folk I recommended. 

US Senator: Marie Cantwell (58%) versus Dr. Raul Garcia (22%)

US Representative, 9th District: Adam Smith (54%) vs. Melissa Chaudry (21%) - This one is interesting as the Democratic incumbent is being challenged from the left as opposed to the right. Usually Smith is up against a conservative talk-show host. This one should prove interesting. 

Governor: Bob Ferguson (45%) vs. Dave Reichert  (27%) - Again, expected, but low totals for both, so both have work to do. The official State GOP-approved republican only got 10%.

Lt. Governor: Danny Heck (49%) vs. Dan Matthews (23%)

Secretary of State: Steve Hobbs (49%) vs. Dale Whitaker (36%)

Attorney General: Pete Serrano (42%) vs Nick Brown (36%) - The well-endorsed Brown has work to do, but the only other candidate in the race was another Democrat, who got 23% of the vote.

State Treasurer: Mike Pellicciotti (58%) vs. Sharon Hanel (41%) - only two candidates for the role. 

State Auditor: Pat (Patrice) McCarthy (59%) vs Matt Hawkins (41%)  - again, only two candidates. 

Commissioner of Public Lands: Jamie Herrera Butler (21.9%) vs, Dave Upthegrove (20.99%) This was a crowded field - 2 Republicans and 5 Democrats, and on election night the two GOP candidates (Butler and Sue Pederson) we ahead. Late votes tend to skew more left, but we still split among a number of candidates. Only over the weekend did Upthegrove catch and pass Pederson).  [Update: the final tally was close enough to require a hand recount (yeah, we have options for that), and UptheGrove took second by only 53 votes. And this is why you should always vote, folks.}

Superintendent of Public Instruction: Chris Reydal (39%) versus David Olson (31%)

Insurance Commissioner: Patty Kuderer (45%) vs. Phil Fortunato (29%) 

State Senator, District 11: Bob Hasegawa (95%) vs. no opponent 

State Representative, District 11: David Hackney (95%) vs. no opponent.

State Representative, District 11: Dave Berquist (80%) vs. Justin Greywolf (18%). Though the numbers are low, I'm glad to see the Libertarian wing fielding their own candidate. 

State Supreme Court: Sal Mungia (43%) vs. Dave Larsen (36%)

Final totals have a voting total of around 40%, which isn't horrible at all for a primary, but can always improve. We've managed to dodge the loonier candidates (some other parts of the state are not so lucky), and there I can vote against based on their positions as opposed to their propaganda. And with this, the Political Desk becomes as dormant as you lawn, currently, only to return with the rains in late October. 

More later, 

The Political Desk: The Jeff Recommends

 Let me explain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up. 

The past few weeks have been interesting, politically. An assassination attempt, a stepping down, a stepping up, a convention, a former VP candidate and a weird VP candidate. Here we though things would be boring. And yet we have the same ballot, and the same deadline.  

My own notes started here, and include a lot of other links for people who want to dig deeper into matters. I just dropped off my own ballot at one of the many drop boxes throughout the county (I mean, it is SO easy to vote, more people should do it). Here are my recommendations. You can check out various entries elsewhere on the blog for details. 

US Senator: Marie Cantwell

US Representative, 9th District: Melissa Chaudry

Governor: Bob Ferguson

Lt. Governor: Danny Heck

Secretary of State: Steve Hobbs

Attorney General: Nick Brown

State Treasurer: Mike Pellicciotti

State Auditor: Pat (Patrice) McCarthy

Commissioner of Public Lands: Patrick DePoe

Superintendent of Public Instruction: Chris Reydal

Insurance Commissioner: Patty Kuderer

State Senator, District 11: Bob Hasegawa

State Representative, District 11: David Hackney

State Representative, District 11: Dave Berquist

State Supreme Court: Sal Mungia 

Like the line-up? Go vote. Think I'm full of beans? Go vote. Whatever you think, this is your chance to impact who we are voting for in November. You've got a week to make up your mind.

Go vote.

More later, 

 

The Political Desk: Judgement Day

So, State Supreme Court Judges. We have one open slot  with multiple candidates this time, as Susan Owen must retire since she is over 75 (yes, we do that out here). Four contenders, each with their own take. All sound like solid, professional folks. Their write-ups are in the Voters guide, but Crosscut summarizes that and add material from other sources and their own interviews.

(And this is where I once regret the loss of Voting for Judges site and the Municipal League. Ah, well.)

OK, one more thing - if one candidate gets 50% plus, the get the job. No playoff round. But this time, given four candidates, that's unlikely. Here goes:

Todd A. Bloom comes out of private practice with 20+ years of experience and ten years as a tax attorney. He's running with the encouragement of the Washington State Bar Association Board of Governors. He didn't respond to Crosscut's questions. 

Sal Mungia is a litigator with 40+years of experience, and a lot of backing - 8 of the 9 current current justices, Gov. Inslee, the Stranger, and Candidate Bob Ferguson. He's successfully pitched changes to the state's jury selection process. He's got an impressive resume and an embarrassing amount of cash.

David R. Shelvey has the least experience of the group with 9 years as a lawyer and come primarily from the business side, as well as a radio personality. In his bio, he also mentions double-checking with God before making decisions.

Dave Larson comes from the Judge-side of the equation, with 16 years as a judge and 23 years as a trial attorney. He believes strongly is therapeutic sentencing, and many of the reforms have been made into law from the bench. 

Four pretty solid candidates, with a low (mostly) percentage of dog whistles. I would like to have to make the choice between Sal Mungia and Dave Larsen this fall. But force me into a corner, and I'll go with Sal Mungia.

And that wraps up my ballot. I will post a summary, and after the primary, post the results.

More later, 

The Political Desk: The Rest of the State

 The entire State Government Executive Branch comes up for election this year. Here's what we got:

Lt. Governor: This role oversees the State Senate, breaks ties, and fills in for the Governor when he's out of town. While not overly powerful, it is probably one of the more colorful offices in the state, and its primary requirements are to not blow things up and not embarrass the voters. And we have had a spate of excellent Lt. Governors, even though the bar may seem low. The current one, Denny Heck, had an original campaign slogan ("Give Olympia Heck!") and has failed to blow things up or get himself immersed in scandal. This is job interview - he's fine. His likely competition is Dan Matthews, who is a bag of Trumpian dog-whistles. So yeah, Denny Heck.

Secretary of State is responsible for overseeing the elections, and I am very much in favor of Steve Hobbs, for no other reason that he plays table-top RPGs. He's been very supportive of D&D and the tabletop industry which is kinda a big deal out here, to the point of accompanying a trade delegation to Japan with some colleagues of mine. But that same favoritism also makes me look harder at what he's done in his time in office, and, yeah, he's actually a worthy successor to Kim Wyman in protecting our elections. Good job, Steve.

Attorney General: Nick Brown has copped endorsements from both the Times and the Stranger, and has the qualifications as a US District Attorney as well as a deep knowledge of navigating state law. Manka Dingra comes out of the criminal prosecutions, which is also excellent, and I would look forward to having the make the decision between the two in November. For the moment, go with Nick Brown. 

State Treasurer: Handles the money. Two candidates, so you'll be seeing them again. I lean towards Mike Pellicciotti. He's the incumbent, and has kept his domain scandal-free while pushing for more transparency. Not bade.

State Auditor: Keeps an eye on the folks handling the money. Again, two candidates, so you'll get Deja Vu when we hit November. I prefer the incumbent, Pat (Patrice) McCarthy. Actually, both these positions of Auditor and Treasurer are so boring (and so fore-gone) that none of the major news sources have weighed in on them. Really?

Commissioner of Public Lands: This position oversees our state forests, and concerns a lot about lumbering and wildfires. A lot of candidates here, but two stand out. Department of Natural Resources Director Patrick DePoe gets the Times' nod, while former (local) legislator Dave Upthegrove has ability dealing the legislature (plus, cool name for taking care of trees). I'd like see both of them on the ballot, but for the moment, I think Patrick DePoe will do an excellent job. 

Superintendent of Public Instruction: Chris Reydal is the incumbent. Has been doing a good job. Yeah, let's keep him.

Insurance Commissioner: Does what it says on the tin - oversees our sprawling insurance industry. Mike Kriedler has held the position for years, but is stepping down after it was revealed he wasn't particularly good to his employees. That's the thing about elections - you screw up, you lose your job. Refreshing, isn't it? Patty Kuderer comes out of the legislature, is pro-renter, pro-single-player healthcare, pro-consumer. Her chief opposition is a self-declared progressive but fundraises and votes Republican. OK, then. 

And that fills out the State Executive Positions. Yeah, I'm blowing through them at a good clip. More later. 

The Political Desk: Guv'nor

 There are 28 candidates on the ballot for Governor of Washington State. Of them, there are four that have any sense of support. Of those, it will be former King County Sheriff Dave Reichert versus Attorney General Bob Ferguson in the Finals. I'm calling it here.

Bob Ferguson has been a big noise for the past decade, an aggressive legal voice who has been fighting against corporate malfeasance and Trumpian nonsense. He's got the funding, the endorsements, and the attention. And yeah, he's got the proven competence to be Governor.

Mark Mullet, the other recognized Democrat, is frustrating. A moderate, he's got a good provenance as well (State Senator for a decade), as well as ground-level endorsements (local mayors, firefighters), but has just flamed out as far as the campaign is concerned. But, if you hate Ferguson, Mullet is a good alternative, and I would be very comfortable with a battle between the two in November. Such is unlikely, sadly.

Dave Reichert should also be doing better, though it is likely that he will be Ferguson's competition in the Big Show due to name recognition from his time as King County Sheriff a couple decades back (Yeah, I know, everyone is OLD. It's thing). But, he failed to get the endorsement of both his own party and of the Seattle Times, which has traditionally been in the tank for him. It seems that he was saying one thing to the Times in interviews, and something completely different to his supporters on the other side of the Cascades. Apparently they didn't like that much.

Semi Bird DID get the official GOP endorsement, and does embrace the Trumpian nonsense. He lost his job as a school board commissioner for opposing mask updates in a recall election, and in the GOP tradition has been failing upwards ever since. He also never mentioned he had an ancient criminal record (misdemeanor bank larceny, thirty years ago), which makes him a typical Republican candidate .

And the rest. As elsewhere, some are perennials, some are well-intentioned newcomers, some are single-issue candidates seeking to front their particular concerns/grind their proverbial axes. And there was some hijinks, in that a Republican operative went out and found some OTHER Bob Fergusons to run for office, in hopes of confusing the issue. And then bragged about it publicly. When it was pointed out that this was specifically a felony, his chosen candidates dropped out, and the GOP weasels complained about how unfair the system was that wouldn't let them cheat.

So yeah, Bob Ferguson for Governor.

More later, 

The Political Desk: National Offices

 Let's start at the top - US Senator and House of Representatives. Like the rest of the country, we get two Senators, and one is up for re-election. Our neck of the woods for the US House is District 9, a narrow district straddling Lake Washington with bits of Seattle and Bellevue, and running south to Federal Way.

Senator: Maria Cantwell has been our junior senator for 24 years now, and is still chugging away. She's one of the engines behind the CHIPS act that kept semiconductor jobs here in the US. Yeah, wonky stuff, but still effective. The other candidates on the list make it a point of pride to not have held a previously elected office, and run the gamut from the well-meaning to the regular also-rans to the ones desiring a soapbox (which is cool, since the bulk of them are underfunded, such that the Voters' Guide is the only place they can reach out). Her likely opposition is Dr. Raul Garcia who is ... not horrible in Republican terms. But yeah, Maria Cantwell for Senator.

US Representative: Adam Smith has been serving in Washington for longer than Ms. Cantwell, and has experience and incumbency on his side. Usually he emerges from these primaries with a conservative talk-show host challenging from the right and cruises to re-election. But this time, there is a viable and more liberal candidate available in Melissa Chaudry, who wowed the Stranger board with her depth and width of knowledge and proposals, and even got good marks from the Seattle Times.  Downside? She's light in elected experience. Smith, though, was one of the ones pushing for Biden step aside because of his age, a bold stance for someone approaching 60. So for the Primary, check out Melissa Chaudry.

More later, 

The Political Desk: The Primary Is Upon Us

 August 6th will be the Washington State Primary, and it will be a big one. We have a US Senator, US Rep, Various members of the State House, Governor, and the entire executive wing of the state government up for grabs. That's a lot. 

Making matters more complex, Washington State has a top-two election strategy. That depowers (somewhat) the traditional political parties, in that we have a general scrum of the position, and the top two-vote-getters, regardless of allegiance, go on to the main event in November.

It's not a bad system, but like all systems, it can be gamed. Assume you have two Republican candidates and four Democratic candidates vying for a particular office. Say that Dems and GOPs are split evenly. and each candidate gets an even share of their side. So your four Democrats get 12.5% of the vote, and the two Repubs get 25%. So you can end up with two Republican candidates on the final ballot. This sort of thing has happened in the past, and can happen again. 

Also, you the candidate can declare your party own allegiance (referred to as "Preference") as you the candidate sees fit. So we usually have a party-approved candidate and not party-approved candidates flying under the same banner, and occasionally people sailing under false flags. You can also create your own party, so we see a lot of ... creative ... names for parties over the years. There is a lot of potential for shenanigans here, but more of that when we get to the Governor's race.

Two large matters loom over this primary which are not on the ballot. One is a set of cynical initiatives launched by some conservatives to help their main investors (the wealthy) at the expense of everybody else (that would be you). These initiatives are not on the ballot, but will be there in the fall. For the moment, we can put it aside, but the prime reason for these initiatives is to get out the vote on the conservative side, in hopes of it helping more conservative candidates. 

The other large matter is the Presidential race. At the time of this writing, the ballot will be most likely Vice President Kamala Harris versus Former President/Convicted Felon Trump. The former is taking over for President Biden due to inner party doubts about his age and health. The latter also has concerns about age and health, and in addition is an anchor around the neck of every Republican candidate, since they can endorse Trump and have people laugh at them every time they say "Law and Order", or they can distance themselves from Trump and  have the right-wing chunk of the party turn on them. Or they can be vewy, vewy quiet, which seems to be the course in general. Yet that's going to have an impact of this vote as well.

The Washington State Voter's Guide for King County is here. The Seattle Times has been doing its due diligence here, and has surprisingly swung more liberal/center than normal. The Stranger has grumped its way through the candidates, disappointed that they don't check all their required boxes. The Urbanist, talks about a lot of races I don't cover here, and refuses to recommend any candidate that did not meet with them (which is fair). The Cascade Advocate (a progressive blog) has an article comparing The Stranger and Times lists, and finds that they mostly agree. The Washington State Standard summarizes some of the races here, but does not make specific recommendations. Voting for Judges and the Municipal League sites, previously good places for info, are now shut down and available from GoDaddy.

Since this is a top-two primary system, I will be sometimes mentioning a second-choice as well. The Political Desk tends to lean left, but ultimately I want competent people in office. Elections are not a beauty contest or a two-team game, though there are components of both those things. It's a job interview - yeah, imagine that you have to re-interview for YOUR job every two/four/six years.   

Usually, I do a deep dive on these, giving even the minor candidates their time in the spotlight. This time, not so much. I've got a convention looming at the end of the month (GenCon) and don't have much time to savor the races. Some races are pretty obvious, some are going to very interesting. So when you hear the bell, turn over your papers and begin. 

More later,

The Political Desk: Results - The Center Holds

So, long-term readers of this blog know that I wait a couple days before posting the results of the election. This is because Washington State uses mail-in ballots, and it will sometimes take a while for the dust to settle. Particularly in this season, because some knuckle-head mailed white powder to the voter-counters. Fortunately, the Elections Department actually planned for this type of A-hole move, evacuated, cleaned up, and went back to counting.

The nation story this year is that the GOP and its candidates faceplanted. More progressive candidates and issues carried the day against more conservative alternatives. But in Seattle, the big city next door, the more centrist, business-friendly wing of the Democratic Party succeeded in taking control of the City Council (and yes, the Progressive votes tend to come in late, I don't think we're going to see the amount of movement necessary to overturn many of the early results). So the centrist-business-friendly Mayor has a centrist-business-friendly council to work with. That's cool. Let's look for some results.

And lest the chattering classes tend to view this as a sudden lurch to the right (and I'm looking at you, Seattle Times columnists), the city overwhelmingly approved a near-billion dollar levy for low-income housing. Oh, the horror.

Down in our neck of the woods, the story is actually much the same. Incumbents and moderates prevailed, with one exception. That's cool, generally. Let's check out what happened. 

 King County Director of Elections - Incumbent Julie Wise smashed her opposition, a MAGA-leaning, election-denying talk show host, flat. She actually got more votes than were cast in the King County Assessor's race, where the incumbent was running unopposed. As for her opposition, who knew that denying the fairness of elections would make people less willing to vote for you in an election? 

Port of Seattle Position 5 -  Fred Felleman handily won re-election to his position as well. That's nice.

City of Kent Council, Positions 1, 3, 5, and 7. Incumbents Marli Larimer and Zandria Michaud won re-election, and retired Boeing guy John Boyd joins the team. Yeah, that works. 

Kent School District No. 415 Director District 2 and 3 - Here is where it gets interesting. At the time of this writing  Meghan Margel won her position, but and Leslie Kae Hamada has fallen behind Donald Cook by a gnat's whisker (a politically scientific term for 166 votes, which even in our small city is not a lot. Which is odd for me, since Hamada was the only candidate that had (so far as I noticed) mailers and yard signs. But it may be tied to next item.. 

Kent School District No. 415, Proposition 1 (Replacement of Expiring Educations and Operations Levy) is passing (by two gnat's whickers) while Proposition 2 (Capital Projects and Technology Levy) is failing. Disappointed in this one, but These props were a rebuild of a bond issue in the last election that didn't make 50% either, so it is not a horrible surprise. Funding issues are going to be a discussion in the near future.

Special Purpose Districts -  I know no one besides the candidates who are googling their names will find this one, so congrats to the winners. 

• Soos Creek Water and Sewer District Commissioner Position No. 1 -  Alice Marshall 
• Public Hospital District No. 1 Commissioner District No. 1 - Anthony R. Berkley 

And that wraps up this year's election. But, oh ghod, they're already talking about next year's elections.

More later. 

The Political Desk: News and Snooze

 So the Washington State Voters' Guide (and later, the ballot) showed up in the mailbox, which for me is the opening gun of the November election. And for my neck of the woods, it is a little bit boring. At the state level, we are voting on three positions. All judgeships. All unopposed. Seattle is a hotbed right now - seven positions out of nine on the City Council are up, but since Grubb Street is not in Seattle proper, we don't get a vote.

And this is exactly what bothers me about moving elections to all-even or all-odd years. Without a "marquee" race, there is very little draw for the average voter. Already, everyone is gunning up for next year, which in addition to the Presidential Race, we are revising the entire Executive Branch of the State (Governor is retiring, everyone else is shuffling positions around). But this year? There's not going to be an overwhelming amount of voters.

But you know what is missing this time? Those horribly-written Advisory Votes. These were toothless push-polls that at best let people vent about how Olympia is raising money. Finally, after many years, they are banished. So that means we don't know where the money is? Well, no. There's a new web site that lays out the State's spending right here. Not as urgent as grabbing one piece of legislation and shoving it in your face as outrage fuel, but a good tool. 

Mind you, the dearth of choice at the state level is mitigated slightly by the fact that the King County Voters' Guide  has also shown up, which handle the County, City, and School Board elections. Which is good, meat and potatoes stuff, but still not the attention-grabbers you see at the State and National level. 

What does that mean for the Political Desk? Mostly business as usual. I will pass through the ballot, but only make recommendations on races that are really races. So for folks who are not local, and are expecting theatre, book, and game reviews, you might want to just take the week off. The Seattle Times has their recommendations (mostly centrist-pro-business, behind a soft paywall - smooth move, guys) and the Stranger has theirs (mostly progressive, pro-renter and consumer). Fuse has a list of progressive endorsements as well, but it dovetails neatly into the Stranger's with less snark. Crosscut gets into money raised and issues here, but doesn't get outside the major metros. Talking about school board elections is pretty rare, but the Washington Educational Association has its here. 

Everyone else can take a break. For those of us in our hyper-local locality, let's turn over our ballots and begin.

More later,

The Political Desk: Summing Up

So, how did things go?

For Washington State, surprisingly well. The Red Wave/Tide/Tsunami that the media was intoning about failed to materialize to a great degree. The Republicans made some advances on the national scale, which is to be expected in an off-year election, but in Washington State they hit a wall, and actually lost ground. The best news is that it looks like the Election Denier wing of the GOP took the worst hits, and will hopefully be replaced with more reasonable candidates in the future.

Election denial has struck me as a tough sell as far as an election campaign - "These elections are bogus! It's all a fraud! Please vote for me anyway!".

And in a land where a three-percentage point margin is usually considered a landslide and a mandate to govern, a lot of the candidates and measures not only beat the spread, but did so in handy numbers.

In any event, the numbers quoted are as of Thursday night, but it looks like most of them will hold as the late results come in (which tend to trend more liberal in any event). There is only one measure that is "hanging fire" right now, and ironically, it is one about how to vote. 

So. How did things go?

Advisory Vote No. 39 Engrossed Substitute Senate Bill 5974 and Advisory Vote No. 40 Engrossed Substitute House Bill 2076 - Both REPEALED  (by 59%-40% in one, 53-47 in the other). These are Advisory Votes and have no bearing on the bills as passed other than saying we are disappointed in you for doing so. I really think we need to either give these things some teeth, or get them off the ballot entirely.

Charter Amendment No. 1 Even-Numbered Election Years for Certain County Offices - YES, by overwhelming numbers (69-31). As a game designer, I will attempt to run for office/launch an initiative in odd-numbered years, but then I'm just going to cheese the system.  

Proposition No. 1 Conservation Futures Levy - overwhelmingly Approved (68-31), which is nice.

United States Senator - Patty Murray wins handily (57-43). Man, there was a media kerfuffle about how close this was going to be. Turns out that running against King County (where a third of the state's voters live) was not a winning strategy. Go figure.

United States Representative Congressional District No. 9 - Adam Smith (71-29). This was an honest-to-gosh wipe-out, and I've seen nothing in the press about the depth of this wipe-out. 

Secretary of State - Steve Hobbs (49.7-46.7 with 3.6% write-ins). This would have been much closer if not for write-in campaign by the organized GOP in the state, which bled off enough votes to really make a difference. Now the organized state GOP is blaming the media for actually POINTING OUT that the GOP was running their own candidate. Though really, this is a good argument for Ranked Choice Voting and Approval Voting, as it turns out.

Legislative District No. 11 Representative Position 1 - David Hackney (69-31)

Legislative District No. 11 Representative Position 2 - Steve Bergquist  (68-32)

King County Prosecuting Attorney - Leesa Manion (56-44). Oddly, I missed this race in the summary, but I will catch up here.

And on the Stuff I'm Not Voting on(TM)? 

Changing up how Seattle votes for particular offices is actually one of those where the votes are close, and the winner may change after all the votes are counted. Right now, enacting the change is losing by a thin margin (49-51), but may catch up in further voting. BUT if they do change, RCV is smoking the more easily understood Approval Voting (75-25).

And up in the 8th US House race, Kim Schrier is winning handily (52-47) over her Extremist GOP opponent, in a race that everyone said was also going to be a nail-biter. While down in the 11th US House, I am delighted to note that Marie Glusenkamp Perez has shown the election-denying MAGA candidate the door (also 52-47). Yeah, the 11th is considered a conservative district, but it looks like voters will be actually be willing to wait for a reasonable conservative.

And in the 47th State Rep (which includes much of Kent), Claudia Kaufmann is doing well (43-47). Her opposition gave me a robo-call late election day (note: I cannot vote in that race, so next time, just send me the money you would normally spend on such nonsense), where he did himself no favors by endorsing the Republican Senatorial candidate.

And I will note that the same media that embraced the whole "Red Wave" thing are now embracing the "Trump is gornisht, the GOP is in disarray" meme. These were the same outlets that said the Seahawks would be lucky to win three games this year. So yeah, I'm not buying that, either.

And with that, The Political Desk slouches off to the bar to have a few drinks and a good lie-down. See you next election.

More later, 

The Political Desk - The Jeff Recommends.

OK, we have the ballot before us, looking all the world like one of those standardized tests from Junior High. We fight the panic attack from filling in little dots, and marvel all those unopposed Judge positions. What do we have?

Advisory Vote No. 39 Engrossed Substitute Senate Bill 5974 - Maintained, with the standard kvetches. 

Advisory Vote No. 40 Engrossed Substitute House Bill 2076 - Maintained.

Charter Amendment No. 1 Even-Numbered Election Years for Certain County Offices - No, but you be you.

Proposition No. 1 Conservation Futures Levy - Approved

United States Senator - Patty Murray

United States Representative Congressional District No. 9 - Adam Smith

Secretary of State - Steve Hobbs

Legislative District No,. 11 Representative Position 1 - David Hackney

Legislative District No,. 11 Representative Position 2 - Steve Bergquist

So, get your ballots in by 8 November. There are drop boxes all over, and you can mail it without a stamp if you have it postmarked by 8 November. You can also register to vote up to election day as well. And yeah, we'll be nagging you as we go along. Now we return you to your regularly scheduled book, game, and play reviews. 

More later,

The Political Desk - State Offices

For the state offices, there is one biggie, along with two good incumbents for our legislature.

 Secretary of State. This position is in charge of our Elections, which has been doing a pretty damned fine job for the past few decades. One big reason for this was Republican Kim Wyman, who left to take a job with the Biden Administration. Gov. Inslee appointed Steve Hobbs to the position to fill out her term (There will be another election in 2024), and he's done well continuing Wyman's professionalism and expanding on it. His opponent is Julie Anderson, who is running as a non-partisan and packs solid experience as Pierce County Auditor. 

This is one of those situations where both candidates are good choices. I support Steve Hobbs for a very personal reason - he's a gamer. He plays TTRPGs, and when he was in the State House, not only supported the small independent game companies in the state, but also hosted sessions to teach other Representatives about role-playing games. I have always said that most of our laws need a good play-test session and development cycle before being enacted, and having someone in charge who knows that is a bonus.

The campaign has been incredibly polite and professional so far, and that is to both candidate's credit. Naturally, it cannot last. The official Republicans, who were shut out in the primary have rallied and chosen Brad Klippert, an "election-skeptic" who lost out in the primary, as a write-in candidate. Write-in candidates are a tough go, mainly because getting the word out is a challenge, and the only promotion I have seen so far has been news reports saying that it is a thing. The end result will likely be that Klippert drains off the not-a-Democrat vote from Anderson, and that Hobbs will take it with a plurality, not a majority.

Down-ballot, Legislative District 11 JUST nicks the corner of Kent that Grubb Street occupies. We have two good incumbents who are rounding out their rookie season with accomplishments, and deserve to keep their jobs. 

Legislative District No,. 11 Representative Position 1 David Hackney has been strong on climate and conservation, and deserves to be returned to office.

Legislative District No,. 11 Representative Position 2. High school teacher Steve Bergquist ran on education issues and has delivered as well. Yeah, let's keep him as well.

That it it for the State level.  Then we bounce back down to the County level for one position. More later, 

The Political Desk - Federal Offices

 Now we get to the meat of the situation - the headliners, the main events, the big kahunas. The Federal offices.

United States Senator. Patty Murray has been a strong voice in the Senate for the people in general and the people of Washington State in particular. The Stranger stans her pro-choice stands. The Times compares her to their political heroes Scoop Jackson and Warren Magnuson, She has done a lot in her 30 years, and deserves six more. Her opposition has been bog-standard modern Republican - no political office background, has purged her site of anti-choice language and election denialism, and is coy about her current opinions on those matter. Her campaign has the traditional Republican themes of fear and loathing, and she is running against Seattle, the local media, and coffee shops that are not Starbucks. So yeah, re-elect Patty Murray.

United States Representative Congressional District No. 9 . Like Patty Murray, Adam Smith has been around for a while. He's a member of both progressive and moderate caucuses, and he leans left on domestic matters. As the head of the Armed Services Committee (which is always referred to in print as the powerful Armed Services Committee), he's actually an old-school conservative, in that he wants to get his money's worth when we purchase new weapon systems. On merit alone, he deserves re-election. The Wiley Coyote to his Roadrunner in Doug Basler, talk-show host and Chamber of Commerce chairman who is on his fourth run for the position. So, Adam Smith (and I will put away my Invisible Hand jokes for now).

There are other, closer races, but they aren't on my ballot. Maybe that'll be another entry.

More later,

The Political Desk - Advisory Votes

 And the current feast of political choice starts out with an amuse-bouche ... broccoli!

Long-time readers know my opinions about Advisory Votes. The product of a semi-failed initiative which requires the state to ask about anything that even hints at an increase of revenue, but does not require them to do anything about it. The scare-language of the proposals makes it little more than a push-poll that lets people who hate taxes vent. So it's the therapy section of the ballot.

That said, it is nice to see a bit of transparency in our state legislature, so there's that. You really want to know what they're up to. We just need to find a better way to do it other than leading the ballot with this lead block of a vote.

Advisory Vote No. 39 Engrossed Substitute Senate Bill 5974 will increase the tax on aircraft fuel from 11 to 18 cents.  Will that cost get passed onto consumers? Probably. But then I have never known any business to drop prices as a result of getting a tax break, a subsidy, or a rate freeze. Vote Maintained. 

Advisory Vote No. 40 Engrossed Substitute House Bill 2076 will put premiums on ride-share operations to provide worker's comp to their gig employees. The ride-sharing companies are good with this. The unions are good with this. Oh yeah, I'm good with this. Vote Maintained.

And that's it - less than usual, but the fact that this sort of thing headlines the ballot may explain why a lot of people don't want to deal voting at all.

More later,