Political Desk: Primary Colors

 So, why are you taking so long to report this? 

Well, a big part of it is our mail-in ballot system. While we have strict limitations (the ballot has to postmarked or in a voting box by the 8 PM election day), it usually takes a couple days for the smoke to clear and results finalized. Plus, there are usually one or two results that a so close you have to wait to find out who wins. Older and conservative voters tend to vote early in the process, while more progressive types and young folk vote later, which can really swing results. And I think that this lack of instant gratification is a reason some folk don't care much for mail-ins, but I'm willing to wait for final results (I tend to look askance at exit polls, by the way).

In any event, there were few surprises out here. The big one is one I didn't talk about - a levy to support the Seattle Public Library system. It wasn't on my hyper-local ballot, so I didn't talk about it. The Seattle Times did talk about it, and said, "No Thanks".  Everyone else gave it an overwhelming "Yes" with 75% of the vote in favor. My only problem with all this - Why do we have to vote to raise money for overwhelmingly popular items for the greater good, while other budgetary matters (Like, oh, salaries of our elected officials) slip through without a second thought?

Anyway, here's the results from Grubb Street

US Representative District 9: Adam Smith (48%) vs Doug Basler.(29%). The more progressive candidates split the vote and the Republican talk-show host gets through for the third time. He's about topped out his final numbers from the last two runs, and there is little doubt it with tri-peat here. 

State Representative, District 11: David Hackney (43%) vs Ashley Fedan (31%). Both are Democrats. The third candidate in this race was a Republican, so it is likely those votes will swing to Hackney.

King County Assessor: Robert Foxcurran (47%) vs ....? At the time of this writing, Dominique Scarimbolo is at 19.17% and Christopher Roberts is at 18.69%. This one will continue to hang fire for a while, but it is worth noting that Scarimbolo got no endorsements, raised no funds, did little active campaigning, and was running on a platform of "Property Taxes Suck". So it is interesting to see how this one will play out. 

Washington State Supreme Court:

Position 1: Colleen Melody (53%) vs Scott Edwards (29%)

Position 3: David Stevens (35%) vs Jaime Michael Hawk (33%)

Position 5: Theo Angelis (36%) vs. Sharonda Amamilo (32%)

Position 7: Debra Stephens (54%) vs Todd Bloom (27%)

The only note I have on the above is that 50%+ for a nonpartisan position is pretty solid for the upcoming general election. 

And with that we close the rolltop on the Political Desk for a few weeks until things heat up for the general, and go back to talking about games, books, and theater. 

More later,

The Political Desk: Summing up a Summer Primary

 What, that's it?

Yep, this year's primary is kinda quiet. The biggest ticket is US Rep for us up in the Panther Lake area, and we're looking for a replacement for County Assessor, as well as a slew of State Supreme Court candidates. 

Here are my recommendations. You don't have to  pay attention to them, and I encourage you to make your own decisions. One of the great advantages of mail-in ballots is that it gives you the chance to deliberate as opposed to being in a voting booth facing a bunch of strange names and no idea what to do. 

There are whole slew of other people's endorsements and recommendations, but I recommend people start with the Voter's Guide, which allows the candidates to present themselves in their own words (or their approved words). Sometimes its a great place to see red flags, or to reveal their personal story or preferences. You want to see who is giving money to the various candidates? Check out the Public Disclosure Commission here.

The two big sets of media endorsements are:

The Stranger. which tends to be lefty loosie, swung more away from progressive candidates this time around. Their arguments can be a little loose, and they often do not get this far south of the city.

The Seattle Times goes a little more righty-tighty, but aims at centrist and pro-business. Oddly, they've currently got their recommendations behind a paywall, which is just dumb.

And I should note that here you can find a summary of the two major papers, with notes about where they agree with each other.

Other than that?

The Urbanist does a damned fine job summing up the races and covers a lot of the races that the mains don't deal with.

Washingtonsupremecourt.org does a great job summarizing the state of the state's supreme court, 

The Fuse Progressive Voters Guide weighs in, giving their choices and why other candidates may not have made the cut. Here's the link for King County, but you can search around for other locations as well. 

The Lefty Cheat Sheet does a good job gathering together all of the endorsements of the center-to-left crowd, for your viewing enjoyment.

The Sierra Club's notes are here. The state GOP talks about their chosen judges here. The King County Dems talk here. 

And with all of that out of the way, here's what I put down. You can find my rationale and rationalizations in the earlier entries.

US Representative District 9: Adam Smith 

State Representative, District 11: Ashley Fedan

King County Assessor: Robert Foxcurran

Washington State Supreme Court:

Position 1: Colleen Melody 

Position 3: Mike Diaz

Position 5: Theo Angelis

Position 7: Debra Stephens

And that's it for me. The deadline is 4 August, and I strongly advise voting early because of all the craziness at the National Level. And if you no longer trust the post office, here is a link with your friendly neighborhood voting drop-offs.

OK,  I went to all the trouble of providing all the links. Now go out there and vote!

More later,

The Political Desk: The Supremes

 This, surprisingly, is the big ticket item for this election. Washington State Supreme Court judges are elected as opposed to appointed, and we have no less than five races going on right now for nine positions. This site does a pretty good job laying out the state of the court, along with their websites, cash raised, and endorsements. And the more conservative factions in the state are throwing some cash behind the more conservative candidates who are running. Because one thing we need in this country are more conservative judges.

We have five positions up this year. One has just two candidates, so is not on your ballot, and is to fill an open slot from mandatory retirement (something else WA state does for its justices). Two are special elections for positions that have been temporarily filled. One is an open seat because of a retiring judge, and the last one is just a regular election. The candidates are:

Position 1: Colleen Melody was appointed at the start of this year to replace the retiring Mary Yu. However, she's shown her chops and her law, impressing the Times and even the persnickety folks at The Stranger with the depth of her legal knowledge. So, yeah, Colleen Melody.

Position 3: The current incumbent is not seeking re-election. Mike Diaz comes with a hole heaping pack of experience, endorsements, and knowledge. Yeah, he knows his stuff.

Position 4: The current incumbent has hit mandatorily retirement. This position has just two candidates, so I'll save any comments for the general, except to note that the Lovely Bride worked very hard not to accidentally skewer one of the candidates at the recent Mercer Island parade. But that's a story for another time.

Position 5: Theo Angelis is another appointment, replacing retiring Barbara Madsen. He's still the new kid here, but I'm going to recommend him in any event. Sharonda Amamilo is also good.

Position 7: Chief Justice Debra Stephens is up for re-election, and, well, she's done a good job over all these years. Yeah, let's keep her. 

And that's it. One more post, and we'll be done.

More later, 

The Political Desk: State Positions

 After the single Federal-level position on my ballot, we slip quickly down to the list to the State Legislature. We're in the 11th Legislative District, which overlaps the heart of the 9th Congressional, and includes Tukwila and Renton and just the northern tip of Kent. We're in the northern tip, while the rest of Kent is split between the 33rd and 47th., so yinz folk will have to look elsewhere.

In elections with an incumbent, you are often looking at an asymmetric conflict. The incumbent has experience, imbedded access to the mechanisms of politics, a set of previous endorsements, and a track record in that job (which can be good or bad or sometimes both). They also have been in touch with their constituents throughout their term through mail and emails (and yes, I DO read those). Challengers, on the other hand, often benefit from the fact that they DON'T have a track record in that particular position, and can ofter their intent for once they get into office. They may often have applicable experience in the "real" world (as opposed to politics). 

Anyway, there are two representative positions in the state legislature for each district (and a state senator, but that positions is not up for a vote this time). Position 1 has three candidates:

David Hackney is the incumbent, a Democrat that has done very well in the position over the past few terms. I would put his highpoints as his recent vote for the the "millionaire's tax" and one requiring base qualifications for sheriffs. He's pushed transparency in government as well. He's pushed anti-fraud bills but they have not progressed through the chambers yet, so that's a work in progress.

Ashley Fedan is his Democratic Party challenger, a former Navy Nurse (Lt. Commander in the nursing corps). She was a precinct committee officer for the 11th District, and is running on health gace, housing and pro-working families and pro-union. That's a good platform.

Christian Rombourgh is the Republican, which I think is a good thing because most of the GOP has given up King County for dead. Christian is an ironworker who demands real accountability, reducing red tape, supporting good-paying jobs, supporting trade unions and defending working peoples. Good approach, to be honest. His web site, alas, is still under construction as I write this. 

It feels like, when the dust settles, it is going to be Hackney against Fedan, a choice between two very good candidates. I'm going to recommend Ashley Fedan, at least for the Primary.

Also, there's Position 2, which has a single candidate - incumbent Steve Berquist. This blog does not pass on endorsements for single candidates, but just between you and me, Berquist has bee doing a good job, so I'm not too bent out of shape about him not having competition this time around.

More later,

The Political Desk: US Rep. 9th District

The biggest prize on my ballot is the US Representative, 9th District. The 9th runs from Bellevue and Mercer Island down to Federal Way and Auburn and has an incredibly diverse population, strong ties to Boeing, and includes SeaTac airport.

The incumbent is Adam Smith. Nope, not the 18th Century economic philosopher, but the 30-year Democratic incumbent. He's usually challenged from the right, but most recently from the left. He is currently the head of the House Armed Services committee. He's of the Centrist Moderate breed, but has been against a swollen military budget, against the war/conflict/whatever with Iran, and has most recently come out in favor of impeaching the President. By the same token, he's partially responsible for Trump retaking the White House in 2024 by being a leading voice in advising President Biden not to run for re-election. So now we have a guy in charge who is in even worse physical and mental condition (while Biden, when he pops up in public view, is looking pretty spry for a dude fighting cancer).

His big opponent is Kshama Sawant, socialist and former member of the Seattle City Council. As a member of council, she led the charge for raising the minimum wage in Seattle. She's also a passionate firebrand who has been disciplined and arrested on occasion for public protests. The Stranger likes her because she does not play well with others and throws elbows. [Addendum: After initially posting this, I was reminded that Sawant refused to endorse Kamala Harris last Presidential election, instead popping for the Green Party candidate. So if I'm going to gripe about Smith for damaging his party's chances, its only fair to be broad-based.]

Also to the left of Mr. Smith is Melissa Chaudhry, who ran against Smith the last time and is running a grassroots campaign. She's anti-ICE (for good reason - her husband was picked up in the sweeps - she fought against them in court and won). She's also admitted that she's running as a Democrat for the primaries, and should she win, she'll switch over to the Green Party. She's an excellent candidate, but that gives me a little pause.

We also has a Socialist Workers Party candidate Jacob Perasso, who supports, well, worker's rights, and his other position (opposing the whatever in Iran. infrastructure, Ukraine) all comes from that basis. There hasn't been a lot of noise about his campaign.

Finally, we're looking at the lone Republican, Doug Basler, who pushes the idea of "common sense, moderation, and "practical solutions in a highly charged political environment" in his voter's write-up, without mentioning that his previous election-denying conspiracies as conservative talk-show host, he contributed to that high charging. 

As a gamer, I'm looking at Mr. Smith, holding the most moderate position, carrying through the general, and since we have three candidates to the left, and one candidate to the right, it is likely the more progressive votes will splinter and it will be Smith vs Basler, where the republican candate gets about a third of the total votes. 

As a voter? A lot of pundits are going for "No choice" so far here, but I'm going to put my counter on Adam Smith. Not because I agree with him on everything, or forgive him for past mistakes, but because he actually sounds like he's listening to his constituents and representing them accordingly. 

More later, 

The Political Desk: The Primary Madness Begins

 All right, he says, rolling up his sleeves. Let's do this.

This time of year, I descend into madness and talk about upcoming elections, chasing off those readers who are expecting theatre reviews, book reviews, and the occasional cavalcade of new game releases. I've been doing it for twenty-five years now, so why stop now?

And, for people who have just stumbled onto this site, I have rules, because what are we as a civilization if we don't have rules?

• I comment on races that are on my personal ballot. And those are for the northern portion of Kent, Washington, that includes Panther Lake, on the East Hill. And I like it that way. I mean, who am I to tell you what to do with your vote if I don't have skin in the game? And while I will on occasion dabble in elections beyond my normal ken, I try to keep it to a minimum. 
• For the primaries, I ignore races which have only two candidates, usually. Washington State is a top two primary state, which means that top two vote-getters go ahead to the general election. That has a tendency to reduce (but not eliminate) the power of traditional political parties. Now, they have money and the ability to get their message out, but that's not always the case. Further, because it is top-two, we often see two Democrats (and rarely two Republicans, but it happens) vying for a position.
• I really want to put good people in office. You know, folks who will do the job, even if they don't agree with me on every point. I further like people who are willing to listen to opposing viewpoints, and maybe, maybe see their own viewpoints altered as a result. And for a bunch of offices, we don't even list who is the official Dem/GOP candidate, so you have to do your own digging and see who is endorsing who.
• I don't post these on Facebook, Bluesky, or the other socials, because these are frankly my opinions and I don't feel like splattering them over the joint (there are enough people already doing that sort of this - go have at!). So if you want the very-local political dirt, you have to tune in here to this station. 
• I give other references, though that number has subsided in recent years, much to my frustration (I really miss the Municipal League). The Seattle Times tends to lean towards pro-business, centrist views, though they have a new publisher, who is son of the old publisher. The Stranger also has a new publisher (and is looking for a new editor-in-chief), and usually swings to the left, though this year they don't like much of anyone because even the progressives don't tick all their boxes. There are a few others out there, like the The Urbanist, which endorses on a wide swath of offices and for the serious lefties among you, the Lefty Cheat Sheet compiles all the various endorsements (unions, blogs, newspapers) in one place. We also get a voter's guide, which should help as well, since all the entries are penned by the candidate, or at least by candidate's people, and while there is a high percentage of "I'm honored to serve you" type of statements, there are often red flags and windows into dark souls in that mess.

Now, Washington is mail-voter state, which means you get a ballot, you fill it out, and you mail it back (or drop it off in one of a number of drop-boxes).  I think that works. When I first moved here, we had more traditional voting, where you had to take time off whatever you were doing that day and get to a polling location. We were in Rush precinct, and the polling location was at the bottom of the hill at Meeker School. I would pop in before I went to work and would be voter #3. The Lovely Bride would show up in early afternoon and be voter #16. So, yeah, I like getting more people voting, even if they don't vote the way I want them to.

Now, some of our conservative brethren are not wild about this state of affairs. They love elections, mind you, but of the authoritarian breed, where there is one official candidate, selected for you in advance, and only certain people are permitted to vote. And opposition candidates tend to get arrested, exiled, or fall out of dangerously unsafe windows. They've already tried to get an initiative this year where they can go through the voting roles and get rid of folk they don't like (which failed to get enough signatures to get on the ballot this fall, so I'd say it wasn't popular). On the National Level they've been trying to convince people that Trump won in 2020 (they've lost 60 court cases so far trying to prove that) and want the Post Office to stop delivering ballots to your home, and to stop counting those ballots if the Post Office doesn't postmark them in time. So vote early folks, while you still have the chance.

And that's about it. We are on a fairly tight schedule here  - the due date is 4 August, which is right around the corner. So let's blow through the ones on my ballot and I can get back to talking about collectable quarters.

More later, 

Faceplant

You know, I don't talk a lot about my personal life around here, but this one was an adventure, so I'll share.

Last Saturday, the Lovely Bride and I went to Bainbridge Island, which is across the Sound from Seattle. We were invited to a friend's housewarming party and decided to make a day of it. So after our Saturday morning Tai Chi class we changed out of our uniforms and headed into downtown Seattle to catch the ferry. There was no FIFA soccer game that day, and the Pride parade was going to be Sunday, so it was a pretty straight shot, and after about an hour's wait on the Seattle side, we drove onto the Wenatchee ferry and headed to Bainbridge.

And Bainbridge was pretty classy, though we only saw a small fraction of it this time. We had lunch at poke place in a converted gas station not too far from the ferry docks, and took in the Bainbridge Island Art Museum, a small museum with very nice paper and fabric art.

And then ...

I missed stepping up onto a curb while crossing back to the parked car. I pitched forward, and had my hand in my pocket, fishing out the car keys so I could not catch myself. I went down like a sack of wet cement at the side of the road, my head bouncing off the asphalt and driving the frame of my now-broken glasses into my eyebrow. 

There was blood. A lot of blood. And a lot of concerned, helpful passers-by who helped me to my feet and suggested calling an ambulance. The LB and I got back to the car, and I ruined one of her handkerchiefs mopping up blood while she found the nearest urgent care on her phone. We went there, expecting to get cleaned up and maybe a few stitches for the eyebrow.

Instead ...

Due to my age and the fact that I had a bit of resistance turning my head to the right, they put me into an immobilizing collar and popped me into an ambulance bound for Silverdale, which was the closest ER. That took about twenty minutes, and was the first time I was conscious in an ambulance. Not bad. At the ER, they did a battery of tests on me - an MRI which showed I had no concussion, an x-ray that said I had extreme arthritis in my right hand, and an ultrasound that determined I had no blood clots in my right leg (though I still have a pain in the front quad muscle there, but I had that before I stage-dived on the road). And then they cleared the asphalt fragments out of my wounds, closed the eyebrow gash with some glue, bandaged me up and sent me on my way.

At this point, the shortest route home was south through Tacoma, so we stopped at the Lobster Shop for a pleasant meal (The LB had refitted my glasses together enough that I was presentable, though of course she was driving by that point). And since then, I've been at home, self-medicating on Tylenol and rum & colas and taking my meetings in on slack and zoom.

And that's about it. The only interesting note was that the Lovely B was really impressed with Bainbridge, and liked the idea of "island life", right up to the point that she found out the nearest hospital was a half-hour drive away. That cooled her ardor a bit.  But in the mean time, I'm still working from home and concentrating on healing up.

And that's my story, and I'm sticking to it. 

More later, 

The Political Desk: Results

 I often use the term "hanging fire" in reporting these results. The term means a delay between an action and the results of that action. It comes from firearms, in that there is sometimes a delay between pulling the trigger and fully igniting the combustible gunpowder in the bullet itself. The delay in modern firearms may be a second or two, which is enough to cause the barrel to move off target and the shot to miss. In earlier muzzle-loading firearms, the gunpowder behind the cotton wad and solid bullet may not ignite immediately, with the same effect. In even earlier firearms like flintlocks, the gunpowder is on a pan external to the gun, and the powder may ignite with a bright flash but do nothing to fire the weapon. That's where we get the term "flash in a pan". 

And this is how the term applies to voting in Washington State. Ballots here need to be turned in at ballot boxes by 8 PM, or postmarked by midnight of election day in order to be counted. Older and more conservative voters tend to vote early in the process, while younger and more liberal voters tend to vote later. So if the race is close, it may be several days before the smoke clears (hey, another firearms allusion) and we get to see what happened. 

Case in point - Seattle Mayor. Progressive candidate Katie Wilson versus more centrist Bruce Harrell. On election night and the first drop of ballots, Harrell is up 54-46 percent, which in most terms would mean victory. But, late voters tend to skew further to the left. BUT this is an off-year election, and participation is often less than the big-ticket elections. AND there is a greater chance that last-minute mail-ins will not be postmarked in time because they've been gutting the post office (and announced laying off another 30k staffers because, you know, Christmas is such a slow season for the post office). In any event, I think that it will tighten up, and may even be a squeaker, but incumbent Harrell will stay mayor. [Edit - I wrote that paragraph on Wednesday after the election. A week later Katie Wilson not only caught up but passed Bruce Harrell (50-49.5). It may STILL require a machine recount (within 0.5% of total vote) and ultimately depend on verifying challenged ballots and counting late overseas-but-still-postmarked ballots, but it looks like Wilson made up an 8-point early debit to win.]

(And lest we think it that such a comeback was the result of mail-in voting, when I lived in Kenosha County, the initial election results (from Kenosha and Racine) showed huge margins for the Democratic candidates, from the urban vote, and the networks would declare it a win for the more conservative Republicans accounting for when the expected larger rural vote that would show up later. And they would be right.)

But let's look at the ballot at Grubb Street. This is as of Tuesday night, a week after the election.

Proposed Constitutional Amendment: Senate Joint Resolution No. 8201 (Amend the state constitution to let elderly care funding play the stock market as opposed to just investing in bonds): Approved 56-42 statewide. In King County the margin was 71-29.

King County Proposition No. 1 Medic One - Emergency Medical Services Replacement of Existing Levy: Yes 81-19

King County Public Hospital District No. 1 Proposition No. 1 Levy Lid Lift for Health Care Services: Approved 58-42

King County Executive: Girmay Zahilay 54-45.  The first night's count had it closer (50-48), but this was a choice between two good, similar candidates. 

Metropolitan King County Council District No. 5: Stephanie Fain 55-44 (This blog gave Fain the most tepid of recommendations, then her opponent pretty much flamed out with misleading claims and conservative backing.)

City of Kent Council Position No. 2: Satwinder Kaur  62-37.

City of Kent Council Position No. 6: Sharn Shoker 50-49 This blog endorsed her opponent in the primary but switched to Shoker in the general election, Then didn't mention it in the final summary. The management regrets the error. This is another close one, where Andy Song led the first night, then Shoker caught up and passed. So this one was Hanging Fire (see above). Unlikely that this content will come down to a recount, but this was another case of two good candidates.

Kent School District No. 415 Director District No. 4: Teresa Gregory 58-40

Kent School District No. 415 Director District No. 5: Laura Williams 65-34

Total voting in King County ran about 45% of registered voters, with a large percentage being turned in at ballot drops. 

OK, that's it. I'm going back to theatre reviews and talking about games, but I will pop back should anything change.

More later,

The Political Desk: Kent

 So, Kent. My home town. We're a community in the Green River valley, South of Seattle tucked between Renton and Auburn. Most of the industry (light) and government are in the valley floor, along with the large mallish Kent Commons, but spilling up both the East and West Hills (Grubb Street is on the East Hill, in the Panther Lake area, which was sucked up by the city more than a decade ago). It's a very diverse community, and ranges from mildly urban through suburban to exurban, particularly as you move towards the growth boundary to the East. The town was originally known to settlers as White River (before that river was diverted to the south), then Titusville (after a local settler), and finally settled on Kent, since it became a major producer of hops, which at the time weren't doing so well in the original Kent, England.

Anyway.

Most of the positions in Kent are unopposed, but there are a few contested races. Here's a quick guide:

City of Kent Council Position No. 2. The incumbent and current president of the council is Satwinder Kaur, who has done a good job and pacts and ton of endorsements, including the mayor and the rest of the council. We've endorsed her before, and she's helped see Kent through a lot of challenges. Her opponent is Neet Grewel, who is running on "Cleaning Up Kent", which is a nice play on her first name (Neet. Clean. Yeah). She says a lot of good and proper things in her Candidate statement, but adds to it support for AI and crypto (which is concerning, but not part of the job she wants) and espouses anti-vac propaganda on her socials (which is concerning and may have an effect on the job she wants). And the Kaur campaign has sent out pictures of her having out at Marlago and hobnobbing with RFK Jr. So, yeah, I'm going with Satwinder Kaur.

City of Kent Council Position No. 6. We're back in the same position of hard, good choices. Sharn Shoker and Andy Song are both at the progressive end of the political spectrum. Shoker is a director of a Seattle-based non-profit, while Song is the present head of the Kent School Board. Both are good, and I recommended Song in the primary. But looking at it again, I'm going to say take a good look at Sharn Shoker for this position.

Kent School District No. 415 Director District No. 4 Teresa Gregory is the incumbent, but only for a little while, but has done a good job so far.  Her opponent doesn't even have a web site to make her views widely known. The school district is facing budget cuts because of hacked federal funding, and I think I want Teresa Gregory there to make the decisions.

Kent School District No. 415 Director District No. 5 Laura Williams is a veteran teacher and union leader with a fistful of endorsements and a plan for the future. Her opponent does not have a website, so my only exposure is through her candidate statement, which has some red flags and conservative dog whistles. So, yeah, Laura Williams.

And that's it. Now we sum up. More later,

The Political Desk: County Positions and Tough Choices

 I've got two county races to decide on my ballot. One is for County Executive, the other for Position No. 5 on the Council. And these are the most frustrating items on the ballot for me, in that there is no bad choice for one, and no great choice for the other.

Both are open positions, in that their predecessors have gone on to other things. Dow Constantine was the County Executive forever, and moved on to head up Sound Transit. Dave Upthegrove was on the council for position 5, but was elected to run the Department of Natural Resources. And the thing is, either one could have just stayed - it is harder to vote an incumbent off the council than just wait for natural erosion. Reagan Dunn, the conservative counselor from district 9, has been there ever since his mom got him the posting, and they have even redrawn the borders of his district to keep him. 

Anyway,

King County Executive has two very competent and talented candidates. They are both former council members themselves, and they are both in the progressive category. They're voting records are pretty much identifcal. The good news is you're going to get someone worthwhile. The bad news is you have to choose. 

Claudia Balducci is a former mayor of Bellevue, and has been instrumental in pushing mass transit, including getting the Eastside line running, even though it not connected with the rest of Seattle. She has experience and a reputation for getting things done. Girmay Zahilay rose from incredibly humble beginnings, clerked in the Obama administration, and has leaned hard in renter protection, first responders, and increasing the minimum wage.

 Both are solid politicians: Balducci has the experience, while Zahilay has the endorsements. The Times recommended Balducci in a meek endorsement that summed up everything they hated about the council, but hopes that Balducci could fix it. The Stranger went in for Zhahily in part because Balducci has been courting the moderate/centrist wing of the party. But neither are radicals.

Me? I'll opt for Claudia Balducci, but to be honest, either one would do a fine job.

Metropolitan King County Council District No. 5 has the opposite problem, in that neither of the two candidates, Peter Kwon or Stephanie Fain, feel like particularly good fit, and brows are furrowed about what happens when either gets in. Kwon is a former council-person from SeaTac, while Fain has ben president of the Harborview Medical Center's Board of Trustees for 5 terms.

 In their attack mailers, both have accused the other of being Republicans in sheep's closing. Kwon is getting the support of the local Republicans, while Fain is married to a former GOP State Rep who stepped down over accused sexual improprieties. Kwon also said one thing to the Republicans, and another to Planned Parenthood (which pulled their support, but he hasn't admitted it yet). Fain has deep pockets supporting her. Kwon has the experience, while Fain has the endorsements, including getting the nod from both the Times and the Stranger, though it sounds like the Stranger is whistling past the graveyard on this one. 

Regardless, whomever gets the nod will likely be more in the centrist camp than a progressive force. Fain, though, is pushing healthcare, while Kwon underlines effectiveness in moving things forward without new taxes. Both sound like rational human beings and capable leaders, so that's good. I'm going to go in for hope this time, and recommend Stephanie Fain, though my opinion has changed three times as I wrote the past three paragraphs. Yeah, democracy is a challenge, sometimes. 

And that's the toughest decision for me on this ballot. Next up, we get specific with the City of Kent, my home town.

More later,

The Political Desk: Ballot Measures

 Let me whine just a bit. Our election processes allows us to vote on finances. SOME finances. Not the whopping 10% sales tax, but rather situations where we are asked to weigh in on public goods and services which most of us like. So we DON'T get to vote directly on things like, say, salaries for elected officials, putting electronic billboards on the sidewalks, or creating a AI-powered holographic Dr. Martin Luther King to talk to you about breakfast (not making that one up). But we DO get to vote on things like EMTs, Hospitals, and care for the elderly.  Which makes me roll my eyes just a tad.

Anyway ...

Proposed Constitutional Amendment: Senate Joint Resolution No. 8201 This is to change our state constitution to allow the government to play the stock market to help fund WA Cares for elderly care. Good plan, but it admittedly has risks, in that the stock market (or just the part of the stock market that you've invested in) can go down as well as up. Most of these funds are invested in bonds, since they are more stable (but lower-paying) Most recently the markets have trended upwards, but they have been highly volatile because, well, you know. On the other hand, the State Investment Board has been pretty cagey do date about investments, so they aren't exactly getting into AI and crypto. I'm going with an Approved on this one, but it becomes one more thing to keep an eye on.

King County Proposition No. 1 Medic One - Emergency Medical Services Replacement of Existing Levy This is a replacement for an expiring levy, and lowers the rate on the property taxes (but will raise more funds because your property value has likely gone up). Its for EMTs and 911 calls. No one even filed an entry against it. So, yeah, I'm good for that. Vote YES.

King County Public Hospital District No. 1 Proposition No. 1 Levy Lid Lift for Health Care Services  This is Valley Medical, which is about 2 miles from here, and the ER/OR that we use (most recently for the Lovely Bride's shoulder replacement). This will allow them to raise more money for operations and capital improvements. Yeah, I'm down with it. Go with Approved.

That's it for the funding issues - on to the candidates.

More later,

The Political Desk: Rush To Judgement

 So, the ballots have finally landed here on Grubb Street for the 4 November election. It is an off-off-year election, which means in general that things are pretty quiet. Now, we are electing a Mayor in Seattle (which I can't vote for) and a new County Executive (which I DO vote for), but there are not a lot of races this year, and many of them (local races, judges) have no listed opposition. 

One thing that is a new wrinkle, though, is the strong recommendation you get your votes in early this year, particularly if you are mailing them in. Mail-in ballots are great, because you aren't stranded in a voting booth wondering who the heck these people are. However, the Post Office has been gutted in recent years by stupid conservative policies, which consists of gutting a public service and then complaining that it can't do its job. But what this means in this case is that if you drop your ballot in the mailbox on November 4, there is no guarantee that it is going to be postmarked in time. And the postmark is the final line.

So, either vote early, or drop it off at one of the many handy drop boxes we have in King County by 8 PM on the 4th. Of course, as a result of stupid conservative policies, this one hurts areas (mostly rural) that don't have accessible ballot drop offs, and where conservatism is stronger. So it hurts themselves, so you should vote early in any event.

This year is also different in that I have received a huge number of mailers. which range from brightly colored declarations of why you should vote for me, to somber, red and black warnings about how horrible the other candidate is (often on opposite sides of the same mailer). In particular, I got a set of identical mailers for me, the Lovely Bride, and both of us from a bunch of 2nd-place candidates in Burien who have unified under the "Enough is Enough!" banner (As an aside, I don't live in Burien, and cannot even see it from my house). The fact that this organization is wasting money sending mailers to people who cannot vote for them indicates to me that no one should trust them with their communities' money. And yeah, this is another dig at stupid conservative policies. Not really stupid, but definitely incompetent as well.

I'm going to roll through my ballot in the next few days. I WON'T be covering races that have only one candidate, which this year is goodly number of positions, including the Mayor of Kent, the three Port of Seattle positions, one of the City of Kent Council Positions, some judges, and the Water/Sewer and Hospital district commissioners. So you lot can take a long lunch hour to celebrate, then get back to work.

Those voting should also have gotten Voters' Guides for King County (the thick one) and Washington State (the skinny one). They can be found here as well, which allows you to see pro and anti statements on the ballot measures as well as the candidates presenting themselves in their own words. 

Should you vote the way I indicate? Of course not! Here are a bunch of other folk's opinions. Here is the Seattle Times. Here The Stranger sounds off. Here is the Urbanist's recommendations, and here is a listing for the progressive FUSE site. For the kids, here's the UWDaily's notes. Crosscut, which has posted in the past, no longer has the manpower to muster any opinions. See earlier comments on stupid conservative policies. 

AND you don't even have to wait for me to wade through all this. Go grab you ballot by the ovals and go vote. Time is surprisingly of the essence! 

More 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: Mild Court Press

Now I'm working more in the dark. There used to be a site called Voting for Judges which served as an excellent aggregator of  endorsements from the various groups interested in judges (like the various bar associations). That site is no longer in operation, and general political coverage tends to be a bit scattershot.

A lot of court positions are elected in Washington State this time, but the vast bulk of them are unopposed. So congrats to all the Justices who are lonely in their ballot box. I'm not going to do the research on you, not even for entertainment purposes. We have only two races that have any competition.

State Supreme Court, position 2 - The Seattle Times bemoans the fact that court positions are officially non-partisan, but the final choices are from a Democratic-supported candidate and a GOP-supported one. Because the position is non-partisan, but the candidates are not. Still, they (and 8 out of 9 other Supreme Court justices) support Sal Mungia, a lawyer out of Tacoma with a strong resume, solid endorsements from the legal community and a good track record on civil rights. OK, I can go for this. 

Superior Court Position 41 - Even less information than the State Supreme Court. The Times doesn't cover the race. The Stranger uses the space to mostly campaign against the established court system. Still, Paul M. Crisalli has gotten a hatfull of endorsements, including all the current State Supreme Court justices and 53 of his judicial colleagues on the King County Superior Court. So yeah, I can go for this.

More 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: 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,