In 2009 I voted against an “education reform” bill that, amidst devastating cuts, promised fully-funding K-12 education by 2018. As I asked then, how could we expect future Legislatures to possess the courage of our convictions if even we didn’t possess that courage? The 2009 bill’s promise was to avoid litigation, now known as the…

*Number of U.S. households with food stamps cut $90/MO under farm bill: 850,000 *Number of those households in WA: 200,000 (23% of national total) *WA Congressional Democrats supporting cut: 6 of the 8 [all but Adam Smith and Jim McDermott] *WA Post Editorial: “[T]his legislative grotesquerie gives to the rich and takes from the poor.…

With politicians’ heavy thumbs upon the scale of the 777X decision, the Machinists have spoken. Again. In 1894, railroad magnate George Pullman crushed a strike, declaring that “workers have nothing to do with the amount of wages they shall receive; that is solely the business of the company.” Labor relations are much more genial today.…

In rejecting Medicaid expansion to serve the uninsured in the poorest, unhealthiest state, Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant piously urged eating better and exercising more (in a stranger-than-fiction twist, he then signed a law, pushed by a barbecue chain owner selling sandwiches called “L’il Piggies,” preventing restaurant calorie disclosure). Bryant has not objected, though, to the…

I am willing to believe the Obama Administration’s claim that the Syrian government used chemical weapons on Syrians. And anyone who has read about World War I chlorine and mustard gas casualties knows what a horror these weapons are, and understands that even war has its rules. Yet does crossing this “line” require a U.S.…

When arson hit an Olympia women’s health clinic, the clinic faced the loss of insurance coverage. Those trying to close churches and clinics through crimes such as arson and malicious mischief were abetted by insurance cancellations. Some celebrated the crimes. When I called the clinic arson an act of terror, the Virginia-based Army of God,…

Once again, it’s time to play, “Who lost Boeing?” Led by Rodney Tom, Senate Republicans blame Gov. Jay Inslee, and inaction on a labor-opposed workers’ compensation bill, for up to 375 engineering jobs moving to California. This is the same Jay Inslee who worked hard in Congress to secure an air refueling tanker contract for…

“He has written on the importance of fiscal discipline, the need to undertake entitlement reform sooner rather than later, the role of international trade in improving living standards, and the benefits of Wal-Mart in boosting living standards for low-income Americans.“– Far-right American Enterprise Institute praising President Obama’s choice as chief economic adviser. from the American…

It seems odds to look back at the 2005 legislative session, my first as a House member, as a pinnacle of progressivism.  After all, it was eight years ago.  George W. Bush was President. Yet consider: In 2003, legislative Democrats were routed by their own governor, Gary Locke, and a one-session Senate budget chair named…

Having ensured wife beaters have guns, crapped on rights of immigrants and women, tried to repeal industrial insurance, and cut the hell out of poor, Rodney Tom’s Senate is now triumphantly busying itself — through resolution primed by Tom’s handpicked budget vice chair Michael Baumgartner (Tea Party, Spokane) — honoring union-busting Margaret Thatcher for restoring…