Washington Liberals

Too often, policies are blind to the true impact they have on low-income and communities of color. Well-intended hopes can result in disastrous outcomes when the voices of those most affected are not included or considered. Here at EOI, we believe in the power of everyone coming to the table to have a stronger collective…

The Spokesman review is reporting: SEATTLE (AP) — A King County Superior Court judge is scheduled to hear oral arguments Friday over the constitutionality of Washington’s new charter school law. A coalition of parents, educators and community groups say it violates the state Constitution by diverting public school dollars to private organizations that are not…

On a trip to Olympia on Friday, I saw outside the capitol protesters dressed in red advocating for more tolerant treatment of medical marijuana. This woman explained to me that she needs to take special breeds of marijuana for her medical condition; recreational marijuana that the state has legalized will likely not have the correct…

Virtually Speaking reports that Washington State’s Darcy Burner played an important role in Harry Reid’s move to fix the Senate filibuster. Click here to hear filibuster experts Joan McCarter and David Waldman’s analysis.  Listen from 10:30 to hear the discussion of Darcy’s role. Here’s an excerpt: To me Darcy Burner was instrumental in moving us…

Steve Zemke and I went to Olympia on Friday and met, briefly or longer, with about a dozen legislators, including Maralyn Chase, Bob Hasegawa, Gayle Tarleton, Frank Chopp, Reuven Carylye, Cindy Ryu, Joe Fitzgibbon, Judy Clibborn, and Tana Senn.  We spoke about tax fairness and accountability for tax loopholes. We had in-depth discussions with a…

At last night’s meeting of the 41st LD Democrats there was a discussion about how to attract more people to become PCOs and about how to get more existing PCOs to attend meetings and work on campaigns. The discussion began with the question: what’s the purpose of the 41st LD Dems? One guy said: to…

So how about that $8.7 billion tax give-away Boeing just received to build the 777X? We have been here before. In 2003, the Legislature excused Boeing from $4 billion in taxes, in order to build the 787 in our state. What happened to that $4 billion? Over $1 billion was used to construct a copycat…

By Tom Harvey, www.sltrib.com Above photo: (Jim McAuley | The Salt Lake Tribune) Bill Moyer, executive director of the Backbone Campaign, and Raphael Cordray of the Utah Tar Sands Resistance speak to demonstrators gathered to protest the Trans-Pacific Partnership talks at the Grand America Hotel in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, November 19, 2013. Note: The…

WHEREAS, Washington State relies on the sales tax, the Business & Occupation Tax, and property taxes to fund  state government (see A Citizen’s Guide to the Washington State Budget); WHEREAS, sales taxes are regressive — meaning that the middle class and the poor pay a higher proportion of their income in sales tax than do…