It’s Down to the Wire Time in Washington State

On By rushbabe49In Authoritarianism, business, Crime and Punishment, Culture, Education, elections, government, Law and Justice, Media and the Internet, Media bias, Politics in the Age of Trump, Progressive "Thought", social media, Washington State Politics

The ballots have gone out. Most voters have received theirs, but some have not. Already this week, ballots have been found in a ditch, lost by the Postal Service (whom few trust anymore, due to multiple cases of lost or discarded ballots). Some people complain that they did not receive a Voters Pamphlet, which is supposed to explain ballot measures and have statements by and for candidates for office.

This election is momentous, due to the presence on the statewide ballot of an initiative to repeal the illegal income tax passed by the heavily-Democrat legislature. There are also FIVE Supreme Court positions in contest this year, all five incumbents having been appointed by the far-Left Governor, and most of whom are his former law partners. Nothing like two thumbs on the scale! I marked my ballot this evening, voting YES on all three initiatives. Here is what is being batted around on X this week.

Washington’s new income tax won’t take effect until 2028. The first returns aren’t due until 2029. It hasn’t collected a dime.

Repeal would eliminate projected future revenue, not cut money currently being collected for childcare.

That’s a real budget distinction.

If childcare is a priority, the Legislature can fund it through its spending decisions.

Instead, we’re being told that opposing a new income tax means opposing childcare.

It doesn’t.

And remember: The $1 million threshold and 9.9% rate are statutory. The Legislature can change them.

Don’t use children to sell a tax that can eventually reach their parents.

State Leaders and “child care advocates” (read: Public Employee Unions) are heavily promoting the so-called “millionaires tax’ which EVERYONE knows the Democrats have plans to apply to everyone in the state within two years. They can do it with a simple majority vote in the legislature, and they have already stated that they WILL do it.

Seattle is killing small and large businesses, just notice who has already telegraphed that they are reducing their presence in Seattle (Starbucks, Boeing, and many restaurants).

The entire voter’s pamphlet statement is a huge pack of lies.

BREAKING: Two more small businesses have ejected from Seattle’s Chinatown-ID.
Henry’s Taiwan and Seattle Herbs & Grocery officially closed this month after being long time staples at the corner of 12th Ave & Jackson St.
The owners blame socialist Mayor Katie Wilson’s inability to handle crime and homeless drug encampments in the area.
Property values are also plummeting, threatening to further destroy the core identity of this Asian American community.
I’m working on another update. Stay tuned.

He’s getting paid $15k per month for this by the NO campaign. “Yeah, basically our results suck, but keep giving them money and I’m sure it will get better!” Leading advocate for Housing First and Harm Reduction in Seattle. How’s that gone?

Quote

Ari Hoffman

To the 42,000 members of WFSE:

-Your contract has no general raise
-Earlier,Union leadership agreed with legislators to jettison the protections on your pension from the income-tax (they actually eliminated your pension exemption) and it doesn’t appear they informed you
-One week after you voted for the no raise contract, your union bosses wrote a $1.5 million check that ensures your pensions are still targets of the tax

But I am sure they just have your best interest at heart….

Vote YES on I-645, protect your pension and repeal the income tax

Public employee unions are the biggest supporters of the income tax.

Please do click the Play button above, it’s very instructive.

Speaking of public employee unions:

Washington State

DIRTY POLITICS

Washington Education Association (WEA) Teachers Union

WEA political spending tops $5 million

Plus the awkward business of elected officials asking for raises, a clarification on that Simmons piece, more on the Microsoft-backed PAC, and some recommended reading

By Paul Queary and Tim Gruver
The Washington Observer

Oct. 16, 2026

The Washington Education Association dropped $3.2 million into Washington State politics in the past six weeks, bringing the powerful teachers’ union’s total spending in the arena this year to more than $5 Million.

Here’s why you should care about this: We’ve been tracking the WEA’s influence on the state’s politics since the Observer’s earliest days, but this year is especially high-stakes. The union has been on a winning streak both politically and in the policy arena, most notably in the passage of the state’s new income tax on its highest earners. The lion’s share of state revenue winds up in teachers’ bank accounts, which means the tax can be viewed as particularly effective labor negotiation. They’re spending to make sure all of that sticks.

Here’s a look at their spending, per its latest filings with the Public Disclosure Commission.

At $3M, the WEA is the biggest donor to NO on I-645, the campaign against the initiative that would repeal the tax. As we’ve noted, that committee has a massive cash advantage over the campaign for the initiative.

They’ve sent $450,000 to New Direction, the PAC that works to preserve and grow the progressive Democratic majorities in the Legislature, which looks primed to win five or more seats currently held by Republicans. New Direction is also spending heavily to unseat a handful of Democratic lawmakers who opposed the income tax.

We initially dismissed this 2020 photo of then-Gov. Jay Inslee with WEA members on the statehouse steps as too old, but then we realized that it was posted by then-Attorney General Bob Ferguson as part of an effusive Facebook post about the union’s advocacy, which made it seem particularly on-point. (Photo courtesy of Ferguson’s Facebook page.)

The WEA poured an additional $350K into a sub-PAC of its own, Strong Schools PAC, which is playing in two key D-on-D matches. It’s backing incumbent Rep. Gerry Pollet, who faces an interesting challenger in Will Dreher in North Seattle’s 46th Legislative District. And most tellingly, it’s backing the challenge to House Education Committee Chair Sharon Tomiko Santos, the longest-serving member of the House, in South Seattle’s 37th LD.

It’s also given $210K to the Kennedy Fund, the PAC controlled by Senate Democrats, $200K to the Truman Fund, controlled by House Democrats, and $100K to Beware The Attack On Our Courts, a PAC supporting four sitting justices on the Supremes and one progressive candidate for an open seat on the court. Oh, and it made $2,400 double-maximum contributions to dozens of members of the Legislature.

Where does all this cash come from, you ask? Strength in numbers. Some of it comes from WEA-PAC, which wields voluntary donations from union members. The rest comes from the union’s regular coffers, which come from its members’ dues. There are some 90K members of the union, which works out to about $56 per member.

By comparison, Let’s Go Washington, the conservative initiative machine that is a frequent WEA antagonist, spent $3.9M putting three ballot measures, including the income tax repeal, on the ballot this year. But LGW is largely tapped out, moneywise, and appears to lack the financial resources to campaign heavily for the measures.

The WEA is already the 800-pound gorilla of Washington politics, but if things go its way next month, look for it to become even more dominant in the future.

PQ

Even the venerable Wall Street Journal is calling out the lies of the Washington Legislature and Press on the effects of the income tax, and who can really be expected to pay it. Note: It’s NOT just “millionaires.

And…

So you see, it’s down to the wire, Washington!!! Vote YES on all three Initiatives! And vote for the FIVE Supreme Court candidates who are NOT Fergie’s law partners!

PRESERVE YOUR LIBERTY, AND YOUR INCOME! VOTE YES!!

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