The counties that make up Western Washington, dominated by Seattle-majority King County, have drawn the entire state toward the Hard Left for decades. This tendency has accelerated lately, with big corporations and small businesses closing down or leaving the state entirely. The dark cloud of the so-called “Millionaires Tax” that is really in Income Tax aimed at most taxpayers, looms over every news story and individual or corporate decision. The election of Socialist incompetent Mayor Katie Wilson has Seattle lurching ever-farther Left, and has led to a rise in homeless tents on sidewalks and in parks; higher taxes for transit and social housing on the ballot; and an increasingly-stretched Police Department being unable to catch criminals in a timely manner.
Leftist judges in King County have continued their string of repeat offenders being let go with low or no bail, and there was a story this week about a judge letting the juvenile gunman who murdered people at the Bite of Seattle in July, go home on “home detention” (which has proven totally ineffective with criminals cutting their plastic leg-irons and disappearing). Here is some of what is going on.
And about that homeless problem…
NEW: Socialist Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson admits the current response to the city’s homeless drug crisis isn’t working.
But she’s doubling down on the failed Housing First approach and working with the same players in the regions’s homeless industrial complex that presided over the past decade of failure
And, on the Income Tax Front:
April Berg says the income tax is “not to tie the hands of future legislators.”
That should concern every Washington taxpayer.
A $1 million threshold today. But what about tomorrow?
Washington doesn’t need another tax. We need accountability for the money already collected.
Audit Before Ask.
Raise the bar. Not your taxes.
🗳️ Vote Tonya Stadlman | LD44
Berg is my neighbor.
Threats and Intimidation are common, with the Left doing all of it. It’s who they are.
Violence Threats and Intimidation Don’t Belong in WA I was supposed to speak today at noon to the Thurston County Mainstream Republicans at a restaurant in Olympia. Instead, the restaurant received threats of violence and talk of protests in the street if the event went forward. They cancelled. Online, hateful reddit trolls posted my photo and were organizing to show up. (They have since deleted one of the posts.. hmmm) Consider who this hurts. A small local restaurant, a room full of neighbors who wanted to hear about three ballot measures, and every Washingtonian who believes you answer speech with more speech. We’ve seen this before. Signature gatherers for Let’s Go Washington have been harassed, shoved and threatened. Signature sheets have been stolen, torn, or defaced, all by people who say they’re fighting “hate.” So here’s a simple request to No Hate in WA State: say it plainly. Political violence and threats have no place in Washington, and anyone doing it in your cause’s name or agenda should cut it out. We’re looking into whether a police report has been filed. We will not be intimidated. And neither should you. The best answer to people who try to scare you into silence is a ballot in a drop box:
Let’s talk Landlord-Tenant issues, shall we? This is an article from MyNorthwest.com on what is going on in Tacoma. Basically, the tenants in an apartment building have called themselves a “Union”, and they are demanding their landlord “negotiate” with them, or they will stop paying for their utilities.
Tacoma renters plan to stop paying utility bills as socialist-backed measure would force landlords to bargain
Tacoma’s Initiative Measure No. 1 would force landlords into quarterly talks with tenant unions. Landlords warn of lawsuits, new fees and higher rents.
Tacoma voters will decide November 3 whether to force landlords to bargain with tenant unions, a first-in-Washington mandate that property owners warn will invite lawsuits, raise rents and push small landlords out of the market.
Initiative Measure No. 1, backed by progressive and socialist groups, would require landlords to meet with any tenant union supported by renters in a majority of a building’s units, at least once per quarter for up to two hours. According to the city’s official ballot title, the measure also adds penalties, private enforcement and license revocation for landlords found out of compliance.
A preview of the tactics the law would empower is underway in the Hilltop neighborhood.
A utility strike before the vote
Tenants at the eight-unit McIlvaine Apartments voted October 13 to stop paying their water, sewer, and gas bills starting November 1. They object to the building’s ratio utility billing system, which splits costs by unit size and occupancy, and want individual meters or a flat rate.
The owner, Rainier Valley Partners, told the Seattle Times that converting to individual meters would cost $328,000 and was not economically feasible.
The tenants timed their action around Tacoma’s winter eviction ban, which restricts most evictions from November 15 to March 15. If the landlord moves to evict anyone, they plan to consider a rent strike.
“We won’t let anyone be picked off,” tenant Bearett Hoffmann told the Seattle Times.
Devin Rydel Kelly, lead organizer of the nonprofit Tacoma Tenants, said financial pressure through a rent strike, or a credible threat of one, is what typically brings a landlord to the table.
Lawsuits, fees and higher rents
Landlord groups say the quarterly meeting mandate is a legal trap. Jake Mayson, government affairs director for the Washington Multi-Family Housing Association, said rules like the quarterly requirement are neither effective nor helpful.
Opponents say renters will feel it. The measure funds city enforcement with a new per-unit rental license fee, KNKX reported. They argue the added costs will push small landlords to sell to larger corporate owners.
“If you truly want more housing that’s affordable to more people, this does not get you there. It leads in the opposite direction,” Sean Flynn of the Rental Housing Association of Washington told Cascade PBS.
Do tenant strikes even work?
Strikes carry real risk for tenants, too. On Capitol Hill in Seattle, renters who refused to pay utility bills folded after six months when they received pay-or-vacate notices. The landlord never changed its billing system.
Tacoma has been here before. Voters narrowly approved a renter protection measure in 2023, and the city initially said it would not enforce it.
The new push has drawn help from Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson, who headlined a fundraiser for the measure, and Seattle Democratic Socialists of America. The Rental Housing Association of Washington has reported raising $247,460 to defeat it, while the Tacoma For All PAC has reported $155,000.
Welcome to good, old, Socialist Tacoma, right behind Seattle in collectivization.
The midterm election is in one week. Everyone is doing last-minute ads and electioneering. As usual, the Washington State government has its thumb on the scale.
What the Actual??? WA STATE CORRUPTION
WARNING TLDR
Who do you think seems more corrupt?
- The public unions trying to buy Washington’s Supreme Court races?
Or- The PDC, which suddenly changed the rules 12 days before the election so those unions can spend even more?
What happened:
Oct 13: the 21-day late-money cap kicked in. Max $7,500 per donor to PACs.
Oct 22: the PDC suspended it. By “interpretive statement.” No lawsuit. No ruling.What it means:
In this final stretch, when voters are filling out ballots, the PDC changed the donation rules so there’s no limit on what one donor can give a PAC. Checks of any size, right up to Election Day.Who benefits:
The unions. SEIU, WEA and WFSE have already given $450K directly to the “Beware the Attack on Our Courts” PAC.
In addition SEIU, WEA and WFSE are also the largest donors to New Direction PAC, which has donated an additional $298K to the supreme court judicial “Beware” PACUntil Oct 22, each of them could only give the court PAC up to $7,500 more before the election. Now they can give $500K. Or $5M. No Limits
Where does their money come from?
$165M+ a year flowing into SEIU, WEA and WFSE. Tax-exempt- taken from their members—each year.5 Supreme Court seats on the ballot. A majority of the court.
How much of the Supreme Court does $165M buy? The PDC just gave the public unions the green light to find out.
Want judges not bankrolled by the public unions?
Vote.
Pos 1: Scott Edwards
Pos 3: David Stevens
Pos 4: Sean O’Donnell
Pos 5: Dave Larson
Pos 7: Todd Bloom
If you live in Washington, VOTE NOW and vote YES on all three initiatives, AND for all five Supreme Court Justices listed above. We can win if we turn out!
