Remote testimony option becomes reality

History was made last Friday when the Senate Law and Justice Committee meeting in Olympia allowed several individuals to provide live video remote testimony from Spokane. In what I hope was just the first of many opportunities for Washingtonians across the state, Friday's remote testimony test went better than I expected and put to rest any concerns that there would be a technological obstacle to opening the doors of Olympia via remote testimony . . . READ MORE

Electing the state Supreme Court by districts

When the 2014 election is certified, only one of the nine justices on the state Supreme Court will be from Eastern Washington, Justice Debra Stephens. Had she not won her election, all of the state's Supreme Court justices would be from the Puget Sound region. When a vacancy recently came open on the court, several newspapers called on Governor Inslee to bring more regional balance to the court and select a justice from Eastern Washington.  Instead he appointed Justice Mary Yu from King County . . . READ MORE

Governor Inslee on McCleary and tax increases: 2012 versus 2014

At a post election press conference earlier this week Governor Inslee was asked about his 2012 campaign promise not to ask for tax increases and how that squares with his new calls for tax increases to address the McCleary K-12 funding ruling. When asked what changed since 2012 the Governor said on Wednesday . . . READ MORE

And the election winner is . . . To be determined

Voter turnout as of Saturday for the 2014 Election in Washington is a meager 24.4%. This means if we are to get anywhere close to the 62% forecast by the Secretary of State a flood of ballots will be hitting the mail in the next day. This likely means we'll be waiting several days to weeks to learn the winners of close races . . . READ MORE