– Who could have predicted?

– You don’t know how much time I tried to think of a war on Cranksgiving joke for here. Like 3 minutes at least. There isn’t one.

– Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell have a petition asking the House to take up ENDA.

– No, Mr. Feaver, Katrina isn’t shorthand for “bungled administration policy.” It’s an actual tragedy in which at least 1,800 people lost their lives. Thousands of others were left stranded without food or water in their flooded neighborhoods, on freeway viaducts, in hospitals and nursing homes, and in the televised hell-hole of the Superdome.

– Regional subtext to the Boeing special session: Left Coast (Cascadia) vs. Deep South Also, I’ve linked to several from the series, but I don’t think I’ve come out and said go read Emmett’s Cascadia Exists pieces, but you totally should if you’re interested in what makes the region unique.

– Sadly, pathetically, too many of us still see the mentally ill as crazy, nuts, losers, cursed by God, and so on. Few of us would joke about the bald head of a woman fighting cancer, but that same woman, mentally ill, wandering the streets and talking to herself – left on her own as many of the mentally ill are – would be mocked and laughed at endlessly. The woman would be the same woman, just suffering from different health ailments. The difference would be us: our knowledge and our attitudes.

– I realize you shouldn’t read too much into a press release, but it looks like good numbers for the Washington exchange.

-There is no nadir.

This is a sad development for Seattle radio:

Although I love my KIRO family, our listeners and my blog readers, I’ve decided to leave this job at the end of this year. In 2014, I’ll begin a new career that doesn’t involve being at work by 2AM. Those jobs do exist, right?

Radio is an industry where people often disappear from the dial. That leaves some listeners cheering the departure. “Finally, somebody there wised up.” Others feel like they’ve lost a friend. “I’ll never listen to that station again.” I hope you’ll cheer on the person who replaces me. I also want you to keep listening to KIRO Radio and keep checking MyNorthwest.com, as I will.

She doesn’t say what’s next, so hopefully she’ll still be around Seattle. Institutional, local knowledge and smart, well delivered news is a pretty rare commodity.

Darryl wrote about it when Kshama Sawant took the lead in the ballots. Now that lead is looking pretty insurmountable, it will be interesting to see how she governs. As 1/9th of one branch of one city’s government, this is hardly a socialist takeover.

Hopefully, she can be an effective voice for something other than market based solutions. Hopefully, she can figure out ways to work with the majority of the council to get things done and won’t be isolated. Most of those colleagues spent the last 4 years trying to isolate Mike McGinn for being too out there, so um, that doesn’t bode well. Still, she’s charming and some of her policies overlap the rest of the council, so maybe she can accomplish some things.

It’s so rare that someone in government is to my left, it’ll be interesting to see what it actually looks like.

Boeing’s threat to take their ball and go somewhere else, while hardly surprising, is incredibly short sighted.

On Thursday, Boeing made good on its threats and began looking elsewhere to develop its popular new 777X airplane. A spokesman for Utah Gov. Gary Herbert said Boeing officials called him to begin talks that could bring the work — and thousands of jobs — to that state.

Boeing Co. spokesman Doug Alder declined to specify where the company is now looking, saying there is no short list and that there are many places both within Boeing’s current operations and outside that are being explored.

“Everything is back on the table,” he said.

I’m sorry Boeing doesn’t know this, but the best place to build planes anywhere in the world is the Puget Sound. The fact that Boeing has build that up for over a century means something. It means that the people who are going to make the best quality airplanes are living here. It means they have experience and know how, and the people with a passion for it have moved here. It means that they will help get the job done.

By threatening to go other places, they’re saying they’re willing to put out an inferior product. They’re signaling that when your safety and security is on the line, they’re at least considering going on the cheap. They’re saying that they know they can do better, but fuck it. That doesn’t sound like a long term strategy. You get what you pay for, and they’re clearly establishing that they don’t want to pay for quality when you’re in a tube in the air.

Also, there’s the fact that so much of their business model is to get free money from taxpayers. And I think it’s fair to say that taxpayers are more willing to pay for good jobs than the ones Boeing thinks it should give its employees. Between the largest bit of corporate welfare in US history that the Washington State Legislature just offered them and all the military contracting, Boeing lives off government largess. And it’s tough to imagine Patty Murray going to the mattresses on the tanker deal or the legislature caving so quickly to all of their demands if the jobs were not good ones.

– The machinists have more spine in standing up to Boeing’s bullshit than our state legislators.

– The state makes Metro going it alone seem more and more attractive.

– And speaking of our legislature. I realize they just opened up some massive tax loopholes, but Majority Rules has a petition asking our legislature to cut some of them.

– In theory these changes should help safety-net hospitals become less reliant on DSH payments. In practice, however, twenty-four states run by troglodytes have rejected Medicaid expansion, and will thus voluntarily decimate their safety-net hospitals.

– Darrell Isa’s partial transcripts are total bullshit.

– I liked both of Rachel Held Evans’ books, but I didn’t realize they were like the Berenstain Bears.

A few election cycles ago, I wrote that the stereotype about Seattle always passing a tax increase was just that. I mean we’re probably more willing to tax ourselves than the average Washingtonian. And we’re able to pass library and school levies pretty easily. But we are concerned both with how progressive/regressive the taxes we pass are and what they pay for. Since it looks like Seattle has rejected public financing with a slight tax increase (albeit in a tight race) we can have a more proper discussion of what taxes Seattle will support and what taxes we won’t?

Since my post a couple years ago, we’ve rejected that transit measure and now the clean elections measure. We’ve also passed taxes for libraries and education in the last few years, and helped pass the Medic 1 and other King County measures.

Of course the iconic tax measure that Seattle rejected in the last decade or so is still probably Early Learning and Care Campaign, AKA the Latte Tax. That would have paid for education in the city. Now, we happily supported education in the city in other measures. Maybe it’s that it was made fun of pretty much everywhere, maybe there doesn’t seem to be much connection between education and espresso drinks, maybe it was somewhat regressive.

And the regressive nature of the transit package was even more evident. A flat fee as opposed to a more progressive tax on the value of the car was one of the main reasons people opposed the measure, at least one of the main arguments against it. Seattle doesn’t really oppose taxes, but we understand that when the poor end up paying a disproportionate share, they tend to be tougher to enact (I think that’s different from the state as a whole).

As more measures come forth, and Seattle and King County are asked to vote on tax measures, I hope we figure out how to make them as progressive as possible, and how to make sure they go to good things.

So, obviously, this idea is impracticable. And nonsense. Jamie Pedersen is almost certainly going to replace Ed Murray, as he should so long as we have a system where we replace people without elections. And the idea of a Republican representing one of the most heavily Democratic districts in the state clearly does not live up to our democratic ideal. But it would accomplish two things.

First, and most importantly, it would give the GOP a clear majority in the Senate. Now, I know that as a lefty blogger, that’s the sort of thing I’m generally opposed to, but the GOP are going to control the state Senate anyway, and this way they would probably not give the Majority Leader post to Rodney Tom. I mean, why would they elevate this whiny asshole who has already betrayed them once if they didn’t have to?

We all know they’re planning it if they manage to take another seat in the Senate in the next election, so might as well make it happen now. Give a fuck you to Rodney Tom, and oh by the way, have some clarity on what’s going on in the Senate, and how to negotiate. We wouldn’t get any positive social issues through, but we haven’t under Tom’s leadership anyway. It would basically be the same as it is now, but with a real Republican instead of a fake Democrat at the top.

So yes, it would mostly be a fuck you to Rodney Tom and Tim Sheldon. But it would also mean that the Senate seat isn’t just given to someone. It would mean that we could have a real election for the seat. In our democracy, primaries for open seats are important times to have a debate about the future of the legislature, and I never like losing that to it just being picked.

The seat would revert back to Democratic control after the next election given how Democratic the seat is, so it would be the equivalent to having a placeholder.

– The largest state subsidy in US history goes to Boeing. Because all of our other priorities are so well met.

– And speaking of priorities, Seattle is making cuts to expanding the LEAD program? Did the City Council actually believe the rhetoric about downtown crime during the election, and somehow think that it was that program’s fault? The economy is expanding, time to cut programs?

– I supported Hillary Clinton last time and will probably again if she runs for President again. And I’m the biggest supporter of primaries I know. But can we all just pick a narrative and run with it for a while?

– Anti-change advocates don’t assess facts. They just claim, absurdly, that America currently has “the finest healthcare system in the world” and then cite horror stories about sick people dying in streets because they have to wait so long to get the (terrible) healthcare services available to them under “socialist” healthcare. (h/t)

– The word “unlucky” presumes that virtually all adult white men can be found, at some point, in full-on Michael Richards-mode and those of us who would shame them for it are the real culprits.

– Legal Horseplay

– Happy Veterans Day.

– Reading Patty Murray’s Washington Post editorial on the need to close loopholes in the Federal tax code is yet another reminder of how intransigent the GOP really are.

– Here’s hoping Larry Phillips and Dow Constantine live up to their threats of going it alone.

– At 95, Graham is frail and in ill health. His image and his legacy have been usurped as political tools used by his son Franklin Graham, who seems desperate to be a political player and kingmaker. Not content with living off the interest of his father’s legacy, Franklin has been burning through the capital.

– You know how gun nuts are always telling us that their having all the guns is protecting all the freedoms? I’m pretty sure they meant this sort of thing.

– Dudes Are Such Whiny Baby Liars About Girls With Short Hair

I cannot express how annoyed I am at the fact that it looks like the legislature is going to punt on transit in the special session.* I mean, Boeing — like everyone else — needs decent transportation around the state. And King County should be able to fund Metro, goddammit.

Senate Majority Leader Rodney Tom, a Democrat from Medina who leads the predominantly Republican Majority Coalition Caucus, also said that the transportation package was never tied to the overall aerospace package.

There was some discussion of this in the Open Thread yesterday. I don’t even with this guy. I mean for him to act flat footed on the thing that everyone expected there to be a session on is just, gah. I don’t even have words for it, just incoherence. Either he didn’t do his homework, or he’s pretending to keep the caucus together.

And who knows? Things are fluid, and the GOP districts need infrastructure as much as the rest of the state so maybe we actually will get a transit package. I wouldn’t hold my breath, but stranger things have happened.

That said, at a certain point, King County should really just figure out a way to go it alone on Metro if the state can’t get it together. There always seems to be a next horizon to find. Oh, we’ll push for it in the session. Then they didn’t pass something. Oh we can just wait for the special session. If, as it’s looking like there’s nothing, I’m sure we’ll hear to just wait until the regular session come January. Etc. Etc. But we need to not have cuts.

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Since I mostly exit at the rear these days, I’ve had less of a chance to say “thank you” to the bus drivers. But when you exit from the front, it’s still a nice ritual. I’m sure it’s mostly rote for the people who say it, but it is a nice reminder that they conveyed us to work, or to go shopping, or to have some fun, and that we are thankful for that. They tend to do a good job of it.

There are so many jobs in the city that make it work that are thankless. It’s nice that there’s one that literally isn’t.

In the state Senate race that N in Seattle wrote about before the election, the Republican won. So, congrats to Jan Angel. I’d have preferred if she lost, but sometimes the person I want to win doesn’t. You know who’s really happy about that result though? Rodney Tom (Trib link).

“When everybody thinks they’re that 25th vote, well, they’ve got leverage,” Tom said. “It just makes it a lot more difficult.”

Seriously. He said that. Rodney. Tom. Said. That!

You know what? I’m really sad for Rodney Tom, everybody. How could he have predicted that in a caucus there might be people who are willing to blow the whole thing up? How could he have known that whiny entitled assholes might destroy a caucus to get what they want?

Just think of how a few years ago when Lisa Brown was trying to figure out a budget, if she’d realized, like Rodney Tom said:

“When everybody thinks they’re that 25th vote, well, they’ve got leverage,” Tom said. “It just makes it a lot more difficult.”

Just think when Ed Murray was trying to keep the majority that the Democrats had won at the polls if he’d had advice like:

“When everybody thinks they’re that 25th vote, well, they’ve got leverage,” Tom said. “It just makes it a lot more difficult.”

Honestly, Rodney Tom complaining about the possibility of defections in a caucus is so not self aware that nematodes read that and roll their eyes.

So now that Seattle is going to have a mixed districts and at large City Council, I wonder how it’s going to shake out. I linked this morning to a piece in this morning’s Open Thread on some of the possible political ramifications of that vote. But I’m also curious about what this might mean for how the city is governed. Are there going to be committees that are chaired by at large or, specific districts?

Just looking at the list of committees, it seems like the Central Waterfront, Seawall, and Alaskan Way Viaduct Replacement Program, the South Lake Union, the SR 520 Project, the Town Hall, and the Yesler Terrace committees would be chaired by people who represented those specific geographic areas. You could also argue that there are some that might be downtown heavy like Public Safety, Civil Rights, and Technology and some that are less so like Parks and Neighborhoods, although obviously there is crime and are parks in all of the districts. There also might be some things that make more sense to be chaired by an at large person: Transportation, City Light Strategic Plan, or the Budget committee.

Also, I wonder how constituent services will work. Presumably most people will go to, or be directed to, their individual council member like happens in Congress or the legislature now. But will the at large members have constituent services related to their committees or just if people aren’t interested in going to the person who represents their district?

– I’m pretty amazed that the requirement in the health care law that men and women pay the same is the hill the GOP have decided to fight on.

– Congrats to Whatcom County on electing anti-coal export terminal candidates (Seattle Times link).

– I think the fallout from the district elections will be interesting. Erica C. Barnett teases out some of the political implications.

– I liked reading about Jeff Merkley’s role in ENDA.

– I think I knew the date that the Tacoma Narrows bridge collapsed, but 1940, on this date seems ludicrously recent in my mind.

– Flying is safe.

I’m pretty disappointed with the result of I-522. I’m not sure anyone has called anything yet, but after today’s 4:30 ballot drop, it’s still no at 54.33%. And yes, it still proves –as if further proof were needed — that rather depressingly, big money can buy elections in this state, at least initiatives. Still while the $22 million spent to get a victory can be thought of as dispiriting: breaking records of spending made a big difference in the end. Suck!

Still, I think there may be a small bit of hope in a staggeringly large number. First, given that only a tiny tiny ity bitty fraction was from in state, that’s money flowing in here. More important though is that they had to spend that much money. Sure, they won, but it might put some big money interests off in the future if they think they might have to spend that much on a campaign.

It may be a hollow victory in the face of an actual loss, but it’s better than nothing.