I was reading this piece from Goldy about how we need to repeal the B&O exemption for newspapers in these troubled times, and he quotes a recent Seattle Times editorial that says:
Essentially I-1163 says to legislators, “Find $36 million per biennium and spend it on this. We do not care where you find the money. That is your problem.”
Now I understand from the context, and the fact that they’re using a made up number, that this isn’t an actual quote. No, the initiative doesn’t have that language in it, and it hasn’t come to life and started talking. But, why put it in quotes at all? That has to be confusing to the senile segment of the population that still reads the Seattle Times Ed board for information. I don’t want to do Ryan Blethen’s job for him, but wouldn’t it make more sense to just say, “I-1163 fores legislators” and not deal with imaginary quotes?
Also, as I understand it, the initiative is talking here. So why is it speaking in the second person plural? If you’re going to make up a quote from a single inanimate object, it should probably say “I” rather than “we.”