It appears that state Attorney General Bob Ferguson’s obsession with becoming governor, long noted by Shift, is costing Washington taxpayers millions even before he has any chance to waste money in the top job. The (Tacoma) News Tribune allows an attorney suing the state to lay out the blunt truth: “The Office of the Attorney General was caught cheating. It’s as simple as that. The fact that it cheated in a craven attempt to dismiss the claims brought by a developmentally disabled woman makes this particularly offensive.”

The case in question involved AG Ferguson’s office hiding evidence in a lawsuit against the state, blaming others for its mistakes, and even trying to bully the plaintiff through extreme court filings. You can read more about why “a settlement agreement for $3.125 million in a case involving a woman with developmental disabilities” is actually costing taxpayers more than $3.5 million – at least – here… Shift, News Tribune.

The legal system grinds slowly, which is one reason why Governor Jay Inslee clung to his “emergency powers” for 975 days – so he wouldn’t have to justify his often-bizarre decisions to anyone in real-time. That’s certainly one lesson to be learned from the Seattle Times piece that covers how “Gov. Jay Inslee recently ended the COVID-19 vaccination mandate, but for some of the public workers fired for refusing to comply, the legal battle goes on. The state is facing more than a dozen lawsuits involving at least 180 ex-employees who allege they were unjustly forced from their jobs.”

You can read more about the irony of how the state continues to accept ferry cancellations piling up on holiday weekends while fighting in court “60 former employees of the Washington State Department of Transportation, including ferry workers, engineers and snowplow drivers, (who) sued the state on May 9 in federal court, contending they’d been illegally terminated even though they could have continued their work safely” here … Seattle Times.

Washington State has long prided itself on providing places of academic excellence, touting the world-class research done at our universities, and learning opportunities which attract the best students from here and around the world. You can read in Axios-Seattle what passes for the latest cutting-edge amenity our universities are rushing to provide as “campuses nationwide are installing vending machines to distribute emergency contraception such as Plan B” and “in April, Washington’s Legislature approved $200,000 to establish vending machines on additional college campuses statewide.”

You can learn more about while tuition may be too high, but activists are focusing on “urging state lawmakers to also pass a law that would require student health centers at public colleges and universities to provide abortion pills” here… Axios-Seattle.

It seems a tad ironic that liberal Democrats from Seattle are continuing to push forward a court case claiming re-districting discrimination after a majority-Hispanic district elected a Republican legislator, but that’s what Crosscut found out in writing about “a trial to decide whether Washington violated federal voting rights laws when it established a Latino majority legislative district in Central Washington.”

The trial is somewhat laughable because all sides agree “the percentage of Latino voters in the 15th — just over 50% — meets the requirements for a Latino majority district” leaving the liberals to argue that they were saddled with “lower Latino voter turnout” areas that make it harder for them to do voter turnout efforts. You can get more election law laughs here… Crosscut.

Court cases always follow gun laws around, due in part to the sheer number of gun laws which are being passed every year at all levels of government by Democrats in a hurry to show that they really care about passing gun laws, regardless of whether they are legal (or effective) or not. One certain to arise from Washington State’s recent ban on certain types of guns based on what they look like came to light in this KING 5 story, that “Pawn shops that take firearms as collateral are unsure if they can give the gun back to its owner or sell it if the customer does not pay off their loan.”

Piling on to the uncertainty of whether they can legally return the weapons that, as one shop owner points out, “I’m stuck with something I can’t transfer or sell. It just sits here.” And it’s not a small problem, as “He estimates they have $50,000 in unsold inventory.” You can read about how one legislator tried to fix the problem, but was stiff-armed by Democrats, here… KING 5.

Which is good, because the story is behind a bit of a paywall, but given that the Columbian sub-head indicates that the “Farm in Glenwood area of Clark County has been in family since 1872” perhaps government is not moving as fast as mud here… The Columbian.

Brandi Kruse, the creator and host of the local political podcast “[un]Divided,” joined us for this week’s Newsmaker Interview. A journalist who has distinguished herself for holding powerful political figures accountable, Kruse shared her thoughts on the creation of her podcast and the growing trend of independent journalism. She also described the negative impact of “one-party” control of government and gave her views on various controversial new events. Read more.

WOULDN’T ARRESTING CRIMINALS “REVITALIZE” DOWNTOWN SEATTLE FASTER THAN ANOTHER STREETCAR?

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