Pierce County Executive Bruce Dammeier stated that the county might join in the legal proceedings supporting I-976 in court.  Pierce County approved the car tab measure with 66% of the vote. Dammeier stated, “As people elected to serve our residents, we believe it is our responsibility to do all that we can to make sure their opinions have impact and influence in this matter before the court.” (News Tribune)

Ignoring calls to appoint someone from Eastern Washington, Governor Inslee appointed Raquel Montoya-Lewis to the Washington State Supreme Court.  Montoya-Lewis has been serving as a Whatcom County Superior Court Judge and will be the first Supreme Court judge of Native American heritage.  She will replace Chief Justice Mary Fairhurst who announced her retirement a couple months ago. (Bellingham Herald)

Representative Drew Stokesbary (R-Auburn) stated he was surprised legislators did not weigh in regarding the upcoming negotiations with state government unions.  The newly formed Joint Committee on Employment Relations, made up of two members from each caucus in the House and Senate, can provide input on negotiations.  Thus far they have not communicated their concerns to negotiators.  Stokesbary does believe the committee will eventually inform the administration of its thoughts before negotiations are completed next year. (Everett Herald)

Signatures are being gathered across the state to repeal I-1639.  The new initiative, I-1094 is aimed at repealing the restrictive gun measure passed by the voters in 2018. (iFIBER One)

Having reached the minimum years of service to receive a federal pension, Democrat Congressman Denny Heck (WA-10) announced he will retire from Congress at the end of his current term.  Once retired, Heck will not only receive his federal retirement benefits, but will also be drawing a Washington state pension from his time in the legislature, working for Governor Booth Gardner, and TVW. (Roll Call)

Speculation has already begun as to who will run to replace Heck in Congress. The 10^th Congressional District (which was carved out for Heck after he lost to Jaime Herrera Beutler in the 3^rd District) takes in the southwest portion of Pierce County, most of Thurston County and a small fragment of Mason County.  Previously, only a self-described “socialist-trucker” Joshua Collins had announced he is running.  The 26-year-old receives a corporate paycheck but says he won’t accept any corporate contributions (doubt any were offering to donate).  Wonder if Collins knew it is illegal for corporations to donate to federal campaigns when he made this proclamation.  (Collins Campaign)

Seattle Times columnist Danny Westneat has a heaping helping of blame for King County officials for not providing any security at the building’s entrance.  What is left unsaid is both the City of Seattle and King County have been run for years by Democrat elected officials who refuse to prioritize public safety, preferring an “anything goes” approach to the detriment of people trying to use sidewalks to get to work (or into public buildings) and the small businesses that depend on that foot traffic. (Seattle Times)

While avoiding input from the public on the matter, the Spokane City Council has nearly tripled its annual budget in just eight years and has grown into a full-time legislative body.  Outgoing Council President Ben Stuckart says this is “one of the things I’m most proud of.”  Stuckart took a jab at outgoing mayor David Condon by declaring, “Probably one of his greatest frustrations was as a strong mayor, he didn’t understand it. He thought he should be developing policy.”  Easy to speculate that Stuckart would have wanted a strong pro-active mayor if he hadn’t lost his recent bid for that position. (Spokesman-Review)

The City of Yakima has spent nearly $110,000 to clean up homeless encampments and illegal dump sites.  The city-run project works with community groups to remove debris from public areas. (Yakima Herald)

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