Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson (aka “Bobbie Sue” according to one attorney who knows him) is allegedly the chief legal officer for the state. As such, one would expect him to know something about campaign finance laws, especially since he has been running campaigns for the last 20 years. But not so much.

Rushing to take advantage of Governor Jay Inslee’s not-unexpected announcement that he was retiring, AG Ferguson stumbled over himself making an always-expected announcement. The Seattle Times wrote that AG Ferguson announced “an exploratory campaign” to replace retiring Governor Jay Inslee – even though there is no such type of campaign committee under Washington State law. According to the Public Disclosure Committee (PDC), once you start asking for money – which “Bobbie Sue” always does – you are a candidate. But, if you want to hide your funds away, maybe you just say you’re “exploring.”

This is not the first time that the AG has tried to stretch campaign finance rules to benefit himself.  As Shift highlighted last week, “Bobbie Sue” has stashed away over $2.8 million in a slush fund that he wants to use against State Lands Commissioner Hilary Franz (and other Democrats, according to Axios-Seattle) to chock off any real debate next year. The PDC will decide next week whether Ferguson’s rather stinky technicality is fair play. You can learn more about how Ferguson is trying to stack the deck in his favor here … (Shift, Times, Axios-Seattle)

Leave it to The Stranger to be able to pry such useful information out of State Representative Roger Goodman as the news that car thieves will be safe as long as he has power. The far-Left weekly writes that even if police officers do “ask lawmakers to lift more restrictions on pursuits next session, Goodman swore that, as chair of the House Community Safety, Justice, and Reentry Committee, he wouldn’t look at any modifications to car chase policy for ‘quite awhile.’”

Of course, the paper also notes that Rep. Goodman is not known for keeping his word, but still, he is proud to have the criminals’ backs at this point. You can read more about his sad approach to public safety here. (The Stranger)

As Shift has been warning for a week now, you can expect more local elected officials to be finding ways to make drug possession and public use illegal again after state legislative Democrats failed to stop the legalization wing of their party from taking over state drug policy. Unfortunately for Spokane, the Democrat-controlled City Council is only seeking to copy the watered-down proposal the Democrats couldn’t even pass in Olympia rather than embrace the tougher-on-criminals’ approach of Mayor Nadine Woodward.  As the Spokesman-Review reported from the mayor’s office, “Criminalizing drug possession and use is an important step for the public health and safety of our community. We have a drug crisis that requires us to act locally.” To find out more about how Spokane may act, read here. (Shift, Spokesman-Review)

WHILE WE’RE CLEANING OUT THE OLD DEMOCRAT DEADWOOD, KREIDLER GOING TOO

ANOTHER DEMOCRAT-ONLY DRUG DEAL IS GOING DOWN IN OLYMPIA

MEANWHILE, IN SPOKANE, THEY ARE PROTESTING IN THE STREETS IN SUPPORT OF POLICE

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