Perhaps Governor Jay Inslee assumed that people would not be distracted enough by election day to ignore the latest scandal brewing under his watch. That is one explanation for why, according to the Chronicle, one of his PR flacks picked a fight with Republican Senate Leader John Braun by condescendingly writing that he “is welcome and encouraged to learn more about the policies and procedures for handling contraband at youth correction facilities” when he asked for an investigation into illegal activity at a facility in his district.

As Shift noted in covering the scandal, Sen. Braun’s concern about drugs being illegally stored at the Green Hill juvenile delinquent facility was a follow-up to local elected officials being ignored by the Inslee administration, forcing them to obtain a search warrant to determine the extent of the illegality taking place. That intent to enforce the law caused Inslee’s flack to accuse law enforcement of just trying to get attention, writing, “the interestingly-timed sensationalizing of one incident by a local police chief about issues accessing evidence is unfortunate.”

Of course, the governor himself continues to hide from further public comment on the scandal to avoid misleading the public as he did when asked about it last week. Read on to see who thought what was really unfortunate was “finding out they have been holding onto 114 bags of drugs, drug paraphernalia, and weapons in violation of state law” here… Chronicle, Shift.

Readers know by now that the Spokane Mayor’s race is one of the few high-profile contests in the state that is close enough to still be up in the air the day after the election. Unfortunately, since cowardly attacks on multiple election offices have slowed reporting, we are left with Clean and Safe Spokane providing us some good news on the city’s homeless camping ban initiative (passing by a 3-to-1 margin) that “Spokane voters have made their voice clear – the drugs, crime, and lawlessness that follows homeless camps should never be around our children.”

While waiting for the further results – which will be slowed further by the closure of government offices on Friday to observe Veterans Day – you can find out more about the failure of “the radical left to disenfranchise thousands of Spokane voters” here… Clean and Safe Spokane.

The homeless emergency, which has become a defining crisis for Seattle over the last decade, is playing out differently in other parts of the state due to decisions by voters (in Spokane) and elected officials (Burien, Bellevue). The Columbian reports on the Southwest Washington approach and how the “Clark County Council adopted an unlawful camping ordinance Tuesday after a public hearing, motivated by increased levels of unsheltered homelessness across the county.”

The ordinance, which “makes camping under certain conditions misdemeanors” is not intended to move the homeless from the streets to jails, but rather to create a path to “a special court for people with homelessness-related offenses where they can engage with services to have their charges dismissed.” You can read on while there is still some stick to this approach, as officials want “to connect people with services, whether they want them or not” here… The Columbian.

The eyes of the nation are upon Tacoma – or at least one local columnist thinks so. You can find out more about that perspective from the (Tacoma) News Tribune editorial analysis of the election, which states that the “most important race on this year’s ballot didn’t include candidates — it was bigger than that.”

The writer was highlighting the city’s rent control-based Citizen’s Initiative Measure #1, which narrowly trails after the first ballot count (by 561 votes, or about 2.5%), and how it would impose rules likely to chase small landlords out of the city. You can read more about the fate of the Democrat Socialists of America-financed initiative that’s leaving one landlord “walking around like a caged animal right now” here… News Tribune.

Not all the big political news coming out of Washington state this week had to do with the elections. Indeed, one KUOW radio story may have a bigger impact on next year’s campaigns, as “Amazon founder Jeff Bezos recently announced that he is leaving Seattle for Miami to be closer to his girlfriend, parents, and the Florida operations of Blue Origin, his space company.”

After further reflection by public radio, it turns out the state income tax on capital gains, pushed through in 2021 by Governor Jay Inslee, may also have influenced the decision, as “Bezos also has a history of picking cities based on another factor: taxes.” You can read on to see how a big hole in future state budgets has been created since in “his new Florida home, Bezos won’t be on the hook for state income or capital gains taxes” here… KUOW

There was shock in some parts of Seattle with Tuesday night’s initial ballot count of the 2023 election, with results pointing towards eight newbies on the city’s nine-member city council. Two races appear a little too-close-to-call – as Dan Strauss and Teresa Mosqueda may yet keep drawing a city paycheck when all the votes are tallied – but you can read the investors behind the new slate in an Axios Seattle analysis that showed “outside groups have poured about $1.4 million so far into Tuesday’s Seattle City Council elections, with more than $1 million coming from committees backed by business and real estate interests.”

It seems that a little love from the business community was not the kiss of death in this year’s election, as it has been in past campaigns. You can read more about who hopes to benefit from that change here… Axios Seattle.

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