Olympia Democrats insist Washington’s new 9.9% income tax on earnings above $1 million is just about making the rich pay more. In new op-ed, small-business leader Mike Sotelo says Washingtonians shouldn’t fall for the sales pitch.

Sotelo, co-chair of the Washington Ethnic Chambers of Commerce Coalition, warns that many restaurants, contractors and other small businesses operate as pass-through entities, meaning business income appears on their owners’ personal tax returns. But the damage doesn’t stop with businesses directly subject to the tax.

When high earners and companies decide Washington’s growing collection of taxes and regulations isn’t worth it, they take their spending with them. That means fewer customers at restaurants, fewer calls to contractors and fewer opportunities for the small businesses left behind.

Sotelo’s organization, which represents thousands of small-business owners, has now joined the lawsuit challenging the tax.

His broader point should sound familiar: Washington voters have rejected income taxes repeatedly, yet Democrats found another way to impose one anyway.

Olympia can call it a tax on millionaires all it wants. When investment, businesses and customers leave, the economic consequences don’t politely stop at the millionaire’s front door. Read more at The Center Square.

Gov. Bob Ferguson has decided not to punish two Washington Fish and Wildlife commissioners who were found to have violated transparency laws, instead issuing the bureaucratic equivalent of a sternly worded “don’t do it again.”

An investigation found Commissioners Melanie Rowland and Lorna Smith routinely disregarded public-records requirements and skirted conflict-of-interest rules. In one instance, the pair purposely withheld public records for 18 months. Investigators also raised concerns about their undisclosed meetings with Washington Wildlife First, an advocacy organization suing the Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Ferguson’s office acknowledged the conduct was “particularly problematic” and warned that further violations could result in removal.

There’s just one catch: both commissioners’ terms expire Dec. 31 anyway.

So after a yearlong investigation, calls for removal from hunters, conservation groups, tribal leaders and elected officials, and findings of actual wrongdoing, Ferguson’s punishment amounts to threatening to fire them slightly before they’re already scheduled to leave.

Sportsmen’s Alliance Vice President Brian Lynn accused Ferguson of choosing “politics over the law,” while the Conservation Coalition called the decision “disappointing as hell.”

Considering both commissioners were appointed by former Democratic Gov. Jay Inslee, Ferguson apparently decided accountability could wait until the calendar handles it for him. Read more at the Washington State Standard.

Washington state loves talking about compassion. Actually making sure victims can reach someone? Apparently that’s more complicated.

A new performance audit from Democratic State Auditor Pat McCarthy found that a victim-assistance phone number Washington plastered on human-trafficking materials was disconnected in 2024—yet remained on mandatory workplace posters, government websites and even three state laws.

It gets worse.

The Department of Commerce was legally required to review its model anti-trafficking notice annually. The state apparently reviewed it once—in 2016—and then stopped. Commerce also hasn’t provided updated trafficking materials to several medical licensing groups in years, while a Department of Health page contained broken links and, naturally, the disconnected number.

Meanwhile, massage businesses—the most commonly reported venue for sex trafficking in Washington in 2024—aren’t required to display trafficking-awareness signs at all.

These aren’t billion-dollar infrastructure projects. We’re talking about updating posters, fixing links and replacing a phone number.

Yet state agencies have given themselves until August 2027 to finish cleaning up the mess.

Olympia politicians never seem to run out of time for proclamations, task forces and press releases about compassion. Maybe someone could find a few minutes to make sure a trafficking victim who actually asks the government for help doesn’t get a disconnected line. Read more at Seattle Red.

Democratic Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez is once again reminding Southwest Washington voters how “independent” she is—conveniently nine weeks before they decide whether to send her back to Congress.

Perez joined just one other Democrat to rescue Speaker Mike Johnson’s floor schedule, providing a crucial vote for a Republican rule that passed 210-208. The package included a nonbinding resolution denouncing socialism, along with measures involving university boycotts of Israel and protections for North Atlantic right whales.

The vote even blindsided Democratic leadership. House Democratic Whip Katherine Clark said Perez gave leadership no advance warning, noting that voting against Republican rules is normally part of “being on a team.”

But Perez’s break with the team comes at a remarkably useful moment. The socialism resolution changes no law, spends no money and faces no meaningful path through the Senate—but it does provide a nice opportunity to remind voters in a competitive district that Perez occasionally bucks Democrats.

And she needs the reminder. WA-03 has been moved to Toss-up, while Republican state Sen. John Braun has led Perez in recent Northwest Progressive Institute polling.

Perez has made these carefully selected defections central to her moderate brand. The question for voters is whether they see independence—or an incumbent who has become remarkably good at finding harmless opportunities to disagree with Democrats whenever Election Day approaches. Read more at Seattle Red.

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