Not so fast on the Mayor Nickels-bashing, claims the P-I. Turns out charges that he costs the city by not playing well with Olympia may be overblown, because Seattle’s legislators aren’t very good at helping Seattle themselves. more ›

There will be no special legislative session to take care of lawmaker odds and ends. What kind of fun are our legislators missing out on? more ›

Sometimes we fantasize that the Capitol dome is a Reset button that just needs a really big thumb. Here's the exciting part about the viaduct bill that just passed the House: "Any costs in excess of ($2.8 billion) shall be borne by property owners in the Seattle area...." Are you at all reassured by Gov. Gregoire's spokesperson that "we don't envision any cost overruns to occur on this project"? more ›

State House Speaker Frank "Grumpypants McMegamall" Chopp and 43rd District Representative Jamie Pedersen (the Fightin' 43rd) tag team tomorrow to host a town hall on the current legislative session. It's at 1:30 p.m. Saturday at First Hill's Seattle First Baptist Church, located near Harvard and Spring. They'll fill you in on all the news from down Olympia way. more ›

From President-elect Obama's weekly address this morning: more ›

Frank Chopp, Olympia's favorite stubborn uncle, decided many years ago that something should be done about the viaduct, and because he lives in Seattle he was able to wait seven years before actually announcing his plan. more ›

The financing bill that would pay for a new Sonics arena in Renton will be changing a bit in hopes that House Speaker Frank Chopp will actually read the thing. more ›

In an article headlined "Local track doomed by local ignorance" on the front page of Sunday's sports section Jerry Brewer argues that the rubes in Seattle wouldn't know a good opportunity if it drove over them at 150mph. Actually, he points to a handful of distinct examples of our local ignorance. He points to comments by Frank Chopp in which the House Speaker from Seattle cites a non-existent DUI charge against Richard Petty and he points to comments by Larry Seaquist, D of Gig Harbor, in which Seaquist disparages all of NASCAR fandom and likely 80% of the country by stating, "These are not the kind of people you would want living next door to you. They'd be the ones with the junky cars in the front yard and would try to slip around the law." Brewer's right on this count--these statements are terrible. more ›

With NASCAR putting a full throttle charge, or whatever NASCAR fans say, over a proposed track in Kitsap County, our own elected officials are being as classless as the fans they claim will flock to the track. more ›

The legislation would not require the track to be built near Bremerton, though [state senator] Hatfield said he believes track promoters are serious when they say they have no other site selected. The location would allow NASCAR to connect with latte drinking Seattle urbanites, he said. more ›

"I voted for Dino Rossi" is not what you say when you are dating a hard-left politics dork. Seattlest once learned this the hard way. The revelation sparked an argument. We lost. For months, we spent lonely nights reading Lewis Lapham, trying to cure our moderate streak. more ›

Gov. Christine Gregoire got so frustrated trying to broker a compromise between Mayor Greg Nickels and House Speaker Frank Chopp on the Alaskan Way Viaduct that she turned to a Republican wise man for advice. more ›

Mayor Nickels sent a letter to Olympia asking if state officials would endorse a $220 million expansion of Key Arena to appease the Sonics/Storm ownership. The letter was treated the same way Jannine Koewler reacted to our note asking her to prom in the twelfth grade--with scorn and rejection. Is this any way to treat a man who was photographed by Vanity Fair? more ›

Anyone who thought that our state legislature had any chance at all of forcing Wal-Mart to act less like Wal-Mart raise your hand. Yeah, none of you. House speaker Frank Chopp sat on the "Wal-Mart Bill" yesterday instead of allowing a vote on it, despite a big push by his traditional allies in organized labor. The bill would force employers of 5,000 or more in the state of Washington to allocate 9% of their payroll to health benefits. Chopp alternately doesn't think it will help, doesn't want to piss off businesses and doesn't think it has the votes, or, some say, he made a deal with someone. The world may never know. The P-I speculates that he may be killing the bill in favor of a voter initiative which could help bring out the progressives next election day, but screw that. Progressives will already be out (or mailing it in) to stand up against the homophobes and their jackass king Eyeman. To Seattlest's knowledge no such initiative campaign currently exists and even if it did it's an abuse of the initiative process because the legislation is sitting right there on his desk staring him in the face and all he has to do is put it to a damn vote. Ahem. more ›