The Stranger has endorsed a No vote on the RTID Proposition 1 (along with the Seattle Times, but thankfully with more logic and, er, research). Their reasoning? "Rather than letting compromised politicians tell us what's possible, the people should tell the leaders what's needed: more light rail without massive roads expansion." So what is the proper course of action for Congress regarding the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, or ENDA, bill? The bill would ban employment discrimination......

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. From the PI: According to the new plan, no state sales tax would be used to finance the new arena. Currently, King County keeps part of the state sales tax to help pay for pro baseball and football stadiums. The revision means the Sonics are......

Republicans in Olympia are tired of the Spend-o-crat majority rendering their very existence moot, and they've decided to do something about it—make funny noises. Representative Dan Roach, who is proving that douchebaggery is hereditary, was complaining that Democrats were railroading a bill through the House to benefit trial lawyers when he went a little off the rails himself--launching an attack on House majority leader Lynn Kessler's trial lawyer husband Keith. The Times' David Postman takes......

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......

One of the great things about the Viaduct is that it reminds us of a Hot Wheels track. Which gives us an idea. Since we're having a rebuild forced on us anyway, why not make it a value-add? If legislators who don't actually live in Kitsap County want to put a NASCAR track over there, how hard would it be to talk them into relocating it to Seattle's waterfront? The legislation would not require......

Recently Governor Gregoire's been taking a lot of heat for her ambivalent handling of the Viaduct sitchyation we got here. Today, the Seattle Times rides to her rescue. The blame-reallocating story by David Postman and Andrew Garber begins: 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. "She......

A common liberal criticism of Congressman Dave Reichert (R-Eastside) is that, despite cultivating an outsider image, he's in lockstep with the Republican Party. Darcy Burner, Reichert's Democratic opponent for Congress, also portrays herself as an outsider. From her campaign website: It's clear to me that the politicians in Washington, DC are out of touch, the special interests have too much power, and it's time to take our country in a different direction. Yet yesterday,......

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? The mayor was looking for "full support" from the governor and Democratic......