We've established that Initiative 1183 is a Costco-backed mess that favors corporations over individuals and small businesses. But if it passes, it won't be the end of the world -- and we can start talking about what's best for the state in terms of deregulation. The question here is: will it be harder to pass a different privatization initiative, or harder to pass a new tax structure on liquor that doesn't favor corporations as much? more ›

Seattlest's resident beer warrior, Dikla, makes her case against the Costco-backed liquor privatization initiative--but not because of deregulation. She says the way the initiative is written hurts the craft industries -- breweries, wineries and distilleries -- that we hold dear in exchange for corporate profits. more ›

Remember last week when anti-tunnel group Protect Seattle Now turned in all those signatures? Enough of those signatures have been verified by the City Clerk to put a referendum on August's ballot. The only thing standing in its way is a lawsuit filed by City Attorney Pete Holmes that declares that the decision to allow the tunnel to be built on Seattle city property is non-referrable -- not subject to public vote -- because the Council's decision to give the tunnel the go-ahead was an "administrative act." King County Superior Court will make the final decision. more ›

Happy Legislative Session opening day! Naturally, your friend and mine Tim Eyman is on the prowl with some new filings -- but he seems to be running out of ideas. First, he reintroduced his old $30 car tabs, which was at least somewhat of a forgotten classic. And today, he decided to cover all his bases by filing I-1053 again, reports the PI. Yes, the one that voters just passed by 64% in November that requires a two-thirds legislative majority to raise any taxes. Eyman says he's just re-filing in case his precious initiative is overturned -- gee, I wonder why he's worried, perhaps because his initiatives tend to be a pain in the ass for lawmakers and progress and have been declared unconstitutional before. If it's not overturned, he says, he'll wait until 2012 to bust out the initiative once more. more ›

If there's one thing you can say about Tim Eyman, it's that he's not a quitter. Dancing on top of the success of I-1053, the initiative passed this month which preserves the two-thirds legislative majority for tax increases, Eyman has hopped right back on it, doing the same thing he does at the end of every election season--whip up a new batch of initiatives. One of them reopens an old local politics wound: the $30 car tab. And this time, after a similar success in Mukilteo, he's thrown red light camera fines into the mix--those would also be capped at $30, under Eyman's proposed initiatives (there are several that involve both the $30 tabs and the $30 fines). Seattle Transit Blog has a solid rundown of I-473, the most recent of the proposed initiatives, and PubliCola explains some of the finer points of the included "Vehicle Owners' Bill of Rights." more ›

Not only will you be voting for a new president in November (finally!), but a few new measures have been added to the local ballot. more ›