Monthly Archives: July 2016

Posted inElections, Policy Topics, Public Planning

Sound Transit Board errs by putting attention seeker Tim Eyman on ST3 con committee

by Andrew Villeneuve

On Thurs­day, as the Demo­c­ra­t­ic Nation­al Con­ven­tion was enter­ing its final hours in Philadel­phia, the Sound Tran­sit Board of Direc­tors met at Seat­tle’s Union Sta­tion to take pub­lic tes­ti­mo­ny and work on a num­ber of items of busi­ness. Among these was Motion No. M2016-79, con­cern­ing the cre­ation of com­mit­tees to write voter’s pam­phlet state­ments for […]

Posted inOpen Government, Policy Topics

Attorney General Bob Ferguson requests that Tim Eyman be held in contempt of court

by Andrew Villeneuve

Wash­ing­ton State Attor­ney Gen­er­al Bob Fer­gu­son announced today he is ask­ing courts in Sno­homish and Thurston coun­ties to hold ini­tia­tive prof­i­teer Tim Eyman and his asso­ciates in con­tempt of court for fail­ing to ful­ly com­ply with law­­ful­­ly-issued civ­il orders seek­ing doc­u­ments that would shed light on poten­tial vio­la­tions of Wash­ing­ton’s pub­lic dis­clo­sure law. “Despite a subpoena […]

Posted inElections, Policy Topics, Technology

Donald Trump praises Russia’s DNC hacking and urges Putin’s regime to keep it up

by Andrew Villeneuve

Clown. Char­la­tan. Big­ot. Pho­ny. Fraud. Don­ald Trump has been called all these things and more (and fit­ting­ly), but now we can add more descrip­tor to the list: Trai­tor. Only a man who puts him­self and his own thirst for polit­i­cal pow­er above his coun­try would make such unpa­tri­ot­ic, reck­less, and irre­spon­si­ble com­ments: Don­ald J. Trump […]

Posted inParty Politics

Debbie Wasserman Schultz resigns as Chair of the Democratic National Committee

by Andrew Villeneuve

Embat­tled Demo­c­ra­t­ic Nation­al Com­mit­tee Chair Deb­bie Wasser­man Schultz has announced that she will resign from her post once the Demo­c­ra­t­ic Nation­al Con­ven­tion has con­clud­ed, the par­ty said in a state­ment today. Wasser­man Schultz, who also serves in the U.S. House of Rep­re­sen­ta­tives, has been under fire for some time from par­ty lead­ers and activists unhap­py with […]

Posted inBreaking News, Elections, Party Politics

It’s official: Hillary Clinton has chosen Virginia Senator Tim Kaine as her running mate

by Andrew Villeneuve

The tick­et is com­plete: Hillary Clin­ton named Sen­a­tor Tim Kaine of Vir­ginia to be her run­ning mate Fri­day, select­ing a bat­tle­ground state politi­cian with work­ing-class roots and a flu­en­cy in Span­ish, traits that she believes can bol­ster her chances to defeat Don­ald J. Trump in Novem­ber. Mrs. Clinton’s choice, which she announced via text message […]

Posted inElections, Events, Party Politics

More chaos at RNC as Ted Cruz refuses to endorse Donald Trump, gets booed off stage

by Andrew Villeneuve

So much for par­ty uni­ty: Repub­li­can lead­ers attempt­ed Wednes­day to steer their nation­al con­ven­tion in a more sub­stan­tive and uni­fied direc­tion behind GOP pres­i­den­tial nom­i­nee Don­ald Trump, but their efforts came up against an erup­tion of lin­ger­ing bit­ter­ness from the bru­tal pri­ma­ry cam­paign sea­son. The cap­stone of the evening was sup­posed to be a speech […]

Posted inElections

Did Melania Trump plagiarize from First Lady Michelle Obama’s speech at the 2008 DNC?

by Andrew Villeneuve

It sure looks that way: In her first major address before the nation on Mon­day night, Mela­nia Trump appears to have pla­gia­rized a num­ber of lines from first lady Michelle Obama’s speech at the 2008 Demo­c­ra­t­ic Nation­al Con­ven­tion. The pla­gia­rized pas­sages, in bold below, con­cerned the impor­tance of hard work and hon­esty. “From a young […]

Posted inElections, Open Government, Policy Topics

Hillary Clinton commits to introducing amendment to overturn Citizens United

by Andrew Villeneuve

In a video address to Net­roots Nation 2016, played dur­ing tonight’s clos­ing ple­nary ses­sion in St. Louis, pre­sump­tive Demo­c­ra­t­ic nom­i­nee Hillary Clin­ton com­mit­ted to intro­duc­ing a con­sti­tu­tion­al amend­ment to over­turn the Roberts Court’s hor­ri­ble Cit­i­zens Unit­ed rul­ing with­in her first one hun­dred days in office. “Today I’m announc­ing that in my first thir­ty days as […]

Posted inAppreciations & Remembrances

Ruth Woo: 1926–2016

by Gael Tarleton

Edi­tor’s Note: Respect­ed and wide­ly beloved Seat­tle com­mu­ni­ty activist Ruth Woo died this week at the age of eighty-nine.  News of her pass­ing has sparked an out­pour­ing of trib­utes.  “Over many, many years, Ruth Woo was a won­der­ful friend and men­tor to count­less Wash­ing­to­ni­ans. She was a trust­ed leader with a remark­able tal­ent for bringing […]

Posted inElections, Events

2016 DNC primetime speaking lineup unveiled; Bernie Sanders gets Monday slot

by Andrew Villeneuve

In the wake of Don­ald Trump’s vice pres­i­den­tial selec­tion announce­ment, the Demo­c­ra­t­ic Nation­al Con­ven­tion Com­mit­tee (DNCC) has unveiled the speak­ing line­up for the 2016 DNC, which will take place in Philadel­phia, Penn­syl­va­nia, fol­low­ing the Repub­li­can Nation­al Con­ven­tion in Cleve­land next week. “While Repub­li­can lead­er­ship con­tin­ues to run away from Don­ald Trump, and refuse to par­tic­i­pate in […]

Posted inEvents

Netroots Nation 2017 to be held in Atlanta

by Andrew Villeneuve

Next year’s Net­roots Nation Con­ven­tion will be held in Atlanta, Geor­gia thir­teen months from now, orga­niz­ers have announced. “For the first time ever, we’re head­ed to the South for Net­roots Nation,” they wrote in a post reveal­ing their site selec­tion. “Our twelfth annu­al con­fer­ence will be held in Atlanta [from] August 10–13, 2017.” “Some progressives […]

Posted inElections

Bernie Sanders endorses Hillary Clinton

by Andrew Villeneuve

Ver­mont Sen­a­tor Bernie Sanders made his first joint appear­ance with pre­sump­tive Demo­c­ra­t­ic pres­i­den­tial nom­i­nee Hillary Clin­ton in Portsmouth, New Hamp­shire today, declar­ing that he intends to do every­thing he can to help Clin­ton win in Novem­ber, and ensure that Don­ald Trump is defeat­ed. Sanders used his endorse­ment speech to draw as many con­trasts between Clinton […]

Posted inLitigation, Open Government, Policy Topics

It’s official: Attorney General Ferguson has a second case against Tim Eyman to prosecute

by Andrew Villeneuve

A com­plaint alleg­ing that Tim Eyman failed to fol­low Wash­ing­ton’s pub­lic dis­clo­sure law back in April when he launched an ad cam­paign exco­ri­at­ing Demo­c­ra­t­ic law­mak­ers for not doing his bid­ding has been returned to Attor­ney Gen­er­al Bob Fer­gu­son’s office for fur­ther action by a unan­i­mous Pub­lic Dis­clo­sure Com­mis­sion. In an ear­ly after­noon tele­con­fer­ence, Com­mis­sion­ers Anne […]

Posted inBreaking News, Elections

VICTORY!!! I‑1515 backers throw in the towel, anti-transgender initiative FAILS!

by Andrew Villeneuve

Back­ers of Ini­tia­tive 1515, a right wing scheme to legal­ize dis­crim­i­na­tion against trans­gen­der indi­vid­u­als in Wash­ing­ton State, have can­celed their appoint­ment to turn in sig­na­tures after con­clud­ing they did­n’t have enough to make the bal­lot, the Sec­re­tary of State’s office announced only min­utes ago. “The I‑1515 (‘bath­room ini­tia­tive’) cam­paign has can­celed their Fri­day appoint­ment and will […]