The one sure thing in Olympia this year is that nobody wants to take the rap for the way that the budget is going to turn out. Republicans picked up some seats in the last election and the welcome present they’re getting from Democrats is a commitment to “bipartisan” budget proposals. So when the State…

The last time we spoke of Representative Reuven Carlyle here at the blog, we were calling one of his ideas the dumbest thing we’d heard in a long time. So we’re filled with a mixture of relief, humility, and giddy excitement as we report that he made a big comeback this week. On Tuesday Representative…

Down in Olympia, the 2011 legislative session is firmly underway. All the new people have learned the dress code and found the bathrooms, committee hearings have begun to fill the airwaves of TVW, and bills have begun to drop like rain. We’re still a long way from the end game of the 2011-13 budget, so there’s plenty of…