- How the Attorney General Writes Initiative Ballot Titles
19 October 2026
Five lawyers in the Attorney General’s office wrote all 33 initiative ballot titles filed in 2026, 25 of them to the 30-word limit. A judge rewrote I-2066’s subject by hand in 2024, with no appeal. And the first court test of the I-645 budget sentence ended both campaigns’ challenges unheard. - What is a precinct committee officer in Washington?
22 September 2026
From 2001 to mid-2025, Washington filled 106 legislative vacancies by appointment. Each appointee came off a three-name list from party precinct committee officers — who they are, how they are elected, and why only Democrats and Republicans have them. - The answer was the workgroup: ESSB 6346 from rejected amendment to August agenda
14 September 2026
Washington’s first tax on high incomes passed with a list of unsolved problems and an advisory group promised to solve them. The group was created in the same committee sitting where it was first used as a reason to vote a fix down. Twenty-four committee amendments were offered and none were published; exactly one drew a recorded vote. - Independent Expenditures and Coordination in Washington
19 August 2026
Independent expenditures must stay independent of campaigns. Six years of Washington disclosure records show 430 cases where one firm was paid by a candidate and by an independent-expenditure committee spending in that same race. The largest single source is the Democratic caucuses’ own PAC — 84 overlaps across 51 candidates — and 96.7% of the overlaps sit inside the rule’s twelve-month coordination-presumption window. Sharing vendors is legal; this report maps the structure the law cannot see past. - The gathered vote: paid voucher collection in Seattle’s 2025 mayoral primary
9 August 2026
A campaign that won 1.09% of Seattle’s 2025 mayoral primary redeemed $342,725 in Democracy Voucher funds — 88% of everything it raised. Its filings show a paid collection operation, the city’s ledger shows 36% of its vouchers arriving after elimination, and SEEC meeting records show what oversight allowed and refused: $32,000 in bonuses denied, a $30,000 collection contract approved, and a $1,500 late-filing penalty affirmed. - How Katie Wilson funded her win: $25 vouchers against a $1.8M opposition fund
8 August 2026
Katie Wilson raised 77.7% of her $1.02M Seattle mayoral campaign in Democracy Vouchers from 12,622 residents, faced $1.23M in independent spending against her — more than her entire budget — and won by 2,011 votes. Certified state and county records show two donor pools that never overlap, a labor movement split down the middle, and a February ballot measure whose precinct map predicted her November margin at r = 0.92. - Half of Washington’s state contracts don’t say what they cost
30 July 2026
Across 642,567 Washington agency contract records from FY2014 to FY2025, 41.4% state no dollar amount at all. In FY2025 the figure was 52.3% — the worst year on record. Client-service-exempt contracts, the channel used for child care, home care and behavioral health, disclose no cost 65.3% of the time. - $81,872 unreported, a $1,500 penalty: the trial lawyers’ 2012 reporting case
In 2012 the Washington State Association for Justice gave $81,872 from its treasury to political committees, $70,000 of it to the campaign against Rob McKenna, without filing the reports the law requires of a lobbyist employer. A private complaint surfaced it in 2016; the settlement carried a $1,500 penalty. A $500,000 loan from 2010 was already past the statute of limitations.