UNITED STATES PRESIDENT AND VICE PRESIDENT
I’m tired of thinking about Donald Trump. I don’t like thinking about a racist, lying, fraudster, who denies science when it comes to the climate, and more-tragically a pandemic that will have caused the death of a quarter million Americans by election day. I can’t deal with four more years of this. It’s exhausting to be constantly aware of the U.S. President. That was the beauty of the Obama years—no drama. I miss competency in leadership. I also miss decency.

Joe Biden is a decent man. And he will be a decent president. In both senses of the word. He wasn’t my first choice to be the Democratic nominee for president. He was well down the list, behind Bernie and Elizabeth and Cory and Kamala and probably a few more. But I will be quite happy to have a compassionate, empathic, normal person back in the White House after four years of chaos and, yes, deplorability. I like and respect Joe Biden, and boy does he love trains!

And how cool will it be to have a bad-ass like Kamala Harris at Biden’s side in the Oval Office? A super smart, relatively young, woman of color to balance out goofy Uncle Joe. These are two normal Americans, with exceptional stories. It’s kind of lame that our nominee is an old white guy, but having a woman with the most diverse background of any major party nominee as his Veep is pretty great. Indian mom, Jamaican dad, Canadian high school. Check, check, and check. And, yes, her husband is named Doug...quadruple check!

The electoral college is ridiculous. Another monument to slavery that has to go. But it’s still here in 2020, and we need to leave no doubt about the result of this election. If you live in a blue state, red state, or swing state, it doesn’t matter. Vote for Joe Biden. Not Gary Johnson or Gary Coleman or Kanye. Joe Biden.

Hillary beat Trump by 3 million votes in 2016. I want Biden to win by at least 10 million. It’s possible. If 150 million people turn out this year and Biden wins by 7 percent, that’s 10 million votes. We need a landslide. Send a message. Leave no doubt. Don’t make me move to Canada.

VOTE JOE BIDEN AND KAMALA HARRIS

UNITED STATES REPRESENTATIVE,
CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT NO. 7
Before “The Squad” came to D.C. in 2019, there was Representative Pramila Jayapal, who (like AOC, Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Pressley and Rashida Tlaib) is a woman of color who takes crap from no one. Jayapal emigrated from India to the United States at age 16, got her BA from Georgetown and MBA from Northwestern, founded Hate Free Zone after 9/11, and served in the Washington State Legislature from 2015 to 2017. Since then she has been standing up for immigrant rights in her four years in the U.S. House of Representatives, while also sitting on the Judiciary Committee, doing her best to hold the Trump Administration accountable for its corrupt acts and malfeasance (which in itself is a full time gig).

In August, Jayapal received 80% of the vote in a five-person primary. Craig Keller came in second with 8%, and now has the privilege of losing to Jayapal once again. Keller is perennial Republican congressional candidate, who at times sounds sane (“trust Dr Fauci” and “outlaw all robocalls” and “I picked apples”) but then slips on a rightwing tinfoil hat (“buy gold and a gun” and “deceitful communists are destroying the economy”). No thanks, Craig. I’m sticking with the future Speaker of the House.

VOTE PRAMILA JAYAPAL

GOVERNOR
Jay Inslee has handled the COVID-19 pandemic response as well as any governor in the country (yes, that’s a relatively low bar, but still). Washington state had the first known positive COVID-19 test in the United States way back in January and Inslee was quick to act, but slow to freak out. He’s been Cool Papa Jay ever since, letting you have a little bit of fun (booze to go!), but warning that he’ll SHUT IT ALL DOWN if you don’t behave. As a result, Washington state’s positive case numbers have remained fairly flat. And now we can go to the movies!

In August, Inslee had THIRTY FIVE people running against him for governor, but still managed to capture over 50% of the vote. Loren Culp came in a distant second, with 17%. Culp will do better in the general election, but the question is: Does he even want to be governor? The cult of Culp has campaign signs littering our state’s rural landscape, but the man couldn’t take a few minutes to write his voter’s pamphlet blurb. The sections on experience, education, and service are totally blank. He has no policies or positions listed, just a short bio (“bestselling author!”). Perhaps that’s because Culp’s only claim to political fame is being a Chief of Police who refused to obey Washington state’s new stricter gun laws back in 2018. It made headlines and even Ted Nugent gave him a shout out. But that police force that he’s chief of? He and his dog, Karma, are the only officers. Culp is no bark and no bite. And I’m guessing Karma is a bitch. Ha ha ha.

Four more years! (Unless you’re gonna be Interior Secretary Inslee, which I’m cool with too).

VOTE JAY INSLEE

LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR
Washington state’s lieutenant governor has two jobs: preside over the state senate and assume the governorship if Jay Inslee becomes Secretary of the Interior. The position is so boring that Cyrus Habib announced he was bailing on it after barely three years in office. Boring job or not, eleven candidates ran for the position in the August primary, with Denny Heck (25%) and Mark Liias (19%) besting the rest of the field.

Heck comes with the most name recognition, having served four terms in the U.S House of Representatives, but after watching his shallow, grandstanding appearance on the Intelligence Committee during the Trump impeachment hearings, I think Denny should head happily into retirement.

I much prefer rising star Marko Liias. Liias has served in the Washington State Senate since 2014, so he should be familiar with the primary role of lieutenant governor: preside over the Washington State Senate. He supports progressive taxation, single-payer health care, clean fuel standards, Sound Transit 3, and demilitarizing the police. Looks like someone’s fixing to run for governor in 2024 (or maybe even 2021).

VOTE MARKO LIIAS

SECRETARY OF STATE
Somehow in a state that hasn’t elected a Republican governor since 1980 or a Republican U.S. senator since 1994, Washington hasn’t had a Democratic secretary of state since Victor Aloysius Meyers, who left office when Kamala Harris was just three months old.That’s a long time!

Kim Wyman is running for her third term as secretary of state, having barely squeaked by her opponent in 2012, and then winning more convincingly in 2016 (Wyman got 55% of the vote with Trump on the top of the ballot, which is pretty impressive). Considering her party affiliation she’s been a non-controversial secretary of state, and the “R” after her name gives the continuous election of Democrats statewide in Washington a bipartisan stamp of approval.

In August, Wyman captured 51% of the vote in a four-person primary where her only real competition was Gael Tarleton, who received 43% and is ready for the rematch in November.

Tarleton has served in the Washington State House of Representatives since 2013. She has a background in defense intelligence and national security, and connections at the Pentagon might be helpful when elections are under attack from our adversaries. Tarleton is quick to point out that while Wyman hasn’t exactly cozied up to Trump, she also hasn’t condemned his attacks on mail-in voting or Republican efforts to defund the U.S. Postal Service, which could have dire consequences for voting by mail.

When voting in THIS Washington is under attack from the OTHER Washington like it never has been before, we need someone who has experience playing defense against offenders both foreign and domestic.

VOTE GAEL TARLETON

TREASURER
Incumbent state treasurer, Duane Davidson, is a Trump-supporting Republican. How did a Trump-supporting Republican win a statewide election in Washington? Well his victory in 2016 was a fluke of our top-two primary, where three Democrats split 52% of the vote, allowing the two Republicans in the race to advance by getting the other 48%.

Fortunately that didn’t happen in this year’s primary, where Davidson faced off against Mike Pellicciotti and only Mike Pellicciotti. And the two face each other again in November. Will the result be any different from the 7% victory Pellicciotti had in the primary? Hopefully not.

Pellicciotti is not a Trump supporter. Pellicciotti is a Washington state representative who sits on the House Budget Committee. He’s refusing donations from corporations in this race because he sees that as a conflict of interest in a campaign for state treasurer. He’s an advocate for transparency in PAC donations in all political campaigns, and has a history of supporting transparency in government spending as well. He’s got experience, credentials, and endorsements, but hopefully I had you at “not a Trump supporter.”

VOTE MIKE PELLICCIOTTI

AUDITOR
Democratic incumbent Pat McCarthy and another Democrat ran in the primary for auditor in August, gathering 59% of the vote to Republican Chris Leyba’s 41%. I don’t seen Leyba doing much better than that in November. Leyba’s probably a good dude (he operates an animal rescue that saves horses from kill pens), but his experience as a cop and grocery store manager don’t seem incredibly relevant to the position of auditor.

One complaint against McCarthy is that she was not more on the ball in stopping the hundreds of millions of dollars of fraudulent unemployment claims that were filed at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s possible McCarthy should’ve been quicker in identifying weak spots in the unemployment insurance system, but once they were identified, her office did a good job of investigating the fraudulent claims and recouping much the stolen loot.

VOTE PAT MCCARTHY

ATTORNEY GENERAL
Three candidates ran against Trump resistance hero and incumbent attorney general Bob Ferguson in the August primary. Ferguson received 56% of the vote and Matt Larkin was a distant second. He will be again in November.

Larkin does have some impressive credentials listed on his website. One is “Attorney in the White House for a former U.S. President.” Unfortunately that former president was George W. Bush and Larkin was his assistant speech writer. Do you remember Dubya’s speeches? Not exactly Churchill that one.

Anyhow, screw that guy. Bob Ferguson has been Washington’s attorney general for the past eight years, and we’re lucky to have him. His opponents complain he spends too much time suing the Trump Administration (he’s done so 69 times), but when the federal government fails to protect immigrants, the environment, voting rights, and consumers, it’s good to have a fighter like Bob Ferguson on your side.

VOTE BOB FERGUSON

COMMISSIONER OF PUBLIC LANDS
If you like smoky skies, vote for Sue Pederson. She has no vision for alternative energy in Washington state, and views trees solely as “income.” She would be a soulless bureaucrat when it come to overseeing our public lands. I don’t want that. I want some passion when it comes to the environment, and Hillary Franz brings it.

In her four years at the head of DNR, Franz has balanced the needs of Washington’s rural communities with the desires of its urban areas. She’s fought Trump on offshore drilling and punished fisheries for negligent practices. She’s worked to restore forests and advocated for sustainable energy sources. The climate is changing, we need someone who cares.

VOTE HILARY FRANZ FOR PUBLIC LANDS

SUPERINDENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION
In the 1987 movie “Broadcast News, “ Albert Brooks’ character said that the devil (who it that case was William Hurt) would be “attractive, nice, and helpful,” and “wouldn’t deliberately hurt a living thing,” but would “lower our standards where they are important, just a tiny little bit.” That’s Maia Espinoza. She seems fairly harmless, but beware! She is essentially running on a single issue as superintendent: kids shouldn’t learn about sex. What year is this? Oh, yeah.

Chris Reykdal fared worse than I’d expected in the August primary, getting only 40% of the vote (to Espinoza’s 25%). He should win, but it’s not a given.

It’s obviously been a tough 2020 for school kids, teachers, and parents, but Reykdal has done a good job navigating this difficult time. He has gained experience on what it’s like to lead in the COVID-19 era. This would be a terrible time for a new superintendent to learn on the job. Stick with the candidate who’s navigating the modern era, not living in 1955.

VOTE CHRIS REYKDAL

INSURANCE COMMISSIONER
On January 23, 1971, when insurance commissioner Mike Kreidler was studying public health as a graduate student at UCLA, the Bruins beat UCSB in basketball. They would go on to win their next 87 games. Kreidler’s electoral winning streak has been nearly as impressive—five straight victories for insurance commissioner.

Kreidler’s focus as insurance commissioner has been on health reform. He pressed the Obama administration when he thought the ACA was too weak, and has pushed back against the Trump administration’s attempts to dismantle the law. Last year he proposed legislation in Washington state to ban surprise medical billing, and the law passed.

Ultimately the United States should adopt a single-payer health insurance system, but until that day comes (will it ever come?), we need trusted oversight of the crappy system we have.

VOTE MIKE KREIDLER

LEGISLATIVE DISTRICT 43,
REPRESENTATIVE POSITION NO. 1
Incumbent representative Nicole Macri got 92% of the vote in the August primary, beating her November 2018 result by one percent. She's facing off against Leslie "Hey I Got 6% of the Vote" Klein in the general election.

Klein calls himself a “bright light of change” who will give you someone to vote for besides Donald Duck or Minnie Mouse. Who's that? Goofy?

Macri has been a fine state rep in her two terms in office. Her focus has primarily been on the homelessness crisis. How’s that going? Not so great, but at least some progress has been made in affordable housing. Disneyland wasn’t built in a day, so give Nicole some more time.

VOTE NICOLE MACRI

LEGISLATIVE DISTRICT 43,
REPRESENTATIVE POSITION NO. 2
When Frank Chopp announced he was stepping down as Speaker of the House following the 2019 legislative session, I assumed he would not be running for reelection in 2020. I was wrong. The gavel is gone, but the mustache remains.

I voted for Jessi Murray in the primary, because I liked her positions on taxes and transportation and I thought she was the best candidate to face Chopp in the general election. She came in third place behind Sherae Lascelles, which isn’t the worst thing because Lascelles is a good candidate. Lascelles and Murray hold similar positions on many issues, but I feared that Lascelles was a little too much of an outsider to bring down the Chopp machine.

Lascelles is an advocate for marginalized communities in the 43rd, such as homeless youths, sex workers, and the mentally ill. Among other things, Lascelles wants to increase state funding for housing, study a variety of systems (housing, healthcare, transportation, the environment) through the lens of race, increase the transportation budget and work toward free transit, decriminalize sex work, and provide access to childcare for every parent in Washington state.

Is this the year we finally shave the mustache? It's 2020. Anything can happen.

VOTE SHERAE LASCELLES

ADVISORY VOTES NO. 32 TO 35
Advisory votes are stupid. They are only on the ballot because professional fraudster Tim Eyman sponsored an initiative back in 2007 that required advisory votes on tax increases that were not subject to citizen referendum.

These 4 advisory votes (two of which passed nearly unanimously in the state senate) use up 5 double-sided pages in the Washington state voter’s pamphlet, a copy of which is distributed to every household and public library in the state. That’s around 3 million pamphlets, which means these non-binding, useless advisory votes are wasting fifteen million sheets of paper, or the equivalent of about 1,000 trees.

Don’t validate Tim Eyman’s environmental destruction.

DON'T EVEN VOTE ON THESE

ENGROSSED SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 8212
This resolution seems nuts. It allows public funds to be invested in the stock market to fund long-term care for people who can’t afford it. That seems crazy! Yet somehow 45 of our 49 state senators and 96 or our 98 state reps voted Yes on the bill that says gambling on the stock market to pay for Grandma’s dressing and bathing assistance is okay. Now it's our turn to speak. Maybe I’m missing something, but I don’t know what it is.

VOTE REJECTED

REFERENDUM MEASURE NO. 90
In March 2020, the Washington State House and Senate each passed a comprehensive sexual health education bill by double-digit margins that Jay Inslee then signed into law. Then a bunch of prudes collected enough signatures to subject the law to a vote of the people. Sometimes I wonder why we even bother to elect representatives.

If you read the arguments against passing this bill (co-written by my nemesis, bike-hating Fremont landlady Suzie Burke), you’d think that kindergartners will be forced into watching Playboy After Dark if Referendum 90 passes. That is not the case. The sex ed plan as crafted by parents, educators, and medical professionals is age-appropriate, starting with some emotional learning at the early stages and moving on to more complex issues like coercion and exploitation as students get older. And even though Referendum 90 requires school districts to teach sex ed, individual parents can still opt their children out of the education they’d like.

No means no. And yes means...

VOTE YES

JUSTICE POSITION NO. 3
Incumbent Raquel Montoya-Lewis was appointed to this seat on the Supreme Court (Washington’s “court of last resort”) in 2020 by Jay Inslee after Chief Justice Mary Fairhurst resigned for health reasons. Montoya-Lewis has more judicial experience than her opponent, Dave Larson, who was recruited to run for Supreme Court Position 6 in 2016 by Republican legislators. He lost and should lose again.

Larson’s real claim to fame is as the attorney who filed a class action lawsuit against Seattle Seahawks owner Ken Behring in 1996, which ultimately forced Behring to sell the team to Paul Allen, who kept the team from moving to Los Angeles. Larson should rest on those laurels. If Montoya-Lewis is good enough for Inslee, that's good enough for me.

VOTE RAQUEL MONTOYA-LEWIS

JUSTICE POSITION NO. 6
Like Raquel Montoya-Lewis, incumbent justice G. Helen Whitener was appointed to her seat on the Supreme Court by Jay Inslee in 2020 when her predecessor (Charlie Wiggins) retired. In addition to her experience as a judge and justice, she teaches “Street Law Civics” to high school seniors in Tacoma, which is pretty cool. Her opponent, Richard Serns, seems like an interesting cat—he’s hiked the Wonderland Trail and enjoys C.S. Lewis books. But he has zero experience as a judge.

VOTE G. HELEN WHITENER

JUDGE POSITION NO. 13
I know Hillary Madsen a bit from my time as a volunteer with the 43rd District Democrats several years ago. She was on the executive board and I designed the group’s logo, website, and other materials. This came in handy when I was called in for jury duty in the mid-2010s. I sat for voir dire for a trial that was supposed to last weeks. I’m all into doing my civic duty, but I really didn’t want to be in a courtroom that long, so I was relieved to see that Hillary Madsen was one of the attorneys on the case. As soon as I told the judge that I knew Ms. Madsen, BOOM, I was excused!

What does that have to do with Hillary Madsen running for this position? Not much. But I do know her to be a cool person with a good temperament, a history of volunteer work, a ton of experience in the courtroom, and an endorsement from the retiring incumbent. And knowing a judge on the Superior Court couldn’t be a bad thing.

VOTE HILLARY MADSEN

JUDGE POSITION NO. 30
I wanted to like Doug North because, well he’s a Doug. But you know who likes Doug? Cops and Republicans. Meanwhile, his opponent Carolyn Ladd gets a thumbs up from judges and Democrats, and as an attorney she's rated “exceptionally well qualified” by the bar association. Sorry Doug.

VOTE CAROLYN LADD

CHARTER AMENDMENT NO. 1, INQUESTS
The King County Charter is the foundation of the county government. It was first adopted by voters in 1968 after a series of political scandals (including one over the exorbitant cost of a courthouse remodel that included private showers for judges) rocked the county. The charter is essentially the King County Constitution, and this year voters have a say in seven potential amendments to this document.

Charter Amendment 1 expands the definition of what a law enforcement officer is, and requires the county to provide an attorney to the family of any person who is killed as a result of a law enforcement officer’s actions. It will increase transparency in investigations, and help grieving families find the truth when a loved one is killed. It’s the least we can do.

VOTE YES

CHARTER AMENDMENT NO. 2,
DISPOSITION OF REAL PROPERTY FOR AFFORDABLE HOUSING
Currently the county Charter states that when surplus government property is sold, it has to be sold at a profit. This amendment will allow these properties to be sold at a lower price when they are to be used to provide affordable housing. The Washington State Constitution already allows this, so this amendment will align the county’s Constitution with the state one. Governments are not businesses, and should not be run as such. People over profit, man.

VOTE YES

CHARTER AMENDMENT NO. 3, REFERENCES TO CITIZENS
The Preamble of the county Charter starts with the same three words as the U.S. Constitution: “We the people,” but it then makes several references not to “people,” but instead to “citizens.” This amendment will remove the references to citizens, and replace it with broader terms like “resident” and “public.” This seems like a minor semantic issue, but the truth is, many King County residents are not U.S. citizens, and this language is confusing and possibly disenfranchising.

Let’s demand a Command + F of the Preamble so that “We the people of King County” includes ALL of the people of King County.

VOTE YES

CHARTER AMENDMENT NO. 4,
OFFICE OF LAW ENFORCEMENT OVERSIGHT—
SUBPEONA AUTHORITY
In some places OLEO is margarine. In King County, OLEO is the Office of Law Enforcement Oversight, which as the name implies is the civilian office of law enforcement oversight which was established by voters in 2015.

When someone complains about a law enforcement officer, this oversight committee investigates. Currently OLEO has the power to subpoena witnesses and documents, but this power is dubious since it relies on a county code that could be amended by the county executive or county council. By adding this amendment to the Charter, subpoena power has been officially codified and could only be removed by a majority of us, the voters. Power to the people!

VOTE YES

CHARTER AMENDMENT NO. 5,
MAKING THE KING COUNTY SHERIFF AN APPOINTED POSITION
I struggled with this vote. Since 1996, King County voters have elected their sheriff. This amendment would change the position from an elected one to one appointed by the county executive and county council. My first instinct was to vote “No” because I like to have a direct say in who my sheriff is. But then I considered the roster of King County Sheriff’s since 1995. They’ve been worse than the Mariners.

Dave “I Caught The Green River Killer With My Bare Hands” Reichert, Sue Rahr, John Urquhart? Not great choices, King County voters. Law enforcement should not be a popularity contest influenced by campaign donations. City execs (mayors) appointment police chiefs, shouldn’t county execs appoint sheriff’s?

VOTE YES

CHARTER AMENDMENT NO. 6,
STRUCTURE AND DUTIES OF THE DEPARTMENT
OF PUBLIC SAFETY
How timely! This is an amendment that takes a step toward defunding the police. And not in that super scary way where cops have no money and they all disappear and Antifa moves into your basement and forces you to listen to Rage Against the Machine and eat vegan. It defunds in the way that the clumsy term “defund the police” is meant: taking funds away from segments of law enforcement that can be handled in better ways by other individuals, mainly when it comes to mental health and non-emergency issues.

It will essentially allow certain work being done by the sheriff’s office to be handled by other resources, like social service agencies and mental health practitioners, who are more equipped to handle certain situations that do not require a person with a gun and uniform. I keep hearing that cops have a really hard job. If that’s true, let’s give them less to do.

VOTE YES

CHARTER AMENDMENT NO. 7,
PROHIBITING DISCRIMINATION ON THE BASIS
OF FAMILY CAREGIVER OR VETERAN STATUS
This amendment seems pretty random. If adopted, it will add “family caregiver” and “military veteran” to the list of statuses that the county cannot discriminate against in employment (the others being things like, sex, race, age, gender identity, etc). I don’t quite understand how family caregiver and military veteran intersect, so I’m guessing the folks who proposed this amendment figure the left-leaning segment of the county would want to protect family caregivers and the right-leaning would want to protect military veterans, so this would capture 100% of the vote. Seems a little manipulative, but I’m cool with all these folks being protected.

VOTE YES

PROPOSITION NO. 1,
HARBORVIEW MEDICAL CENTER HEALTH AND SAFETY
IMPROVEMENT BONDS
The closest I’ve ever been to Harborview Medical Center is when I watched the crumbling Kingdome implode from Harborview's overlook in 2000. I’ve never been inside the actual hospital, and that’s a good thing. When bad shit goes down and someone’s really injured, they usually wind up at Harborview. In fact it’s the only Level 1 trauma and burn center in the four-state area that includes Alaska, Idaho, and Montana.

Harborview is owned by the people of King County so it is our responsibility to keep it shipshape. Apparently some of the facilities are outdated, so the county wants to issue bonds (paid through property tax levies) to pay for things like mental health and substance abuse facilities, seismic upgrades, and (most-topically) updated infection control capabilities.

I hope I never wind up in Harborview, but if I do, I don’t want it falling apart like the Kingdome was in the 1990s.

VOTE YES

PROPOSITION NO. 1
FUNDING FOR TRANSIT AND RELATED TRANSPORTATION NEEDS
It sucks that we have to use the sales tax to fund transit, but thanks to our state’s regressive taxation system, here we go again. This proposition replaces the .1% sales tax approved by voters in 2014 with a .15% sales tax starting in 2021. That .05% increase equates to an extra dime on that $200 Seattle Metropolitan throwback sweater you plan to buy when hockey is all the rage next October. The money will go primarily toward funding King County Metro bus lines that have over 65% of their stops with Seattle city limits.

Because of COVID, ridership on Metro buses is way, way down, and so too is revenue. I look forward to the day when I can ride the #26 or 62 to the Seattle Center, packed elbow to butthole with hockey fans. Hopefully this money will keep our transit system alive and functioning until that time.

VOTE YES