Mike James
19 mins ·
Election two cents worth (which is about its value – :-)…….
My ballot:
US Senate – – – Patty Murray
Governor – – – – Jay Inslee
Lt. Governor – – Steve Hobbs
Secretary of State – Tina Podlodowski
State Treasurer – Duane Davidson
State Auditor – Jeff Sprung
Attorney-General – Bob Ferguson
Commissioner of Lands – Dave Upthegrove
Super of Public Instruction – Erin Jones
Insurance Commissioner – Mike Kreidler
(the above are all Democrats except for Duane Davidson, a Republican who looks best for the job)
State Supreme Court – Barbara Madsen
KC Superior Court #44 Cathy Moore
Those are fairly easy calls – the rest of the ballot is tougher:
In the Congressional race, I’m impressed with, and supporting, Brady Walkinshaw. That’s no knock on other good candidates, but beyond his progressive outlook, he also sees a path to working across aisles, no easy task now but it’s time we support the effort. I liked the way the Seattle Times’ Walkinshaw endorsement phrased it – – “…an extra-mile intention to move beyond liberal orthodoxy.”
Walkinshaw’s seat in the 43rd is wide open with Macri, Ranade, and Shih especially good candidates. For the primary, I’m voting Dan Shih, but Nicole Macri’s experience with Seattle’s Downtown Emergency Center is invaluable so I hope she’s in the final.
On the Seattle ballot:
Yes on Prop #1, the Affordable Housing Levy — it’s not perfect, but we have a need, now. The “no” campaign had nothing meaningful to say.
A big NO on the late-to-the-game with no funding and no specifics elevated park Initiative 123.
Ever since I moved to this great city back in the 60s we’ve (at least most folks) have been trying to get rid of the viaduct, that concrete pile that cuts us off from our own waterfront.
This “half-baked” (that’s the Times and Stranger consensus – rare, and I agree) proposal has the nerve to repeat the Monorail mess by appointing – in the initiative itself – its own board, and ignores the years of planning with hundreds of hours of public input for the waterfront once the viaduct comes down.
No thanks.