Lt. Gov. Brad Owen is heading to Spain for 10 days, which means now is the perfect time to call a special session and pass some revenue measures.

See, as long as both he and Gov. Gregoire are both in state, Owen presides as president of the senate, where it is up to him to rule whether Tim Eyman's two-thirds supermajority requiring I-1053 is constitutional or not. It's clearly not, but Owen insists it is, meaning no revenue increase—either a tax hike or an exemption cut—can get out of the senate.

But with Owen out of state, the senate Democratic caucus gets to elect a president pro tempore to preside over such rulings. Simply elect somebody who believes I-1053 is not constitutional, and presto, by senate rules it isn't. Sure, that would result in a challenge before the state supreme court, but that's what we've wanted for years.

Of course Democrats aren't Republicans, so they don't have the balls to engage in such Machiavellian maneuvers, but you know, they could if they wanted.