- The Stand
If you were enjoying your weekend, you probably missed the coup that Republicans in the Washington State Senate staged late Friday.
Here's what happened: Three supposed Democrats—State Senators Rodney Tom, Jim Kastama, and Tim Sheldon—joined with senate Republicans to create a new conservative majority that then pulled a heretofore unseen budget out of their back pockets and demanded it become the budget.
No surprise, their budget is "extremist"—that's Democratic Senator Ed Murray's word—and people are furious. Furious at the "Democrats" who switched sides to let this happen after months of public deliberation and negotiation over the budget that was previously on its way to passing; furious at the shortsightedness of it all (there's no way the Democratic house will agree to this "extremist" budget, so what's the end game here?); and furious that we're now headed for a special session (which, of course, is not without its costs).
So, while Democrats in Olympia figure out their next move, a protest.
