"Fund education and transit" by electing someone who will immediately get the whole Democratic caucus steamrollered into oblivion. If you care about social services, keep this naive dolt far, far away from the sharks in Olympia.

If we were to lose Chopp, we'd lose the House. Since we don't (and won't) have the Senate, that would be the end of anything even vaguely non-Republican. The City Council is one thing, especially since Conlin hadn't done anything remotely good for years; the Legislature is another.

If this does cause the democrats to be steamrolled, i'm OK with this. They are an impotent band-aid, and an attempt to appease pseudo-leftists anyways. Hell, elective politics in general is a joke, but having someone shake up the establishment is better than sitting on our asses complaining about non action by politicians comfortable in their armchairs.

FYI, "Washington" currently has zero Socialists.

I hope she wins, and throw the Democratic party under the GOP bus in her effort to achieve a meaningless gesture. Seattle is a city full of idiots, so she does stand a chance. Just as long as she's not seen eating meat or listening to mainstream music, she'll have the Capitol Hill vote in the bag.
But may the record show that she is PSYCHOTIC. Everyone I know who is a non-socialist and spoke with her says she seriously has some mental issues...and what exactly are her credentials?

@5, dear halfwit: you want to SHAKE THINGS UP? Yeah, baby, shake it! If you had a fucking clue, you would know that what the Republicans have in store for you will make those "impotent band-aids" seem like a dream in comparison. You think Chopp is impotent? You wanted Sawant? Well, guess what? Sawant's platform was EXACTLY THE SAME AS CHOPP's, except for one little item -- she wanted to nationalize Boeing (fuck me). Every other item on her list Frank Chopp has been working for for his entire public life. Sawant would have been a DISASTER, and this pig-ignorant goofball is even worse. What does she know about building coalitions in the House? Jack diddley squat.

I repeat: vote for Spear if you want to reduce public services and public health funding to zero. Because that's what you're going to get.

I'm sure that 75% of her contributions are from Tea Party Republicans.

@8's right; there's nothing the 12th century Washington State Republicans would like better than to have Spear elected.

@8 Jess spear's qualitifications including being a Socialist Alternative mouthpiece, having earned a masters degree in marine science from the U of South Florida (not sure if she applied intending Ph D or just veered off in other interests), and doing a halfway decent job of spewing talking points but not actually reading the source material (this may be related to how she left with a masters).

Oh, but as a $15 Now organizer she's got a $3k/month salary, so her salary is just a shade below comrade Sawant.

The current state of Olympia is stalemate. Somehow losing Chopp means the stalemate ends and Republicans suddenly can pass law? And why is that?

And is there some special reason why a Socialist can't caucus with the Democrats? Does the presence of Bernie Sanders weaken US Senate Democrats? Of course not.

The worst case is that we go from stalemate to a different stalemate. And the upside is Washington Democrats will realize it's time to be something better than just the lesser of two evils.

(Fear not. Fnarf's kindergarten name calling loses its sting after the first day of school. It turns into so much background noise after a while.)

@8 I could care less about SA, but with democrats in power it just keeps the stalemate. Maybe a true insurection will happen if republicans win. But lets keep the status quo. Transit continues to get more expensive, while routes are cut, and rent is oushing any semplance of "Seattle" bye bye, soon to be replaced with techy libertarians.

Pushing* @14

Vote for the person that best represents you.
It isn't any harder that that.

How many people commenting actually live and vote in that district?

A few dozen supporters. Raised just $10,000 to her opponent's $96,000 through the end of June. Has a "goal" to raise and spend $150,000 by November. Counting on major support from organized labor which hasn't yet appeared.

Sorry, I'm just not getting your math.

@17, she's hoping SEIU will kick in some of the union money from home healthcare largesse.

There are many aspects of this discussion that remind me of the idiots that clamored for Nader. That disaster gave us endless wars and a terrible Supreme Court that continues to screw us.

No thanks.

@19

Yes, it was Nader's fault! Not a rigged election! Not a corrupt SCOTUS! And definitely not an inept candidate on par with the level of excitement of Romney! No, it was that bad man Nader and all of those "true" liberals who ruined everything!

Blue dog Democrats unite!

@20

The Hobby Lobby ruling can be traced directly back to Nader.

As if the Democrats weren't a party to the austerity theater during the last 15 years. The adults in the room need to move along. And Fnarf: find a new fucking Avatar.

Everyone wants progressive change but isn't willing to change the status quo to make that ever happen.

Frankly the voters are getting exactly what they wanted. Don't blame Olympia: look in the mirror and that's who's responsible for the current political nightmare we are in.

Ugh, no rent control. I really disagreed with Sawant on that point, but knowing she couldn't move it forward as a city councilmember made it a non-issue and I happily voted for her. Maybe if rent hikes were occurring in a vacuum it would make sense, but reality is an incoming population boom and record low vacancy rates, which rent control does not address.

Aside from that, I want to learn more to see if could get behind her. Washington Democrats haven't earned my undying loyalty just by propping up a feckless stalemate.

As there is no Republican running for the seat, there is no chance that Chopp losing his seat will give the state house to the Republicans, unless you think a socialist would caucus with the Republicans- state Democrats already have good practice with that in the state senate.
So vote for Chopp if you like the status quo, where state Democrats don't fight for anything Seattle wants. State Democrats don't drive any conversation. When was the last time you heard Chopp in the news pushing for something Seattle wants?
Also real classy, calling a woman "pig ignorant". Not that going to college and getting a master's in science requires intelligence, or that women are ever called stupid for purely misogynistic reasons.

I know the delicate balance of power is interesting and important and not at all played to death, but frankly, I'm worried about rent control. How does Spear envision this working? It's not like it worked in SF or NYC; you just get the incredibly-wealthy people who want to live in those cities buying the rent-controlled units from the people who they were designed for.

Blaming Chopp and Democrats for regressive taxes hardly shows clarity on the issue of reforming our tax system. In 1993 statewide voters enacted I-601 to require a 2/3 vote to raise taxes in both houses. For most of the last 20 years the law has been in effect.. Blame the voters and Tim Eyman for this continuing dysfunction in Olympia. Tim Eyman ran 3 different initiatives which statewide voters approved to repeatedly reinstate the 2/3 requirement -starting with Initiative 960 in 2007, Initiative 1053 in 2010, and Initiative 1185 in 2012. His initiatives also added in a requirement for a 2/3 to repeal tax exemptions, making that not a viable option. This year the Washington State Supreme Court ruled the 2/3 requirement unconstitutional. Democrats were behind the Supreme Court challenge, working to regain control over raising revue to fund state services. Chopp is not to blame for this 20 year love affair of the voters with hamstringing the ability of the Legislature to raise taxes with a simple majority. He certainly didn't support it or Eyman. Statewide voters also opposed by a wide margin I-1098, an attempt by initiative to put in place an income tax on high earners that the voters by a wide margin rejected. As to the paucity of legislation passed the last two years by Democrats, it is no different than in the US Congress. Republicans adopted a strategy of no compromise and no legislation and then blamed the Democrats for doing nothing. Socialists make a big mistake blaming Democrats and Chopp for inaction. It takes 50 votes in the House and 25 votes in the Senate to pass a bill in the state legislature. With Republicans controlling the State Senate the last two years little progressive legislation has passed. If voters want change they could have the biggest impact by voting Senate Republicans out of office. Voting Frank Chopp out of office would be a step backwards in this state - removing an effective progressive leader who despite conservative voter resistance has managed to get good legislation passed.