They were loud. They were angry. They were Union Strong.
After this week, it should be crystal clear to Gov. Bob Ferguson that state employees aren’t begging for a tax on the ultra-wealthy to patch up Washington’s budget hole. They’re demanding it, loudly enough to shake the state capital.
Hundreds of Washington Federation of State Employees (WFSE) members packed the rotunda on Wednesday to remind Ferguson that their salaries aren’t just spreadsheet items: they’re livelihoods, rent checks, daycare bills, and precarious stability. They staged a sit-in outside Ferguson’s office, then marched to the governor’s mansion to confront him, however, he was gone, working from his Seattle office. It should be noted that while the protest was loud, it remained peaceful throughout.
The people shouting down Ferguson’s door are the same people who answer phones at state agencies, care for people with disabilities, help folks re-enter society after prison—many had canvassed and voted for him. And they are fed up with what they see as the governor’s betrayal of the working class and his political appeasement to the state’s wealthy, evidenced by his rejection of a wealth tax.
At the heart of the clash in Olympia is Ferguson’s proposal to furlough state workers as a fix for Washington’s staggering $16 billion budget shortfall, while dismissing a wealth tax as “untested” and legally uncertain, while being mum on other progressive revenue measures. WFSE and other unions aren’t buying it, arguing that the governor’s plan shifts the economic burden onto the very workers who keep the state functioning, while the ultra-wealthy remain shielded from even modest tax increases.
“I am an administrative assistant. We are the glue of our organizations—we make things happen behind the scenes. Many of us are some of the lowest-paid workers in the state. Most of us are women. I take home about $1,500 every two weeks. If I weren’t married, I couldn’t afford this job,” says Kelly Powers, a WFSE member who spoke at yesterday’s protest.
Powers, who voted for Ferguson, slammed his proposed cuts, calling them a “self-inflicted recession” at a time when the economy is already reeling from the volatile nature of the Trump administration’s economic asininity. She’s especially affronted by Ferguson’s proposal of a five year moratorium on state worker’s ability to negotiate their health care packages.
“Tell me how do we pay for housing, food, gas, and healthcare on less and less, while the richest Washingtonians pay nothing more?” she asks.
Wednesday’s actions were applauded by many Democratic state legislators, including those who have supported raising progressive revenue.
“Though I was excited to see Washington state public employees and other working people protest at the State Capitol, it’s disappointing that they have to make use of these tactics in order to be heard,” says Rep. Shaun Scott of the 43rd LD. “That some state lawmakers and the Governor’s office are considering cuts to social services and furloughs of public employees is unconscionable. I was proud to join yesterday’s sit-in at the Governor’s office, and will continue working from inside the institution of the State Legislature to tax the ultra wealthy to fund services we all use.”
Rep. Brianna Thomas, whose 34th legislative district covers West Seattle and Vashon Island, also denounced the governor’s propositions.
“I want the governor to keep his promises. I will not balance the budget on the back of starving children. I will not balance the budget on the backs of those who need kidney dialysis. I will not balance it on the backs of our immigrant community who need support. I will not balance it on the backs of kinship caregivers who can barely afford to raise their grandchildren,” Thomas told The Stranger. She also spoke at Wednesday’s protest.
The demonstration action caught the eye of at least one national civil rights leader.
“This is an example of how to organize our strengths into compelling power so that the government cannot elude our demands. I’ll take it further and say that so any power structure cannot elude our demands,” says Dr. Bernice A. King, who was in town for a housing equity event hosted by Habitat for Humanity Seattle-King & Kittitas Counties.
Invoking her father Martin’s economic justice message from his book Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community, King says that like all states, Washington requires leaders with a “people-centered” sensitivity to the needs of the electorate.
“A creation of a budget shows you who someone represents. Are you representing the people or are you representing powerful lobbyists?” she told The Stranger.
With Democrats still locked in budget negotiations and state workers poised for further direct action before the legislative session ends on April 27, we’ll soon see.
If they wanna be angry with someone, they should be angry with the legislature who created programs with one time Covid funding, and no continuing revenue source, and then used overly optimistic revenue forecast to justify further spending despite advice from economic officials that they were not realistic. They are the reason we have a $12 billion deficit not because people aren’t paying their fair share, whatever that means. The wealth tax is DOA and stomping your feet and holding your breath isn’t going to bring it back. The legislature is in for a rude awakening when they roll out their proposal next week that will no doubt include a massive property tax increase. If they create a budget built on increases they’re going to see a massive backlash and an initiative. They need to fix their own mess.
@1: Sooner or later, we’re going to have that wealth tax, whether you like it or not.
@2 not likely. If anything we’ll end up with an income tax somewhere down the road but only if and its a big IF the dems can get super majorities in both houses (very possible in 2026) and convince voters to actually vote through a constitutional amendment (I think that is probably a 40% probability right now). When your biggest donor (Nick Hanauer) won’t even support your policy there is zero chance it is going to happen. You know though even if we get an income tax it’s not going to be enough. They’ll continue to spend like drunker sailors. Look at all the states that have the big 3 (incomes, property, sales) and tell me which one is doing everything the right way.
Again, I’m not seeing these protests accomplish anything. Just seems like a way to blow off steam. And showing up to someone’s office to protest them when they’re not there is kinda cringey.
“ The people shouting down Ferguson’s door are the same people who answer phones at state agencies”… eh, I dunno. Some of them. Feels like most of them hit up whatever protest of the week is going on if the weather is alright. It’s like a subcommunity. Nothing more holy than protesting for a liberal cause, I guess… Unless you count hempfest, I haven’t seen effective protests in 20 years in Seattle.
“I am an administrative assistant. We are the glue of our organizations.” I assure you, you are not. And that’s some pretty severe arrogance that probably impedes you from learning advancing. Administrative assistants have low pay, because they don’t require or use any specialized skill. Your problem is your career choice.
Thank you to the Washington Federation of State Employees (WFSE) members!
“This isn’t the kind of fight you win, it’s the kind of fight you fight.”
Cory Doctorow
@4: “… showing up to someone’s office to protest them when they’re not there is kinda cringey.”
Protests where the protestors’ alleged target may or may not even be present seem to be the type of protest the Stranger really likes, for some reason: https://www.thestranger.com/news/2024/09/20/79702394/black-activist-alleges-assault-at-protest-outside-council-member-bob-kettles-house/comments
I was never much of a fan of fergi to begin with, but I have to admit he may turn out to be not half bad. Stay the course Fergi! This state doesn’t need more taxes (on anyone, including the rich who will just move elsewhere). As is always the case with the dems, revenue never meets projections and pretty soon you will be the rich in there eyes. Make no mistake, the dems war on the middle class continues (just look at the carbon tax for an example).
All this jumping up and down and screaming betrays the ignorance of the Blue State Left.
Do you hairy, unionized pencil-sharpeners really think bitching about the governor you voted for and thumping the tub for pay increases with an already bloated, underfunded state budget will do any good?
Tax the Rich? Gee, that’s a new one!
What happens when all the rich folks flee the state?
Tax the middle-class of course, you misguided, self-involved Leftist cretins.
Why not put the state budget on a diet?
Everyone else must cut back on expenditures thanks to Biden’s craven desire to marginalize the economy with government handouts and nosebleed inflation, so why not be responsive to economic circumstances and trim the expletive deleted state budget?
The Washington State Democrats can be personified by an overweight, tattooed rainbow-adorned bubo at a Jackson Brown concert, reeling from a marijuana tea overdose and protein deficiency, unbridled titties swinging in the wind, spraying fellow concertgoers with unwelcome personal fluid discharges.
A vote for Reichert was a vote for fiscal sanity and temperance, so naturally all the bejeweled, hairy, tattooed public sector mavens voted for Ferguson, the sneaky, soft-on-crime, regulation-happy attorney.
@8 Do yourself a big favor and find another state whose fiscal policies are more to your liking. You’ll NEVER be happy in this one.
How about reducing the great pension Wa State Employees get?
WA pensions are actually a bright spot in our budget. Last figure I saw was 96% funded, which is like top 5% of pensions. Its investments have done so well the state is considering using some of that money for other purposes. I worked for the state for a few years, but I’ve got a lot more retirement money lined up from 401ks than the pensions for time spent.
Pensions aren’t the problem. If you think they are, you’re probably envious of the middle class.
Thank you gripe.
In a national sense – and that’s really, ultimately what we’re talking about here – I get why Democrats haven’t addressed inequality (ie they’re still busy giving hand jobs to billionaires in the Senate cloak room [now say that like Dirk Calloway – that’s just about the funniest thing ever from a Wes Anderson flick]). I mean/you know: we know they had exactly two years to do health care, then basically a decade later they had two years to do infrastructure.
But let’s hope next they have (at least) two years to do…inequality. Which means divorcing weirdo exhibitionist billionaires – I used to work for that one, and was one of those people who ultimately got the whole customer service department in Seattle fired because we were trying to…unionize (remember that?!) – and separating from Hollywood (where I worked as a kid and again now – all those celebs who left the country because Trump are just cowardly and…embarrassing).
And yeah blah blah blah income taxes and eitc and the rest but in the end it’s going to also and maybe primarily be…a wealth tax.
But of course it’s not just billionaires and not just maga but also…middle class libs, esp those in blue cities that got all high and mighty from their property values.
I went to college in New York, but took time off…to sell furniture or something (but hey I was an actor kid and pitchman is typically the second assignment in acting class, so I was pretty good at it; but it was also like…how is it that I just made these people a million bucks and somehow I only earned 2.5% of that) , and was living in SF at more or less exactly the time things started to get weird and gross there. In January 1994 you could easily get a place in the Lower Haight with your friend from growing up and afford to live there peddling espresso or…selling furniture. A year later literally the people who sold you coffee on the way to work were showing up to showings in suits and dresses (some of them rented, I imagine) and sometimes…with their parents.
When I finished college and moved to Seattle in the late 90s, things were kinda still more like 94 SF than 95. We had a place on the back side of Capitol Hill (adjacent to a crack house I’ll add, which once got raided by the SWAT people – when we moved in this guy comes over and is like: if you kids ever want some crack, just stop by [thanks for that!]) and I worked for the weirdo exhibitionist billionaire never according to them answering quite enough phone calls and emails. (I really do feel badly for the people who still work there, because in truth while work is often bad and hard it is really all that by design and not accident working for…the weirdo exhibitionist billionaire. But hey I got to play a RENT-era anarchist irl, delivering union fliers to the cs sites in a hoodie, sunglasses, and bandanna over my face in the middle of the night. And I could still fit into size 29 pants.)
But even though I don’t now live in Seattle (most of the media I read is from places…I used to live) it seems pretty self-evident that things have long now been weird and gross there too, owing in large measure to wealth generally but also…property values. I’m not saying it’s the only thing that has turned many/most of the straight-identified hipster kids you knew growing up into their parents, but it’s certainly high on that list. And wtf you boomers: I love you all, really – some of you are the best ss fckers ever [although at least for a few of you couldn’t you have waited till I turned 18? I know I was LIE cute but has to wait till 18 is a trope for a reason…] – but you’re like 80 years old, just about, and you’re still living in that freakin 5 bedroom house alone or nearly alone. Here’s a thought: I know…property values…but has it occurred to you that all that may come crashing down before you get around to selling. (Psst: America’s median age is actually now higher than Japan’s when it all went to hell and tears in the early 90s. Just because half of everywhere has had a housing shortage doesn’t mean it’s forever.)
So, that: I think there probably will have to be some kind of total and complete economic wipeout, erasing literally trillions in value across markets (I don’t just mean real estate markets but all of them) before we finally get around to addressing inequality nationally. And of course if that’s what you’re after you couldn’t have picked a better president.
Hopefully, Washington gets religion before America.
it’s always someone else that needs to shoulder the burden.
State workers pay comes from tax dollars so cutting those expenses makes sense.
The Republican budget grows spending by 7-8% using anticipated revenue growth without raising taxes. How about we try that path? Progressive taxes will chase business out of WA, just like the JumpStart tax has driven business out of Seattle.
@12
thanks
for that
Breath of
Fresh Air!
bravo.
It would be better to fire 20% of the State Workers. No one will notice or miss them.
@15 your breath of fresh air is that the state should determine the best use of your property and if they determine it is not being fully utilized they should evict you and give it to someone else. hmmm where I have heard about that happening before. Give it a think comrade. I do appreciate you both stating the quiet part out loud though.
@17, translated:
They EARNED EVERY PENNY!
the State has NO ‘Right’
to ANY of It.
we’re All Rugged Individualists!
and do Not NEED any stinkin’
HANDOUTS! like the ones
we hand over to the
Rich just as if it’s
THEIR RIGHT
precisely
as thedjt’s
commencing
to reiterate for
all the d12rs:
“So, that: I think there probably will have to be some
kind of total and complete economic wipeout,
erasing literally trillions in value across mark-
ets (I don’t just mean real estate markets
but all of them) before we finally get
around to addressing inequality
nationally. And of course if
that’s what you’re after
you couldn’t have
picked a better
president.”
bravo,
KennyS.
@19 lol that you think you can address inequality at all. Ther has never been a moment in human history, where there has been true economic equality. The closest we have ever been is the system of capitalism that at least allows the opportunity for movement. The system of you and your buddies spouse only leads to government officials, dictating winners, and losers. Newsflash for the most part the government officials and their cronies are the winners.
One of the reasons the United States has the prosperity it does is because of private property rights. The minute you erode those or allow the state to dictate the best uses of property is the minute we have truly lost our liberty
@19
you say that
with an apparently-
straight face whilst thedjt
quickly dismembers our democracy
that’s too
Funny.
@20 and while that is happening you are actively advocating for an even worse system that will allow government officials to control every aspect of our lives. What do you think would happen if the trumpster could go around evicting people from their homes because he has a better use for them? You always assume gov is going to be on your side and they are only on their own side.
@21 No one to my knowledge has ever advocated that owners of private residences should be required to take in tenants. What the OP is clearly suggesting is that owners of large empty houses might want to think about their property values in more big-picture terms. That’s all.
But owners of commercial apartment buildings (i.e., landlords) are another story. Someone who avails themselves of the tax advantages and legal protections extended to business entities is entering an implied social contract that government can and should condition on the actual provision of housing. Holding units in a multifamily property empty for unreasonably long periods of time in an attempt to game the market (however one does this) should be actively disincentivized.
Housing is a basic human need. Extol capitalism all you like, but the reality is that nowadays the so-called free market alone cannot provide housing affordable to the working class and below without some form of government involvement. What that involvement entails (rent and vacancy regs, public housing, social housing, nonprofit/tax credit housing, etc.) is a valid subject for debate, but foreclosing it entirely out of a rigid ideological worldview that treats housing as just another commodity like soybeans only ensures that the problem of homelessness will never be solved.
thank you
CKathes.
always
the voice
or reason.
@22: “Holding units in a multifamily property empty for unreasonably long periods of time in an attempt to game the market…”
Have we any evidence this has happened in Seattle? Years ago, the Stranger’s failed economic writer and the Stranger’s soon-to-fail mayoral candidate wrote a series of articles on how Sinister Asians (“hot Chinese money”) were buying residential properties in Seattle and then not renting them out, but the Stranger has never provided any evidence for this. (https://www.thestranger.com/architecture/2017/04/20/24442014/hot-money-and-seattles-growing-housing-crisis-part-one) Was this ever really a thing, or was it just another early manifestation of progressive racism against Asians?
Vulture capitalists/
‘Private Equity’ have
been buying up housing
stocks, manipulating rents
creating a massive Shortage
of what Should Be a Human Right
of course ‘human rights’
are merely a pipe dream
in this end-stage predatory
capitalistic dystopian nightmare
the ‘American Dream’?
poof! buh-Bye!
sayofucking
Nara.
@22, @25: Ok, so that’s a ‘no’ on the “Have we any evidence this has happened in Seattle?” question, then.
Thanks & good to know!
fuck you,
Wormtongue!
🙂🙂🙂🙂😉
@27: You’d already admitted to having no evidence. You don’t have to keep emphasizing that point for me, but if you want to do so, I cannot stop you. Thanks again!
your
Demands
for Evidence’re
not nearly as Compelling
as you’ve been Led to Believe
pass.
@8: Wow, Polly—did you just move in with raindrop and / or his braindead sock puppet, BabyDoofus?
You actually voted for Mr. Behind Closed Doors pro-Trumpfist Dave “I Caught the Green River Killer (only after 43 innocent people had to die first)!” in the last election? Whatever for, to confuse “fiscal sanity and temperance” with WWII era fascism? I’m amazed you don’t live in Florida. You and Mu$k’s Mein Trumpf could be playing taxpayer-funded golf together. But watch out for gators.
@9 and @22 CKathes: +2 Thank you for your consistently spot on comments.
@23 kristofarian: +1 Agreed and seconded.
@29 kristofarian: Wow—teenieweenie must be really bored today. What will he spew next?
Too bad he’s all argument and no brains. Obviously he’s trying to cover up something else lacking.
@29: Indeed, absolutely nothing could ever possibly compel you to provide even the slightest evidence of any kind whatsoever to support any of your beliefs, no matter how often or loudly you’d stated your beliefs. We both know that, and we both know why.
Therefore, only one question remains: why on earth would you believe compelling you to provide evidence was the reason I asked you for evidence?
You all should get a fucking room.
Preferably padded.
@31
that’s Enough with your
Appeasements &
Capitulations
wormmy:
nyt:
[Bernie] Sanders
and [Alexendria] Ocasio-Cortez
Electrify Democrats Who Want to Fight Trump
Bernie Sanders and his apparent heir, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, have drawn enormous crowds on their “Fighting Oligarchy” tour, energizing a beaten-down Democratic Party.
The biggest political rallies anywhere in America right now are being headlined by an 83-year-old senator in the twilight of his career and his 35-year-old protégée.
Roughly 36,000 people in Los Angeles. More than 34,000 attendees in Denver. And another 30,000 on Tuesday night near Sacramento.
Those monster crowds — more than 200,000 people in all, according to organizers — have turned out to cheer on a fiery anti-Trump, anti-billionaire message from Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York during their “Fighting Oligarchy” tour of Western states.
Mr. Sanders even surprised attendees at the Coachella music festival near Los Angeles last week, popping onstage to introduce the singer Clairo and make an appeal to young people.
As Democrats search for a spark after being routed in November, the two progressives are providing the kindling, offering the party’s beaten-down base the fighting spirit it has been missing ever since President Trump returned to office.
–by Kellen Browning; April 16, 2025
oodles:
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/16/us/politics/bernie-sanders-aoc-trump-democrats.html
corporate
Dems don’t
Approve. fuck ’em:
this is a War for America.
@33: “Appeasements &
Capitulations”
Tell us you don’t know what the big long fancy words mean…
@34
NO One’s as Smarmny as
thee Wormtongue
yuk a do-
ddle do.
speaking of Feckless
Democrats, and, in
other News:
Dear kristo
Here is what I’ve seen over the last five days:
[from my Buddy Bernie Sanders (VT-I)
3:06 PM 4/17/2025]
Sisters and Brothers:
Under the oligarchic and authoritarian regime of Donald Trump, we find ourselves living in an unprecedented moment in modern American history. As a result, we’ve got to respond in an unprecedented way.
And we’re beginning to do it.
Yesterday afternoon, Alexandria, Ocasio-Cortez and I completed the latest swing in our Fighting Oligarchy Tour. There were seven events in five days, and the turnouts were unbelievable. In total, nearly 150,000 people turned out from “blue” Los Angeles to “red” Idaho … a state Trump won with almost 70 percent of the vote.
Sisters and Brothers: it may just be possible that this country is on the brink of a political revolution that is long overdue and that, finally, we move toward a government and an economy that works for all of us – and not just the billionaire class. This struggle won’t be easy, but we’re making progress.
All across America, I am seeing people who are hungry for an understanding of what is going on in this country, how we are going to take on Trumpism, and what we must do to transform our society.
Here is what I’ve seen over the last five days:
Los Angeles, California — 36,000 people
Coachella Valley, California — 35,000 people
Salt Lake City, Utah — 20,000 people
Nampa, Idaho — 12,500 people
Bakersfield, California — 4,450 people
Folsom, California — 30,000 people
Missoula, Montana — 9,000 people
And let’s be clear. These turnouts are getting Republicans nervous. Elon Musk says our attendees are “paid organizers,” and Trump boasts, falsely, that only a couple thousand people are attending and that his turnouts are always larger than ours.
Just this week, four Republican members of Congress representing districts where we have held rallies signed a letter to Speaker Johnson opposing significant cuts to Medicaid.
The letter didn’t go as far as we would like – which is ABSOLUTELY NO CUTS TO MEDICAID – but it’s a start. And keep in mind, it does not take many Republicans to stop the House from passing Medicaid cuts. Four is enough.
But needless to say, a few large rallies are not going to be nearly enough to stop what Trump, Musk and right-wing extremist Republicans are doing to this country.
What is most important is what happens AFTER these rallies are finished, and that is what I want to talk to you about today.
First: our goal is not to simply parachute in and do a rally. Every time we leave a state, we follow up with people who attended our events and give them opportunities to take additional actions.
Sometimes, it can be demanding that their member of Congress hold a town hall and tell them if they’re going to vote for tax breaks for billionaires while they slash Medicaid.
We’re also asking people to go door-to-door educating their neighbors as to what’s going on in Washington. In some states, like Colorado and Utah, we have asked people to get involved in fights important to organized labor or in protecting the environment.
In other words, the rallies are the
beginning of our efforts, not the end.
[continued, from above]
In other words, the rallies are the
beginning of our efforts, not the end.
As a result of your support, we have already hired organizers in several competitive Congressional districts and are in the process of hiring more.
Our organizers have helped turn out people to other events and rallies, including last weekend’s “Hands Off” events. We have held virtual organizing meetings where people can learn how they can best engage in grassroots organizing.
In our first virtual meeting, more than 600 people in Iowa’s First Congressional District joined. We have even more RSVP’s for an organizing meeting in Wisconsin later today.
But there is much more to be done if we’re going to be successful in taking on the Oligarchs who today control the economic and political life of our nation.
In the next week, we are going to help a group called “Run for Something” identify what I hope will be thousands of Americans who want to run for office at all levels on a progressive agenda that represents the needs of the working class of our country.
I am talking about school boards, city councils, state legislatures and the U.S. House and U.S. Senate. We are talking about running candidates and mobilizing grassroots activism in EVERY state in the country. Please be on the lookout for that email and consider if now is the moment YOU may want to run for office.
We are also exploring new and creative ways to educate each other in a world where nearly the entire media and communications infrastructure is owned and controlled by the wealthiest people on earth.
Our rallies in the last week were viewed
more than 2 million times. But
we must do more.
We are holding non-political events to build community that bring people together. In my home state of Vermont, we hold free-throw shooting basketball contests for kids, a chess tournament and community walks.
When Republicans are trying to divide us up based on race, gender, religion and more, our job is to come together, support each other and give each other strength.
And we must engage in a coordinated effort to support progressive candidates who are not only prepared to stand up to Donald Trump and his Republicans allies, but who are offering real solutions to the problems facing working people, the elderly, the children, the sick and the poor.
I am talking about contested House and Senate races this cycle where we have a chance to elect progressives over establishment Democrats.
Now, you know your history as well as I do. You know that real change never takes place from the top down. It takes place when ordinary people, by the millions, are prepared to stand up and fight for justice.
And the truth is, we are trying to do something that the establishment in the Democratic Party is incapable of doing.
The sad truth is that many Democratic politicians have very few roots in their communities and are unable to generate grassroots enthusiasm. If we waited on them to defeat Trumpism and move our country forward, we’d be waiting forever.
So it is up to us.
Not me.
Us.
It is up to us to first stop a Republican reconciliation bill that will provide tax cuts for billionaires while cutting lifesaving programs for the poor and working class of this country.
And long term, it is up to us to transform this country.
This is big stuff, and it is not the time for small thinking. It is not the time for the same old same old establishment politics and stale “Inside the Beltway” ideas.
Now IS the time for millions of working families to come together, to revitalize American democracy, to end the collapse of the American middle class and to make certain that our children and grandchildren are able to enjoy a quality of life that brings them health, prosperity, security and joy — and that once again makes the United States the leader in the world in the fight for economic and social justice, for environmental sanity and for a world of peace.
Let’s get it done.
In solidarity,
Bernie Sanders