• At a June 4 press conference, Governor Jay Inslee said he was "shocked," "surprised," "concerned," "disappointed," and "blindsided" by Republican efforts to repeal the estate tax, because he has apparently never met a Republican before.
• At an even testier June 11 press conference, Governor Inslee accused Republicans of "catering to millionaires" and focusing on "ideological wish lists" instead of kids. When asked if his combative tone would make it harder to strike a budget deal, Inslee responded, "Civility won't solve this problem."
• The Seattle School Board released a scathing self-evaluation on June 10. Quotes taken directly from interviews with the board (and presented anonymously) included: "The education community knows about our board, and they don't want to work with us," and "Until we can get a certain level of trust going, we will be the poster child for a dysfunctional school board." When asked if there were any surprises in the document, which was prepared by an outside consultant, all members said no.
• At a public forum recently, a Seattle Times reporter meeting a Stranger writer for the first time lamented that we were lucky: "You can say what you think."
• King County executive Dow Constantine and the mayors of all the county's cities lobbied Olympia for the authority to levy a 1.5 percent motor vehicle excise tax (MVET) in order to fund bus service and roads. But state senate transportation committee chair Curtis King, a Yakima Republican, thinks he knows better: "I think of transit as being more of a social issue, and a sales tax socializes that cost," King told the Seattle Times in justifying a transportation funding package that offers King County a regressive sales tax option rather than a progressive MVET.
• On June 10, the Seattle City Council unanimously passed progressive legislation to prohibit employers from performing criminal background checks on job candidates during the first stage of the hiring process, or they risk fines up to $1,000.
• The grassroots campaign to convert city council elections to a hybrid district system may have enough signatures to qualify its charter amendment for the fall ballot, according to an announcement Tuesday. Seattle Districts Now turned in about 45,000 signatures to place City Charter Amendment 19 on the November ballot. The group requires 30,943 valid signatures to qualify. If the amendment is approved by voters, the city council will comprise two members elected citywide and seven members elected by subareas. 
