The SECB hasn't been kicked out of the Grand Ballroom at the Westin—Home of the World Smallest Martini—and that's where the SECB caught up with City Attorney Pete Holmes.

Holmes was grinning over the twin defeats of incumbent municipal court judges Edsonya Charles and Mike Hurtado. Charles had been widely criticized for being hotheaded and Hurtado was old and cranky and useless.

"I am excited about the new change on the court," Holmes told the SECB. "Most people who have an interaction with law enforcement [in Seattle] deal with a municipal court judge. We now have much better, much smarter judges."

In other Westin Ballroom news: assembled liberals are feeling pretty down about the results on various statewide initiatives—the anti-tax crowd is having a good night—but the assembled liberals are pleased that both initiatives to reform our state's ridiculous liquor laws are losing. So tomorrow it will still be legal in Washington to charge $10 for a martini you can serve in a thimble.