Alright, I didn't want to do this one, but I honestly cannot stand how contrived this is, so here we go.
@SeattleLGBTQ commission wants @mayorofseattle Wilson to declare a civil emergency for trans refugees fleeing red states. The case rests on a single headline number: 400,000 nationally. That number does not survive five minutes of arithmetic.
/1
Source: a MAP/NORC survey. Trans and nonbinary sample: 111 adults. 9% said they had moved due to LGBTQ politics. That's about ten people. The 400K extrapolation uses a population base roughly 2x what the Williams Institute actually publishes for trans adults. /2
Local check. Gender Justice League's own impact report: 7 relocations last year. 5 the year before. TRACTION says "500 in communication to move." Mayor Wilson, in her response: specific numbers on trans migration to Seattle have not been studied. /3
SMC 10.02 requires extraordinary measures to prevent death or injury and protect public peace. Past triggers: a confirmed COVID outbreak, a structurally failing bridge, thousands sleeping outside in a single night. The Commission itself concedes there is no local count. /4
The ask reduces to: declare the emergency, count later. Wilson, facing a $175M deficit, declined. The honest version of this letter is a budget request. The submitted version leans on a 2x-inflated headline, a survey base of ten, and a Lemkin Institute "genocide" alert standing in for evidence. /fin
h/t @LCRofWashington, appreciate your asking the question.
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So the REI "co-op uprising" isn't organic. It's a paid digital field program by the same @ufcw3000 leadership tied to the N. Seattle WinCo block. The cover story is worker advocacy. The substance is rent extraction.
When someone tells you to 'thank a union,' remember this. /1
If your follow the news, you might have read that REI co-op members "spontaneously" rejected the board slate last May. 115,000 of them. A celebrated win for co-op democracy. The grassroots speaking.
The problem with this story? The vendor that ran the campaign just published a case study taking credit for the whole thing. /2
PowerHouse Strategic, comms vendor for UFCW 3000, on their own marketing site:
"Our team ran digital, social, and earned media campaigns to generate a list of self-identified REI members."
"Mobilized more than 115,000 REI voters to reject REI's board slate." /3
Yesterday, I posted the alumni list connecting Washington's top officials to two law firms, and the network they placed in Olympia. Here's is a look at how that network spends your money. /1
Pacifica held 39 unique state contracts active in fiscal year 2024. 38 of them with a single agency: the Attorney General's Office.
The lone outlier was a $40,000 general services contract with the State School for the Blind. /2
How were these procured? About 97% under non-competitive exceptions: "Competitive Solicitation - Exceptions" or "Direct Buy - Non-Competitive."
A handful were competitively bid, including one $1M legal services contract awarded in FY24. /3
This week, an organization that does not exist accused a journalist of failing to disclose her political speech. The organization is called Washingtonians For Ethical Government (WFEG). It is worth knowing who they are. /1
WFEG's complaint against Brandi Kruse argues that when a commentator repeatedly advocates for a ballot measure on her platform, that activity should be reported as an in-kind campaign contribution. They put a number on it: $1.25 million across 150+ instances. /2
Take WFEG's theory at face value. Apply it consistently. Start with: who is WFEG? Here is what I found:
• Not in the IRS exempt organizations database
• No Washington Secretary of State registration
• 'Does not accept financial contributions from the public'
• Mailing address is a law firm /3
Today, @seattletimes introduced us to Seattleite Adriana: 33, $60K at a catering job, seven roommates in a Green Lake boardinghouse. Sympathetic. Specific. But the piece is quiet on the structure. Let's think about those costs not mentioned, shall we? /1
Start with what disappears before she sees a check. She was told $60K. She takes home $42K. Federal tax and FICA take ~16%. The rest of the gap is the 'depending on how many hours she gets' problem of hourly service work. The headline is not the wage. /2
Her rent is $830 for a room in a boardinghouse, utilities included. That's the floor in Seattle. The next rung up, a $1,600 studio she's saving for, would be 46% of her take-home before she eats. 'Rent is too high' is true. It is also incomplete. /3
Out-of-state political committees that spend in Washington must file C-5 reports with the PDC.
From 2018 through 2025, 141 different out-of-state committees filed C-5 expenditures here.
One of them, by itself, is 43% of the total. /2
That committee is the SEIU Political Education and Action Fund — the national political arm of the Service Employees International Union, headquartered in Washington DC.
C-5 expenditures, 2018-2025: $18.98M.
The other 140 out-of-state committees combined: $25.19M. /3
A forensic audit of the King County Regional Homelessness Authority dropped this week. Most coverage is leading with $13 million in unaccounted public funds.
That number matters. But the audit itself says something more important, and worse. /1
KCRHA received $533.9 million in public funding from 2021 through July 2025. Most of it from Seattle and King County.
The audit's central finding is not that some of it went missing. It is that the agency could not produce a reliable accounting of where most of it went. /2
From the auditor: records 'especially related to receivables, invoicing, and advance funds' were 'not functionally traceable or reconcilable prior to late 2024.'
Clark Nuber, the firm hired to do the work, on three years the city and county can no longer audit cleanly. /3