Democrats have decided to go nuclear: they won’t pass a budget, won’t fix skyrocketing car tab taxes, won’t fix the supreme court’s devastating Hirst decision (regarding permits for wells), won’t resolve McCleary, won’t stop the government from shutting down.
The Democrats are going nuclear this session.
Why?
Because any success will show that divided government works.
Now that should sound pretty silly to anyone who knows recent history: ever since the Majority Coalition Caucus took control of the senate in 2013, prudent, reasonable legislative restraint has been the rule. They’ve kept Inslee and the Seattle-centric House and Senate Democrats on a short leash. That has allowed the Legislature to adopt sustainable budgets with record investments in education without massive tax increases.
But the MCC’s legislative success has infuriated the crazies on the left to the point that Speaker Frank Chopp can’t restrain them any more. The prisoners have taken over the insane asylum. In the Democrats’ House and Senate caucuses, it’s bedlam, it’s chaos. None of the crazies are willing to agree to anything.
Democrat legislators are completely obsessed:
Obsession #1: Despite $3 billion in additional revenue from our state’s existing tax structure, Democrats are obsessed with raising taxes (Democrats are furious that the Republicans who control the senate refuse to capitulate and join the Dems in creating an income tax, carbon tax, or to raise business taxes and other taxes)
Obsession #2: Obsessed with winning the special election in November for the 45th district’s senate seat (Republican Jinyoung Englund versus Democrat Manka Dhingra). If the D’s win it, then during the 2018 session they’ll have complete control of the House, Senate, and Governor’s office, allowing them to fulfill Obsession #1.