Our state will be forced to hold a special election in November to replace former U.S. Rep. Jay Inslee for just one month — an election that will no doubt be confusing for voters, burdensome for candidates seek-ing to replace him, and enormously costly for us taxpayers — at a time when we can least afford any unexpected additional and/or unnecessary expenses. Inslee, a Democrat, as you know, resigned his congressional seat so he could campaign for governor on a full-time basis. read more »

As we go to press, two Republicans have announced their intention to challenge County Commissioners Charlotte Garrido and Rob Gelder come November. Chris Tibbs, who ran against Gelder last time wants a re-match, and Linda Simpson, who ran for the legislature against Fred Finn, wants to take on Garrido. Redistricting moved Simpson from the 35th into Garrido’s territory, although she didn’t move.

It’s no secret Tibbs, who touts himself as a “successful businessman,” declared Chapter 7 bankruptcy in 2005, over a paltry $12,658.97. That makes his claims of business acumen somewhat suspect at best. read more »

After four years of holding public office and generally taking a hands-off approach in this space to people I had to work with, now that I’m back in the private sector, there’s not a lot of reason to continue that policy. So enjoy, or… read more »

I read where the largest employer in Waukesha, Wisconsin — General Electric (GE) — is planning to move its 115-year-old X-Ray Division from Waukesha, to Beijing.

In addition to moving the headquarters, GE will invest $2 billion in China. It will train more than 65 engineers, and create six research centers among other things.

This is the same GE that made $5.1 billion in the United States last year, but paid no taxes — and employs more people overseas than it does in America. read more »

Here at the world headquarters of the Business Journal, we have a somewhat obscure, extremely part-time, but always on the lookout for bizarre stuff, working group we refer to as the “Truth is Stranger Than Fiction, Because Fiction Has to Make Sense” (TSTFBFHMS) department. From the bowels of their dusty, dimly lit, barely functional cubicle, comes this…

In 2012, both Groundhog Day and the State of the Union address will occur on the same day. Think about what an ironic juxtaposition of events this is. One involves a meaningless ritual in which we look to an insignificant creature of little intelligence for prognostication.

The other involves a groundhog. read more »

As we go to press, the long-awaited Accenture report on Washington’s strengths and weaknesses in relation to securing the proposed assembly line for the Boeing 737 MAX, was recently released. The report was commissioned by the Washington Aerospace Partnership (WAP), which is composed of a myriad of local governments, civic, business, and labor leaders, as well as non-profit and economic development organizations from around the state. It’s interesting reading for certain.

The report enumerates Washington’s strengths, and weaknesses, in competing for what has to be the single largest economic opportunity since Boeing’s decision to site the second 787 assembly line in South Carolina. read more »

Nowhere does the law of unintended consequences rear its head higher than the current debate over medical marijuana. On one side is the federal government, which says Pot is illegal — period. There is absolutely no room for debate of any kind, nor any accommodation for its proven medical uses.

In Eastern Washington, the U.S. Attorney has been active in the prosecution of users and distributors, and made it abundantly clear that local governments allowing state law governing dispensaries and collective community gardens to prevail over federal law, puts government employees and elected officials alike at risk for feeling the heavy wrath of Uncle Sam for doing so. read more »

I was certainly surprised the Association of Washington Business (AWB) has come out against Tim Eyman’s Initiative 1125, saying it “…would jeopardize construction and funding for multiple major transportation projects, including the Columbia River crossing in Vancouver and the 520 bridge in Seattle, and that just means more delays and traffic headaches for Washington drivers.”

In my view, that’s a load of crap.

According to AWB’s Web site, its decision makers also believe variable tolling is a necessary part of today’s transportation infrastructure projects, and that it would be better to have the Legislature set up a commission to set the tolls and tolling criteria than keeping those decisions with lawmakers in Olympia. read more »

There’s no doubt that social media has changed the way we live and do business. Since the major social media sites all cross post with each other anyway, what I read about Facebook considering a merger with You Tube and Twitter just makes sense. It would create one mega social media site the likes of which we’ve never experienced. One possible name — YouTwitFace. read more »