By Bill Lucia | Editor
Welcome back to the Daily Standard's weekend edition, where we recap some of the week's top stories.
Quote of the week: “We have to be clear about one thing: that not a single thing in Washington state has changed in our laws because of Donald Trump.”
That’s Attorney General Nick Brown speaking yesterday evening at the Juneteenth Celebration of Black Excellence, part of the Washington State Democratic Party’s convention in Spokane this weekend. Brown was touting his office’s record fighting Trump administration policies in court over the past year and a half. “I truly wish that part of my job was not defending Americans from the president of the United States. But that is the reality that we are facing right now,” he said.
Brown noted that his office had now sued the Trump administration 60 times. “I think we’ll be at 61 next week,” he said.
He drew a standing ovation at the end of his speech, after recounting how he’d joined a march earlier this year in Selma, Alabama, across the Edmund Pettus Bridge to commemorate the March 7, 1965, civil rights protest known as “Bloody Sunday.”
“What I noticed this time on the march is that when you stand on the foot of the Edmund Pettus Bridge, and you look out, you cannot see the other side of the bridge. There was a crest in the middle,” said Brown, who is Washington’s first Black attorney general. He went on to reflect on how those who marched in 1965 would not have been able to see what awaited them on the other side until they reached the crest.
"And what they saw was a wall of opposition. What they saw was the Alabama National Guard. What they saw was the Selma local police. What they saw were the dogs and the tear gas canisters,” Brown said. “What they saw was fear and hate opposing them. But y'all what they did next is the most important thing. What they did next changed this country. What they did next was they kept walking … They did not turn back.”
“We cannot turn back either,” Brown continued. “We cannot cower in this moment, we cannot put aside our obligation, our duty, to fight for justice.”
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Democratic convention lineup
The Washington State Democratic Party’s convention continues today. Among the speakers at this evening’s reception: Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin, U.S. Rep. Pramila Jayapal, Commissioner of Public Lands Dave Upthegrove, state Treasurer Mike Pellicciotti and Superintendent of Public Instruction Chris Reykdal.
The party will not endorse candidates at the convention. But many resolutions are under consideration.
Among those with “Do Pass” recommendations from the party’s resolution committee are ones to: “Regulate the AI industry in WA & Stop The Data Center Takeover”; oppose and condemn “expanded U.S.–Israel Military Integration”; voice support for expanding the number of seats on the U.S. Supreme Court and setting 18-year term limits for justices; and call for the impeachment of President Donald Trump. Others would declare the party’s support for a progressive state income tax, stronger state funding for public schools, and for either longer legislative sessions or a full-time state Legislature.
The convention’s general session will take place tomorrow and is streaming on TVW.
WA’s legislative district map at the Supreme Court
(Photo by Ashley Murray/States Newsroom)
The challenge to Washington’s district maps for the state Legislature pending before the U.S. Supreme Court was distributed this week for the justices to consider at their Sept. 28 conference. It keeps alive the possibility that the high court will hear the case. But the timeline rules out a scenario in which the court could issue a ruling that results in the maps changing ahead of this year’s elections.
Where’s the governor?
Heading into Democrats’ convention, word was Ferguson would not appear in person in Spokane and would instead provide a video message. His office last issued a public calendar update on June 3. It ran through June 14 and included limited information about what the governor would be doing on many of those days.
(Courtesy of Gov. Bob Ferguson’s Office)
On Wednesday, Ferguson posted a video on social media talking about his visit to check in on flood damage and recovery efforts in Stehekin. He said he’d hiked in 18 miles to visit the remote community, situated on the northeast shore of Lake Chelan.
Schedule documents obtained through a records request show that earlier this month, Ferguson met with several Republican lawmakers during a swing through the Tri-Cities area, including Sens. Curtis King and Perry Dozier and Rep. Stephanie Barnard. His schedule also shows a meeting with Plumbers and Steamfitters Local 598 on that trip.
IN OTHER NEWS…
Facebook’s parent company, Meta, must pay the largest campaign finance fine in state history, the Washington Supreme Court affirmed this week in a split decision.
A growing number of cities and counties in Washington have enacted moratoriums on permitting for new utility-scale battery storage facilities.
Washington slipped once again in a national education ranking from the Annie E. Casey Foundation, falling from 27th among states to 31st.
The state faces a lawsuit over not following through on reimbursement rate increases for assisted living facilities that care for patients on Medicaid.
More than $11 million in federal aid has flowed to Washington households hit by December’s severe storms and flooding.
Tim Reynon resigned as executive director of the Governor’s Office of Indian Affairs following his election to the Tribal Council of the Puyallup Tribe of Indians earlier this month.
State agriculture officials say it’s unlikely that the New World screwworm, which poses a deadly threat to livestock and pets, will spread here in Washington.
Washington’s unemployment rate held steady at 5.2% in May, even as the economy added roughly 10,000 jobs.
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