By Jake Goldstein-Street and Jerry Cornfield | Reporters
Welcome back to the Daily Standard's weekend edition, where we recap some of the week's top stories.
Quote of the week: “You’re asking me to trust the politicians to not lower this tax threshold. No way.”
With those 15 words, former Congresswoman Jaime Herrera Beutler idenitifed how the fate of Initiative 645 could be divined by many voters. The ballot measure, if it passes, will repeal Washington’s first-in-a-century income tax that will be levied on households’ annual earnings above $1 million starting in 2028.
It’s dubbed the millionaires’ tax by the Democratic state lawmakers who wrote and passed it and the Democratic governor who signed it. They’ve insisted that $1 million is the floor from which it will only climb with inflation. Tax foes say that it may hit millionaires first but the level will be lowered to everyone eventually because there is nothing in the law to prevent it.
Stakes are high. State leaders are counting on collecting $3.5 billion in 2029, that’s when the first payments are due. Even more in ensuing years. There are future consequences for the state budget if the revenue stream is cut off, either by voters, or by the courts where a legal challenge looms.
But the facts underlying arguments of both camps in this initiative debate have been scattered and smothered to the point where they’re unrecognizable.
Former U.S. Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, left, and Washington State Labor Council President April Sims debated the income tax on Oct. 8, 2026, in Seattle. (Photo by Dean Rutz/Seattle Times)
Which brings us back to Herrera Beutler, a Republican who was midway through her sixth term in the U.S. House when a severe case of intestinal fortitude — voting to impeach President Donald Trump — precipitated the end of her political career.
She is not known as a political brawler. On Thursday, representing the “Yes on 645” crowd, she mixed it up with April Sims, president of the Washington State Labor Council, a passionate protagonist for the No campaign.
Whether the income tax would ever apply to those earning less than $1 million a year came up time and again.
Sims repeatedly said the political will and support for lowering the threshold is not there. If it ever gets close, she was confident voters would get a say.
“I know folks don't always trust elected officials, but I trust working people,” Sims said. “And I know that working people would have the final say, if there ever was an attempt to lower the threshold.”
Herrera Beutler responded that lawmakers had the chance to lock in the million-dollar threshold and to let working people vote on this tax. “They didn't come to us for this one. Why would they come to us when they're going to lower it,” she said.
News tips, feedback, questions? Email us: [email protected]
Department of Children, Youth and Families Secretary Tana Senn previously served as a Democratic state lawmaker. (Photo courtesy of Legislative Support Services)
By Jake Goldstein-Street
Leadership at Washington’s Department of Children, Youth and Families is under scrutiny after a searing resignation letter from the head of the agency’s equity office and a complaint to the state Human Rights Commission from a former assistant secretary who said she was unfairly demoted.
Upon stepping down from the equity post last month, Patricia Colemon leveled her accusations about the treatment of Black women and said agency Secretary Tana Senn needed to be held accountable for her “ineffective and racist behavior.”
“It’s been painfully clear that equity is NOT embodied here, neither are the operating principles by leadership at the highest echelon,” Colemon wrote.
Senn said “this is not the record I’ve built over the course of decades.”
COMMENTARY
By Randy Stapilus
Campaign ads are dominating commercial breaks in Oregon, as is normal for October of an election year. But with the exception of sparse ads for Republican gubernatorial candidate Christine Drazan and Democratic U.S. Rep. Janelle Bynum, almost all are about Washington’s 3rd Congressional District race between Democratic U.S. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez and Republican state Sen. John Braun.
The Cook Political Report, the influential election forecasting outfit, shifted its feelings about the race on Friday from a toss-up to “lean Democratic,” a good sign for Gluesenkamp Perez going into next month’s election.
Where’s the governor?
Getting his crunch going Wednesday as part of Taste Washington Day, an annual promotion of local foods in meals served in public schools. It coincided with the 2026 Great Washington Apple Crunch.
Gov. Bob Ferguson, in a 27-second video he posted on X, gives props to farmers and the economic power of the state’s agriculture industry. Then bites into a Cosmic Crisp. “There’s no other choice for a day like this. Get an apple, get a crunch going,” he says in closing. Next week, we look forward to him demonstrating how to “drop, cover and hold on” for the Great Washington Shakeout.
The social media site is also how we learned he was in Kennewick on Thursday to witness the signing of an agreement that could lead to the manufacturing of compact fusion energy machines in the Tri-Cities area.
Ferguson eating the aforementioned Cosmic Crisp apple. (Screenshot courtesy of X.)
Unfortunately, X is a must-check source for tracking the governor’s whereabouts. It’s been two months since his office last issued a public schedule for him.
Friday afternoon we received an email from his office noting that on Thursday he also met with the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission and attended the Boys & Girls Club Dinner with Friends fundraiser in Kennewick.
Also this week he did some preparing for next week’s Centennial Accord meetings at the Snoqualmie Casino and Hotel. The event runs Monday through Wednesday.
Our weekly public records request produced this tidbit: On Tuesday afternoon, he had a check-in meeting on his State of the State address that he'll deliver to the Legislature in January. We’ll mark our calendars.
IN OTHER NEWS THIS WEEK…
An enclave of Washington’s wealthy provided a backdrop for a saucy debate on the merits and dangers of the ballot measure to erase the state’s controversial new income tax on millionaires.
A Washington state agency has floated cutting services for more than 2,600 residents with developmental disabilities with the goal of saving money to close a looming budget gap.
Democratic U.S. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez and John Braun, the top Republican in the Washington state Senate who is challenging her in a critical congressional duel, faced off in a televised debate.
Less than a month remains until an election that will transform Washington’s state Supreme Court.
More than four hundred Washingtonians across 19 locations took to the streets to demand a statewide moratorium on data centers.
At least six hyperscale data centers are being proposed in rural Klickitat County.
The U.S. Supreme Court set the stage for another redrawing of Washington state’s political maps.
A sickout by engine room workers brought much of the nation’s largest ferry system to a standstill Monday.
Thanks for reading The Daily Standard. Did you know our daily morning newsletter is also free? Sign up here. And if you enjoyed today’s edition, please forward to a friend. Increasing our readership helps us cover more news.