1. All the buzz this weekend: Seattle Times writer Bob Young’s feature on local political consultant Christian Sinderman which IDs Sinderman as “the state’s hottest political consultant, a little-known figure with a big hand in molding policy — even changing the way we live and die.”
The article covers a lot of turf, but it leaves out Sinderman’s most recent evil-genius-light-bulb. As the guy who ran Dow Constantine’s 2009 campaign for King County Executive, Sinderman helped develop the sucessful strategy of going negative, attacking Susan Hutchison during the primary (rather than going after his Democratic opponents.)
The move, which some thought was risky at the time, is now widely acknowledged as pretty brills.
2. Seattle parks department head Tim Gallagher is reportedly up for a job directing King County’s Department of Natural Resources and Parks. The position is currently vacant. As we reported Friday, Gallagher has spent three of the past six weeks traveling to conferences at city expense.
3. Question: If we pass the high-earners income tax, will people still be able to file the sales tax deduction with the feds. The reason Washington tax payers are able to file it—about 975,000 Washingtonians do so, saving an average of about $500 a year—is because there’s no income tax in Washington state. Will making high-earners pay an income tax disqualify Washington tax payers from the deduction?
Sen. Maria Cantwell’s office (she’s champion of the sales tax deduction) says no.
Her office explains that the way the statute is written allowing for sales tax deduction, taxpayers can choose which they want to deduct—the sales tax or the income tax (if there is one). So the existence of an income tax for high earners would not affect the deductability of the sales tax for everyone else.
4. As nerdy as we are at PubliCola, we actually got out and about this weekend. Check out the parade of “Last Nights” we posted on Saturday and Sunday. Chris Kissel saw a rock band in a bike shop; Josh saw some student plays performed in the Henry Art Gallery; Angela Garbes went to a dinner held by the Puget Sound Alliance for Retired Americans (okay, still kinda nerdy, but it’s an amazing story, check it out); and Erica (yeah, totally nerdy actually) spoke on a panel (with Josh and Sandeep Kaushik) at the Insitute for a Democratic Future.
If you find yourself out and about in the city, and it feels like a Cola “Last Night,” email us, info@publicola.net.
