Viva La Cola!

Founded in January 2009, PubliCola is a blog about Seattle written by journalists who are dedicated to non-partisan, original daily reporting that prioritizes a balanced approach to news. Started by longtime local editor and award-winning reporter Josh Feit, PubliCola is the first online-only news site in state history to get media credentials to cover the state capitol.

PubliCola was off and running. In June 2009, PubliCola hired another award-winning journalist, super-sourced Seattle city hall reporter Erica C. Barnett.

People were afraid that blogging would change journalism. Instead, we believe journalism can change blogging. Twenty-first century journalism may look and feel different, and yes Erica isn't afraid to get cranky, but we're committed to making sure online news still delivers independent, reliable, even-keeled coverage. And most of all, we're committed to making sure the coverage sparks honest civic debate.

Bringing you cola for the people, PubliCola is named after Publius Valerius PubliCola, the alias for the authors of the Federalist Papers—the original bloggers.

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The first online-only news site in state history to get media credentials to cover the state capitol and Seattle city hall, PubliCola has been called a “must-read” by the Seattle Post Intelligencer and a hot “New Media Mover and Shaker” by Seattle Magazine—which also cited our own Erica C. Barnett as the city's No. 1 news nerd.

Video Paints Johnson as a Corporate Crony

2010 Election, This Washington   July 28, 2010 at 12:41 pm Tiffany Vu

Last night a brand-new website called Injustice Johnson put out a video hitting Supreme Court Justice Jim Johnson for taking big money from corporations and special interest groups.

The website is sponsored by Fuse Votes, a progressive group which contributed $82.66 to an Independent Expenditure campaign against Johnson. (YouTube is cheap.)

But there’s a bigger IE coming: a mailer funded by Impartial Justice, a PAC dedicated to running Johnson out of office.

Impartial Justice raised $160,000 in the last Public Disclosure Commission report. All the money came from FairPAC, according to Impartial Justice consultant Lisa MacLean. (Campaign finance reports only show $90,000 from FairPAC currently).

FairPAC is  a collection of mostly left-leaning orgs like SEIU (which contributed $50,000 this year) and the Washington Education Association ($55,000 this year). FairPAC was founded in 2006 to support left-leaning judges, according to the Seattle PI.




  • Just Curious

    why does the video begin with the line “go to Washington State's Supreme Court…” while showing a picture of what appears to be the US Capitol building in Washington DC?

  • ATL

    the image in the video is the temple of justice in olympia. it's the same style as the u.s. capitol but a much newer building.