Local News

The Seattle Times political team explores national, state and local politics.

Good Morning.

This will win back the female voters — not. The House Speaker  has announced Committee Chairs for the 113th Congress and let’s just say it’s not very female-friendly. Huffington Post dubs it “The Man Show.” Washington Sen. Patty Murray, for one, tweeted her disappointment last night.

In a story Sunday in The Seattle Times, reporter Brian M. Rosenthal wrote about the declining number of women in the Washington Legislature in the session that begins in January. He was referring to the Legislature in general, not necessary leadership positions. In Washington’s case, some might argue the state had some distance to fall, because it was number one among the states in electing women lawmakers for 11 years.

Election trivia: Guess which statewide race in Washington ended up closest? The Secretary of State contest with Republican Kim Wyman, the only Republican elected statewide this time, winning by a mere 22,000 votes.

War on Christmas or something: And that means it’s time for the annual suggestion/accusation that somebody somewhere is waging a war on Christmas, Hanukkah or some holiday. The Spokesman-Review of Spokane has the latest on what decorations are planned for our very own Capitol grounds and surrounding area. There will be a nativity scene, and not too far away, a lighted Menorah, and maybe an atheist display of some sort. Read the post. All religious displays, save for a holiday tree in the Rotunda, are to be outside.

Jump the fiscal cliff:  Sen. Murray has an idea for handling the vaunted fiscal cliff in Washington. D.C.  She says jump. Or at least that is what she and several leading Democrats say may be the best way to win the kind of tax cuts and spending reductions her group favors. Murray is a big-time leader in Washington and it’s time we said that, again.

A new poll shows more than majority support for some of the tax decisions Murray is talking about.  Murray, according to a press release, was planning to speak Wednesday in the Senate about middle-class tax cuts.