Former U.S. Rep. Jay Inslee has filed his paperwork to run for governor of Washington state. Attorney General Rob McKenna, his likely Republican opponent, still has not.

Attorney General Rob McKenna, the presumptive Republican front-runner in the race for Washington state governor, was still not officially in the race as of noon Wednesday on the first week to file for state offices.

He is expected to do so any day now, however.

Former U.S. Rep, Jay Inslee, his likely Democratic opponent, filed his paperwork on Tuesday morning. He resigned his District 1 seat in Congress earlier this spring, forcing the state to pay $770,000 for a run-off election so the district will have representation for the one month in between the November general election and the date in January when the new office-holder will be seated.

Because this year’s redistricting process signficantly altered the boundaries of District 1, the state will simultaneously run a second election to pick Inslee’s permanent successor.

On the Democratic side, Snohomish County councilman Brian Sullivan announced this week he would seek the one-month position, but he has yet to enter the race officially. Bainbridge Island attorney J. Byron Holcomb and Kenmore resident Brian Berry have filed paperwork for the office, but as yet there is no Republican opposition.

“The Washington State Republican Party will not actively spend any time or resources to find a candidate for that race,” said state GOP Chair Kirby Wilbur. “We are focused on the elections that count – those that will bring proper representation to the people of Washington state.

“If Ex-Congressman Inslee and the Democrat Party were so concerned about proper Congressional representation for the First District, they would have called for the special election to be held in April, not in November,” Wilbur said. “Instead, they have left constituents of that district high and dry, purely to serve their own political interests.

In other statewide offices:

* Former House Majority Leader Bill Finkbeiner has officially filed as a Republican to unseat incumbent Democrat Brad Owen as lieutenant governor.

* A pair of King County Council members — Bob Ferguson, on the Democratic side and Republican Reagan Dunn — have filed to replace McKenna as Washington’s attorney general.

* Incumbent Schools Superintendent Randy Dorn is opposed so far by Bellingham teacher and school administrator James Bauckman.

* In the 28th District, University Place Council member Eric Choiniere filed to run for the Position 2 House seat currently occupied by Democrat  Troy Kelley. His opposition so far is attorney Steve O’Ban, a Republican. Choiniere had anounced plans earlier in the year to challenge incumbent Sen. Mike Carrell, also a Republican, but changed his plans when Kelley announced he would run for state auditor.

* Democratic Rep. Andy Billig will attempt to fill the District 3 Senate seat vacated last week when Majority Leader Lisa Brown announced she would not seek re-election. Spokane Councilwoman Nancy McLaughlin is this only Republican opponent to have filed thus far for the seat.

* Cheney School District Superintendent Larry Keller and Spokane attorney Jeff Holy, both Republlicans, have filed for the District 6 House seat being vacated by incumbent GOP Rep. Mike Baumgartner, who is challenging U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell.

* Lynnwood physician Art Coday, who dropped out of the U.S. Senate race in 2010 to run unsuccessfully for state representative instead, has filed again for Cantwell’s seat.

A single visit to Washington in seven years can subject an out-of-state company to local B&O taxes, the state's Department of Revenue contends.

A one-day visit to Washington state has turned out to be a taxing experience – literally — for a California  businessman whose case could either open the door to a whole new revenue stream or, more likely, scare off would-be vendors in droves.

According to the state’s Department of Revenue, Pete Vegas owes it seven years’ worth of back B&O taxes  – totaling more than $180,000.

That comes as a major surprise to him, considering his business is located 1,100 miles away in Los Angeles.

“The Appellate Court judge basically said in his opinion that if you visit the state of Washington one time, you’ve established nexus and you’re subject to their business and occupations taxes,” Vegas said in an interview with The Tax Foundation, a nonpartisan watchdog agency based in Washington, D.C.

Vegas is founder and president of Sage V Foods, which produces a number of products including rice flour. And one of the company’s regular customers is based in Seattle.

Fortunately for Vegas, the product he sells that company is so specialized few competitors offer it – which means the client doesn’t require a lot of personal attention. In fact, he’d called on the client face-to-face only once in seven years.

Pete Vegas

But that was apparently enough to put the state revenue collectors on his scent.

Vegas likened Washington state’s policy to a speed trap, noting that one of his company’s trucks was stopped at the Oregon border and the information got back to the state Department of Revenue, which then sent a tax form to his office in California.

“If you don’t know how to answer the questions, you don’t know what you’re getting into,” he said. “They ask questions like, ‘Do you have a facility in the state of Washington?’ and, ‘Do you have employees in the state of Washington?’ And every answer was no, no, and no.

“Then they have a question — and this is sent to my controller, who has no idea she’s being set up – that asks, ‘How many times a year do you visit Washington?’” Vegas said. “How do you answer a question like that knowing I’ve been before, but not very often? So she said one time a year.”

Washington responded with a bill for seven years’ worth of back taxes, interest and penalties.

“There initially was physical presence required in the state of Washington (to impose B&O taxes),” Vegas said. “But as they’ve become hungry for revenue, they’ve started stretching that.

“So then it was, if you had a sales office in the state of Washington,” he said. “Then it became if you had a broker in the state of Washington. Then it was if you had a salesman frequently visiting Washington. What’s up in the air at this point, and my case will probably set the precedent, is how many times do you have to visit the state of Washington in a seven-year period to be liable for these taxes?

The federal Interstate Commerce Act, Vegas notes, requires a company to have a “substantial presence” in a state to establish a nexus.

“In my case, they’re basically saying one visit is enough,” Vegas said.

Vegas, who earned an MBA at the Harvard Business School, said he was told by Washington attorneys familiar with the procedure that, even if he won his case, he’d wind up paying as much in legal fees as he’d recover in damages.

Consequently, he’s representing himself in the appeal, which is scheduled for July 31.

“I have not met another company that realizes this is happening,” he said. “I think the state of Washington would shut down if people knew this was going on.

“If you send an employee to a convention or an exhibition in the state of Washington, you’ve established nexus,” Vegas said. “There should be no convention center in Washington. All the hotels should be going out of business, but no one knows this is happening. It’s just a matter of whether they catch you or not.”

Senate Minority Leader Lisa Brown hasn't said what she plans to do next, but insists she won't be running for office in the immediate future.

Washington State Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown (D-Spokane), following a spring that saw her party lose a bruising floor fight during which minority Republicans joined with a handful of Democratic defectors to defeat her preferred budget, has decided not to seek re-election this fall.

Brown, 55, announced on Thursday that after 20 years in the Legislature, she intends to retain  her part-time teaching position at Gonzaga University in Spokane, but otherwise is going to “wait and see what comes along.”

For the immediate future, she said, her plans do not include running for another political office.

“It wasn’t something I was planning to do, it was just one of those epiphanies,” she told The Associated Press. “It just felt like the right time, while I can still be open to other challenges.”

Brown has served as Senate majority leader for eight years, and before that she was minority leader for two years. Prior to that, she served in the House.

Democrats currently hold a 27-22 advantage in the Senate, but this year, three disgruntled Democrats voted with Republicans on a key budget decision late in the regular legislative session, infuriating Brown and her fellow Democratic leaders.

Brown, who won her seat four years ago with 75 percent of the vote, was slated to face off against Spokane councilwoman Nancy McLaughlin in this fall’s election. Her announcement leaves Democrats scrambling to find a replacement with the filing period set to open on May 14.

Brown’s official statement is reprinted below:

I have decided not to seek re-election to the 3rd district Senate seat this fall. Returning home two weeks ago, I began taking stock of my twenty years in the Legislature, reflecting on what I have been able to achieve with the help of colleagues and supporters. I decided that, though it is still immensely gratifying to serve Spokane and the state of Washington in this capacity, I am ready for new challenges.

During my tenure in the Legislature we have created in Spokane a health sciences education and research campus, which will be a centerpiece of our regional economy and will educate thousands of pharmacists, nurses, dentists, doctors, and other health professionals. The building that will house the University of Washington medical school and the Washington State University pharmacy received its final funding in this year’s capital budget.
I have also championed the clean-up and protection of the Spokane river, Spokane’s aerospace cluster, our film and video industry, and spearheaded the funding of the Fox Theater, the MAC, the refurbished YMCA/YWCA facilities, and numerous non-profits in Spokane, such as Crosswalk, the Northwest Autism Center and Sally’s House.

At the state level, I am most proud of my work to create mental health parity legislation, and my work on the state budget to enhance childcare and healthcare for working families. I am equally proud of my efforts to protect the state’s partnership with numerous non-profits who serve vulnerable people across the spectrum: abused and neglected children, the elderly, homeless people, and people with disabilities, and of our fourteen year fight to pass a simple majority plan for school levies.

Given the challenges of the recession and the reductions in the alternate budget proposed by the Senate Republicans, I am particularly pleased with this year’s final budget, which protected not only vital human service programs, but also made no further reductions to K-12 education or higher education.

I have been involved in the promotion of women’s rights and civil rights throughout my life and legislative career. This year’s path-breaking marriage equality and human-trafficking laws are two examples of the kind of legislation that originally motivated me to run for office. Serving as Ways and Means chair and then as the leader of my caucus for ten years has given me a tremendous opportunity to be deeply involved in all the major public policy issues facing our state and to work with talented elected officials and advocates.

I would like to thank Gov. Chris Gregoire and Speaker Frank Chopp for their leadership and for the productive relationship we have enjoyed for eight years. In particular, I appreciate the governor’s unwavering commitment to the economic future of Spokane and I want to thank the speaker for his dedication to the most vulnerable people in our state.

I will miss the incredibly dedicated staff of the state Senate and many of my colleagues in both chambers and on both sides of the aisle. In particular, I appreciated working with Sen. Jim Hargrove on mental health and human service funding, Sen. Ed Murray on marriage equality and the budget, Sens. Tracey Eide and Rosemary McAuliffe on simple majority, Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles on gender equity, Sen. Derek Kilmer on economic development initiatives, Sen. Joe Zarelli on the Rainy Day fund constitutional amendment, Rep. Ruth Kagi on childcare and early learning, and my seatmates Timm Ormsby and Andy Billig on numerous Spokane initiatives.

Senate Democrats are well-positioned to continue to lead the state. I look forward to watching the careers of our seasoned members as well as our emerging leaders.

The people of Spokane have given me the tremendous honor of representing and serving them for 20 years.

My son, Lucas, and many dear friends have accompanied me and supported me on this journey. I am immensely grateful to all of them.

Washington Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, just 42 years old, is emerging as a bona fide vice presidential candidate.

The latest name being bandied about as a potential running mate for Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney won’t be immediately familiar to as many households nationwide as she is in her home state of Washington.

Then again, no one had heard of Sarah Palin four years ago,  either.

According to the current issue of Townhall magazine, U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers is a rising star in Republican politics and currently on the short list of a dozen or so for the No. 2 spot on the ticket this fall.

“(She) might seem like a dark horse vice presidential pick,” the article says, “but the four-term representative from Washington would make a great teammate for any of the GOP contenders.

“She brings experience and balance to any of the presidential candidates,” it continues, “and has serious potential to fire up the conservative base.”

McMorris Rodgers, who perhaps not coincidentally appeared Sunday on NBC’s Meet the Press show arguing that the Obama administration is currently waging a trumped-up war against women, serves as vice chair of the House Republican Conference and is the highest-ranking female in GOP leadership.

“She’d also bring regional, age and gender diversity — important in a cycle where the female vote could swing to the right,” the article notes.

McMorris Rodgers, who turns 43 later this month, served five terms in the Washington State Legislature, eventually being elected minority leader while also earning her MBA.

When the House wasn’t in session, she worked in her parents’ small business, Peachcrest Fruit Basket, near Kettle Falls.

In 2004, McMorris Rodgers was elected to the U.S. Hous of Representatives, where she now serves in her fourth term representing Washington’s 5th Congressional District.

In Congress, she promotes policies to give wider opportunities to families and small businesses. She is an avowed budget hawk, strongly supports U.S. troops and veterans and works to improve access to quality, affordable healthcare.

She is a recent appointee to the House Energy and Commerce Committee and has authored bills that would encourage hydropower by streamlining the process for entrepreneurs to open such plants and has been an outspoken critic of American involvement in the International Monetary Fund’s plan to bail out Europe.

“Critics argue that McMorris Rodgers comes from a state that Obama’s sure to win in November and that the nominee would be better served by a running mate from a red or swing state,” Townhall‘s article says. “Others object that she’s not a household name and compare her to Sarah Palin, who in 2008 endured an unusually harsh vetting by the media.

“However, McMorris Rodgers has been on the national scene for nearly a decade as a member of Congress,” the article points out. “The only real comparison between her and Palin is their potential to excite the conservative base.”

The Townhall story also lists New Jersey Gov. Christie, Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell, New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wisconsin), Lousiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio as likely vice presidential candidates, while also mentioning Ohio Rep. Rob Portman, Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, Florida Rep. Allen West and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker as longshot possibilities.

According to a spokesperson  for McMorris Rodgers, “She’s flattered and honored that people would mention her as a contender for the position, but she’s 100 percent committed to her job as a member of Congress.”

There are 139 public-use airports in Washington State alone, providing a critical link between the local, state, and national transportation systems.

Washington’s 135 public airports are continuing to help local economies take flight, generating thousands of jobs and millions of dollars for cities and counties throughout the state.

The findings are just a few of the highlights from the recently-released 2012 Aviation Economic Impact Study, conducted by the Washington State Department of Transportation’s Aviation Division, which protects and preserves the state’s system of public use airports.

Data collected for the impact study provides a look at how Washington’s public-use airports contribute to the economy.

“The study helps us take a much closer, detailed look at our system in terms of its economic benefits and provides unique insight from the perspective of the airports, the industry and those who use our services,” said Tristan Atkins, WSDOT aviation director. “Ultimately, it’s a tool that helps us improve the way we do business.”

Highlights of the 2012 study include:

• Statewide commercial and general aviation activity generate approximately 248,500 jobs, $15.3 billion in wages, and $50.9 billion in economic activity.
• A significant share of aviation system contributions are from the mobility and connectivity of people, goods and services across all modes of transportation.
• Smaller airport facilities are critical in providing access to life-saving medical air transport and other services such as disaster management and wildfire support.
• Tax revenues generated from aviation activities provide the State of Washington General Fund more than $540 million annually. Cities, special purpose districts, and counties receive approximately $243 million in annual revenue.

“Our last study was completed in 2001, so this also helps us provide some much-needed updates to economic data such as the jobs, wages and types of businesses at each airport,” Atkins said. “The 2012 study results speak for themselves – and the message is overwhelmingly positive.”

In 2001, airports generated 171,300 jobs, more than $4 billion in wages and $18.5 billion in annual sales.

The 2012 study uses different methods to present a more complete picture of the aviation system’s economic impacts, resulting in increases of 77,200 jobs, $11.3 billion in wages, and $32.4 billion in sales compared to the 2001 study.

Working to brighten the airports’ financial picture even further, WSDOT Aviation is creating an online calculator that will allow users to explore economic development opportunities, attract businesses and weigh investment choices at individual airports.

The interactive economic calculator is scheduled to be completed this spring and will integrate with WSDOT’s  Airport Information System database, which provides an in-depth look at the state’s airports.

Monitoring public use airports’ impacts is just one of the roles of WSDOT’s Aviation Division. WSDOT Aviation is also responsible for integrating aviation with the state’s other transportation modes of highways, rail and ferries.

The Washington State Legislature is trying to address the problem of Medicaid patients using emergency rooms for non-emergencies

The Washington State Health Care Authority is working with the Washington State Hospital Association and physicians on a legislative mandate to reduce non-emergency use of hospital Emergency Departments as well as over-utilization of emergency services beginning July 1.

The new plan – included in the Supplemental Budget passed April 11 by the Legislature – replaces earlier state proposals that would have limited the annual number of non-emergency visits by a Medicaid client to the emergency room and stopped reimbursing hospitals and physicians for treatments and services that are not medically necessary in the setting of an ER.

Instead, the new plan follows a collaborative effort this spring with the American College of Emergency Physicians, the Washington State Medical Society and the hospital association to agree on ways to better manage Emergency Department services and prevent over-utilization.

The legislative budget proviso endorsing the new ER policy is projected to save $31 million (including both state and federal matching funds) as a result of the changes.

“It’s a first step,” said Sen. Randi Becker (R-Eatonville), who serves on the Senate Health and Long-Term Care Committee. “The thing I like best about it is that it establishes a framework by getting people talking to each other.

Sen. Randi Becker

“Whether it save the state $30 million remains to be seen,” she said.

The plan depends on hospitals and doctors to help identify systems and procedures that will reduce use of emergency departments by referring non-emergency patients to more efficient and effective levels of care and to educate all clients about appropriate use of ERs.

Included will be commitments by hospitals across the state to implement those changes, including electronic health information exchanges that would allow emergency department physicians and community primary care physicians to quickly share information on high emergency department utilizers, especially patients with drug- or painkiller-seeking behaviors.

Under the new plan, which will be implemented beginning July 1 once hospitals formally commit to it, healthcare systems will:

• distribute information to clients on the appropriate use of Emergency Department services;
• work together to establish systems for referrals of non-emergencies to primary care providers within a 72-hour window;
• establish protocol for feedback reports so the state and individual hospitals can track emergency department use and services received;
• implement guidelines developed by emergency department doctors around the state to identify narcotic-seeking behaviors and to share decision-making information about narcotics prescribing; and,
• promote continued collaboration between state, doctors and hospitals to troubleshoot issues and concerns that surface after July 1.

As in all the plans, clients will continue to be advised to call 911 or go to an ER if they believe they are experiencing a medical emergency.

“Good communication between hospitals, doctors, patients and Medicaid is needed to make this new plan succeed,” said Jeff Thompson, M.D., chief medical officer of the Health Care Authority, which includes the Medicaid program. “We have many of these tools available, but we need to make sure emergency department doctors have the support they need to apply them consistently across the state.”

“Emergency physicians support the new plan, which will use better care coordination to reduce trips to the emergency department,” said Dr. Nathan Schlicher, associate medical director at St. Joseph Medical Center in Tacoma and a spokesman for the state chapter of American College of Emergency Physicians. “We are excited to be working with the state and moving in this new and positive direction.”

“Hospitals want to be part of a system that delivers health care in the most appropriate and cost effective setting. Emergency departments should be used for emergency care,” added Scott Bond, president and chief executive officer of the Washington State Hospital Association. “We look forward to working with the Health Care Authority and our physician partners to achieve these goals.”

The fundamental problem with the DOE's climate change report, according to at least one member of the House Environment Committee, is that it assumes global warming is an established fact when the science is still unsettled.

The Washington State Department of Ecology’s newly released climate change strategy, according to at least one outspoken critic, amounts to little more than a thinly veiled attempt to hinder development at a time when the state needs to be doing everything possible to promote private-sector business and jobs.

“This is yet another obstacle in the way of economic development,” said Rep. David Taylor (R-Moxee), who serves on the House Environmental Committee. “The last thing we need right now is legislation that addresses something that isn’t a problem in the first place by using junk science and has the effect of depressing our economy.”

DOE released its Integrated Climate Change Response Strategy in April, noting that “Washington is experiencing changing climate conditions that bring significant risks to human health, our forests, agriculture, freshwater supplies, coastlines and other resources that are vital to our economy, environment and quality of life.”

Rep. David Taylor

Taylor said he believes the report is the product of people suspicious of all development and an attempt to circumvent the state’s current moratorium on administrative rules changes.

Arguing that, ““Giving small businesses and local governments more time to devote their full attention to creating jobs and helping communities will help support the economy,” Gov. Christine Gregoire last October extended Washington’s one-year ban on non-critical rule making.

As a result of the previous year’s moratorium, cabinet agencies put 436 rules – about half of what was proposed – on hold.

The moratorium directs state agencies to continue to suspend new rule development and adoption — but not at the expense of public health, safety and welfare.

Taylor believes DOE is using that loophole to codify climate change doctrine into such state laws as the Shoreline Management Act and the Growth Management Act.

“It’s just another example of state agencies front-loading the process to get around the rule-writing moratorium,” he said. “According to DOE, they’re not updating the rules; they’re updating the background information. But if you change the underlying assumptions, you have to change the outcome, too.”

Taylor, who Tweeted two weeks ago that the DOE report was a “pile of garbage,” said lawmakers had agreed during the past session on the need to streamline the State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) checklist to make obtaining a development permit less confusing.

“There’s a lot of needless duplication in the process,” he said. “The idea was, if something is dealt with in permitting, why address it again in SEPA?”

The new DOE report, however, violates the spirit of the bipartisan agreement, Taylor said.

“I would think if DOE staff can find the time to come and testify on all sorts of environmental bills, they also have the time to find out whether their opinions are consistent with legislative intent,” he said. “And this isn’t.”

Financial analyst John Graham told attendees at a symposium in Bellevue on Thursday night that Obamacare isn't inevitable and would be a disaster for the country if the Supreme Court declines to overturn it.

A panel of nationally recognized healthcare experts on Thursday night unanimously declined to offer a prediction on whether the U.S. Supreme Court will overturn Obamacare.

But they had no such reservations about predicting dire consequences for the nation if it doesn’t.

“Unlike every lawmaker I’ve ever met, I’ve actually read the entire bill,” said Dr. Timothy Chestnut, a consultant for medical liability evaluation, risk management and healthcare policy in Spokane. “And the only thing that would improve it is a lighted match.

“The bill is virtually unintelligible,” he said. “It’s horrifying and embarrassing that a law like that was written by our Congress.  The only thing worse would be if it were enacted.”

Chestnut was appearing along with John Graham, director of Health Care Studies at the Pacific Research Institute, and Karen Harned, executive director of the National Federation of Independent Business’s Small Business Legal Center, at a symposium in Bellevue sponsored by The Freedom Foundation, an Olympia-based free-market think tank.

Harned, who sat through all three days of arguments last month as the Supreme Court considered a lawsuit filed by 26 state attorneys general over the constitutionality of the president’s self-described Affordable Care Act, said administration lawyers faced a tough burden in defending it.

“Their view of the world is that the government can enact any law it pleases, and if the people don’t like it, they can vote their legislators out of office,” she said. “Whether the law violates the Constitution never really enters into their thinking. The court presumably sees things differently.”

Not surprisingly, Harned said, Solicitor General Donald Verrilli delivered what most observers agree was a shaky performance.

Attorney Karen Harned refused to speculate on how the Supreme Court would vote, but said the plaintiff's lawyers presented a much stronger case than the Solicitor General did in defending Obamacare.

“They never were able to crystallize their argument,” she said. “The government’s position was a moving target.”

Distilled to its essence, Harned said, the case against Obamacare comes down to an observation made by Justice Anthony Kennedy on the first day of the hearing regarding the individual mandate, under which every American would be subject to fines if they failed to purchase government-approved health insurance.

Widely considered the deciding vote on the matter, Kennedy noted that because the healthcare law is unprecedented, it fundamentally “(changes) the relationship of the individual to the government.” Thus, the government has “a heavy burden of justification to show authorization under the Constitution.”

“You can’t get around the fact that this would be a huge expansion of government powers if it’s allowed to stand,” Harned said. “If the court decides government doesn’t have the right to force you to purchase something it thinks you need, the only thing that will be struck down is this one piece of legislation.

“But if Obamacare is ruled constitutional,” she said, “it creates a whole new right that the court at some point is going to be asked to come back and define. It’s hard to imagine them doing that, but you just never know.”

The court is expected to announce its decision in the Obamacare suit by June.

Spokane physician Timothy Chestnut told attendees the nation's healthcare system needs less government intervention, not more.

Chestnut, who practiced medicine in Spokane for many years before health problems forced him to become a medical liability consultant, said the problem with the nation’s healthcare system is that there’s already too much government meddling.

Chestnut recalled several anecdotes about how he’d run afoul of government regulators by actually posting the prices for various procedures where his patients could read them and under-billing Medicaid patients.

“There’s a new paternalism in medicine,” he said. “Years ago, doctors were paternalistic with their patients, and we developed a bond of trust with them. Nowadays, it’s the government that’s become paternalistic. But there’s no longer that bond of trust. Nor should there be.”

Healthcare is no different from any other commodity, Chestnut said, in that competition and free markets do a better of job of ensuring quality service at an affordable price than government intervention.

“Consumer-driven health plans work,” he said. “Our system shouldn’t be based on the idea that the government can do everything better, because it can’t. It should be based on the fundamentals of freedom and personal responsibility.

“When you screw up the markets and the payment systems,” Chestnut concluded, “you wind up with the mess we have now.”

Washington state, Graham noted, had moved even farther down the road toward embracing Obamacare than most states by having approved during this year’s legislative session a plan to create its own health exchange.

A key component of the president’s plan, health exchanges are state-regulated and standardized health care plans from which individuals may purchase health insurance eligible for federal subsidies.

“Let me ask you a question,” Graham said. “How many people here have car insurance or homeowners insurance? Did you need the government to assemble a list of of companies you could choose from and maintain a website to help you choose or could you handle that yourself?”

Graham said the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has “an almost unlimited amount of money” with which it can bribe states to create health exchanges in the hope that, once the infrastructure is in place, Obamacare will be nearly impossible to dismantle.

Washington state, he said, accepted $23 million in federal money for that purpose. By contrast, Wisconsin, under Republican Gov. Scott Walker, returned the money and refused to create exchanges.

Graham agreed with Chestnut that government is already too involved in the healthcare system, and the problem is compounded by the cozy relationship between government and those benefiting directly from the current inefficiency.

“To the (American Medical Association), for instance, things that make the system more complicated aren’t part of the problem,” he said. “They’re part of the solution, because that’s how they make their money.

“Every needless expense we’re being overcharged on our medical bills represents a source or revenue for some special interest within the Beltway,” Graham said. “And they’re not going to give it up without a fight. To expect them to stand up  for a cheaper, more efficient way to do business just isn’t realistic.”

Two years ago, Graham concluded, Obamacare looked like a done deal. Now, the court could be on the verge of overturning it.

“The people who created this wanted to create the impression it was inevitable,” he said. “It’s not, and we need to do everything we can to continue to shock them out of their sense of inevitability.”

Stockholders of Washington corporations that decide to pursue a social agenda more aggressively than profits will no longer be able to sue the company directors under a new law passed by the Legislature this spring.

Business people who also dabble in social activism were granted legal cover during the just-concluded Washington state legislative session in the form of a bill that would protect “social-purpose corporations” from lawsuits filed by investors more concerned with making money than advancing a personal agenda.

And vice versa.

Passed by both houses of the Democrat-controlled state Legislature and signed into law by Democratic Gov. Christine Gregoire, the new law allows companies as of June to charter themselves as social-purpose corporations (SPCs) with the stated objective of pursuing social goals in addition to profits.

And having done so, SPC corporate officers cannot be sued by stockholders more interested in seeing a financial return on their investment than they are, for example, in saving the whales.

Conversely, an SPC’s stockholders now have a tool with which to challenge their company’s directors if they appear more concerned with making money than in the social goals investors were told they embraced.

“There is a growing community of socially responsible, sustainable businesses that want to be able to safely pursue the profit motive, like they historically have done, but also want to be able to pursue specified environmental or social purposes,” John Reed, a lobbyist with the Washington State Bar Association, told members of the Senate Judiciary Committee in January. “They want to be able to do that in a way that is flexible but in a manner that’s transparent to shareholders.”

Under the law, new companies have the option of organizing as an SPC, and an existing company can re-charter as an SPC with the approval of two-thirds of its shareholders.

Exactly what social purpose (or purposes) the company then decides to pursue are more or less its own affair, but the law broadly suggests goals that are “intended to promote positive short-term or long-term effects of, or minimize adverse short-term or long-term effects of, the corporation’s activities upon any or all of (1) the corporation’s employees, suppliers or customers; (2) the local, state, national or world community; or (3) the environment.”

“One of the hallmarks of these corporations,” Reed explained, “is that it’s the shareholders who decide what the social purpose is to be when they set it up.”

Several states, including New Jersey, Vermont, Maryland, Virginia, California and Hawaii, have statutes  allowing for the creation of “benefit corporations.”

Washington’s law is similar, but more flexible.

“A benefit corporation is one of the models that would fit under our law,” Reed said, “but others would, too.”

As written, Washington’s social-purpose corporations would be required to notify prospective investors that their goals would not be limited to earning a profit. Also, a copy of its annual report must be posted on the company’s website to show how it fulfilled its social aims.

“It’s important that the company actually live up to its billing,” said Sen. Adam Kline (D-Seattle). “We don’t want a company claiming to be a social service corporation for marketing purposes when it’s really driven by profits.”

At least one prominent critic of the new corporate model, however, questions the motives of those promoting it.

“My nature is to be leery of things I don’t understand,” said Sen. Mike Carrell (R-Lakewood), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee who voted against the bill. “And in this case I don’t understand why anyone would need or want something like this.”

Carrell said business managers were already free to divert corporate assets into social issues with the approval of their stockholders.

“This does nothing but blend and blur the distinction between for-profit and nonprofit businesses,” he said. “Something just smells bad about it.”

Carrell speculated that since nonprofit corporations are not allowed to contribute money to political candidates, this could simply be a way to generate campaign dollars and launder them through for-profit corporations.

“I don’t know exactly what’s going on,” he said, “but the one thing I’m sure of is that they’re not doing it for the reasons they say they are.”

Drafters of the new law, a committee of lawyers within the Washington State Bar Association, reportedly spent nearly two years to working to create a structure that would serve the needs of various enterprises including, the owner-managed micro-enterprise; the venture-funded start-up; the late-stage,  privately held company; the wholly owned subsidiary of a public company; and, the publicly traded enterprise.

“We do need a new business model in Washington state that addresses the needs of investors who are trying to create businesses that do more than just maximize profits,” said Stephanie Ryan, development director for B Lab, a Seattle-based nonprofit that recruits and promotes benefit corporations . “(The law) does not require corporations to pursue social or environmental concerns.  It simply gives businesses permission to consider these ideas if they choose to.”

Hundreds of taxpayers showed up on the Capitol steps on Saturday for what became a pep rally for liberty. Jeff Rhodes/The Freedom Foundation

“We’re in nothing less than a battle for the future of our nation,” Shelton business owner Pat Tarzwell told a raucous crowd gathered on the steps of the Capitol Building in Olympia on Saturday. “And we have some serious catching up to do. Progressives have a 100-year headstart growing the size of government.”

With federal income taxes due the following day, Tarzwell said it was a perfect occasion to talk about slashing spending at both the national and state levels.

“Our own governor says we’ve cut $10 billion from the budget in recent years,” he said. “Don’t believe her. She didn’t cut a nickel. Spending goes up every stinking year.”

“Four years ago were promised hope and change,” added blogger Keli Carender, who fellow Tea Party members have dubbed the “Liberty Belle.” “But at this point, hope is about all we have left — hope that change is coming.

“As bad as some of us thought an Obama presidency would be, he’s been far worse than we could have imagined,” she said. “We’re facing a very serious situation, but fortunately, there’s still time to heal the nation.”

The Olympia event featured 10 inspirational speakers — plus music — over two hours. And the prevailing theme was how government has eroded personal freedoms while stifling the economy.

“I can’t figure out why people keep voting for candidates with ‘experience,’ ” said Olympia resident and conservative activist Sharon Hanek, who refers to herself as the “Research Mom.”
“Do we want to keep voting for candidates with experience taking away our rights?” she asked. “Or should we start electing people who believe they were called by God to restore those rights?”

“The most troublesome aspect of America today isn’t the division between the right and the left,” said event host Mike Siegel, a longtime conservative talk radio host. “The most troublesome thing is the division between the left and the Constitution.

“It’s time for a change in America,” he said. “It’s time to stand up and be counted.”