Camden: Petition for Trump to stop I-1639 runs out of time

Tough standard, you say? Actually pretty weak when you consider those can come from any of the nation’s 325 million residents (or at least the vast majority of them on the internet) and I-1639 had to get nearly three times that from Washington’s 4.3 million voters. Oh sure, I-1639 had six months, but it had to get actual signatures on paper.

The petition “timed out” on Thursday with 41,088 signatures and was placed in the White House archives, which sounds like the cyberspace version of the place that crate is sent at the end of “Raiders of the Lost Ark.”

Inslee to run for president?

Gov. Jay Inslee has traveled around the country a fair amount in recent months on political missions as chairman of the Democratic Governors Association. Some of his stops, like Iowa and New Hampshire, are prompting speculation of a possible White House run.

He’s been coy about such a run, saying it’s all hypothetical and he hasn’t made a decision.

The speculation doesn’t seem to have made much impression on oddsmakers. An online gambling site is taking “bets” on whether people will announce a run by next September.

The list includes the usual suspects, such as Bernie Sanders, Joe Biden, Elizabeth Warren and Oprah, along with some “say whats?” that include former Starbucks boss Howard Schultz and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. The only politician from the Northwest on the list is Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore.

Early-bird legislation

Speaking of Inslee peregrinations, one Republican legislator wants to dock his budget for some of the costs of those trips.

Inslee’s travel expenses are covered either by the governor’s association or a political action committee he set up. But his security detail, around the Capitol Campus or on the road, is supplied by the Washington State Patrol, which is reporting higher than budgeted overtime expenses for accompanying him on those trips.

Rep. Jim Walsh, R-Aberdeen, took advantage of legislative rules that allow lawmakers to “prefile” bills the month before the session starts to require the governor’s office to cut its budget to cover those costs.

Other prefiled bills so far include such topics as allowing schools to authorize employees to carry guns; clarifying that extreme risk protection orders could be used for minors in danger of hurting themselves or others; banning the killing of wolves by the Department of Fish and Wildlife; forbidding cities and counties from banning certain breeds of dogs; and outlawing the raising and slaughtering of horses for meat.