2011 jolts Jay Inslee and Rob McKenna.

Both Jay Inslee and Rob McKenna need to reevaluate the centerpieces of their respective campaigns—green jobs (Inslee) and education reform (McKenna). Despite being poll-tested homeruns in 2010, events in 2011 clobbered both.

The Washington Post's excellent reporting on Solyndra has taken the glow off green investment as the road to economic recovery while the recession has reshuffled voters' priorities. Inslee's green resume (promoting conservation, fighting efforts to de-fang the EPA, advocating for action on global warming) is starting to feel off point in a year when economic justice and labor issues—paid sick leave, SEIU's successful I-1163 (health care worker training), and the Occupy Movement—are motivating people. Even Seattle voters turned down a car tab fee---in part because they viewed it as a yuppie (and regressive) investment in transit and bikes.

As for ed reform, a backlash—as evidenced by this year's Seattle School Board races (and Susan Enfield's decision to bolt)—has tempered the public's appetite for McKenna's sweeping agenda which includes charter schools and tying teacher evaluations to student test scores.

Moderate Republicans jolt 2011.[pullquote] Microsoft, once a bit shy and reluctant on public policy issues, appears poised to exert public influence in the way that Boeing once did.[/pullquote]

Another sea change in 2011 (at least locally): The quiet emergence of moderate Republicans against 2010's noisy Tea Party backdrop. From Republican budget leader Sen. Joe Zarelli's work to help forge a bipartisan budget to the trio of Microsoft suburb freshman state Republican senators (including Steve Litzow) to Republican King County Council Member Jane Hague's defining (and office-saving) vote to preserve funding for Metro transit service, moderates were the winners in 2011.

While Sen. Zarelli has been the poster child for the moderate Republican revival, there's a much more symbolic story: State Rep. Hans Zeiger. Zeiger was elected in 2010 with Tea Party gusto (and over questions about his radical right wing rhetoric from his youth), but has emerged behind the scenes as moderate and a bridgemaker—and public voice on green issues and higher ed funding (including his advocacy for direct student involvement in tuition decisions).

Microsoft jolts 2011. 

The state’s largest private employer, once a bit shy and reluctant on public policy issues, appears poised to exert its influence in the way that Boeing once did. Powered by the work of its public affairs team—Delee Shoemaker, Irene Plenefisch, and Brad Smith—the Redmond-based company rattled off a number of clear successes in 2011: Playing a leading role in defeating Tim Eyman’s Initiative 1125; exerting influence to prevent deep cuts in King County Metro Transit; and successfully  pressuring the Bellevue City Council to  move forward with light rail.

2011 jolts Kemper Freeman.

If Microsoft was the biggest winner on the Eastside this year, Bellevue megadeveloper Kemper Freeman was easily the biggest loser. Freeman, a longtime light-rail opponent, dropped more than a million dollars on Eyman's attempt to bar tolls on I-90 (and, incidentally, ban light rail to the Eastside); that effort failed 53 to 47.

Adding insult to injury, Freeman also bankrolled a three-person slate of contenders for the Bellevue Council, but neither of the two candidates challenging incumbents came close, and even the open seat fell to a light rail proponent, John Stokes. Either folks on the Eastside really don't Freeman, or they really like reliable public transit. Either way, Freeman's million-plus investment was a flop.

DOJ jolts SPD.

The Seattle Police Department is clearly a loser, but the DOJ's damning report on the SPDs misuse of force comes with a few political footnotes.

Winner: Seattle City Council Member Bruce Harrell, whose catchy call for body cameras on cops and surprisingly passionate speeches in the wake of the John T. Williams SPD shooting death connected with the public like never before. If Harrell wasn't thinking about mayoral run before, he certainly is now.

Loser: Seattle City Council Member Tim Burgess ... who has certainly been thinking of a mayoral run. Burgess is the longtime head of the council's public safety committee (which oversees SPD). Harrell is taking ovrt that committee over in 2012.

And what to say about Mayor Mike McGinn, whose first reaction to the DOJ report was to question its findings (who the heck gave him that advice?) and then, within 24 hours, recalibrate and order the SPD to play ball with the DOJ. McGinn's been sloppy like that all year, tripping up over the Occupy protests as well.

Mike O'Brien jolts 2011. 

Interestingly, it was city council member Mike O'Brien---the former Sierra Club activist who a certain local columnist has taken to calling "the mayor's mini-me"---who came into his own even as McGinn fumbled. Instead of giving up after voters rejected a ban on plastic bags last year, O'Brien and his fellow bag opponents regrouped, talked to unions, grocery stores, and advocates for low-income Seattle residents, and came up with a compromise proposal that had the backing of all three groups.

While Mayor McGinn was being forced to issue a public apology over SPD conduct during the Occupy protests, O'Brien got headlines as the only council member to take his money out of a bank and put it into a credit union .

Now, coming off two years on the often dull-as-dirt Seattle Public Utilities committee, O'Brien is poised next year to head up the high-profile committee that oversees City Light---a big step up for a member of the 2009 freshman class. Sure, he supported the failed car-tab fee and opposed the deep-bore tunnel. But instead of letting those issues define him, as McGinn did, O'Brien is working to transcend his roots as a single-issue Sierra Club green lefty.

2011 jolts Roosevelt.

Density opponents in the Roosevelt neighborhood lost their long-fought battle to limit the height of any new development across from Roosevelt High School earlier this year as part of a larger vote to increase heights around the planned Roosevelt light rail station. Opponents of the zoning change, from 40 feet to 65, argued that six-story buildings would destroy the character of the neighborhood and create a public safety risk to kids at the high school; proponents said the taller buildings would include much more housing for families, and affordable housing, than 40-foot structures. Ultimately (and surprisingly swiftly, for a committee that often takes years to sign off on legislation), the council's land use committee opted to reject the NIMBYs' arguments.

Supercommittee jolts Patty Murray. 

Costco jolts state liquor system.

Boeing jolts economy.

Nick Licata jolts the chamber of commerce.

Port commissioner Rob Holland's cell phone jolts Rob Holland. 

City council challengers fail to jolt council incumbents.

The one exception? Challenger Bobby Forch, who almost jolted incumbent Jean Godden but ended up jolting himself with $58,000 in campaign debt.

Forterra jolts no one. 

This post was written by Erica & Josh. Erica doesn't agree with anything Josh wrote and Josh doesn't agree with anything Erica wrote.