1. The house Democrats released their 11.7-cent gas tax transportation proposal yesterday. It's different than the 11.7-cent senate GOP plan in several ways. 

First, it authorizes $15 billion for Sound Transit 3. The senate package only allowed $11 billion. The $4 billion difference is crucial because at the GOP's $11 billion cutoff, Sound Transit would be forced to sacrifice its plan to extend all the way to Everett and Tacoma, and build out key extensions within Seattle. Without a holistic buildout that serves all regional voters, ST3 isn't likely to pass at the polls.

(I outlined this problem in Seattle Met at the beginning of the legislative session in a story called: "How to Bring Light Rail to Seattle in Four Not-So-Easy Steps.")

Second, it removes the GOP's "poison pill" provision (as Democrats call it) that diverts all the multimodal spending to roads if governor Jay Inslee enacts low-carbon fuel standards. (The Democratic proposal also increases—slightly—the spending on multimodal projects in the first place, from the Republicans' $877 million to $1.3 billion.)

Third, it doesn't dedicate any sales tax money from transportation projects out of the general fund to the package; the Republican plan diverts $1.2 billion out of the general fund (and $104 million in dedicated toxic cleanup funding).

This all sounds impressive, but—by also increasing highway project spending, road maintenance spending, ferries money, local funds, and stormwater money—without raising the gas tax more than the Republican proposal, it's not immediately clear where the Democrats are getting the money.

2. As I noted yesterday, Kshama Sawant had a strong fundraising month, bringing in $26,000.

But the real story is that while her impressive showing increased her grand total to $51,000, she still only has $7,677 left. 

What is she spending her money on?

Sawant has five different campaign consultants—Joshua Koritz, Phillip Locker, Calvin Priest, Jonathan Rosenblum, and Bryan Watson. And she handed over $12,330 for their work. That's 46 percent of what she took in. 

Her other big spend, $6,332, was on campaign newletters—a  wiser line item—if it was in late July, in advance of the August 4 primary.

By way of comparison, incumbent Tim Burgess spent just $2,000 on fundraising consulting in March (he raised $36,000 and has $85,000 in the bank).

And Mike O'Brien—who raised $22,000 and now has $19,000 in the bank—spent nada on consulting.

Even Jean Godden—with the famously pricey Connections Group consulting firm on her payroll—spent less on sage advice than Sawant; Godden spent 39 percent ($6,000) of her money raised in March ($15,322) on consulting.