1. Is the Trump effect really a concern for down ballot Republicans? It looks like it. In the race for public lands commissioner (which is about as far down the ballot as you can get), supporters of conservative Republican Steve McLaughlin decided to cancel an upcoming fundraiser. Republican McLaughlin is running against progressive green Hilary Franz, the executive director of the environmental group Futurewise.

McLaughlin, who supports Trump (and who also sided with Ammond Bundy in the Oregon federal lands standoff, according to comments McLaughlin left on a blog during the standoff), was quoted in the Seattle Times on Monday saying the bombshell Trump video was simply a “distraction.”

A note that appears to come from the hosts of a planned McLaughlin fundraiser scheduled for next Monday at the Rainier Club, pulls the plug on the event saying the host no longer wants "to be associated with anyone who maintains his support for Donald Trump, and in particular his recent comments. His comments are not mere distractions, they are fundamental problems with the candidate, and are antithetical to our conservative values.”

P.s. After yesterday evening's rush of sexual assault allegations against Trump, all I can say is... Put HER in jail?

2. For a preview of the debate over the city council’s pending encampment legislation check out the heated exchange on KUOW yesterday between council members Tim Burgess and Mike O’Brien. The council members are at loggerheads over the same issues we’ve seen them disagree on before in this conversation, with Burgess maintaining that the O’Brien’s proposal will create a right for people to camp in parks and O’Brien saying it’s the only humane approach.

O’Brien, who sounded more heated than I’ve ever heard him, continued to press the same fundamental point on the radio, saying: “Tim, I’d ask you, I would love to take all public space and all parks space off limits, but where are those 3,000 people going to be? And if you have a space for 3,000 people to reasonably live in our city tonight, I am happy to remove the places that aren’t suitable. But I’m not going to take all of the land off and say 'I don’t know.' Because that’s the system we have today. And they’re just going to go the places that are unsuitable and unsafe.”

The council is currently trying to define which places are “unsuitable” for camping, which raises the simultaneous question of which places are “suitable?” Critics say O’Brien’s proposal, will allow camping in public parks, but O’Brien’s legislation only allows camping in the parts of parks that are not active or maintained.

The misinformation about the bill has led to alarming, but inaccurate emails and notices in the community, including from groups such as the Magnolia Soccer Club, which warned families this week that the proposal will “dramatically impact the SAFETY and USE of our community fields for soccer, other sports (football, baseball, softball, lacrosse), and schools!”

All of those places, including schools, are explicitly off limits in O’Brien’s updated proposal.

There's a council hearing on the proposal tomorrow. Human services chair, council member Sally Bagshaw says the council is not ready to vote.