Well, now it’s official. Our dearest departed Sandeep Kaushik is a member of the establishment spin machine. Kaushik, identified as a “Sims spokesman,” was quoted in Nicole Brodeur’s column last week. I know the straight world was always sweet on Kaushik everyone from Seattle Times lead political reporter David Postman to Washington News Council president Jon Hamer to Town Hall guy David Brewster to the Seattle Weekly (they tried to hire Kaushik away from us in 2002)was a serious Kaushik fan. But damn, landing in Brodeur’s milquetoast column really confirms the sad news.

I also detected Sandeep’s hand in Sims’s widely-distributed sound bite about the Port’s anti-light rail threat. “Unconscionable,” Sims said. “Unconscionable?” Pure Kaushik. But Sandeep as Sims’s spokesman? “Unconscionable,” I say.