Last week, when Governor Chris Gregoire announced plans to bypass the AG's office, and petition the courts for a ruling on the constitutionality of I-1053's two-thirds supermajority provision, the first thought that popped into my head was:

Oh man, I can't wait to see the Seattle Times editorial board twist itself into knots over this one...

Well, today's the day:

GOV. Chris Gregoire should reconsider her ill-chosen decision to push the Washington Supreme Court to decide on the two-thirds rule for raising taxes.

Time and again over the past 20 years, the voters of Washington have approved the rule that the Legislature needs a two-thirds vote of both houses or a vote of the people to raise taxes. Legislators resent this limit on their power and have suspended it several times. Voters keep re-enacting it.

Honestly, what a bunch of shameless fucking hypocrites.

Their argument, of course, is that because voters have repeatedly approved I-1053's provisions, it should be left unchallenged, regardless of its constitutionality. That's an irresponsible argument on the surface, one that shows a blatant disregard for the rule of law. The constitution is the supreme law of the state, and as such is difficult to amend for a reason. If you could just override it on a simple majority vote of the legislature or the people, then it's just another law.

But it's also a shameless fucking hypocritical argument coming from an editorial board that consistently fights to undermine the "will of the people" when it comes to the twice-approved provisions of labor-sponsored I-1163:

THE voters approved Initiative 1163, to require more training for home-health-care workers and have the state pay for the training for workers in state programs. Legislators are wondering whether they have the moral authority to suspend this measure, which requires a two-thirds vote. They do and they should.

I-1053's two-thirds provisions have been approved twice over the past four years, with 63.75 percent of the vote in 2010, and a bare 51.24 percent in 2007. I-1163's training and certification provisions have also been approved twice over the past three years, with 65.02 percent of the vote in 2011, and an eye-popping 72.53 percent in 2008. And, unlike I-1053, I-1163 is unquestionably constitutional.

Yet the Seattle Times urges lawmakers to honor the will of the people on the former, while fucking them on the latter. Why? Because they're shameless fucking hypocrites, of course.

If the editors had the brains or the balls to defend I-1053 on policy—to cogently explain to readers why a one-third minority of legislators should be granted veto power over the rest of their democratically elected colleagues—that would be one thing. But they don't. Instead, showing zero respect for their readers or themselves, they lazily fall back on an argument of convenience... a line of reasoning they'll happily cross from one editorial to another, if it suits their rhetorical needs.

Shameless. Fucking. Hypocrites.