The issue in court on Friday was supposed to have been over the obviously loaded and biased words used to describe the impact of an anti-income tax ballot measure on the Washington state November ballot. People supporting the ballot measure demanded state law be upheld to use neutral terms to describe what the measure actually does. Oh, but that's not what they got in court. Not by a long shot.
What court watchers, especially those watching on state CCTV got instead, was a nakedly partisan activist in a black robe who apparently was under the illusion he was auditioning for the Real Housewives of Thurston County, engaging in an unhinged histrionic display instead of delivering something remotely close to justice.
The gesticulating arms. Dirty looks. Savage teeth-showing disdain. Judge Chris Lanese's unmitigated looks of smugness in court were on display for all to see. Bar complaints will inevitably follow, and deservedly so. Judicial temperament? What temperament? Lanese never made an attempt to use neutrality of any kind in that courtroom.
He looks friendly.
Damn a judicial complaint needs to be filed. pic.twitter.com/O1TAn8i7od
— Kaydence (@consciouskaye) August 7, 2026
The entire display (below) showed the closed loop that is one-party rule in Washington, especially in Thurston County, the home of the state capital of Olympia.
A supermajority of leftists passed the unquestionably unconstitutional graduated income tax — which the state's constitution forbids. Backers lied and called it a "millionaire's tax," with no language limiting who would be subjected to it.
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Then the Democrats hiked taxes, among them giving state workers wage increases and state-paid "unemployment insurance" for going on strike.
Democrats have been spending with all the restraint of raccoons who discovered the dumpster behind Golden Corral.
They masked information about social services fraud, in hopes of hiding losses from the public.
The Democrats kept paying for freebies for illegal aliens.
And they turned down free federal money for schools because...Trump.
They embarked on what was tantamount to a "No Oligarchs" tour, ala Bernie, and the media bought it; the millionaires and billionaires have been leaving.
When voters collected signatures in record time to repeal the cash grab, the attorney general (AG) characterized the repeal as cutting school funding to describe the fallout of the initiative.
And then this judge approved the language.
It didn't take an Einstein to figure out what his ruling was going to be.
The judge shouted down the attorney who was arguing that the AG's language wasn't remotely true and that the legislature makes spending decisions, not the AG.
MY GOD. I can't believe what I'm watching. I have never seen a judge act this way. While considering a challenge over the initiative to repeal the state income tax, Thurston County Judge Chris Lanese spews Democrat talking points while screeching and flailing his arms. Judicial… pic.twitter.com/VG9MjUC2n5
— Brandi Kruse (@BrandiKruse) August 7, 2026
The AG recast the initiative, called “An Initiative Prohibiting Individual Income Taxes," as "Initiative Measure No. IP26-645 concerns state and local taxes." Whose impact would “repeal a 9.9% tax on annual individual income over $1,000,000; prohibit taxes measured by individual income" and "decrease funding for public K-12 education, higher education (including universities and community colleges), and human services (primarily healthcare).”
Washington Policy Center's Paul Guppy says that AG's description wasn't just wrong; it was absurd.
So again, here we are in fantasy land of government budgeting. Only the public sector operates this way. [T]he income tax would not go into effect until 2028. So the state has not collected one single dollar of of income tax yet. But on paper they have allocated that spending in the future so-called to a bunch of programs. AG Brown says is that those programs are going to be cut. Well, how can they be cut if they haven't received any funding yet? It's threatening the public by saying that programs are going to be cut when those programs are not even funded.
I can't imagine leftists threatening the public. Kidding.
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Brian Heywood of the group backing the repeal initiative, Let's Go Washington, told The Center Square that the initiative "cuts no programs, benefit, or existing funding." He said, "it repeals an unconstitutional income tax that will not collect a dollar until 2029. You cannot cut money that does not yet exist."
Unsurprisingly, the judge allowed the new language to stand, not that you couldn't tell that from his bared teeth at the attorney for the good guys.
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