Ways & Means chair eyes the exit

Plus a bid to clean up private prisons and the House and Senate hug it out on assault weapons

Senate Ways & Means Chair Christine Rolfes has tossed her hat into the ring for a vacant seat on the Kitsap County Commission, a move that could portend a significant shift on one the Legislature’s most powerful panels.

We don’t pretend to have a granular understanding of local Democratic politics in Kitsap County, but Rolfes, D-Bainbridge Island, looks like the class of the field. While it’s legal to hold both state and local office¹ simultaneously, Rolfes tells the Observer she doesn’t intend to do that if appointed.

Here’s why you should care about this. The Ways & Means chair is among the most powerful people in Olympia, both an author of the state budget and a gatekeeper for ambitious and expensive ideas and the taxes required to pay for them. When the Legislature adjourns on Sunday, much of its work will bear Rolfes’ fingerprints.