Free Speech on trial: Why the Brandi Kruse investigation threatens more than one podcast

[COMMENTARY]—A potential showdown is unfolding: Does independent political speech in the digital age still receive the same constitutional protection long afforded to traditional media? The Public Disclosure Commission (PDC) on August 12, has opened a formal investigation into Let’s Go Washington and, by extension, independent commentator Brandi Kruse over a complaint filed by Washingtonians for […]
Let’s Go Washington now under formal PDC investigation over alleged $1.25M in-kind ads to Brandi Kruse

OLYMPIA — The Washington State Public Disclosure Commission opened a formal investigation into Let’s Go Washington after an initial hearing on August 12, 2026, into allegations that the political action committee failed to report between $345,000 and $1.25 million in in-kind political advertising linked to political commentator Brandi Kruse and host of unDivided. The committee […]
Ferguson kicks off fight to defeat Let’s Go WA’s income tax repeal initiative

SEATTLE [Jake Goldstein-Street] — The initiative to overturn Washington’s new income tax on high earners hasn’t officially qualified for the fall ballot yet, but on Tuesday, Governor Bob Ferguson and other opponents of the measure launched a campaign to defeat it. At Food Lifeline in the city’s South Park neighborhood, Ferguson said that with Initiative […]
Let’s Go Washington turns in over half-a-million signatures on IP26-645 to repeal income tax bill

TUMWATER — Let’s Go Washington delivered 511,408 signatures Thursday to the Washington Secretary of State’s office for Initiative to the People IP26-645, an effort to repeal the state’s newly enacted 9.9% tax on annual household income above $1 million and to bar state and local governments from imposing taxes on overall individual income. The submission […]
Let’s Go Washington launches signature drive to repeal new state income tax

REDMOND—Let’s Go Washington launched a signature-gathering campaign Tuesday, May 12, for initiative IP26-645 to repeal Washington’s newly enacted 9.9% tax on household income above $1 million and place the issue before voters on the November 2026 ballot. The political committee, led by founder Brian Heywood, announced the drive at a press conference as the conservative […]
WA Supreme Court rules “Necessity Clause” shields new income tax law from voter referendum

OLYMPIA [JERRY CORNFIELD & JAKE GOLDSTEN-STREET]—Washington’s Supreme Court on Monday, May 4, denied Let’s Go Washington’s, a conservative political committee, request to pursue an attempt to repeal the state’s new income tax law with a referendum this fall. The opposition can still move forward with an initiative to overturn the tax on millionaire earners. But […]
EXCLUSIVE: Records reveal WA millionaire’s tax is meant to legalize progressive income tax

[THE CENTER SQUARE]—According to nearly 1,000 pages of public records reviewed by The Center Square, the Washington Attorney General’s Office and Democratic leaders discussed strategies to challenge and potentially overturn the 1933 state Supreme Court decision that banned income taxes in Washington state. Link to key emails obtained by The Center Square. “I would like […]
‘Legal Dream Team’ file lawsuit challenging Washington state income tax

OLYMPIA—The Citizen Action Defense Fund (CADF), former Attorney General Rob McKenna, and former Supreme Court Justice and State Senator Phil Talmadge officially filed a lawsuit against the state of Washington, the Department of Revenue and Acting Director John Ryser challenging the newly enacted income tax on Thursday, April 9. The suit filed in Klickitat County […]
Ferguson signs new income tax bill, lawsuit and referendum challenges begin

OLYMPIA — Governor Bob Ferguson signed Senate Bill 6346 into law March 30, enacting a 9.9% income tax on annual income above $1 million as the Citizen Action Defense Fund announced a legal challenge and Let’s Go Washington also announcing it is launching a referendum to repeal the measure. The bill passed the full Senate […]
As Washington gets an income tax, the fight to overturn it begins

[OLYMPIA | JERRY CORNFIELD]—Come Monday, Washington is expected to have a state income tax on the books for the first time in nearly a century. Then what? A legal challenge certainly, maybe two. A ballot battle as well, its timing less certain. Opponents of the much-debated 9.9% tax on households with incomes above $1 million a […]