Vision

There are 147 part-time, “citizen-legislators” who travel to Olympia every session, and approximately 900 registered lobbyists who work to influence them. Those lobbyists spend about $50 million each year, or $15 million per month that the legislature is in session. They produce tens of billions of dollars in tax breaks for special interests, and provide a formidable lobby against resolving our state’s budget crisis in ways that benefit the public interest.

Who will keep the politicians honest? In 1993, there were 34 paid reporters covering the legislative session in Olympia. In 2007, there were 17. In 2009, there were 10– talented writers, but each with the impossible task to write about everything going on in Olympia all at once.

The Olympia Newswire was founded to help reverse this trend. Instead of hiring reporters to cover everything, the Newswire has hired experienced news editors to focus on the issues that matter most to ordinary Washington state residents.