How Olympia is setting counties up to fail

While serving as Lincoln County Commissioner, I've seen my share of bad laws and unfunded mandates from Olympia. But I have never witnessed the kind of squeeze counties are under today. Between court orders, runaway costs, and the Legislature's latest strings-attached "help," rural communities like ours are being set up to fail.

The Supreme Court's Order

In June, the Washington State Supreme Court ruled that public defenders are carrying too many cases. This decision created new "caseloads standards" and cut the existing amount of cases per attorney by more than half, effectively tripling the...