'Save Our Sonics' banner flying over Olympia

Spotted at 12:45 p.m. over the Washington state Capitol in Olympia: A single engine plane pulling a banner that reads "Save Our Sonics: Next Year is Too Late," with a TV helicopter in hot pursuit. Clearly it's a message to lawmakers on the day before the end of the session. Apparently Sonics fans — not Steve Ballmer — are behind the aerial lobbying campaign. As two Olympia reporters joked, do they have to file a state lobbying report? It also makes a person wonder why the airspace over the state capitol isn’t restricted. Look at what happened when a pilot tried to fly over the U.S. Capitol today. It remains to be seen if this high-flying effort at influencing lawmakers has any effect.

• Austin Jenkins is the Olympia-based political reporter for Northwest News Network, a consortium of public radio stations in Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. He covers Northwest politics and public policy as well as the Washington Legislature. You can find his work posted at the Web sites of KPLU-FM (88.5) and other network stations. You can e-mail him in care of editor@crosscut.com.