Signing on with the conservatives doesn't look so smart for the Liberal Democrats now. But their woes have opened the way for a test of Scottish wishes for independence.
Barbed wire surrounds the ConocoPhillips refinery near Ferndale, which uses a type of chemical regulated under both the Deparrtment of Homeland Security and the EPA.
State Democrats, in going after the state Auditor's budget, were really trying to stick it to Tim Eyman, the initiative king. The over-reach backfired.