King County Metro officials have raised bus driver pay dramatically while neglecting some promised service increases. Now, the wages threaten to cut into existing service.
Transit demand should continue to fall through the year, owing to fuel prices and high unemployment. But the demand for new transit taxes, based on last year's rise in usage, will not go away.
Schrier and Gluesenkamp Perez are outraising Republican candidates Larkin and Kent. At the same time, GOP challenger Smiley raised more than U.S. Sen. Patty Murray.
It pits two experienced candidates, Democrat Steve Hobbs and nonpartisan Julie Anderson, for a job that has increasingly focused on the security of elections.