Computer Science Teacher, Software Developer, and former State Representative
Issaquah, WA
Joined November 2009
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Excellent ad for I-645 (Repeal the Income Tax). youtube.com/watch?v=3gwZ7qGf…
Chad Magendanz retweeted
This is the size of the Washington State biennial budget compared to the size of what it would be if it was simply keeping pace with population growth and inflation. The difference is $21B for this budget alone.
If you think this rate of spending growth is sustainable, even with a Mllionaire Tax, you are M-E-N-T-A-L.
There's not enough of rich people money to pay for this. The burden of this growth will fall upon you, the middle class. And then the working class.
If we do not address WA state government spending now, our state is going off the fiscal cliff.
Those advocating for an income tax are not addressing this fundamental issue.
I'm 100% aligned with @BrandiKruse for this election cycle, but would add Patrick Peacock for my old LD 5 House seat. Remember that not voting isn't a protest...it's a surrender! patreon.com/undivided/posts/…
Okay, this is fun: Give ChatGPT a picture of yourself and tell it "Based on this photo, put me in a TV show where I look like I belong."
🤖 Made with AI
Great advice for Spokane from someone who's lived the experience and learned how to battle progressive politics and the bureaucracy.
Happy to report that I'm safely home after my Midnight Sun run, totaling 20 days and 6,951 miles. The 2024 Honda Africa Twin was a champ!
Through Stewart, BC and Hyder, AK is the access road to a gold mine and a breathtaking view of the Salmon Glacier!
I took an alternate route home via the Stewart-Cassiar Scenic Highway, which cuts through the rugged Skeena and Cassiar mountain ranges of British Columbia.
Our return from Prudhoe Bay to Fairbanks didn't see much actual rain, but the previous storm left us with some slippery road conditions and a thick coat of "hauler's mud!"
The final leg of our journey to swim in the Arctic Ocean began at 4am to outpace the approaching storm front. The skies cleared after Atigun Pass, but the temps also dropped precipitously.
Chad Magendanz retweeted
The Income Tax and Your Pension
Olympia stripped the pension exemption protecting your pension from being taxed— even though "You Won't Be Affected"
Warning TLDR
Washington's new 9.9% income tax has a $1 million threshold. And every politician who voted for it will tell you: "Don't worry — this only hits millionaires. State employees, teachers, firefighters — you're safe." (However, firefighters please ignore the fact that we must raided your pension for the general fund)
Then why did they rewrite the pension protection statute?
Here's what they actually did. Every public pension in Washington — PERS, TRS, LEOFF, State Patrol, teachers, school employees — had a law on the books that said your pension was:
"exempt from any state, county, municipal, or other local tax"
That protection has been there for decades. ESSB 6346 added a new subsection to each of those 13 statutes that says this:
"Subsection (1) of this section does not exempt any pension or other benefit received under this chapter from tax under Title 82A RCW."
Title 82A is the new income tax.
So here's the question:
If the $1 million threshold protects you, why did they need to strip the pension exemption at all?
The existing exemption — "exempt from any state tax" — would have protected you automatically. They didn't need to touch it. If their guarantee is real, the exemption stripping would be meaningless.
Unless it's not meaningless.
The only reason to surgically remove pension protections from 13 separate statutes is to build the infrastructure to tax those pensions later — when the threshold comes down. And it will come down.
They've already done the legal work removing your exemption. The only thing standing between your pension and a 9.9% tax are promises from legislators who brag about making pie crust promises— easily made easily broken. — and now it can be change any time they want.
Olympia tells you not to worry. But they have taken away the only legal protection that would have made worrying unnecessary.
With SB 5974 the Dems argued that unelected commissions should remove elected sheriffs who fail to meet new eligibility requirements. Did you know that 4 of 9 justices on the WA Supreme Court had *no* prior bench experience? They never served as judges.
Great write-up for American Legion Post 79 today in the Snoqualmie Valley Record...
valleyrecord.com/2026/05/18/…
On most Memorial Day mornings in the Snoqualmie Valley, members of the American Legion Renton-Pickering Post 79 are already on the move.
Their day will start at Preston Cemetery, then move to Fall City, North Bend and finally back to Snoqualmie for a closing ceremony at the post. For some members, the day is not over yet. Many continue on to the Tahoma National Cemetery, where they help provide funeral honors services.
“Memorial Day, unlike Veterans Day, is focused on those who have perished,” said Post 79 Commander Chad Magendanz. “It’s supposed to be an opportunity for us to reflect on the sacrifices that were made in order to keep our nation whole and protect the freedoms that we enjoy.”
For the veterans of Post 79, the local chapter of the country’s largest veterans service organization, Memorial Day is not just a holiday or a ceremony, but a public expression of the group’s larger mission: honoring fallen service members, supporting veterans’ families and being active in the community year-round, Magendanz said.
Through funeral honors, helping youth programs and giving aid to local veterans, the post uses Memorial Day to remind residents that remembrance is an ongoing act, he said.
At the local cemeteries, the ceremonies are modest but meaningful, Magendanz said. Community members gather together, some with relatives who have served going back multiple generations. At the larger ceremony at the Tahoma National Cemetery, volunteers of local Boy Scouts or high school students will place flags on the veterans’ graves.
Local residents and elected officials, including mayors, county representatives and state lawmakers, attend the ceremonies each year.
For the people who organize these ceremonies, the work is personal, Magendanz said.
The members of Post 79 served in all branches of the service. Some of them lost friends in combat. They craved the bond formed during their military service and wanted a way to maintain that connection after returning to civilian life, Magendanz said.
“When you go through something that asks so much of you, you look around you, and you find yourself in a very tight-knit community, having gone through something like that together,” said Magendanz. “It’s nice to have a community that you can go to that understands what you’ve been through, and they share the same sacrifices and experiences that you have as a veteran.”
That bond fuels another major part of the post’s service: Funeral honors.
Members of the Post Honor Guard, including post adjutant George Townsend, regularly assist with military funeral services. These services include rifle volleys, taps and the presentation of an American flag to surviving family members.
According to Townsend, one of the most powerful moments occurs as Taps comes to a close, when the flag is presented to the next of kin.
“That’s one of the things that keeps us coming back,” said Townsend. “Seeing the looks on the faces of the family of the deceased, knowing that we’re sending off one of our brothers or sisters to Valhalla.”
Beyond participating in ceremonies, Memorial Day weekend is when the post holds its public fundraiser. Volunteers hand out red poppies outside the Snoqualmie QFC, collecting donations for the American Legion’s Poppy Fund, which helps veterans and their families through charitable projects, providing food, oxygen, wheelchairs, and more.
Outside of Memorial Day weekend, the post remains active year-round. In partnership with the Snoqualmie Tribe, the post distributes turkeys at Thanksgiving and hams at Christmas, sponsors scholarships for local students, sponsors youth athletics and partners with local community organizations.
Recently, the post helped with the installation of a statue in the Snoqualmie Veterans Memorial. The sculpture depicts a woman reaching down with a rose and is surrounded by memorial bricks engraved with veterans’ names.
For Post 79, Memorial Day is not confined to one Monday in May, Magendanz said, it is one stop on a year-round path to honoring the past and giving back to others to have a brighter future.
“We have three phases to our lives,” said Magendanz. “We serve our country, we serve our families and then we serve our community and pay it forward.”
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University of Washington’s News Lab operates as a local news bureau staffed by advanced journalism and public interest communication students.
