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Hello again Friends,

I apologize for skipping a post yesterday, but I have a valid excuse.

I had the privilege of spending my day in Olympia, Washington, the state's capital, meeting with state senators and representatives. I had fully intended to write this post on the three-hour car trip from Bellingham that began at 4:30 in the morning, but you know how it goes.

I was in Olympia to help lobby legislators on a state issue that has nothing to do with national politics, and it was my first time in the state capital. What a stunningly beautiful place it is!

It's like a 3/4-scale version of Washington, D.C. set in the picturesque and verdant beauty of the great Northwest. If you ever get a chance to visit this part of the country, take it.

Yesterday in Olympia, WA. The rainbow in the upper right is not photoshopped. It's the real deal,

On the matter of politics, I refer back to the night before last and the Democratic town meeting. While both candidates argued their cases competently, Hillary Clinton again drummed home the reason people don't trust her.

The issue of those three speeches she gave to Goldman Sachs for $675,000 came up immediately.

Bernie Sanders had called for Hillary to make the transcripts public 20 days ago.  But Hillary deflected the issue with some well-planned but absurd rationale to keep them away from the public eye.

Her argument went something like this: "Why am I held to a different standard than the other candidates? I'll release the transcripts when all the other candidates release the transcripts of  the speeches they've made."

Hillary, of course, is the only candidate known to have given speeches to Goldman Sachs, and once again, she came off looking like she had something to hide.

A colleague of mine suggested that perhaps its because the inside language that's sometimes used in these types of private gatherings, though basically innocent, would be misconstrued by the public. Kind of like Mitt Romney's 47% remark that probably lost him the election?

Whatever the reason Hillary's being sneaky this time, we probably won't find out easily, if ever.

I hope the voters won't let her get away with it. But in a year of Teflon frontrunners, Hillary's shadiness may not hurt her enough to stop her.