Jake: Mayor Wilson should worry more about crime, less about coupons

There are things I want my government to be good at, and things I can handle myself. Maybe it’s because I grew up in a magical time called the 80s, but I do NOT like this trend of politicians wading into every little bit of life’s minutiae.

Case in point: the Seattle City Council just passed the Fair and Transparent Pricing ordinance on a 7-2 vote. Credit to the two “no” votes, who seem to have some common sense left. Mayor Katie Wilson has now signed it into law. It purports to make grocery shopping fairer. It’s right there in the name.

Sounds harmless, right? Who could be against fairness? Me. I’ll happily raise my hand and tell you why this is an overreach.

Mayor Katie Wilson just banned AI surveillance pricing for your groceries.

Is there nothing else they could focus on before they take away your discounts?! @jakeskorheim has a few ideas for Seattle city leaders! https://t.co/4e9zI0mStQ

— The Jake & Spike Show (@jakespikeshow) October 6, 2026

Set aside that the grocery stores accused of this practice deny doing it. Set aside that when the local Fox affiliate pressed the bill’s author, Councilmember Alexis Mercedes Rinck, she couldn’t name a single local example of the problem the law is supposed to fix.

Seattle has bigger problems than grocery store pricing

The bigger question: is this what our city government should be spending its time on?

Stop 10 random people on a Seattle street and ask what the Mayor and Council should focus on today. I’d bet my last coupon that “grocery store coupon fairness” doesn’t come up once.

I think most Seattleites would look around and want their leaders focused on safety first. Drugs, homelessness, and prostitution are huge problems here. Just look at the headlines:

• “Woman accused of biting chunk from stranger’s forehead in downtown Seattle”
• “Seattle Has a Pimp War. A Baby Almost Died. And Nobody’s Doing Anything?”
• “2 injured in machete attack at Seattle’s Hing Hay Park”
• “Man shot in chest at notorious south Seattle homeless camp”

I could go on, but here’s my point: the city’s job is to deal with crime. I can’t personally stop the human trafficking on Aurora Avenue, which ranks among the worst in the nation, by the way. That’s the city’s job. But I’m perfectly capable of spotting a good deal in the cereal aisle (Trader Joe’s Frosted Shredded Bite Size Wheats, if you’re wondering).

Council members earn $135,000 a year for a part-time job. The Mayor makes $250,000. Every morning, they should wake up and focus on one thing: solving crime and cleaning up the streets. Once that’s done, they can work down the list. Traffic is probably next.

If they’re doing their jobs right, they should never have time to talk about coupon laws.

I’d love to connect and hear your thoughts. Follow me on X and Instagram.

Listen to “The Jake and Spike Show” weekdays from noon to 3 p.m. on KIRO Newsradio 97.3 FM. Subscribe to the podcast here.