It may have been so long ago you'd forgotten, but on June 17 we asked Capitol Alert readers to predict the date and time lawmakers would pass the state budget.
Our winner was only an hour off.
Lobbyist and lawyer Tim Yaryan is the proud recipient of the $25 Starbucks gift card and bragging rights at the Capitol.
He attributes his victory to "keen political insight into the psyche of the Legislature, coupled with great pessimism."
Yaryan chose 1:30 a.m. on September 16th. The budget bill cleared both houses by 2:30 a.m.
Two others picked the same date, but later in the day. (Hint for next year - nothing big ever happens during daylight hours.)
In making his prediction, Yaryan said he took into account the national political conventions and the scheduled end of session, and figured it wouldn't happen during that time frame.
"I didn't think they would get it done before Labor Day, so then it was a question of how long after Labor Day it would be," he said.
Yaryan said this is the first contest he's ever won. Small consolation, perhaps, given that in the end he said his public safety clients "got smoked like everybody else did."
"We could have done worse, we could have done better," he said. "it was just ugly for everybody."
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