Grace Deng, Washington State Standard

The story behind WA Democrats’ light-up hats and ‘Cowboy Kamala’ sashes

Washington’s delegation to the Democratic National Convention caught some national attention on Monday for wearing light-up cowboy hats and sashes that say “Cowboy Kamala,” a reference to the Beyoncé album “Cowboy Carter.”

The idea for the hats and sashes came from Shasti Conrad, the Washington Democratic Party’s chair.

“I’m a huge Beyoncé fan, and I’m a huge Vice President Harris fan,” Conrad said by phone from Chicago, where the convention kicked off yesterday.

“The BeyHive is sort of what the KHive built themselves after — sort of this rabid fanbase for both,” she added, referencing the fanbases of Beyoncé and Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee for president. “So we were like, let’s celebrate the two of them and this cultural moment, political moment — and these incredible women of color.”

One of Beyoncé’s songs, “Freedom,” is Harris’ campaign song and the soundtrack of her new ad.

Conrad said the party worked with Buttonsmith, a “great union, women-owned” printing shop based in Redmond, Washington, to get the sashes printed. The hats were bought wholesale but have “union-printed” stickers on them.

Younger delegates were excited about the hats when the party showed them off at breakfast on Monday, Conrad said, but some older delegates were more hesitant. That changed when they got to the convention center.

“Everybody loved the hats because they could find us. We looked awesome,” Conrad said. “It was so fun and we were definitely the talk of the town.”

So much so that the Smithsonian got involved: Conrad was approached by a representative of the museum, Jon Grinspan, who collected a hat and sash for the Smithsonian’s political history collection.

Conrad was also able to give a hat to Walz, the party’s vice presidential nominee, and his wife, Gwen Walz.

“The governor took the hat and he shook my hand and said thank you,” Conrad said.

The Washington delegation has plans for daily fashion themes at the convention, which runs through Thursday. Tuesday’s theme is Washington Democrats pride and Wednesday’s is “Purple Rain” in reference to Prince, a musical icon from Walz’s home state. The delegation plans on wearing pink and white for the last day to celebrate Harris.

The hats and sash, though, will definitely be the flashiest.

“We did international press, we did national press, everyone kept commenting on how we were the most fun delegation!” Conrad said.

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Lyft shortchanged thousands of drivers on pay: investigation

More than 15,000 Lyft drivers were paid less than required under new pay standards Washington enacted this year for the app-based ride-booking sector, a recent investigation by the state Department of Labor & Industries found.

After state officials contacted Lyft, the company conducted a self-audit and determined it owed nearly $193,000 in back pay to drivers.

The findings come about six months after a new state law went into effect establishing minimum pay and other protections for the drivers. The law ensures drivers earn at least $1.17 per mile or $0.34 per minute when transporting passengers, as well as a minimum of $3 per trip. In large cities, such as Seattle, the minimums are $1.38 per mile, $0.59 per minute and $5.17 per trip.

Lyft said in a statement to the Standard that the company supports the state’s minimum pay requirements.

“A technical error led to minor pay discrepancies for certain drivers in Washington,” a spokesperson for Lyft said. “Lyft corrected this issue, and those drivers have all now received the correct payment.”

As of late June, the Department of Labor & Industries said it has received 45 complaints from drivers for so-called “transportation network companies,” like Lyft and Uber.

Three of those complaints came from Lyft drivers who said they were underpaid for trips outside of Seattle, leading to the state inquiry that resulted in the company paying the back wages.

“The law was enacted to make sure rideshare drivers in our state are paid fairly, and this case shows it’s working,” Celeste Monahan, assistant director of Labor & Industries’ Fraud Prevention and Labor Standards division, said in a statement. “When we contacted Lyft, they did the right thing.”

The state is currently investigating 13 other complaints.

This story was updated with a comment from Lyft.

Washington State Standard is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Washington State Standard maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Bill Lucia for questions: info@washingtonstatestandard.com. Follow Washington State Standard on Facebook and Twitter.