Washington State Democrat Chair Tina Podlodowski is lying about Kim Wyman’s statements to promote her very partisan candidate for Secretary of State.  In a series of tweets, the top Democrat attack-dog Podlodowski knowingly promoted false interpretations of Wyman’s statements regarding choosing a party preference in the upcoming Washington presidential primary. The Democrats have made no secret about their desire to control the Secretary of State’s office so they can use the office to benefit Democrat candidates and liberal initiatives.  The Democrats’ last candidate for Secretary of State was so hyper-partisan she is now the State Democrat Party Chair (Podlodowski). The Democrats’ chosen 2020 Secretary of State candidate (Representative Gail Tarleton) was the recent sponsor of the partisan bill (HB 2529) to eliminate state odd-numbered year elections (because Democrat voters can’t always be bothered to vote in those years).  Tarleton has also been supportive of overturning the voters’ wishes on I-976. (MyNorthwest and Washington State Bill Summary)

In a clear display of greedy arrogance, legislative Democrats want to spend new revenue obtained from ending Boeing’s tax break on more big government programs.  Even though Washington taxpayers clearly stated their desire for tax relief with their I-976 vote last November, the Democrats who control the state legislature have given no thought to helping the taxpayers. Instead Democrats want to use unexpected money on programs they previously had not prioritized and left unfunded (though money is not the problem after they dramatically increased state revenue in 2019 by raising a billion dollars in new taxes, and the first law passed this year was to raise taxes). (Crosscut)

City of Seattle and King County lawmakers are strategizing on the best way to raise more taxes for bus service.  King County councilmembers are planning to place a tax measure on the August ballot, while the City of Seattle lawmakers are waiting to see if the proposal raises enough taxes for all the projects they want.  If Seattle officials believe the county tax package does not raise taxes high enough, they plan to have their own tax measure on primary ballot.  Lawmakers are looking to have voters decide on a tax proposal in the August primary election, for the general election ballot in November already contains the Harborview $1.7 billion tax proposal and as King County Councilman Rod Dembowski says, as only a Democrat can with a straight face, “You don’t want to have too many taxes on one ballot.” (Seattle Times)

The King County Library System Trustees voted to include on the August ballot a 55% increase in revenue it receives from property taxes.  If passed by the voters, the average homeowner will pay $500 a year in taxes dedicated to the library system.  This tax increase proposal is coming at a time when library visits are the lowest since 2008, and circulation of physical materials is down 20%.  Staffing and maintaining the branches are 80% of the library system’s budget, yet the one library service the public is using more, digital downloads (31% of circulation) does not require physical locations or staff. (King County Library System Trustees resolution and Stephen Sharkansky Facebook post)

Denny Westneat describes how the Democrat presidential nomination process reflects the “Seattleization” of national Democrat politics.   “Seattleization” is what the Seattle Times columnist calls the trend of moderate Democrats caving into the will of the extreme left-wing of the party.  We have seen it in Seattle, with Kshama Sawant’s radical measures setting the agenda at Seattle City Hall, and we are now seeing it with Bernie Sanders dominating in the presidential primaries and caucuses. Say it all together Democrats, “Socialism Rules”! (Seattle Times)

The conduct of former Snohomish County Prosecutor Mark Roe, a Democrat, has so far cost the taxpayers $750,000.  Three of four lawsuits from former employees have been settled out of court.  The suits allege that Roe harassed, intimidated, threatened, discriminated, and used sexist and derogatory comments in his interactions with those he supervised between 2009 – 2018.  It is interesting to note that the Everett Herald failed to mention that Roe is a Democrat in its report. (Everett Herald)

The Spokane School Board decided (by a 3-2 vote) against an April special election to seek voter approval for a supplemental levy.  Because of the recent 15% pay raise given to teachers, the district last year was forced to draw down on its reserve funds and make more than $9 million in administrative cuts.  In an extremely rare display of humility from an elected official, school board member Kevin Morrison said, “Just because we can tax the citizens, it doesn’t mean we should.” (Spokesman-Review)

The government’s own estimates are that an LCFS will add 57 cents to the cost of a gallon of gas. The Chamber said, “Employers will pay more to get their goods to market. Employees will spend more to get to work. Families will face higher food and travel costs. The impact to the economy could total $1.5 billion in declining gross regional product.” (iFIBER One)

Energy Northwest is moving forward on examining whether to add a small modular nuclear reactor to it sources of clean energy.  Additional nuclear power resources are being considered to meet the state’s goal of 100% clean energy by 2045. Energy Northwest is comprised of 27 public utility districts and municipalities, and provides energy from nuclear, hydroelectric, wind, and solar power sources. (YakTriNews and Washington State Department of Commerce)

Seattle Councilmember Kshama Sawant labels a legislative measure an “historic attack” on the recently created Tax Amazon organization.  The bill (HB 2498), which is still being negotiated, would allow King County to tax businesses to obtain (even more) funds for homeless and housing programs. It is believed that for the bill to pass the legislaturet would need to include language to ban Seattle from imposing an even more expensive (and job-killing) tax.  The legislation is supported by some liberal elected officials (Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan and King County Executive Dow Constantine) who are more moderate than the Tax Amazon fanatics, and is one of the very rare times recently when local officials have (sort of) stood up to Sawant. (Tax Amazon email and Washington State Bill Summary)

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