Washington State law appropriately allows local governments to approve legal fees to defend an elected official if they are being recalled by citizens, since they are sometimes sued over official actions, sometimes frivolously, and serving in office would become quite the expensive endeavor without some protection.  However, Seattle City Councilmember Kshama Sawant went out of her way to allegedly break the law and violate her oath of office.  If Sawant was not acting in her official capacity, why should the residents of Seattle pay for her defense? (Shift)

A new state revenue forecast was released today, and the previous predicted revenue shortfall of $8.8 billion dollars has been reduced to an expected $4.5 billion.  The good news in the forecast does not erase the legal requirement for Governor Jay Inslee and the Democrat legislative leaders to immediately call for a special session to balance the budget. The forecast notes that without budget cuts (or the Democrats’ preferred solution of raising taxes) the state is expected to run a deficit of $2.4 billion in the current budget (ending June, 2021) and another $2.1 billion in the next budget, which will be developed by the next legislature and go through June, 2023.  The Treasurer reports show that the state’s general fund has run a deficit every day since September 4^th.  State law requires the governor to either make across-the-board cuts or call back the state legislature to fix the budget if any state fund is running a deficit.  Thus far, Governor Inslee has ignored this law. Even Governor Zero understands that if Democrats are forced to vote on their plan for higher taxes before November, they will either chicken out and lose the vote, or Washington voters economically hammered by Jay Inslee’s shut down orders would likely vote against them in the general election. (Washington Policy Center and Washington General Fund balance sheet)

Governor Jay Inslee’s Employment Security Department (ESD) is so poorly managed that it paid fraudulent unemployment claims that were made using the stolen identities of its own employees.  Nothing seems to surprise the public anymore about the ESD’s dysfunction, which has literally cost Washington State taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars. But, to not know that your own employees – still on the job – are not eligible for unemployment benefits is a level of incompetency surprising even from a state agency run by an individual whose primary qualifications is that she raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for Democrat politicians.   As one current ESD employee stated, “How does our own agency not know that we’re not unemployed? How did our own system not catch it? How did we not stop that gap? It is a mess.” Yet despite the numerous mistakes that have cost the state hundreds of millions of dollars, and have delayed much needed payments to over 100,000 Washington residents, ESD Commissioner Suzi LeVine still has a job.  . (KING5 News)

Instead of promoting cost-saving measures which do not infringe on public safety, Governor Inslee’s Department of Corrections (DOC) is suggesting releasing prisoners, no matter their crimes, out early from their sentences.  The DOC says this extreme proposal, supported by prisoner advocate groups, could reduce the state’s prison population by 30%.  Instead of serving out their time in the state’s corrections facilities, convicted felons would be allowed to serve their final 150 days in “partial confinement on electronic home monitoring.” (MyNorthwest)

Reporting errors continue to plague the Washington State Department of Health’s (DOH) COVID-19 data releases.  On Tuesday, the state (once again) needed to fix its “coronavirus dashboard” because it contained incorrect data.  The DOH claims the dashboard is now accurate to Sunday.  But, why should anyone believe the agency, which Governor Inslee has used as a political tool throughout the crisis to avoid answering questions about his ill-conceived decisions.  (News Tribune and Department of Health dashboard)

State Representative Debra Lekanoff (D – Bow) says she is planning to introduce legislation to remove “Native themed” mascots and team names from public schools.  Depending on which source you believe, Lekonoff is either the first or second Native American woman to serve in the Washington Legislature.  There are currently about 25 schools with Native American-themed nicknames or mascots. (KUOW – NPR)

Colorado Governor Jared Polis and 23,600 fellow state employees will take four furlough days in the coming weeks, to save the state $8 million.   Meanwhile Washington Governor Jay Inslee accepted a $6,000 pay raise (making him the 6^th highest paid governor in the country) and gave state employees their second 3% pay increase on July 1^st.  Of course, had he simply rescinded the pay raises and other brand-new spending before the start of the budget year on July 1, he could have largely eliminated the state’s budget deficit without further action. But the state employee unions would not let Governor Inslee do that – not when they have invested so much campaign cash in him over the years and with the Democrats having promised to raise taxes for even higher government spending after the election.  (Loveland Reporter-Herald and Patch)

The Washington Policy Center will be holding their Annual Dinner (virtually) this Friday evening.  Speakers at the multiple events will include former Congressman Trey Gowdy, Secretary Rick Perry, and Candace Owens. There are costs to some of the events, but the featured program is free (donations are appreciated).  For more information and to register, please click on the links. (Washington Policy Center)

Seattle City Council President Lorena Gonzalez used her infant daughter as a political prop to defend her support to make city streets less safe for people like her daughter (and everybody else).  During the council’s discussion on whether to override Mayor Jenny Durkan’s veto of the council’s measure to drastically cut funding for Seattle police (which ultimately was overridden by a 7-2 vote), Gonzalez said, “I want to be able to tell my daughter, who I am currently holding in my arms, that I did the right thing, that I voted on the right side of history. Not because of political expediency, not because there was a disagreement about where to put a decimal point, not because of political pressure, but because it is the right thing to do.”  Meanwhile Councilmember Andrew Lewis, who was politically pressured to reverse his 2019 campaign promise to increase funding for the police department, attempted to divert attention away from his politically expedient flip-flop, by criticizing the process that led to a divisive vote to override the mayor’s veto.  Lewis said, “It has contributed to a frayed relationship between the council and the mayor and there have to be better ways for us to resolve our differences.” (Crosscut and MyNorthwest)

A former Washington State Supreme Court justice and a current University of Washington Law School professor give their opinion that the remaining charge in the recall campaign against Mayor Durkan should be thrown out.  In an op-ed, former Supreme Court Justice Bobbe Bridge and UW Professor Hugh Spitzer claim that the last recall charge against Mayor Durkan “is legally and factually defective.”  The remaining charge, which claims Durkan failed to enforce new police procedures as officers attempted to squelch violent riots, was allowed in the recall petition by a King County Superior Court judge.  Durkan has appealed the lower court’s ruling to the state Supreme Court.  Justice Bridge and Professor Spitzer believe that the state’s highest court should overturn the King County decision because the Seattle city charter states that the police chief, not the mayor, “shall be the chief peace officer of the city” and is responsible for police operations.  (Seattle Times)

Snohomish County health officials say the current level of new COVID-19 cases appears to be holding steady at approximately 50 positive tests per 100,000 residents.  This is significantly lower than the July averages of just below 100 per 100,000.  Yet the officials warn that it could be weeks or months until the county reaches its next goal of being below 25 new cases per 100,000, which is when the county can apply to move to Phase III. (Everett Herald)

Spokane officials celebrated the opening of the new downtown police precinct on Tuesday.  This was a major campaign promise of new Spokane Mayor Nadine Woodward.  At the ceremony the mayor said, “Downtown is going to be seen as a very comfortable and safe place. This is what our businesses want, this is what our community wants – to see that community policing model in action downtown.”. (Spokesman-Review)

A Kennewick high school student was allegedly kicked out of his Zoom class because he displayed a Trump flag in his room.  The campaign flag does contain profanity in its tag line, “No More Bullshit.”  The teacher apparently used the Zoom chat feature to warn the student, yet the teenager did not see the message.  The student was then removed from the virtual class without further warning.  Previously the student was told to remove a Trump hat while attending a different Zoom class session.  A spokesperson for the Kennewick School District says officials are aware of the incident and they are currently investigating the matter. (KEPR TV)

Congressman Dan Newhouse states he hopes the publicity surrounding Governor Inslee’s recent illegal activity of bringing maggot infested apples into the heart of the state’s tree fruit region will help remind state residents of the devastating economic impact such careless actions might cause.  In an op-ed, Newhouse writes, “Safeguarding the areas where these fruits are commercially produced is of the utmost importance to not only our state’s economic well-being, but the livelihoods of our apple growers and those they employ.” Obviously, Jay Inslee would not have known this, as he only lived in the Yakima Valley for over a decade. (Wenatchee World)

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