Earlier this week, ChangeWA released a report that revealed Seattle City Councilmember Lisa Herbold attempted to hide from the public her legislation that would “excuse and dismiss almost all misdemeanor crimes committed in Seattle by persons with symptoms of addiction or mental disorder.”  The report also revealed that Herbold tried to pass the controversial legislation in a way that bypassed public comments by proposing it as a budget issue. ChangeWA’s report focused plenty of public attention on the legislation and Herbold’s scheme to stop even pretending to hold criminals accountable in Seattle.  We sat down with ChangeWA’s Executive Director Josh Wilund to discuss the report, and other issues important to his organization. (Shift Newsmaker Interview)

A new Heritage Foundation report details the many failures of the Washington State public school system during the coronavirus pandemic, highlighting that most were the result of controversial Superintendent of Public Instruction Chris Reykdal’s strict adherence to a liberal political agenda and his money-driven obedience to the Washington Education Association.  The report shows how clearly Reykdal failed in the only job he had this year. While private schools and public charter schools quickly moved to online learning, most public schools were unprepared for the change and the education of hundreds of thousands of students suffered.  School districts continue to receive full funding from the state while not having to pay expenses related to in-school instruction.  Yet, Reykdal and the state’s liberal education establishment refuse to provide any help to parents who have taken on the cost and responsibilities for educating their children. (Heritage Foundation)

Washington State health officials now believe that bringing students back into school will not significantly increase the transmission of the coronavirus. Worldwide data shows that schools, particularly the single-class education format found in most elementary schools, are not causing the spread of the disease. The health officials believe school districts should resume in-person instruction, while adhering to strong health and safety measures.  Thus far, only 3% of the state’s public school students (from mostly rural school districts) have returned to in-person instruction, as Jay Inslee and other Democrat “leaders” wait until after Election Day to make any decisions which might show their incompetence. (Seattle Times)

Governor Inslee continues to protect the financial needs of his political contributors, while ignoring the financial needs of parents who have taken on the responsibility of educating their children.  Governor Inslee issued an emergency order, likely after being ordered to do so by state union leaders, that retirement and other benefits remain undisturbed for state government union employees who have either been laid off or had their hours reduced due to the shift to remote learning.  Meanwhile, the governor has shown no concern whatsoever about the financial impact his previous emergency orders have had on families who have lost wages and are now paying for technology to ensure their children’s education continues.  Maybe the parents could quickly grab the governor’s attention by forming a union and sending the Inslee campaign a large contribution. (Office of the Governor, Directive 20-15 and Washington Policy Center)

The Seattle Times came out against Seattle City Councilmember Lisa Herbold’s silly proposal to dismiss misdemeanor crimes if the defendant can demonstrate symptoms of substance abuse or mental disorder, or that it was related to poverty.  Herbold’s fellow liberals on the Council don’t disagree with her, but because of public attention (due to a report from ChangeWA) the measure has been pulled from the council’s current budget process, though it will likely reappear next month. The Times called the measure “absurd” because it “would effectively legalize misdemeanor crimes that victimize thousands of Seattle residents every year.”  The editorial correctly points out that, “Stalking, harassment, vehicle prowls, sexual exploitation, property destruction, hit-and-run, threatening someone with a gun — all would be minimized and easily defensible under Herbold’s plan.” While the Times is critical of the specific proposal, the paper does not go into the reasons why so many “absurd” ideas are even introduced in Seattle.  It is the result of more than a generation of one-party city government and the narrow political philosophy of the city’s media and community leaders.  This has resulted in allowing many crazy ideas to fester because there is no opposition to challenge the ideas. Seattle city leaders communally reject any questioning of their extreme proposals, because they honestly believe that anyone who challenges their orthodoxy can only be right-wing nuts, in racist organizations, or greedy corporate executives. (Seattle Times and Shift Newsmaker Interview)

Superintendent of Seattle Public Schools Denise Juneau said she is “surprised” by the demand of the local NAACP to have her fired because that organization believes she encourages racist and sexist policies.  In the latest example of liberal interest groups attacking the actions of liberal Seattle government entities, the NAACP asserted that Juneau had been “purging” Black employees from leadership position.  A spokesperson for the special interest group said about Juneau that “she lacks vision, she lacks leadership, she does not want to be held accountable, and we have gone backwards. It’s just been a more racist environment in our district.” (MyNorthwest)

Seattle School District policies are illegally preventing special-needs students from receiving in-person education.  Seattle’s failure is highlighted by the fact that the state’s largest district (by far) is only serving one student, while the Bellevue School District is educating 150 special-needs students and the Lake Washington School District has in-person instruction for 475 students,.  The official reason behind the district’s latest failure is because administrators  decided to instruct special needs students at their home school, instead of setting up district-wide hubs like the other districts have, though one can expect that union pressure to keep schools closed figured into their “thinking”. (Seattle Times)

The federal government has joined the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation in removing the gray wolf from the list of endangered species.  Despite the number of wolves in Washington growing from just five of them 12 years ago to nearly 150 today, Jay Inslee’s administration refuses to acknowledge the success of the preservation efforts and join others in delisting the gray wolf. Many are encouraging Washington State elected officials to start planning a post-recovery strategy, as many other states have done. (Washington Policy Center)

Nine private schools in Yakima County have conducted full-time, in-person instruction since the start of the school year and have reported only two confirmed COVID-19 cases.  The schools have adapted many health and safety procedures to protect the students and staff. The schools went almost nine weeks without any cases, until this past week when two students in the same classroom were diagnosed with the virus.  (Yakima Herald)

The Inslee campaign continues to raise money so he can make contributions to other politicians who can help him obtain his coveted spot in the cabinet of a possible Biden Administration.  Inslee’s campaign, which has nearly a half million dollars in the bank, continues to beg for money by asking people to “invest in Jay’s leadership.”  Instead of using this money to pay back the state’s taxpayers for the additional cost of providing Inslee security during his failed presidential campaign – like other governors have done when they were running for President – the money will likely be used to support the campaigns of those who can influence Joe Biden if he is elected president next week. (Inslee campaign fundraising email and Public Disclosure Commission)

For Democrats, this election season is not just about trying to help their candidates crawl successfully over the finish line, it’s about running the most far-left candidates they thought they could get elected without too many people noticing.  Even if this strategy meant eliminating other, now deemed less worthy, Democrats. It is yet another example of the extreme-Left taking over the Democrat Party. (Shift Article)

(Click on link to read short blog post)

The Washington Education Association and the liberal Democrat establishment have hit the panic button as they fear they will lose control over the Superintendent of Public Instruction office.  Chris Reykdal’s campaign has removed its controversial candidate from its television ads, and have enlisted fellow liberals to lob false accusations against the qualified and hard-charging Maia Espinoza.  (Shift Post)

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