Shift’s Newsmaker Interview was with former Washington State Attorney General Rob McKenna, who provides his insight on the much-anticipated lawsuit to overturn the Democrats’ recently passed state income tax on capital gains.  McKenna will argue against the new tax on behalf of the Opportunity for All Coalition, as he previously did when successfully challenging the City of Seattle’s illegal income tax.  While Democrat lawmakers claim the new tax on capital gains income is an “excise tax” in an attempt to avoid the problem of a state income tax being unconstitutional in Washington State, McKenna argues, “The IRS, Congressional Budget Office, and 49 state revenue departments all say that a tax on capital gains is an income tax, because it plainly is an income tax. Relabeling an unconstitutional tax does not change its substance and cure its constitutional defects.” (Click to read full Newsmaker Interview)

Many suspected this was coming… this afternoon Governor Jay Inslee used a questionably illegal line-item veto of the linkage language between the Low Carbon Fuel Standard and Cap and Trade bills to the future passage of 5-cent a gallon gas tax to fund transportation packages.  The linkage was needed in order to gain the necessary 25 votes the bills needed to pass the Washington State Senate, yet it delayed the immediate implementation of Inslee’s costly and inefficient climate policies.  This is not the first time Governor Inslee has attempted questionable line-item vetoes.  The governor attempted a similar line-item vetoes with the 2019 – 2021 Transportation Budget which resulted in the governor being sued by both Republican and Democrat legislators.  That suit is currently pending in the Washington State Supreme Court.  Democrat Speaker of the House Laurie Jinkins did not seem pleased with the governor’s partial line item veto stating, “The governor’s partial veto today of E3SHB 1091, the clean fuel standard bill, reaches beyond his constitutional powers and we will ask the Washington courts to again rule on the balance of legislative and executive branch powers.”   (Washington Policy Center and Twitter)

A suspected member of the Nigerian-based crime ring has been arrested for taking advantage of Jay Inslee’s mismanagement and taking part in the theft of nearly $650 million from the Washington State Employment Security Department last year.  The arrest of Abidemi Rufai at New York City’s John F. Kennedy Airport happened almost exactly one year after it became known that Governor Inslee’s appointee to “lead” the ESD, Suzi LeVine (whose primary qualification for the position was that she had raised money for Democrats from wealthy donors), had relaxed security on benefit claims and thus allowed one of the largest thefts in American history to take place.  Thus far it has been revealed that Rufai was responsible for a small fracture ($350,000) of the total amount stolen due to the failures of the Inslee Administration, which to this day cannot even answer how much was stolen. (Seattle Times)

Republican lawmakers are calling for Governor Inslee to lift his restrictions on our state’s economy by June 15^th, if not sooner.  Following Governor Inslee’s announcement last week that Washington State will be the last mainland state to reopen its economy (on June 30^th), House Republican Leader JT Wilcox and Senate Republican Leader John Braun released a statement calling on the governor to end his 440+ days of one-man rule, and “give the authority back to local governments and trust them to act responsibly.” (Centralia Chronicle)

Two conflicting bills on expanding broadband internet to rural communities were passed by the Washington State Legislature and Governor Inslee’s bizarre actions in signing the bills only confuses the situation further.  The 2021 legislature passed HB 1336 and SB 5383, which both give local public utility districts and ports the authority to offer broadband internet.  While SB 5383 allows PUDs and ports the ability to service to those who currently do not have internet access, HB 1336 allows them to offer services to a broader audience.  Since the two bills conflict, historic precedent dictates that the one signed last would take precedent.  Instead of signing the bills one at a time in public (as he has done for nearly all other significant bills) Governor Inslee signed them “in private” at the same time, apparently one with his left hand and one with his right.  Thus confusion reigns as PUDs and ports attempt to figure out what they can or cannot do.  But since this is a problem that only impacts people in rural Washington, Governor Inslee felt no need to help clarify the situation. (Crosscut and Washington Legislature Bill Summary)

The cozy relationship between City of Seattle Councilmembers and ultra-liberal special interest groups is displayed by Councilmember Tammy Morales accepting a position on the Board of Directors of one of the city’s largest liberal lobbying groups, the Economic Opportunity Institute (EOI).  EOI is a far-Left Seattle-based group that advocates for costly social programs and higher taxes, and credits itself as the driving force behind the council’s 2017 passage of an illegal income tax (which was later struck down by the courts). Despite this appointment being an obvious conflict of interest for Councilmember Morales, who often votes on measures that EOI lobbies her on, it is potentially allowed under the city’s very lenient ethics rules.  While Morales must inform the Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission and the City Clerk of her position with EOI, no one has the authority to require the councilmember to recuse herself from voting on issues on which EOI has financial interests.  While Seattle’s liberal establishment would be outraged by a councilmember holding a board of directors’ position with a business group which heavily lobbied the council, it hypocritically turns a blind eye on a similar arrangement for liberal entities. (Post Alley)

The accidental, or purposeful, actions by City of Seattle officials to delete their texts during the period of the biggest riots by Left-wing activists, the abandonment of the police department’s East Precinct, and the creation of the CHAZ, could cost Seattle taxpayers millions.  These texts have been sought in many Public Records Requests and were potential evidence in multiple lawsuits by local businesses, family members of those murdered in the CHAZ, and from protestors. The Seattle Times’ Danny Westneat writes that judges look unfavorably on the destruction of evidence and this will hurt the City of Seattle’s defense in the cases.  Thus the missing texts could result in Seattle taxpayers (not city officials) being responsible to pay out millions of dollars more in claims. (Danny Westneat/Seattle Times)

As Seattle City Council President (and mayoral candidate) Lorena Gonzalez is pushing to reform how the mayor’s office retains its public records, she has knowingly allowed Councilmember Kshama Sawant’s office to use an outside email service which prevents the city clerk from archiving her records. Councilmembers and their staff are assigned an “@seattle.gov” domain email, which allows the city clerk to archive and retrieve communications for Public Record Requests.  Yet Councilmember Sawant’s office does not want the public to have access to its official correspondence, and instead use private “gmail.com” accounts. When public records are sought, the councilmember and her staff, not an outside independent entity, decide what is handed over. This is not how government transparency is supposed to work.  Councilwoman Gonzalez obviously knows Sawant uses an outside account, yet as council president she has done nothing to stop this unethical behavior from continuing. (Post Alley)

Democrat legislators ignored the serious concerns of farmers as they deliberated on their unconstitutional state income tax on capital gains.  Urban liberal lawmakers divisively ignored the well-known concerns of the agriculture community during the debate, and their actions could result in the demise of many Washington State family farms.  Under the state income tax on capital gains law (SB 5096), the sale or transfer of farmlands that exceeds $250,000 would be subject to the tax, and the additional costs could prohibit the generational transfer of lands.  Records indicate that Representative Noel Frame (D – Seattle) was well aware of these concerns, but chose to ignore them, as the urban lefty shepherded the bill through the legislature. (Washington Policy Center and Washington Legislature Bill Summary)

Agriculture groups are asking Governor Inslee to remove costly and unnecessary restrictions on farmworkers’ housing.  Last week it was announced that the state was lifting some of the expensive safety regulations it had previously imposed on farmers (such as requiring a worker who was exposed to COVID-19 to have two daily in-person examinations).  Now the Washington Farm Bureau and the Washington Farm Labor Association are asking the governor to remove the 50% capacity for housing and the ban on bunk beds. The restrictions are currently scheduled to stay in place through the September harvest.  Washington State is one of the last states to keep these costly restrictions. (Yakima Herald and Columbia Basin Herald)

It appears history is repeating itself as modern Democrat legislators are acting similar to their 1993 counterparts by campaigning first as “moderates” and then passing expensive and unpopular legislation, which could result in a similar voters’ uprising that removes them from power.  In the first of a two-part series, Shift examines the similarities between the two eras as contemporary Democrat lawmakers in Washington State jam through many ultra-liberal proposals which had been previously rejected by more rational elected officials or the state’s voters, just as they did a generation ago.  (Click to read full Shift article)

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