With primary elections occurring across the state next week, Shift is featuring two separate interviews with candidates for Spokane City Council.

Shift spoke with Northwest District candidate Mike Lish as we highlight high-profile primary races for Spokane City Council.  Decisions out of Spokane City Hall frustrated Lish, as he saw “the vibrant community we love start to slip away.” And so he became involved and aims to end the stagnation of the current city council to put a plan in place to solve to city’s housing and homeless problem.

Lish states that voters he’s talking to are also very concerned about rising crime rates while many at city hall are acting like Seattle politicians seeking to “defund the police.”  The city’s recent 72% vote to ban a local income tax is for Lish another example “that voters in Spokane want a fiscally responsible government and officials who are good stewards of taxpayer money.”  (Click to read full Newsmaker interview)

In one of our two Newsmaker Interviews this week, Shift talks with Spokane City Council candidate Jonathan Bingle, a small business owner who was born and raised in Northeast Spokane.  Bingle states that his neighborhood is often forgotten by current members of the council, and he wants to create more economic opportunities for local residents.  Bingle wants to bring more balance and collaboration to the council as it tackles the city’s current housing crisis.  (Click to read full Newsmaker Interview)

From the “Do what I say, not as I do” file – when Governor Jay Inslee announced his new voluntary mask mandate for everyone gathering indoors, he was not wearing a mask in a room full of other people also not wearing masks, and in no way are they “socially distanced” from each other. This is yet another instance of the many recent failures of Governor Inslee to provide leadership during the pandemic. Remember it was just last week when Shift followed up on Brandi Kruse’s observation that the governor chose to be politically divisive about some of those who have yet to be vaccinated. His comments hindered the state’s goal to get more people vaccinated because his partisan statements only inspired more resentments from those who he attacked and yet still need to be vaccinated.  (TVW Screen Shot of Governor Inlsee’s media event and Shift)

A new study has found that the average elementary student fell four months behind in reading and five months behind in math, caused by the state not being prepared for distance learning and the teachers’ unions refusing to listen to advice from health experts to return to in-person schooling.   The study by McKinsey & Company used test scores from this past spring and compared it to those from previous years.  In an editorial, the Wall Street Journal specifically criticized the actions of teachers’ unions for keeping students out of the classroom, which resulted in this drastic drop in test scores.  The editorial points out the negative impacts of distance learning were even more harmful to students of color and those from lower income households (seven months behind in math and six months behind in reading).  While liberal teachers unions love to promote programs which they claim bring “equity,” it is evident the unions are willing to sacrifice “equity” if it doesn’t coincide with their selfish needs. After all, students don’t pay union dues, so why should the unions care about them? (Wall Street Journal)

Many Washington residents still have many questions about the mandatory new payroll tax which will be used to fund the state’s new long-term care insurance program.  A few weeks ago, Shift interviewed Elizabeth Hovde from the Washington Policy Center, who has become an expert on the issue.  Workers will see the tax deducted from their paychecks starting in January, unless they enroll in a qualified long term care plan before November 1^st.

Many people are obviously concerned that this program will expand (like all other government entitlement programs) and will soon become another costly government bureaucracy.  State Senator Chris Gildon (R – Puyallup) has released a very informative short video on the Washington Cares Fund payroll tax and what it means for Washington State workers. (Senator Gildon YouTube video and Shift’s Newsmaker Interview)

A new report reveals that during the peak of the Governor Inslee’s shutdown of the state’s economy, during the spring and summer of 2020, nearly 5,000 Washington State businesses closed down, with more than 3,000 closed permanently.  Additionally, thanks to Governor Inslee’s partisan and unscientific method for closing businesses, small employers were more often victims of the governor’s actions, while their large corporate competitors were quite often the financial beneficiaries.  The Washington Policy Center’s Mark Harmsworth added that the small businesses which were able to survive the governor’s actions are now faced with paying much higher unemployment insurance rates to the state. (The Lens)

The latest failure of the Democrats’ police “reform” package occurred last night in Puyallup, as police were forced to limit the K-9 unit’s ability to locate the suspect in a murder due to new restrictions which Democrats jammed through last session.  A police spokesperson said, “We did have a K-9 officer respond within a couple of minutes, but unfortunately because there was no probable cause developed yet for the individual they decided not to track with the K-9 in case they did use force, they wouldn’t be outside of the new laws.” As of Thursday afternoon, the murder suspect is still free.

In the few days since the Democrats’ “reform” package became law, there have been dozens of incidents (as we reported in yesterday’s Daily Briefing) across Washington State, where law enforcement agencies have been severely restricted by the far-Left legislation, which was passed to placate the liberal activists who rioted last summer in Seattle.  The legislature is rumored to be returning to special session in September to pass a transportation funding package.  Many people are calling on legislators to fix the serious problems within the Democrats’ anti-police package while they are in special session, before the rest of the state deteriorates as bad as Seattle. (Q13 News and Shift’s Daily Briefing)

Crime has become so bad in Seattle, that a woman was assaulted in the building where criminal justice is determined and where there are likely more police officers per capita than any other building in the city (outside of a police precinct).  On Thursday morning, a woman was assaulted in a restroom of the King County Courthouse in downtown Seattle. The woman was able to scream for help and the assailant was taken into custody.  The courthouse previously had its entrances closed by the building’s judges due to criminal behavior, and recently had its neighboring park closed due to a murder and other violence.

It is ironic that a building which is supposed to represent safety and justice in our society has quickly become a symbol of the liberal establishment’s complete failure when it comes to public safety. And it is evident in the criminal justice bills proposed and passed by Seattle-area Democrat legislators during the 2021 legislative session, that liberals continue to ignore the skyrocketing crime rates and continue to seek ways to appease violent liberal rioters and criminals. (MyNorthwest)

The lack of drivers and confusion over previous orders from Governor Inslee are the root of the fuel supply problem at some Eastern Washington airports.  Many of these rural airports are fueling locations for the air support needed for fighting wildfires in Eastern Washington.  Representative Tom Dent (R – Moses Lake), who is a licensed pilot, has been working to solve the problem by asking the state to allow slightly heavier fuel loads on the roads, and by allowing the Washington National Guard to provide drivers for the tankers.  Earlier there was much confusion over orders from Governor Inslee to allow drivers of fuel needed to fight wildfires to temporarily work longer hours.  (Columbia Basin Herald)

Within hours of the Democrats’ radical police “reform” package becoming law this past weekend, numerous dangerous situations occurred across the state, and law enforcement was forced to back down, resulting in prolonging incidents which were a threat to public safety.  The hastily constructed bills (with almost no involvement from law enforcement or Republican legislators) were the result of Democrat lawmakers caving into the demands of liberal extremists behind the violent riots in Seattle last summer.  The bills are also the latest example of Democrats forcing Seattle’s failed policies onto the rest of Washington State.  Sadly, until these laws are repealed or fixed, we can expect to hear about hundreds of situations in the coming weeks where police officers are not allowed to do the job they have been trained to handle. (Click to read the full Shift Article)

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