Due to the extremely narrow guidelines prepared by the Inslee administration, the Washington State Patrol has rejected every religious exemption made by department employees who do not wish to be vaccinated.  373 WSP employees have thus far sought religious exemptions from Governor Jay Inslee’s mandate that all state employees, contractors, and volunteers must be vaccinated against COVID by October 18^th or risk losing their positions. Thus far, the department has reviewed 284 of these requests and has denied each one. The state is also falsely claiming there are “no practical accommodations” to transfer those who have chosen not to be vaccinated safely.  Yet, for over 18 months, these employees have been safely able to perform their jobs by using personal protection equipment, even before more than 70% of the public had been vaccinated. (MyNorthwest)  

A new report from Washington State Republican Caucus asserts that state Democrat lawmakers have compounded their mistakes with police reforms by easing numerous laws that allow more criminals to escape detention.  This combination has resulted in law enforcement becoming more restricted while at the same time defending the public against more offenders who are free to commit crimes. The GOP caucus report follows up on suggested reforms five years ago after it became known that Governor Inslee’s Department of Corrections had knowingly allowed 3,000 prisoners to be released early due to a computer error. This mistake allowed many crimes, including murder and vehicular homicide, to occur against innocent victims. The Inslee Administration resisted these reforms and has worked steadily to ease the sentencing requirements of convicted criminals.  Critics contend that by allowing more prisoners out of confinement and passing laws that remove restrictions on convicted felons’ voting rights, the Democrats have risked public safety to selfishly receive more votes at the polls.   (Washington Senate Republican Caucus)

The Washington Policy Center has compiled an excellent collection of quotes that support the legal and political arguments that the recently passed capital gains tax is an unconstitutional income tax and that an income tax is bad for Washington State’s economy.  With Attorney General Bob Ferguson’s recent failure to have a judge dismiss citizens’ lawsuit against the tax, the court case is scheduled for oral arguments later this year in the Douglas County Superior Court.  You can be confident former Attorney General Rob McKenna will use many of the quotes obtained and collected by the WPC as he argues the court case for repealing the Democrats’ latest attempt to impose an income tax on Washington residents. (Washington Policy Center. Q13 News, and Shift’s Newsmaker Interview)

Senator Mark Mullet (D – Issaquah) said that Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler’s “emergency” order to remove credit ranking discounts from insurance costs has resulted in Washington residents’ rates increasing as high as $2,000 a year.  In a Seattle Times op-ed, Senator Mullet strongly encourages Commissioner Kreidler to rescind his order which data shows had hit seniors on fixed incomes the most.  In March, Kreidler used the COVID pandemic as an excuse to impose the order that prohibits insurance companies from using individuals’ credit ratings to provide rate discounts on policies.  Mullet argues that this has been a longtime desire for Kreidler. When his proposed legislation for the policy died in Senator Mullet’s Business, Financial Service, and Trade Committee last March, the Insurance Commissioner improperly used emergency orders to implement the ban.  Senator Mullet supports the lawsuit filed to repeal the emergency orders, and he has scheduled a hearing on Kreidler’s orders in front of his committee next week.  It is unknown whether Commissioner Kreidler will show up to defend his actions.  (Seattle Times)

The Washington Policy Center produced a short (2:30 minutes) and informative video on why Washington State needs to reform its emergency powers laws.  The video states that many of the arbitrary rules set by Governor Inslee would not have been imposed on Washington residents if legislative oversite and public debate were allowed to happen. Also, Washington likely not have been the 48^th state to reopen its economy.  Viewers are reminded that the constitution states that the legislative branch is responsible for making laws while the executive branch is in charge of implementing and enforcing the laws.  All these powers reside solely with the governor for as long as they see fit during emergencies.  The video also briefly mentions the fact that by bringing the legislature into the decision-making process, more people feel their voice is being heard. Thus there are fewer disenchanted individuals who immediately become skeptical of government mandates such as masks and vaccines. If legislators were involved in the process, they could have saved more lives by being active advocates for those safety measures. (Washington Policy Center/YouTube)

A new Crosscut/Elway poll of 400 Seattle voters reveals that Seattle is still ultra-liberal, but it may have slowed its rapid decline to bat sh*t crazy radical.  Barely reasonable former Councilmember (and temporary Mayor) Bruce Harrell leads the completely irresponsible current Council President Lorena Gonzalez by a surprising 42% – 27% margin (remember Harrell earned 34% of the primary vote while Gonzalez received just over 32%).  Moderately liberal attorney Ann Davison holds a slim 4% lead (26% – 22%) over the reckless criminal advocate Nicole Thomas-Kennedy for city attorney.  Current business owner Sara Nelson leads radical demagogue Nikkita Oliver 31% – 26% in one of the two city-wide council contests.

On issues, the city’s failure to handle out-of-control homelessness with liberal policies (that only increase the size of government and the bank accounts of government unions) is the top concern of voters, with the mass exodus of police officers and skyrocketing crime rates following close behind.  The “Compassion Seattle” homeless initiative, which the city’s liberal establishment successfully removed from the ballot with a lawsuit, was favored by an overwhelming 60%, with only 30% of voters saying they would have opposed it. (Crosscut/Elway Poll and Shift Guest Commentary)

Senator Doug Ericksen (R – Ferndale) has repeated his call for legislative hearings into the domestic terrorism committed by liberal activists as they repeatedly seek to derail trains in Whatcom County.  Following the conviction last week of a liberal activist for attempting to derail a train near Bellingham last year and the derailment of another train that caused multiple oil tankers to explode, Senator Ericksen stated lawmakers need to be aware of what is taking place. “Activism that turns to sabotage invites tragedy. This new trend in left-wing protest warrants the strongest condemnation from elected officials and responsible environmental organizations. If this keeps up, it is only a matter of time before someone is hurt or killed.” Previous efforts by Ericksen to hold hearings on the extreme environmentalists’ activities have been blocked by the majority Democrats, who evidently don’t believe this type of political violence should be condemned.” (Bellingham Herald)

A complaint has been filed with the Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission against Seattle City Councilmember Kshama Sawant for failing to report in her campaign finance documents the legal fees paid by the city during the judicial review of the charges made against her by the Recall Sawant campaign. Further, the complaint asks the commission to require Sawant’s campaign to reimburse the city the approximately $200,000 in public funds paid to Sawant’s legal team.  The City Council approved the expenditure to help defend one of its members. (Safe Seattle Facebook)

Once again, the Seattle Times has failed to report the national news story that 14 current and former staffers for Democrat Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal have come forward to accuse her of being responsible for a hostile and dysfunctional work environment. While people all over the country are reading about this story, the Seattle Times does not believe it is newsworthy to those she represents in Congress.  While the Times did not think this was a priority, they did believe it was front-page worthy (on their online site) to inform everyone who will be hosting the game show Jeopardy! (BuzzFeed and Seattle Times)

Dry conditions have resulted in Eastern Washington wheat farmers harvesting just 60% of their average crop.  Typically, more than 150 million bushels of wheat are harvested in Washington.  This year the harvest was about 90 million bushels.  Wheat farmers are now in the process of planting winter wheat despite the topsoil still being very dry.  They must hope that rain will soon arrive or risk losing more money on another depleted crop. (Wenatchee World)

Enrollment in Washington State’s colleges and junior colleges is down as many possible students are still wary about returning to the classroom.  Big Bend Community College in Moses Lake is experiencing a 12.5% decline in enrollment. Administrators stress that students can still enroll and take advantage of online courses, improved during the pandemic. (Columbia Basin Herald)

Do you like The Daily Briefing?

Please consider making a contribution to ensure Shift continues to provide daily updates on the shenanigans of the liberal establishment.

Forward this to a friend.  It helps us grow our community and serve you better.

You can also follow SHIFTWA on social media by liking us on Facebook and following us on Twitter.

If you feel we missed something that should be covered, email us at [email protected]