Federal taxpayers like you sent $2.6 billion dollars to Washington State, and the Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI) Chris Reykdal is making sure most of it is benefiting his buddies over at the Washington Education Association (WEA).  The money was sent to the state to help schools manage through the pandemic. The money was intended for safety equipment and other supplies to help keep schools a safe environment for students and school employees.  While the SPI made sure to buy some supplies, a Seattle Times report reveals that the federal money has also been spent to increase teachers’ salaries and hire more staff (even as public schools are seeing declining enrollment), which enables the WEA to collect even more dues (which then allows the union to spend even more money to elect liberals to local school boards, the legislature, and other state officials such as the Superintendent of Public Instruction). (Click to read full Shift Article)

Today marks 600 days of one-man rule in Washington State.  It is interesting to go through websites that have quotes on leadership and see that none of them praise the tactics used by Governor Jay Inslee during the pandemic.

• None of the quotes say alienate the governed by denying them a voice in decisions.
• None of the quotes say divide those you are supposed to be leading by rewarding a few and publicly insulting others with partisan allegations.
• None of the quotes say take all the credit, especially if “victory” is being claimed embarrassingly too early.
• None of the quotes say lie about why you have chosen a course of action (such as, falsely claiming that if the legislature was involved in decisions, Republicans would immediately rip away everyone’s health care).
• None of the quotes say remove experts from the decision-making
• None of the quotes say impose restrictions on the governed but make exceptions to those who finance your campaigns. (Of all the state workers who Inslee chose not to impose his vaccine mandate on are those who work closely with the elderly and the infirmed – those most susceptible to the effects of COVID.)
• None of the quotes say leaders should appear clueless about major events because you don’t want to talk about them.
• None of the quotes say hide from your failures (especially when you lose $650 million) or have your subordinates attempt to interfere with the investigation.

We could fill many pages with the failures in leadership demonstrated by the governor over the past 600 days and how his tactics have divided the state’s population instead of bringing people together to combat the COVID-19 virus. (Last summer Shift presented a series of articles on the many failings of the governor during the pandemic.  You can read them here, here, and here.)

It is time to end Governor Inslee’s authoritarian rule in Washington State. Sign Shift’s petition which we will be delivering to the governor and legislative leaders.  Let them know, ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!  (Shift Petition, Inc.com leadership quotes, Washington House Republican Caucus, Washington Policy Center, KTTH/Jason Rantz,  Brandi Kruse Twitter, KIRO News, Yakima Herald, OPB, Washington State Auditor report, Seattle Times, and Shift)

Washington State employers are anxiously waiting for Governor Inslee to once again, unilaterally, impose even more damaging mandates on small business operators.  The governor said in his media briefing this past week that he is considering “extending (vaccine mandates) into the private sector.”  It is widely believed the governor will drop the required minimum number of employees for companies which must comply with the government mandate from the federal level of 100 employees, down to 50.

Two things which might be relevant to this disturbing news. First, remember when Governor Inslee said he had “won the Super Bowl” when the state reached 70% of those over the age of 18 had been at least partially immunized?  Yet soon it will become necessary for everyone who draws a paycheck to be fully immunized, which seems a tad higher than the 70% required for victory.  Second, if full vaccination is such a necessary objective that hundreds of thousands of Washington workers could risk losing their jobs, why can’t the governor include the Democrat-controlled legislature in this decision which will impact the lives of so many Washington residents? Why can’t there be an open debate?  Does Governor Inslee fear he does not have the skills or the argument to convince legislators, especially those from his own party?  Wouldn’t there be less resistant (and thus more compliance) if the governor allowed other voices and viewpoints into the discussion? (Puget Sound Business Journal and TVW video of Governor Inslee’s 10/14 media availability 42:00 Minute mark)

Restore Washington has begun an initiative campaign to make the controversial mandatory Long-Term Care payroll tax an option for Washington State residents.  It appears that Governor Inslee is going to ignore the many calls to delay the implementation of the poorly conceived plan to tax Washington workers for a program which many won’t ever be eligible to receive.  For Inslee, this is the best kind of “no-brainer”, as it is always more important to him to immediately grow the size of government with another expensive program than it is to provide state residents with a plan that works.)  And we can seriously doubt the Democrat-controlled legislature will delay the program once mandatory payroll taxes begin filling state coffers starting January 1^st.  So again, it is up to the citizens of Washington State to restore sanity to the laws hastily passed by Democrat lawmakers. (Restore Washington, Vancouver Columbian editorial, and Shift Newsmaker Interview with Elizabeth Hovde)

Three University of Washington physicians/professors assert that the King County Board of Health should resist the call from some liberal organizations to repeal bike helmet laws.  Misguided liberals have argued that helmet laws should be repealed because those who are homeless cannot afford helmets and that a disproportionate number of minorities are ticketed for not wearing them.  In a Seattle Times op-ed, the three UW doctors argue that “(r)epealing the helmet law because of inequitable enforcement is not the appropriate action by a governmental agency dedicated to the public’s health.” The doctors state that bike helmets reduce brain injuries by 88% and that “head injury rates and hospitalizations will rise with a repeal and will disproportionately harm the vulnerable members of our society.”  The board is to make a ruling today on whether current bike helmet laws should be removed.  (Seattle Times)

Seattle mayoral candidates and independent expenditure groups which support them have raised a record amount of money for the campaign, as two liberals fight it out over who will become the next failed mayor of the city.  The very liberal former Seattle City Council President Bruce Harrell has thus far raised more than $1.1 million dollars, and the independent expenditure group supporting him (Harrell for Seattle’s Future) has raised another $1.3 million. Meanwhile the extremely liberal current Seattle City Council President Lorena Gonzalez‘ campaign has raised more than $900,000 and the independent expenditure group “Lorena for Essential Workers” has raised almost $1 million. While liberals always claim they are fighting for the poor, it sure seems all those pulling the strings in the region’s liberal establishment have plenty of cash to spend on campaigns.  (MyNorthwest)

Spokane County Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich is defending the use of the tag line “No Mandatory Vaccine” in a 30-second video that is being used to help recruit officers to his department.  The video has been circulating on social media since early this week, after over 100 Washington State Patrol employees were fired from their jobs by Governor Inslee for not being vaccinated.  Sheriff Knezovich, who has chosen to be vaccinated, said the department needs to recruit 20 new officers and the vaccine mandate question is often asked by new recruits. (KXLY and Spokane County Sheriff’s Office Twitter)

Congresswoman Suzan DelBene is apparently clueless that the King County Council has been non-partisan for 13 years.  In a fundraising appeal for liberal candidate Sarah Perry (who is running against the well-respected Kathy Lambert), DelBene repeatedly makes distinctions between Republicans and Democrats, and the need to elect even more Democrats to the already Seattle-centric council. Yet in 2008, King County voters chose to make the council non-partisan, and “Republican” and “Democrat” labels were removed.  But facts are irrelevant when you are trying to eliminate any alternative points of view to the failed and expensive homelessness, public safety, and climate change policies which the majority liberals on the King County Council have enacted. (Suzan DelBene email and Wikipedia)

It is time to remove the “privilege” liberal officials and candidates have been granted by the media.  Let’s face it – almost never are liberals held accountable for the violent actions of their supporters or their party’s endorsement of radical candidates who support such violent actions.  While former Democrat officials like Governors Christine Gregoire and Gary Locke (who no longer need the financial and grassroots support of party organizations) are willing to condemn radical candidates like Seattle City Attorney wannabe Nicole Thomas-Kennedy, none of the current crop of liberal elected officials and candidates are willing to publicly side with the two former governors and oppose the endorsement given the radical Thomas-Kennedy by Democrat party organizations and officials.  So, it is now up to you to hold Democrat officials and candidates accountable since the media refuses to treat them the same as they do Republicans. (Click to read full Shift Article)

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