Shift’s Newsmaker Interview is with straight shooting Representative Joel Kretz (R – Wauconda) who has served the 7^th Legislative District in Northeast Washington since 2005.  The Deputy Leader of the House Republican Caucus is well-known for his strong views as he advocates for farmers, ranchers, rural communities, and basic conservative principles like smaller government.   Representative Kretz is very direct in his criticism of Governor Jay Inslee’s latest attack on the state’s agricultural community, when he surprised them with an expanded river and stream buffer scheme (HB 1838) which would have caused many Washington farmers to go out of business.  He also says that his constituents “want to know how the governor can get away with what he’s doing” as he continues to abuse his emergency powers for more than two years.  Representative Kretz candidly shares his views on how his Democrat colleagues have irresponsibly failed to fix the many problems with both their “police reform” package and their disastrous Long-Term Care payroll tax. We trust Shift readers will appreciate Representative Kretz’ views on the 2022 legislative session. (Click to read full Newsmaker Interview)

It is curious that Washington State reporters have chosen to report on only one of the two Democrat politicians who have recently faced allegations of running dysfunctional offices due to their mistreatment of employees.  Six-term Democrat Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler was accused by over a dozen current and former staff members of mistreating his employees. The Northwest News Network ran a lengthy report detailing the allegations of Commissioner Kreidler verbally abusing staff members and not being able to control his temper. Yet there has been virtually no mention in the local media over the national news story featuring 14 current and former employees of Democrat U.S. Representative Pramila Jayapal alleging she berated staffers in public and randomly fired employees. In fact, just a couple of weeks after Buzzfeed posted the staffers’ charges, the Seattle Times ran a puff piece on the Congresswoman and failed to mention the accusations. (Click to read full Shift Article)

Evidently the science is different in other states than it is in Washington, as Governor Inslee is refusing to follow Oregon Governor Kate Brown in lifting the no-longer necessary vaccine mandate for state employees. Governor Brown made her announcement on Wednesday that such “emergency orders” are no longer necessary.  Governor Inslee said this morning he will not follow the lead of his Democrat partner in the liberal-only Western States Pact and refused to lift similar vaccine mandates for Washington State employees.  When asked why, the governor once again demonstrated his weak leadership skills by blaming Republicans for not helping him in the pandemic.

This was yet another divisive and evasive response from Governor Inslee which should insult the intelligence of those covering Washington politics.  The governor has never included Republicans in any discussion on any of the hundreds of emergency orders and random decisions the governor has released during the 734 days of his unprecedented and undemocratic one-man rule of Washington State.

Also, Governor Inslee bragged last September that, “There is only one person in the state of Washington who has the capability to save those lives right now, and it happens to be the governor of the state of Washington.” Evidently Governor Inslee is unwilling to end the vaccine mandate because he is not finished discriminating against many state workers who obtained religious exemptions from the vaccine mandate.

Earlier on Friday, Republican legislative leaders encouraged Governor Inslee to follow Governor Brown and nearly all other governors by beginning the transition of managing the pandemic to treating it as the “new normal.”  A joint statement from Senate Republican Leader John Braun and House Republican Leader JT Wilcox put the situation bluntly: “We understand Governor Inslee has been reluctant to take Washington through that transition – but it’s time. We know the governor is doing what he thinks is best and doesn’t always like to follow the example of others. But what’s best now is to end vaccine discrimination in state employment. It would help solve current staffing problems, restoring services that are on hold or significantly delayed.”  (WPC Olympia Watch Twitter, The Oregonian, TVW 16:10 mark of interview, Washington Policy Center report, and Braun/Wilcox joint statement)

Staff shortages on Washington State ferries continue as Governor Inslee refuses lift his vaccine mandate for state employees.  The state’s ferry system has been running at a reduced level since Governor Inslee unilaterally fired state employees who chose not to follow his orders to be vaccinated against COVID. The bureaucrats have also canceled some late-night ferries at the last minute due to staff shortage issues, leaving passengers stranded on the wrong side of Puget Sound.  State officials say that passengers can expect a reduced schedule until at least mid-April. (MyNorthwest)

The Washington State House of Representatives suddenly recessed at 1:36 AM this morning, just as Republicans were proposing amendments to the Democrats’ fake emergency reform bill.  While the Democrats’ bill (SB 5909) would have done absolutely nothing to end Governor Inslee’s two full years of abusing his emergency powers, Republicans were offering amendments to place time limits on the governor’s authority, as is done in nearly every other state in the country. It is not known why the Democrats chose that moment to suddenly end the marathon floor session, but embarrassment is certainly a possibility. (Olympia Watch twitter and Washington Legislative Bill Summary)

The Washington Policy Center released its five top ways legislators could spend money wisely to best protect salmon populations, reduce the risk of wildfires, and live up to the goals of previously passed environmental legislation.  These recommendations are being made as Senate and House members are currently negotiating the differences of the supplemental budgets passed by each chamber.

Among the recommendations is to allow science, and not politics, to determine how best to allocate funds for salmon recovery. The Senate’s version has $85 million available to go towards projects which will need to compete for the funds by showing they can improve salmon habitat. Meanwhile the House version sets aside $50 million for just one aspect of salmon recovery – so-called  buffer zones. The Senate version would do more to help salmon for it could fund projects which would be effective while the House budget only focuses on one recovery aspect which is sought by wealthy environmental groups.

Other productive methods mentioned in the report are to cancel wasteful and meaningless solar subsidies, fully fund the Forest Riparian Easement Program, increase funding to improve the health of Washington’s forests, and cancel duplicative funding for EV charging stations. (Washington Policy Center)

Following two murders in the past week on 3^rd Avenue in downtown Seattle, the Seattle Police Department was highly visible in the Pike/Pine neighborhood on Thursday evening.  With a “mobile precinct” van and dozens of uniformed police officers suddenly on the scene, nearly all of the illegal drug and criminal activity was quickly dispersed.  Yet the few remaining area merchants know the SPD cannot maintain this strong presence due to the department’s severe shortage of officers caused by the Seattle City Council’s irresponsible actions.  While the illegal activity was (temporarily) removed from the block, TV cameras found that that many of perpetrators had simply moved a couple of blocks south to Union Street in front of a permanently closed restaurants. (KOMO News and Jonathan Choe Twitter)

The Walla Walla Union Bulletin has become the latest state newspaper to reduce the number of print editions it publishes every week.  Starting on May 1^st, the newspaper will print editions only on Tuesdays, Thursdays, And Sundays.  The paper said its subscriptions for print editions has declined about 10%, while it claims it “has seen substantial growth” in its online subscriptions. It is believed the Union Bulletin has slightly more than 10,000 paid subscriptions.  (Walla Walla Union Bulletin)

BABYLON BEE FRIDAY!

A little satire to start your weekend

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