Play in the second round of Shift’s Olympia Madness Tournament as our readers determine which Democrat proposal was the worst of the 2022 legislative session.  We have four bad ideas left for you to choose from.  In the “Fakes and Failures” side of the bracket, “Failing to reform the Long-Term Care Payroll Tax” and “Attempting to pass fake emergency powers reform” still remain. On the “Taxing and Spending” side you get to choose between “Doubling the State Budget in One Decade” and “Refusing to Pass Tax Relief” as to which was the worst policy push by Democrats. Play today and send the link to your friends. (Shift’s 2022 Olympia Madness)

Republican legislative leaders called the 2022 session a failure because of the Democrats’ failure to even allow a vote on tax cuts to help low- and middle-income households who are struggling due to liberal inflationary policies – despite an unexpected $15 billion tax surplus.  Senate Republican Leader John Braun and House Republican leader JT Wilcox met with the Centralia Chronicle editorial board to discuss their disappointment in the actions of their Democrat colleagues who control the Washington State Legislature. Specifically the two leaders were frustrated by the Democrats’ failure to provide much needed tax cuts to Washington residents, failure to bring a bi-partisan transportation package that met the needs for all of Washington (not just ones in liberal urban areas), and failure to fix their disastrous 2021 “police reform” laws.  (As a note to our readers, this Friday’s Newsmaker Interview will be with Senator John Braun and we will get his specific thoughts on the 2022 session.) (Centralia Chronicle)

The Democrats in the Washington State Legislature left only half of the amount in the state’s reserves that the Democrat Washington State Treasurer says is needed to maintain a good credit rating.  Despite having more than $15 billion in unexpected revenue, the Democrats recklessly spent nearly every cent of this extra money by rewarding campaign donors by permanently increasing the size and cost of state government.  On a couple of occasions during the recent legislative session, Treasurer Mike Pellicciotti informed Democrat legislators that the state needs to maintain a 10% reserve account to maintain a good credit rating.  Yet by the time Democrats were finished throwing money at their special interest friends in their supplemental budget, the Democrats left only a 5% reserve. Leave it to the irresponsible Democrats in the Washington State legislature to have an extra $15 billion, and not only fail to provide a tax break for citizens, but also leave the state vulnerable to having its credit rating downgraded. (Olympia Watch Twitter and Treasurer Mike Pellicciotti letter)

New Seattle City Attorney Ann Davison announced her office’s “High Utilizer Initiative” to prosecute and provide social services to 118 repeat criminals who have been responsible for more than 2,400 cases in the past five years.   As opposed to the revolving door policies of previous incumbent Pete Holmes, which allowed repeat criminals to go free almost instantly, City Attorney Davison says her office’s approach “will directly address the individuals who create a disproportionate impact on public safety in Seattle. I will coordinate closely with the Seattle Police Department, the King County Prosecutor’s Office, and the King County Jail to disrupt the cycle of crime for these individuals.”  (Q13 FOX News)

The suspect in a horrific crime at a light rail stop in Downtown Seattle, which was caught on security video, has been apprehended and has a very lengthy criminal record.  Because of liberal public safety and criminal sentencing measures at both the state and local levels, the suspect with 22 convictions (in Washington and California) was free to allegedly throw a 62-year-old women repeatedly down flights of stairs and later stab another woman who was at a bus stop.  Among the 40-year-old suspect’s 22 convictions are domestic violence, first-degree theft, residential burglary, trafficking in stolen goods, and possession of a controlled substance. (KOMO News and MyNorthwest)

The President of the Washington Food Industry Association (WFIA) is calling on Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell to end the city imposed “hazard pay” for grocery workers. Stating that Seattle grocery stores are “only employers still impacted by a pay ordinance enacted at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.”  WFIA President Tammie Hetrick said the pay hike is now threatening the survival of several independent grocers who are also coping with inflation and high energy costs.  In 2021, the Seattle City Council caved into the demands of union officials and imposed a $4 an hour wage increase for all grocery workers (despite there being no evidence that these workers were more likely to obtain the COVID virus at work than any other worker).  Immediately QFC announced that it was closing neighborhood stores in Wedgewood and on Capitol Hill due to the extra burden the pay increase was going to have on these specific locations which were already close to losing money.  Originally the wage increase was supposed to sunset last December, but actions by the city council have kept the union-demanded pay ordinance in place. (MyNorthwest and Seattle Times)

Spokane Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich blasted Senate Democrat Leader Andy Billig (Spokane) for the failure of the Senate to pass a bill which would allow Washington State law enforcement officials to once again pursuit suspected criminals.  Sheriff Knezovich said he made repeated calls to the majority leader to encourage him to advance the House version of the bill (SB 5919) to the floor, but the senator from Spokane has yet to return any of his calls.  The Senate needed to approve the changes the House made to the legislation before it could be sent to the governor.  Because of Senator Billig’s soft-on-crime preferences, he failed to bring the needed bill up for a senate vote, and despite three attempts by Republican senators to advance the bill, the bill died when the legislative session ended last Thursday.  Thus criminals can continue to escape from being detained by police simply by driving away, which evidently Senator Billig and the rest of the Democrats in his caucus preferred as the policy solution.  This was one of the many “fixes” Democrat lawmakers said they would make in response to public outrage over the many failings of the Democrat’s 2021 disastrous “police reform” laws, which resulted in a severe jump in violent crimes in Washington State. (CenterSquare and Washington Legislature Bill Summary)

A Western Washington Republican Senator stood up for the Snake River dams and Southeast Washington residents by writing that if Governor Inslee and Seattle Environmental groups were truly concerned about the Orca whales, then they would focus more attention on the three Seattle City Light dams on the Skagit River.  Dwindling Puget Sound salmon populations are impacting the survival of Orcas. However, ignored by Seattle liberals is that, as opposed to Snake River dams, the Seattle City Light structures provide no fish passage systems and thus completely cut-off 40% of the Skagit River to salmon.  The Skagit River is largest river to flow into Puget Sound.

Senator Keith Wagoner (R – Sedro-Woolley) wrote in a (Tacoma) News Tribune op-ed that Governor Inslee was able to get $375,000 for yet another study on the Snake River dams (which we can already predict the fake results).  Yet Senator Wagoner wrote that the “new study related to the faraway Snake River will do nothing but rehash the same old claims, on the taxpayers’ dime. That money would be much better spent on addressing the salmon-recovery issues tied to the western Washington river that does more to feed Puget Sound and its orcas than any other: the Skagit River.” (News Tribune)

Governor Inslee’s campaign began to raise money within hours after the end of the fundraising freeze for state officials – but while the governor is still signing legislation passed before adjournment.  It is not clear from the fundraising email why exactly the third-term governor is raising money, but it does state “it’s time for our movement to double down on our work to save humanity” (yes, Jay Inslee really says things like this).

One thing we do know is that none of the money Inslee raises will go to repay the millions he took from Washington State taxpayers to pay for unnecessary security during his failed 2020 presidential campaign (remember the five-month long campaign in which he spent more than $7 million talking only about climate change, which took his initial 1% in public support and brought it down to 0%.) While the only other governor with a taxpayer funded security detail  who sought the Democrat nomination (Montana Governor Steve Bullock) paid back his state taxpayers for his security, Governor Inslee has refused to respect Washington State taxpayers by doing the same. That’s because Governor Inslee has views Washington State taxpayers as little more that ATMs to be fleeced for his political preferences (like himself). (Inslee Campaign fundraising email, Seattle Times, Federal Election Commission, and Montana Public Radio)

Last week one of Washington State’s most irresponsible, divisive, and expensive legislative sessions in history came to an end.  Shift provides an overview of the proceedings in which the Democrats firmly demonstrated that they believe they are above accountability, and that the greed of the state’s wealthy liberal establishment is more important than whether lower income households can afford to buy gas to drive to work or put food on the table.

Not only did the Democrats fail to provide any real tax relief to Washington families (despite an historic $15 billion in excess revenue!), but they also failed to fix their disastrous Long-Term Care payroll tax and the hastily written 2021 police reform laws which resulted in a dramatic spike in crime rates. The Democrats embarrassingly attempted to blame the GOP for their inability to pass a fake emergency powers reform bill and broke tradition by failing to include Republicans in the development of their massively expensive and transportation package.

The 2021 election allowed Seattle voters to tell their elected officials their radical policies had gone too far. Will the 2022 elections provide all of Washington State’s voters with the same opportunity to say they are done with the failed policies of Governor Inslee and the Democrat-controlled Washington legislature? (Click to read full Shift Article)

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