The liberals’ latest effort to make state government larger and more expensive is a proposal to make the Washington State Legislature full time (with high-paying salaries and huge increases in the number of full-time staff) and they are using false claims of institutional racism to support their argument.  In a recent Seattle Times article, columnist Naomi Ishisaka contends that since three of the dozen-plus legislators who have announced their retirement are people of color, then a part-time legislature must be itself racist, and the only cure for this racism is to make the legislature full-time.  This argument ignores the fact that two of the three legislators of color (Senator Mona Das and Representative Jesse Johnson) chose retirement over almost certain election defeat this November, and that the overwhelming majority of legislators who are retiring are not people of color – in fact most are white men.  In what can easily be called one of the worst arguments ever, those supporting a full-time legislature point to the Seattle City Council, where councilmembers are highly paid and have five staff members each (as opposed to legislators who have but one staff member).  With the Seattle City Council’s track record for supporting absolutely horrendous policies that nearly always fail, why would anyone want our state legislature to emulate it in any way? (Click to read full Shift Article)

The Seattle Times and Northwest News Network have set their bullseye on six-term Washington State Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler, as the two news organizations teamed up to provide yet another scathing article on the actions of the 78-year-old liberal career politician. The latest article reveals that Commissioner Kreidler has often used ethnic-insensitive language and that his actions have led to dysfunction within his 260-employee agency.  This is a follow-up to an article the Northwest News Network posted last month which detailed how the commissioner mistreated his staff which caused many of his top staffers to leave the agency.

While we applaud the Seattle Times and Northwest News Network for researching stories into the inappropriate conduct of one of our state’s elected officials, neither media outlet has followed up on similar reports (albeit without the racial insensitivities) of the dysfunctional office being run by Democrat U.S. Representative Pramila Jayapal (WA – 07).  Last September Buzzfeed posted a national story which revealed that an unprecedented 14 current and former staff members accused the ultra-liberal congresswomen of abusing her staff and creating a hostile work environment.  This abuse has led to a very high turnover rate on Representative Jayapal’s staff.  For whatever reason, no Seattle-based media outlet has chosen to follow-up on this national news story. (Seattle Times, Northwest News Network, Buzzfeed, and Shift article)

Governor Jay Inslee sometimes points to Washington State’s low COVID death rate to justify his on-going abuse of his emergency powers (now on Day 779 with no end in sight), yet he fails to mention that because the state has long been one of the nation’s healthiest, COVID’s impact should be comparatively lower than nearly all other states.  It has been well established that COVID is more life-threatening to those who are older, or those who have heart and respiratory health problems.  More than a year ago, Shift pointed out that Washington has one of the lowest average ages among the states and was in the bottom 10 states for the percentage of people over 65.  We also pointed out that Washington has the second lowest percentage of those who smoke (and thus fewer people with tobacco-related health problems).  The latest study to reveal Washington’s healthy standard of living comes from the Chamber of Commerce website, which lists Washington as the 2^nd most physically active state with the fewest obesity and diabetes sufferers. Seattle is listed as the most physically active “large” cities and Bellevue is listed as the most active “small” city. Since the media refuses to challenge the governor on his many false claims related to emergency powers, it is no surprise that they allow the governor to incorrectly use the COVID death rate to justify his undemocratic abuse of emergency authority. (Seattle Times, Shift article, and Chamber of Commerce)

A new report from the Washington Policy Center reveals that tax relief was provided by an overwhelming majority of legislatures this year, but the Democrats in control of the Washington State House and Senate couldn’t even be bothered to hold a public hearing on a bi-partisan bill to provide low- and middle-income households with tax relief.  The report details what the tax relief measures were in the other 13 state governments where Democrats are in control.  While Democrats in California, Illinois, New York, and Oregon were providing tax relief, Governor Jay Inslee and his Democrat colleagues in the Washington State Legislature turned their backs on low-and middle income families by spending all of the state’s $15 billion in tax revenue surplus to selfishly make state government permanently larger and more expensive. (Washington Policy Center)

An op-ed by Senate Republican Leader John Braun provides facts to support his belief that politics won out over good policy during the 2022 legislative session.  Senator Braun pointed to multiple examples where the Democrats chose to do what was better for their party, but not for the state’s residents.  Senator Braun said Democrats selfishly decided to grow the size of government with the $15 billion in surplus revenue and denied all tax breaks, including one on diapers. Democrats even refused to end Governor Inslee’s abuse of emergency powers.  The Democrats purposely left the Republicans out of developing their $17 billion transportation package, thus mainly funding projects supported by Democrat legislators. (Yakima Herald)

Government officials’ new policy of placing homeless individuals into hotels as they transition to permanent housing has already shown signs of being yet another failed (and expensive) liberal policy.  Throughout the Puget Sound region, government homeless agencies have been purchasing entire hotels or sometimes renting hotel rooms to shelter people who previously lived in encampments.  Yet in Olympia they have found that a vast majority of those who were provided hotel rooms during the winter are already back on the streets with no connection to services.  So after spending hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars to house these individuals for two months, it appears this is yet another liberal failure to provide permanent housing for these individuals. (The Olympian)

Some extreme environmentalists (like Governor Inslee) often like to assert that a lack of snowpack in Washington’s mountains is due to climate change, but like always, they fail to provide all of the facts.  Recently, environmentalist have been bemoaning the fact that the mountains only had 80% of normal snowpack. Yet over the past few days the heavy snowfall has raised the snowpack to 96% of normal.  This happens nearly every year when snowpack is slightly below average.  The truth is that during 14 of the past 17 years the state’s snowpack has been above average. While we don’t deny that climate change is occurring, using false indicators only provides for false solutions (to advance liberal agendas).  (KONA Radio and Washington Policy Center)

The increase in property crime has caused many to install video cameras while others dangerously attempt to follow those suspected of crime.  With the passage of the Democrats’ anti-police package during the 2021 legislative session, Washington State has become a more comfortable place to be a criminal. In Spokane, property crime has climbed 36% and vehicle thefts are up 90%. Frustrated citizens have been installing video cameras while others have taken to chasing the criminals.  Obviously the police do not recommend this behavior. (KXLY)

Shift’s Newsmaker Interview was with Carmen Goers, a community activist, commercial lending officer, and Republican candidate for the open 47^th Legislative District House seat.  Goers has long been a community leader and was honored last year by the King County Council for her community service with the MLK Medal of Distinguished Service award.  Goers announced in January that she was running against Democrat House Majority Leader Pat Sullivan, who despite raising more than $25,000 in the weeks prior to the start of the legislature, suddenly chickened out last month by stating he would not face the voters for re-election this fall.

Goers hopes to bring her extensive community service experience and financial knowledge to the legislature.  Like most of the South King County residents she hopes to serve, Goers is very concerned about the significant increase in crime since the passage of the Democrat’s anti-police legislation. In her interview, Goers describes the importance of listening to police officials when developing public safety legislation, her strong belief in providing educational opportunities, and how she would have supported tax relief for Washington residents with the $15 billion in surplus tax revenue which Democrats used instead to make state government even larger and permanently more expensive. (Click to read full Newsmaker Interview)

Just a reminder that while April 15^th is normally federal tax paying day, every day is tax wasting day for Governor Jay Inslee and his legislative Democrats. Look at how they are using some of your tax dollars to help prop up their disastrous Long-Term Care payroll tax (“WA Cares”) to help incumbent Democrat legislators who must defend the union-inspired tax to voters this fall.  The Washington State Department of Social and Health Services will be spending at least $1.6 million funding a marketing campaign to three specific targeted audiences (55-65 year old workers, women, and members of the LGBTQ+ community) just as ballots are hitting mailboxes in August. Is it a coincidence that 55-65 year old voters have the highest voter turnout rates of any population segment?  Is it any coincidence that polls are showing Democrats are losing women voters in droves (especially in the important swing suburban districts) because of their failed public safety, homelessness, inflation, and education policies?  We can consider this money as simply a large political extraction from the Washington taxpayers to the campaigns of many very nervous Democrat incumbent legislators. (Click to read full Shift Article)

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 and provides you inside coverage of the 2022 elections.

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].