Democrats are oddly silent about the racism and bigotry of one of their longtime political leaders, Washington Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler.  The 78-year-old Democrat career politician was once again the focus of a very negative media story, this time for his racist comments made to staff members and for his bigoted views towards those who are transgendered.  Democrats who normally throw out the words “racists” and “homophobic” the same way the late U.S. Senator Joe McCarthy used the terms “communist” and “red menace” are noticeably quiet about Commissioner Kreidler’s actions.  When the Spokesman-Review asked the three lone Democrat legislators from Eastern Washington (Senate Majority Leader Andy Billig and Representatives Marcus Riccelli and Timm Ormsby) for comments on Commissioner Kreidler’s disturbing comments, all three of the normally media friendly liberal politicians suddenly became very quiet.  They are well-practiced at this approach after doing the same when Democrat party organizations and the Senate Democrat Caucus were previously labeled racist by fellow Democrats. (Click to read full Shift Article)

A meeting this week of the Long-Term Services and Supports Trust Commission revealed that a great deal of work still needs to be done by government bureaucrats before the state’s poorly developed and mis-named WA Cares plan and its payroll tax can commence in July of 2023. The new government entitlement program was originally written by Democrat legislators (mostly by current House Speaker Laurie Jinkins) as a political payback to the Service Employees International Union (which takes dues from the paychecks of home-health care workers) for all the financial support the SEIU has given to Democrat campaigns.  The program was to start taking money out of workers’ paychecks starting January 1^st of this year, but since it was obvious to even Democrat lawmakers that it was going to be yet another colossal failure of liberal policies, the legislature quickly voted at the start of the 2022 session to postpone the tax program until after the 2022 elections.

The 2022 legislature did make a few minor changes to the program which will negatively impact the program’s solvency even further.  Lawmakers exempted Washington workers who reside in other states (this was due to a lawsuit filed against the plan by these workers) and exempted some members of the military and their families who are already covered by the federal government.  Legislators did offer workers who will retire within the next 10 years significantly reduced coverage after paying into the plan.  All of these items will make the plan less solvent and increase the possibility that the payroll tax will need to be greatly increased even before it is to begin.  Meanwhile Republican lawmakers continue to push for a complete repeal of this government-mandated insurance program and replace it with a voluntary program which is affordable. (CenterSquare, Washington Policy Center, and Washington House Republican Caucus media release)

A new book by the Washington Policy Center’s Todd Myers details how individuals can improve our environment in ways which large government environmental programs have failed to do.  It is indisputable that nearly all government climate policies fail to meet the goals their proponents claim they will achieve.  This is because most government environmental programs are usually more focused on increasing the size and power of government, and/or giving wealthy environmental groups even more money instead of actually helping the environment.  Todd Myers’ latest book, Time to Think Small, focuses on innovative technologies which allow individuals to collectively improve the environment in ways expensive government programs have repeatedly failed.  Myers uses examples of innovation from many nations to show what can be done if we genuinely want to improve the environment.  The author states, “From climate change to endangered species, small technologies are giving people around the world the tools to collaborate and multiply their efforts to solve environmental problems.” (Washington Policy Center media release and Amazon)

The overwhelming number of cases left behind by the soft-on-crime (and thankfully former) Seattle City Attorney Pete Holmes has forced new City Attorney Anne Davison to prioritize her office’s efforts to prosecute crimes against persons and those most violent or potentially violent.  When Davison took over the office at the start of 2022, the Holmes administration left behind an understaffed office and more than 4,000 cases which had yet to be prosecuted.

While working with former U.S. Attorney Brian Moran, City Attorney Davison has hired attorneys to fill the vacant positions and has begun to prosecute those who are accused of domestic violence, assault with sexual motivation, crimes with weapons, DUIs, and repeat offenders.  Unfortunately, the Holmes administration allowed the statute of limitations to nearly run out on hundreds of cases and the office doesn’t have enough staff to completely prosecute all the cases left behind.  It is City Attorney Davison’s plan to eliminate the backlog by the end of the year so her office can prosecute criminals in a timely manner. (MyNorthwest)

Crime incidents continue around the King County Courthouse, forcing the county to place even more uniformed and non-uniformed officers around the building.  As liberal policies continue to allow skyrocketing crime rates, the symbol of the region’s public safety policies – the King County Courthouse complex, where laws are made, court cases are heard, the King County Sheriff is headquartered, and where many criminals are serving their sentences – remains a hotbed of criminal activity.  Many county workers feel unsafe going to-and-from work. (MyNorthwest)

King County firefighters who have been forced from their jobs due to not being vaccinated against COVID, are considering a lawsuit against King County, arguing that unvaccinated firefighters in other Washington counties were allowed to keep their jobs.  Former King County firefighters contend that administrators in other counties, including neighboring Pierce and Snohomish, provided exemptions and accommodations which allowed their fire department personnel to continue to work. (KOMO News)

The number of deaths caused by fentanyl overdoses has been steadily increasing and will likely grow even more rapidly due to the decriminalization of drug possession.  In Spokane County alone some 93 drug overdoses last year involved fentanyl, which is often used in place of other narcotics. In the Washington State Supreme Court’s State v. Blake case, Washington State’s drug possession laws were ruled unconstitutional. The Democrat-controlled legislature thought that was just fine, and refused to fix the laws, so drug possession is no longer a criminal offense.  Yet many of these drugs, including illegal marijuana, are laced with the deadly fentanyl. (Spokesman Review and Bellevue Reporter)

Silent Bob is at it again. Washington’s Attorney General Bob Ferguson remained silent when liberal activists repeatedly assaulted police officers (including a mass murder attempt) and caused destruction to multiple small businesses as they illegally took over a Seattle neighborhood during the 2020 riots.  AG Ferguson remained silent when the Seattle City Council recklessly slashed its police department’s budget endangering the lives of its 775,000 residents and leaving the department seriously understaffed.  AG Ferguson remained silent when his fellow Democrats in the Washington State Legislature passed their disastrous anti-police package which led to an unprecedented rise in crime across the state.  The attorney general is well known for seeking media attention for topics outside of Washington State, yet he has been silent on issues that truly impact the lives of Washington residents.  As the state’s top law enforcement official, Attorney General Bob Ferguson has constantly placed partisan politics and his own political ambitions over the public safety of Washington’s residents.

Even as his campaign war chest approaches $4 million, AG Ferguson continues to beg his supporters for more money. And since he cannot elaborate on his leadership on important public safety topics, he needs to create a completely irrelevant boogieman to scare his contributors to give him more money.  This time he uses the fact that the Republican Attorney General Association is having success in raising money for the 2022 elections.  This has absolutely no bearing on Ferguson, since he will never run for attorney general again.  It is very well known that Ferguson is building this large bank account to run for governor in 2024, so why should he pay attention to RAGA? (Ferguson campaign fundraising email)

Washington’s union leaders are gathering this week to decide which radical liberals they will be supporting in the 2022 elections.  The Washington State Labor Council will be convening its Committee on Political Education (COPE) to decide where to spend all the money they have taken from workers’ paychecks. This will be occurring weeks ahead of when candidates must file for office in mid-May.  Union bosses from all the government employee unions will make sure all of labor’s money will go towards Democrat candidates who will promise to make all levels of government even larger and who support increasing taxes to pay for government to hire even more forced dues-paying employees. (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].