Washington State Department of Revenue (DOR) officials told agency workers to continue to work toward implementing the state’s income tax on capital gains even after a superior court judge ruled that the tax was unconstitutional.  The DOR has slowly been releasing internal emails on the tax as requested by the Washington Policy Center’s Jason Mercier in public records requests. In the latest batch of emails comes internal DOR communications immediately after Douglas County Superior Court Judge Brian Huber ruled it was illegal last May.  After one DOR employee wrote an email breaking the news of the judge’s decision, the project manager told his staff to keep working as if it the tax will implemented in December, evidently knowing that Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson would appeal the decision and that the nine liberal judges on the Washington State Supreme Court were going ignore decades of precedents to rule that an income tax is suddenly constitutional before December of this year. The project manager told his team “we are “A GO” for December.”  (Department of Revenue emails)

A News Tribune reader writes a Letter to the Editor with a very legitimate question about the increase in crime in her community.  Mary Ann Clabaugh of Tacoma asks, Why  are “elected officials, at the state level been so silent regarding what is going on in Tacoma?” She then expresses her frustration that the crime rate in Pierce County has increased greatly since the passage of the Democrats’ anti-police package in 2021, and that those responsible are doing nothing to prevent more victims.  Ms. Clabaugh then wonders if the liberal state politicians are quiet because they feel guilty about how poorly their policies have worked out.  She concludes by admonishing state officials by asserting, “please step up and do what you were elected to do: Take care of your citizens.” (News Tribune)

More than 100 protestors marched from Seattle’s Chinatown-International District (CID) to the King County Courthouse to express their outrage over King County Executive Dow Constantine’s “secret plan” to jam a large “homeless megaplex” into their neighborhood.  Executive Constantine worked with King County Councilmember Joe McDermott to quietly pass authorization last May for a 500-resident facility next to Uwajimaya in the CID. There was no outreach by the county into the neighborhood, and when residents and business owners learned of the large shelter last month, they asked Executive Constantine to impose a six-month moratorium on the project. When the county executive was asked about the massive shelter at a press conference, he was pulled from the podium by staffers and fled via a private elevator.

Approximately 60 of the protestors signed up to speak at yesterday’s council meeting and often they spoke about the actions of Councilmember McDermott, who is supposed to represent their neighborhood on the council.  The speakers expressed their indignation over the councilmember sponsoring the legislation that imposed yet another shelter in their neighborhood (five smaller ones already exist in the CID), yet he never once thought about discussing the matter with community leaders.  Councilmember McDermott followed Executive Constantine’s lead and refused to answer media questions about his actions, instead his office released a statement which used many words to say essentially nothing. (MyNorthwest, Discovery Institute’s Fix Homelessness Project, and Brandi Kruse re-tweet of a Jonathan Choe post)

Washington State Representative Jim Walsh (R – Aberdeen) provided in a Facebook post the latest example of the Seattle Times reducing itself to being the communications department of the Democrat Party.  Rep. Walsh posted a Seattle Times tweet claiming “U.S. Consumers grew more confident for second month in a row as gas prices continue to fall.” As Representative Walsh points out, evidently the state’s largest newspaper missed the fact that gas prices jumped 50 to 70 cents in the past week, causing the average per gallon price of gas in Washington State to climb to over $5.00 once again (this morning the state average was $5.10 per gallon and the Seattle-area average was $5.27). Evidently facts like these are ignored at the Seattle Times as the newspaper attempts to create the impression that the economy is stable heading into the 2022 midterm elections. (Jim Walsh Facebook Post and AAA Gas Price Survey)

Senator Simon Sefzik (R – Ferndale) announced that four Whatcom County police chiefs will join the county sheriff and prosecutor in a Public Safety Forum he is hosting Thursday evening at Meridian High School.  As Democrat legislators (including Senator Sefzik’s opponent, current State Representative Sharon Shewmake) suddenly act as if they are law enforcement’s best friend, the reality is it was the Democrats’ 2021 anti-police package (and their 2022 refusal to fix major flaws in their failing legislation) which has led to skyrocketing crime rates in Washington State which keep increasing while they are dropping in nearly all other states. This fact, along with the need for a new Whatcom County jail, will be the major topics at the forum. The police chiefs from Bellingham, Ferndale, Lynden, and the Nooksack Tribe will join County Sheriff Bill Elfo and Prosecutor Eric Richey on the panel which will take place tomorrow evening from 6:00 PM to 7:30 PM and will be livestreamed by Bellingham Metro News. (Sefzik campaign website and Bellingham Metro News Facebook page)

Former Spokane City Council president and 2019 candidate for mayor Ben Stuckart was forced to resign as chair of the city’s Continuum of Care board after an ethics investigation found that he had used his position to advance an issue from which he would have personally profited.  In his latest of many ethics complaints filed against him during his career, Stuckart was found to have been in conflict with city ethics rules when he promoted the controversial group Jewels Helping Hands to become the operator of a new city-run homeless shelter on Trent Avenue.

Stuckart never revealed to other board members that if they selected Jewels (which he actively lobbied for) as the operator, then he would have received a $151,000-a-year job with the organization. Because of Stuckart’s actions, and because current City Council President Breean Beggs released confidential information about the three shelter operator finalists, Mayor Nadine Woodward decided to reopen the process for the city to select an organization to manage the Trent Avenue facility.

Stuckart is no stranger to ethics investigations, some of which have involved his connection with Jewels Helping Hands (the group the state has hired to run its controversial 500+ resident encampment misnamed “Camp Hope” on Washington State Department of Transportation property.) During his 2019 candidacy for mayor (in which he was endorsed by Governor Inslee and by likely 2023 mayoral candidate and current Director of the Washington State Department of Commerce Lisa Brown), an independent expenditure by many of Stuckart’s liberal cronies was forced to pull ads for violating state elections laws.   (The Center Square and Shift)

Spokane County Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich told a national news audience that Spokane’s large (and misnamed) “Camp Hope” homeless encampment is the result “of the failed policies of the radical left.”  The sheriff appeared on Fox News this morning and described the violence which takes place inside the encampment and the fear those in the nearby neighborhoods are experiencing. He then blasted Democrat state officials who allowed the encampment to grow on state property.  Sheriff Knezovich then criticized longtime Democrat functionary and current Director of the Washington State Department of Commerce (and likely 2023 Spokane mayoral candidate) Lisa Brown for wanting to “throw $25 million at the problem, and that is simply going to line the activists’ pockets, it’s not going to help these people (residents of the encampment), and it is surely not going to help the neighborhood.” Sheriff Knezovich then had a message for voters. “People need to take a hard look at what is going on and who they are electing. The people they are electing are setting these policies and they have real consequences.” (Fox News)

Shift’s Newsmaker Interview was with community leader, business owner, and Marine veteran Dan Johnson, the 42^nd Legislative District Republican House candidate in the open Position 2 contest.  Johnson grew up in Whatcom County, where he owned and operated his family’s tow truck business until it was sold in 2019.  Johnson worked, as a private citizen in 2009 with then State Representative Doug Ericksen to write the strong DUI legislation known as “Hailey’s Law” (the legislation was revised in 2020 to incorporate a Washington State Supreme Court ruling). His campaign recently released a video of Johnson driving around Bellingham while describing how failed liberal crime, drug, and homeless policies have had a negative impact on the community.

In his Shift Interview, Johnson outlines his legislative agenda to reverse the Democrats’ disastrous anti-police package to “restore a safe living environment for our citizens”, implement meaningful emergency powers reform, and to provide Washington residents with tax relief by reducing the state’s property, sales, and fuel taxes.  Johnson also provides a timeless classic as one of his all-time favorite books. (Click to read full Newsmaker Interview)

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