Shift’s Newsmaker Interview is with Stephanie McClintock, the GOP candidate for the open State House of Representatives Position 1 seat in the 18^th Legislative District (Clark County).  In the August primary, McClintock won the “test run” against her Democrat opponent (who is heavily financed by government employee union money) by over 5%.  She is a mother of two college-aged sons and a former Battle Ground School Board Member. McClintock currently works as a public relations specialist for a grain export company, and she and her husband previously operated their own small business.

In her interview, McClintock, who is the daughter of a police detective, states that the legislature needs to repeal the Democrats’ anti-police laws which were jammed through in 2021.  She states her opposition to the Democrats’ poorly conceived and expensive Long Term Care payroll tax and her frustrations with Governor Inslee’s secret negotiations with his political contributors in the government employee unions. McClintock shares her thoughts on a new I-5 Columbia River bridge and on Governor Inslee’s attempt to remove the clean energy provided by the Snake River dams (it would remove barge traffic and force thousands of large semi-trucks onto already crowded roadways). She concludes the interview by providing an excellent book from Erik Larson as her current favorite. (Click to read full Newsmaker Interview)

Unknowingly, Seattle City Councilmember Tammy Morales posted a tweet earlier this week which supports the argument that liberal housing policies have actually made it more difficult for people of color to purchase a home.  The extremely liberal councilmember referenced a new study on housing in Washington State and she proclaimed that the “housing gap is BIGGER today than in the 1960s.”  She went on to assert that housing opportunities for those in minority communities are actually worse than 60 years ago when “housing discrimination & redlining were legal.” Since liberals have controlled the Seattle City Council for two generations, Councilmember Morales is saying the housing policies passed by her liberal predecessors and contemporaries have failed those in BIPOC communities who are seeking to purchase a home.  If what the councilmember is saying is true, then wouldn’t it be racist for councilmembers to continue to support liberal housing policies which are hurting people of color? (Click to read full Shift Article)

Todd Myers of the Washington Policy Center spoke to the Braver Angels group on why market-based approaches to reduce the risk of climate change are far better than those imposed on citizens by politicians and governments. The four-minute presentation is well worth watching, as Myers describes how government approaches are often more about making politicians look good, while carbon reduction efforts by such companies as Amazon, Microsoft, Google, and Walmart often exceed their stated goals because they are held accountable by their consumers and stock owners.  Myers points out the same accountability is not a factor with government efforts, which is best demonstrated by the fact that the City of Seattle, King County, and the State of Washington have all repeatedly failed to meet the stated goals of their expensive climate policies. (Todd Myers Facebook post)

The repetitive, unpredictable, and unscientific closures of gyms by Governor Jay Inslee has caused gym membership to drop more in the Seattle area than nearly any other U.S. metropolitan market.  Not knowing if and when they could legally return to the gym caused many to drop their memberships, and many have yet to return.  Surveys in 2019 showed that 875,000 Seattle area residents had a gym membership (representing 28.2% percent of the market). Today only 595,000 local individuals have an on-going fitness membership (or 18.4% of the market). This is a 32% drop in the number of gym memberships in the Seattle area.  The question is, are these people without memberships exercising less (if at all) and what will the long range effects on people’s health because they are no longer in the routine of exercising? (Seattle Times)

Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson felt it was his responsibility to join nearly all lawsuits filed by states against the Trump Administration.  Yet now that a Democrat resides in the White House, AG Ferguson apparently no longer feels bound to that responsibility as he no longer joins lawsuits by states who believe the president, or the federal government, have overstepped their authority.  Washington State has not joined six states which believe President Biden’s college loan forgiveness plan (or the “Democrats buying votes with taxpayer money just before the midterm elections” plan) is unconstitutional, just another example of how Attorney General Ferguson uses partisan politics to decide how to use the taxpayer money which funds his office. (AP)

In a strange admission that theirs is not a full-time job, the Snohomish County Council decided on Thursday to have current Washington State Representative Strom Peterson (D – Edmonds) serve in two separate government roles by appointing him to also serve on the county council.  Representative Peterson was unanimously appointed to fill the vacant 3^rd County Council District seat, which was opened up when Democrat Councilmember Stephanie Wright resigned to take a position in County Executive Dave Somers’ administration.  Thus the four-term Democrat legislator will be drawing two taxpayer-funded paychecks (double dipping which adds to his gold-plated pension plan). He will receive $126,571 a year for being a County Councilmember and $57,876 every year (if re-elected in November) for being a 21^st Legislative District House member.  Councilmember/Representative Peterson stated that he already plans to run for “re-election” to the council seat next year and said, “I’m a big fan of government and what it can do.” Evidently what government can do for Peterson is give him two paychecks. (Everett Herald)

Court documents reveal that the deletion of texts during the 2020 Seattle liberal activists’ riots from the phone of then-Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan and other city officials is worse than previously known.  Previously it had been reported that texts were deleted in the month following the June 2020 riots, when the phones were “reset” and all texts more than 30 days old were automatically deleted.  New reports reveal that forensic investigations show that nearly 200 more texts on Durkan’s phone were manually deleted between July 4, 2020 and November 16, 2020 – a time when lawsuits had already been filed against the city and a lawyer like Durkan would have known the texts would be evidence. This latest information was made public in new court documents in the lawsuit filed by a number of businesses who claim the city failed in its obligations when it allowed liberal activists to illegally take over portions of Capitol Hill and closed the Seattle Police Department’s East Precinct. (Seattle Times)

A shooting near a homeless encampment under the I-5 Ship Canal Bridge forced the Washington State Patrol to close several lanes of the freeway and express lanes. The closures caused rush hour backups extending past Northgate.  Two victims were found by police, one located at the encampment. The same encampment under the bridge, on what is believed to be Washington State Department of Transportation property, was the site of a large fire last Wednesday. (MyNorthwest)

The Seattle Fire Department (SFD) has responded to 1,133 fires at homeless encampments thus far this year. This is a 15% increase over last year, when the SFD put out 981 fires by the end of September.  The 2022 figure works out to 4.2 fires every day which taxpayers are paying firefighters (many of whom are on overtime due to the staff shortage caused by the city’s vaccine mandate) to address.  Also, when firefighters respond to calls at encampments they are often placed in hazardous conditions and are subject to physical attacks from encampment residents. (MyNorthwest, Seattle Times, and KOMO News)

The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife temporarily lifted its moratorium on lethally removing wolves which had been in place since September 8^th.  The WDFW made that decision due to the increase in attacks on livestock in Northeast Washington (Stevens County) and biologist were tasked with killing two members of the Leadpoint wolf pack this week. WDFW had imposed the removal moratorium after it was revealed that a wolf pup from the wrong pack had been accidently killed.  (Associated Press)

Road crews finally reopened Highway 2 (Stevens Pass) Thursday evening, after wildfires burning across more than 12,000 acres had caused the mountain pass to be closed for a week.  Strictly enforced reduced speed limits are in place due to crews still cleaning up. Prior to the blaze, many fire officials expressed concerns that Governor Inslee’s vaccine mandate  was going to cause them to be short staffed, resulting in fires lasting longer and spreading further. (NCW Life Channel and Wenatchee World)

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