Mark Harmsworth, the Washington Policy Center’s Director for Small Business, writes how the State of Washington is spending $3.1 million to assist small businesses navigate the many complex regulations that the State of Washington imposes on such businesses.  Harmsworth argues in a Battle Ground Reflector op-ed that the Washington State Department of Commerce would do more good if it spent that money on “ simplifying the rules that are causing the problem in the first place” instead of on creating yet another government program built on helping small business owners understand the complexities of business regulations at all levels of government. (Battle Ground Reflector)

The number of traffic fatalities on Washington State roads continues to break records, due in part to the lawless attitude encouraged by liberal policies.  By the end of October, some 600 people had died on our state roadways and experts were predicting that this figure will climb well above 700 by the end of the year.  This will easily surpass the recent record of 663 traffic fatalities, set last year.   Reasons for the spike in fatalities include less emphasis from law enforcement on road safety (due to staffing issues and officers focusing on other crimes) and an increase in the number of drivers who are under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol (more than half of the fatal crashes involved impaired drivers) (Axios)

On Tuesday, attorneys for King County made their case before a King County Superior Court judge that the county should be able to charge the State of Washington $219 per night for every inmate the state refuses to provide “competency treatment.”  The $219 is what the county says it costs per day to house prisoners while waiting for the state to perform its basic legal function. The county claims that over 100 of its current prisoners have been ordered by the courts to receive this treatment before standing trial.  Yet the state’s continued mismanagement of resources at state mental health facilities (Western State Hospital in Steilacoom and Eastern State Hospital in Medical Lake) has resulted in a severe backlog of cases.

KING5 News determined that there are currently 870 prisoners sitting in local jails until the state can provide this treatment. Local courts have placed fines on the state for failing to perform its obligations and KNKX Public Radio said this figure is nearly $100 million.  The King County judge is expected to make a ruling any day on King County’s request to bill the state.

This is the latest of many mis-management problems which Governor Inslee has had with both Western and Eastern State hospitals, which recently included hiring a 22-time felon, increasing his annual salary from $42,000 to $118,000, and then doing nothing when he becomes the suspect in numerous thefts of patients’ property.   (KING5 News, KNRX Public Radio and Shift)

The City of Seattle’s out-of-control spending is driving the city to find even more ways to extract more money from more taxpayers.  Liberal greed – and refusal to reduce any spending, anywhere – has resulted in Seattle officials facing a record-breaking $200 million deficit and a desperate desire to find new ways to extract funds from the public.  Thus, many street cafes (the outdoor venues which were mostly created during the COVID pandemic to allow struggling restaurants to serve more customers) will become permanent features in Seattle.  The city council unanimously approved a new permit process where the city will charge restaurants more than they were charged during the pandemic.  Evidently the anti-business sentiment of the council is minimized if the city can make sure it gets a bigger slice of the financial pie. (Axios and MyNorthwest)

A November 4^th football game between Stanwood High School (North Snohomish County) and Lakes High School (South Pierce County) continues to draw controversy, and not for what took place on the field.  The Stanwood Spartans won the game 28 – 20, but the Lakes Lancers’ head football coach and some players’ parents accused Stanwood fans of taunting Lakes players with racial slurs that included using the “N-word.”  These accusations drew the attention of state mainstream media members and liberal newspaper columnists (such as the News Tribune’s Matt Driscoll), who used the incident to look down upon the masses to argue it is a “ a repeat performance of hatred we’ve seen too many times before” and shows how prevalent racism continues to be in our society.

Yet, an independent third-party investigation into the alleged racist actions found no evidence of Stanwood fans yelling racial insults at the Lakes football players. The investigation found that no member of the officiating crew heard any derogatory comments and neither team’s coach made them aware of any slurs being yelled.  The Athletic Director for Clover Park School District (Lakes High School’s district) and students of color in the stands also said they did not hear any slurs.  Jason Rantz of KTTH radio said he watched a video of the game in which Stanwood fans could be clearly heard, and he said he never heard the “N-word” used. There has been considerably less attention from the media on the findings of the investigation then there was on the allegations.

While it is nearly impossible to determine what took place six weeks ago, the actions of the media left the impression that the people of Stanwood are a bunch of racists.  If media members spread allegations of racism against a group of people, then they should also report on the findings of independent investigations that might counter these allegations. Or, they can just keep being the mainstream media, without regard for accountability. (MyNorthwest, KING5 News and News Tribune)

Governor Inslee continues to attack those who believe residents at a local level should be allowed to determine what kind of projects can be developed in their community and where they can be located. Environmentalists for decades have used local control to derail, stall, and/or place conditions on development.  Yet now that Governor Inslee’s wealthy contributors want to use farmlands to develop large wind and solar farms, the governor and legislative Democrats have removed local authorities in Eastern Washington from the permitting process.  Instead, members of the governor’s staff and other Inslee appointees on the state’s Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council now have the lone authority to determining the future of these “farms.”

While in Egypt last month at the UN Climate Conference/extreme environmentalist boondoggle, the governor blasted those who believe in local control, labeling it “NIMBYism” (Not In My Back Yard) and said that his administration knows what is best.  Yesterday the governor said, in one of his rare appearances in the Tri-Cities, that he is going to push for even more “new ways” to push his climate projects over the objections of those who have differing views. The governor refused to give any further details of what he will be jamming through against local opposition. (Capital Press)

Residents and small businesses in Spokane’s East Central neighborhood are frustrated by a federal court’s decision to place a restraining order against city and county efforts to remove the large homeless encampment which has grown on state property.  Some 20,000 residents and 1,800 businesses have had to suffer with a dramatic increase in crime in their neighborhood during the year the camp has been on Washington State Department of Transportation property. At one point there was an estimated 600 people at the encampment and today there are 377.  All residents of the mis-named “Camp Hope” have been offered shelter at city-funded shelters, but they have decided for various reasons to stay in tents in the snow-covered lot near I-90.  The judge imposed the restraining order on Monday, based on a request from the controversial non-profit Jewels Helping Hands, which is being paid by the state to “manage” the encampment.  A federal judge in Yakima will hear the case on December 28^th which Jewels is making to prevent the city and county from ever removing the encampment. (KXLY News and Shift)

Shift’s Newsmaker Interview was a pre-session discussion on the issues facing the Washington State Legislature with Republican Senate Leader John Braun of Centralia.  Senator Braun was first elected to the Senate in 2012 and was voted GOP caucus leader prior to the start of the 2021 legislative session. The upcoming 2023 session will be the first time Senator Braun will lead his caucus without COVID restrictions placed on legislative activity and public participation.

In his in-depth interview, Senator Braun provided his thoughts on a wide assortment of issues. He stated his belief that the return of public participation in the legislative process should deliver better policies. Sen. Braun provided his thoughts on whether Democrats are willing to reverse their disastrous policies on restricting police pursuits and essentially decriminalizing possession of lethal drugs.  The U.S. Navy veteran and captain in the Naval Reserves also shared his thoughts on Washington students learning loss due to the liberals’ COVID restrictions, emergency powers reform, implementation of the Democrats’ long-term care payroll tax (WACares), and the Democrats’ latest proposal to take money from state residents – the “Washington Future Fund.” (Click to read full Newsmaker Interview)

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