Those of us at Shift are deeply sadden by the sudden passing of KIRO FM Radio host Dori Monson on December 31st.  Some of our team members worked with him at the University of Washington in the 1980s, while others first met him after he became the highest-rated radio host in the region.  Monson grew up on “the mean streets of Ballard” and he represented a commonsense point-of-view that is often missed by the region’s liberal establishment. Daily, on his noon to 3:00 PM show, Monson provided a voice to the frustrations that many Seattle area residents felt over the multiple failed liberal social experiments which are slowly destroying the city Monson grew up in and loved.  Our thoughts and prayers are with his wife Suzanne and his three daughters who were the center of his life.

Tributes from Monson’s colleagues and fellow media members filled social media after his passing was announced on Sunday afternoon, including this one from KVI host John Carlson.  On Monday, John Curley led a very emotional nine-hour long remembrance of Monson on KIRO Radio in which many other local media members (including Brandi Kruse, Tony Ventrella, Pat Cashman, Bob Rivers, Michael Medved, and David Rose) shared their memories of their departed colleague.  It is worth a listen. (Q13 Fox News, John Carlson Facebook post, and KIRO FM Radio podcast)

Governor Jay Inslee ended 2022 posting a tweet which falsely asserts that the state has made “important strides” on several issues, yet facts clearly show that things have actually become far worse. In the tweet the governor states, “Goodbye, ’22; hello, ’23. We’ve made important strides forward on several difficult issues: homelessness, climate change, choice, equity, gun violence, the pandemic.”  Yet, reality does not support Governor Inslee’s rhetoric.

After Seattle/King County declared homelessness an emergency seven years ago, remains a serious issue with thousands of people continuing to live on the streets. The only “important stride” that has been made is the vast increase in the size and cost of all levels of government, as liberals have selfishly used the crisis to increase the size of the homeless bureaucracy, which benefits from the suffering of others. If the state has already made great strides in solving the homelessness problem, then why did the governor just propose spending a whopping $4 billion more on solving it?

Not surprisingly, violent crime continues to rise, as nearly every major community in the state is at record highs due to the failed anti-police measures passed by Democrats at the state level and liberal lawmakers at the local level. Unfortunately, this issue didn’t rise to level where Governor Inslee would talk about it, let alone do anything about it.

Of course, talking about an issue all the time doesn’t solve it either, thus despite numerous “climate change” measures passed by the Democrats every year since Inslee has been in office, CO2 emissions have virtually climbed every year since 2012.

With the pandemic, the governor’s unscientific vaccine mandate continues to cause disruptions of the state’s ferry system and not enough state-employed road crew members are available to keep the passes clear of snow. Governor Inslee stubbornly refuses to rehire unvaccinated workers despite the experts at the Centers for Disease Control stating that vaccinated and unvaccinated employees can resume working together.

Thus, we may be in a new year, but the governor continues to push the same falsehoods because the members of the state’s media are afraid of losing access with the liberal establishment by challenging his many false statements. (Governor Inslee Twitter, KING5 News, Washington Policy Center, and CDC update)

It is worth noting one news item during our holiday break revealed more people are now moving out of Washington State than moving in.  Most of those moving out are now residing in such “red states” as Idaho, Texas, and Florida, as former Washington state residents seek to leave the failed liberal policies which have made living in our state far more expensive and less safe.

This reverses a multi-generational trend which saw Washington for decades being one of the most desirable places for people to move to in the United States.  Likely everyone reading this post knows of at least one person who has moved to another state due to the liberal policies which currently dominate our state. Former KVI Radio host Kirby Wilbur is now making a good living being a real estate agent in Texas serving those who are fleeing the high taxes, expensive housing, and high crime rates in Washington State.

It isn’t just the number of people who are moving out which is a problem, but it is also the type of people who are leaving which is discouraging.  Many are small business entrepreneurs who create jobs, often with young families who want to establish themselves in their community.  Meanwhile liberal homeless, crime, and drug policies are attracting a different type of individual – those who want to live in a state where it is legal to possess heroin, methamphetamines, and fentanyl, and where public officials recklessly restrict law enforcement to make our state a more comfortable place to be a criminal.  (Seattle Times and Kirby Wilbur Facebook post)

The Tri-City Herald called for the legislature to finally fix the state’s poorly written emergency powers laws.  In an editorial the newspaper said, “Now that COVID has exposed this governmental flaw, it would be irresponsible not to address it.” The paper stated that Governor Inslee’s abuse of the powers goes against our nation’s “foundation of the checks and balance system.”  Over the past two legislative sessions the Republicans have offered multiple proposals to reform the state’s emergency laws so that they are in line with nearly all other states, but the majority Democrats have refused to act, out of fear of retribution from Inslee. The newspaper said, “State lawmakers have a duty to fix this imbalance of power, and this session is the time to do it.” (Tri-City Herald)

After murder and violent crimes continued to skyrocket in 2022 due to liberal public safety policies, Seattle recorded its first homicide just hours into the new year.  57 murders occurred last year, after the Seattle City Council caved into the demands of violent rioters in 2020 to defund the police, which then caused nearly 500 well-trained and diverse Seattle police officers to leave the force. On Monday, a man was arrested for the apparent murder of a woman in the South Lake Union neighborhood. (Seattle Times and Seattle Homicide Twitter)

Out of control crime has caused the Seattle Credit Union to announce it will be closing two of its Seattle branches. The company said it will be closing its Rainier Valley and Georgetown locations on February 3^rd.  In an email to customers, Seattle Credit Union wrote, “Ensuring the physical safety of our members and staff both in and around our branch offices has become increasingly difficult at these locations. Your personal safety, as well as your financial well-being and banking preferences, are important to us, representing the key variables in our decision.” (MyNorthwest)

A survey by the Washington Farm Bureau has found that many farmers are drastically cutting the number of hours for their workers due to the state’s new overtime laws.  Instead of paying time and a half for overtime during the harvest season, farmers are simply hiring more workers for less pay. Other farmers have cut workers’ hours during non-harvest times so they can afford to pay the higher wages during harvest.   Thus, with the reduction of hours, farm workers’ paychecks during harvest have been drastically cut.

Urban Democrat legislators with no experience in agriculture passed these new and restrictive agriculture overtime laws in 2021, which went into effect in 2022. Workers were limited to 55 hours a week last year before they were paid overtime wages. This year the number of hours drops to 48 and drops down again to 40 hours next year.  Farmers have sought a compromise to allow either a six-to-eight week exemption of overtime laws during harvest, or simply keeping the limit to 50 hours.  Thus far, the liberal urban Democrats who control the legislature are unconcerned about problems their overtime laws have caused for farmers, and they appear unwilling to act on any compromise. . (Capital Press)

Shift’s Newsmaker Interview was with Senator Curtis King (R – Yakima), who discussed the Republican’s “Power Washington” package to meet our state’s future energy needs in a more comprehensive way than the reckless and very expensive piecemeal ideas the Democrats have put forth.  Leading legislative Democrats admit they don’t know how they are going to provide enough clean energy for the state while meeting emission goals that were passed without any funding for achieving them. One of the Democrats’ “leaders” on energy issues, Senator Marko Liias (D – Edmonds), recently made the embarrassing admission about the Democrats’ energy strategy: “As often in public life, we’re building an airplane while we’re flying it.”

Republicans have taken a more organized and less ideological “all-of-the-above” approach to our state’s energy challenges. Senator King outlined the key elements of the Power Washington package and how it is more practical and reliable than the Democrats’ plans.  He discussed the Republicans’ firm commitment to the reliable and clean energy of hydroelectric power and the need to keep making improvements to sustain the growing salmon populations in the Columbia and Snake River basin.  The Republican’s Transportation Committee leader described how the GOP energy plan will ease the financial burden the Democrats have unfairly placed on lower-income households.  Senator King criticizes Governor Inslee and Democrat legislators for removing local control over the placement of large solar and wind farms which will destroy habitat for threatened species and further reduce our farmlands.  The senator also outlined how the state will need to increase its reliability on nuclear energy and continue to lead the country in the development of hydrogen power. (Click to read full Newsmaker Interview

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