Governor Jay Inslee ended 2022 the way he ends most years, making false claims about the effectiveness of his ideas.  The governor tweeted he has “made important strides” on such important issues as homelessness, violent crime, climate change, and the pandemic. Yet the data – or what he might call “the science” – does not support his claim.  The facts on all of these issues show that things have become worse.

Unfortunately, once again, the members of the state’s mainstream political media refuse to challenge the governor on his claims.  This is especially curious since just a year ago the governor wanted to make it a crime for politicians to make false claims about elections.  If the governor is going to assert that he is some model of honesty, then shouldn’t the media point out the hypocrisy of his repetitious use of false claims? (Click to read full Shift article)

Former King County Democrat Chair Shasti Conrad has picked up the endorsements of radical U.S. Representative Pramila Jayapal and outgoing state Chair Tina Podlodowski in her bid to become the new Washington State Democrat Chair.  Like all Democrats, Conrad is extremely hypocritical when it comes to political violence.  On her campaign website she proclaims, “With democracy under assault, we have had little choice but to define ourselves in opposition to some of the most hateful violent voices we’ve experienced in our lifetimes.”

This is an incredibly bizarre statement considering she was chair of the King County Democrats when it strongly endorsed the violent views of Nicole Thomas-Kennedy to become Seattle City Attorney in 2021. If you remember, “NTK” praised those who set fire to government buildings, encouraged police to “eat Covid-laced sh*t,” and stated, “Property-destruction is a moral imperative.” How can Conrad claim to be against political violence after she strongly supported a candidate with such violent views?  The Seattle Times in 2021 asserted that Thomas-Kennedy’s tweets prove she is “unfit for office.”  Is the newspaper willing to stand up and affirm that someone who supported those views is also unfit to lead the majority pollical party in Washington State? (Shasti Conrad website, NTK4Crime website, and Seattle Times editorial)

While Democrat lawmakers in Washington State continue their quest to impose additional taxes on state residents, leaders in other states are looking to provide even more tax breaks to help lower-and middle income workers struggling to survive thanks to liberal inflationary policies. In our state, Democrats are pulling out all the stops to make it more expensive to live here, including going against every taxing authority in the country (including the IRS) to push their false claim that a tax on capital gains is not a tax on income.

Lawmakers (including Democrats) in dozens of other states continue to demonstrate that they are more understanding of those who are currently facing financial difficulties.  In Hawaii, lawmakers gave residents a $300 tax rebate last year. Now they are looking to provide additional tax breaks that are designed to help lower- and middle- income workers. To demonstrate how extreme and greedy Washington’s Democrat lawmakers are in their drive to increase state revenues by increasing taxes, Hawaii’s tax breaks are once again supported by its Democrat governor and legislators, as has been the case in many states. (Hawaii News Now, YouTube/WPC McKenna webinar, and Washington Policy Center)

Shift has created a petition calling for Democrat Clyde Shavers to not be sworn in as a member of the Washington State House of Representatives due to the multiple lies he told voters during his 2022 campaign. Shift broke the story last October that Shavers repeatedly lied about his military service, his work experience, his residence, and his family’s history.  Democrat organizations and officials refused to condemn Shavers lies and continued to pour money into his campaign. Since a vast majority of the ballots were turned in before his lies were exposed, Shavers was able to barely win the election by just 200 votes.

There is a sharp contrast between how Democrats and Republicans in Washington State handle lawmakers who lie to the voters about their personal history. In 2016, Republican legislative leaders pushed Representative Graham Hunt to resign when proof surfaced that he had lied about his military service.  Yet Democrat legislative leaders, Governor Inslee, Attorney General Bob Ferguson, and all other Democrat officials apparently believe it is just fine for their lawmakers to lie to the voters about their background as long as they win.  Have you heard any of them comment on whether Shavers should be sworn in next week?  In fact, in looking at Shavers’ Public Disclosure reports, many Democrat organizations continued to send Shavers’ campaign large contributions AFTER it was publicly confirmed that Shavers had repeatedly lied to voters. Because, they don’t care about honesty, they care about Democrat majorities. (Shift, News Tribune, and Clyde Shavers PDC report)

The Lynnwood Times detailed an odd occurrence which took place at last Tuesday’s Everett City Council meeting, which resulted in Councilmember Liz Vogeli demonstrating dysfunctional behavior by making sarcastic remarks and abruptly leaving the council chambers. To start off the new year, the councilmembers voted on who would be the council president and vice president. Councilmember Brenda Stonecipher was elected 4-3 to be the president. Councilmember Vogeli voted for the losing nominee Councilmember Paula Rhyne.

Then the council took nominations for Vice President and Councilmember Vogeli nominated herself. After no one seconded the nomination, she pulled her nomination. Councilmember Judy Tuohy then defeated Councilmember Rhyne by 4-3, with Vogeli once again supporting the losing candidate. Councilmember Vogeli, who had appeared unhappy after no one had seconded her nomination,  sarcastically stated, “We’re gonna get a lot of stuff done. Congratulations, everybody.”  As the council moved forward on other business, Vogeli suddenly packed up all of her papers and stormed out of the meeting. Very mature, that Ms. Vogeli.  (Lynnwood Times)

A battle continues between the Inslee Administration and Yakima County Commissioners over the permitting of two large solar farms.  Last April, the county commissioners approved a moratorium on new solar and wind farms until county staff had time to determine guidelines.  County officials said they are required by state law (the Growth Management Act) to protect agriculture lands and that international corporations are targeting these lands to place their large energy farms.

Yet the state, through Inslee’s Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council (EFSEC), said local concerns don’t matter and that the Democrats in the legislature gave them the power to ignore local concerns. The EFSEC is packed with Inslee Administration staff and his appointees.  Last November, the EFSEC approved an expediated process to approve the permits for two large solar facilities, High Top and Ostrea, which are both located near Moxee.  County commissioners are now planning their response to the EFSEC’s actions. (Yakima Herald)

Maxford Nelson, the Freedom Foundation’s Director of Labor Policy, shares his research on the political contributions of the so-called bipartisan Public School Employees of Washington/SEIU Local 1948 (PSE).  The government employee union has built a reputation in Olympia for being “bipartisan” in its support of candidates, but Nelsen’s research finds that while the union does contribute to legislative candidates in both parties ($66,500 directly to Democrat candidates and $40,500 to Republicans in the 2022 campaigns), nearly all of the money received by Republicans were to those who are either running unopposed or with a nominal Democrat challenger, while they contribute to Democrat candidates who are in both safe and competitive races.  Also, while PSE spent a little over $100,000 on direct contributions to legislative candidate campaigns in 2022, it spent three times as much on independent expenditures. And of this $300,000+, only $22,500 went to independent efforts to help GOP candidates. (Click here to read full Guest Commentary)

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