Once again, the media is not placing any blame on the Democrats for their latest effort to withhold documents and communications from the public and the press.  Last year the Democrats started to claim “legislative privilege” to deny providing records they don’t want the public to see.  The Daily Briefing reported on Monday that Republican House Leader JT Wilcox (Yelm) was outraged that the Seattle Times slimed all legislators for a dramatic change in public records request procedures which have been used exclusively by Democrat legislators. Representative Wilcox tweeted, “Maybe the Times should say which lawmakers. This is bullshit. It is Democrats alone.”

Under the headline, “Some WA lawmakers are sidestepping the state’s Public Records Act,” Crosscut blamed all legislators, both Democrat and Republicans, for this latest scheme to allow elected officials to not be accountable to those they are supposed to serve.  Yet it was the Democrat majority which came up with the maneuver and thus far been the ones to use it.  Crosscut was kind enough to quote Representative Wilcox (in the 31^st paragraph of the story) saying that he has never seen a reason to deny a record request. But the article failed to mention that Republican lawmakers have not supported the Democrats’ use of “legislative privilege.”  It is fair to say that if this accountability-dodging tactic was developed and used when the Republicans were in the majority, the media would make sure the blame was placed exclusively on the GOP.  Yet since the method was developed and utilized by the Democrat majority, the media does their liberal friends a favor and blames all legislators. (Crosscut, Daily Briefing, and JT Wilcox Twitter)

Democrats in the Washington State Senate have already informed Republican lawmakers that they will again refuse to vote (or even hold a public hearing) on any serious changes to the state’s antiquated emergency powers laws — which Democrat Governor Jay Inslee undemocratically abused for an unprecedented 975 days.  Republican Senator Lynda Wilson (Vancouver) said that she has been informed that the chair of the Senate’s State Government and Elections Committee Senator Sam Hunt (D – Olympia) has notified committee members that he will not hold a public hearing on SB 5063. The bill was co-sponsored by Senator Wilson and Democrat Senator Mark Mullet (Issaquah) to make Washington State’s emergency laws similar to nearly all other states, by placing a 90-day limit on how long the governor can exclusively wield emergency powers before the legislature must either approve all emergency orders or extend the governor’s exclusive use of emergency powers.

Senator Wilson said, “It’s disappointing that the Democrats have apparently decided so quickly against even discussing the idea of ensuring balance between the legislative and executive branches during whatever state of emergency comes next.”  The senator then wondered why Chair Hunt “won’t let the people be heard now that more reforms are clearly needed.”  Shift readers will remember that Senator Hunt notoriously cut off people’s testimony in midsentence (and reportedly laughed when doing so) during a 2021 virtual hearing when the State Government Committee held a very brief public hearing (despite more than 1,600 people signing up to testify) on the negative impacts of Governor Inslee abusing his emergency powers when he unscientifically restricted the actions of businesses and caused mental anguish on school children by prohibiting in-person instruction.  The senator is well known for taking orders from his Democrat bosses and thus the recent decision to not even hold a public hearing on the emergency powers issue almost certainly came from the top.  (Republican Senate Caucus media release, Washington Legislature Bill Summary, and Shift Article)

The watchdog group Citizen Action Defense Fund (CADF) claimed that a major portion of the Democrats’ $17 billion transportation package passed during the 2022 legislative session violated the state’s single subject provision and have threatened a lawsuit if Attorney General Bob Ferguson does not invalidate the legislation.  CADF argues that one of the four bills passed in the Democrats’ transportation package, SB 5794, contains multiple items which are not related to each other and thus violate the state’s constitution.  CADF contends that subjects in the bill such as reducing stormwater runoff, imposing new fuel standards, and expanding use of traffic cameras are unrelated and need to be passed by the legislature in separate bills.  CADF Executive Director Jackson Maynard said in a statement, “The transportation package had multiple subjects – very little of which actually dealt with transportation resources.”

This lack of following legal details in the Democrats’ transportation package is not unexpected to many legislative observers, considering it was authored by Senate Transportation Committee Chair Senator Marko Liias.  Remember that originally Senator Liias recklessly included a tax on oil refined in Washington State and exported to neighboring states as one of the illegal ways to pay the huge $17 billion price tag of his package.  This nearly caused a tax war between Washington and other Western States, as it outraged many of their lawmakers, including Oregon’s Democrat Governor Kate Brown. Senator Liias responded to Governor Brown’s concerns by personally attacking her, which forced him to later apologize to her in a Senate floor statement and caused him to pull the tax from the package. (Citizen Action Defense Fund media release, Washington Legislature Bill Summary, and Shift Article)

The latest bill from former inmate and current Democrat Representative Tarra Simmons (D – Bremerton) continues her quest to make it more comfortable to be a criminal in Washington State.  The bill (HB 1174) would increase voting access in Washington State’s jail system. Among the bill’s provisions are requirements for county auditors to provide voter registration forms to prisoners and require counties to educate inmates on voter information.  Thus, while most Washington State residents are concerned about the state’s high crime rate, many Democrat lawmakers are more concerned about making sure they can get more votes from inmates. (KNDU/KNDO and Washington Legislature Bill Summary)

The large sewage and storm water tunnel project being constructed jointly by the City of Seattle and King County is already 35% over budget, and officials already admit that final costs will be even higher.  The 2.7 mile long tunnel, which runs along the Lake Washington Ship Canal through the Fremont and Ballard neighborhoods, was originally expected to cost taxpayers $423 million.  Currently the tunnel construction has a price tag of $570 million. Yet because bids have yet to be solicited on one of the most expensive portions of the tunnel – a large pump station located near the end of the tunnel in Ballard – officials admit the final costs will exceed $570 million by at least 8% – 14% (which likely means 25% or more, since government bureaucrats always publicly state that costs will be far lower than what they will end up becoming).  It is interesting in the 1,200+ word Seattle Times article that not one elected official was quoted or was tagged with being responsible for the project’s massive cost overruns, as the local media rarely holds liberal politicians accountable for their actions. (Seattle Times)

Legal experts believe the Seattle Public Schools and the Kent School District will have a tough time winning their lawsuits with social media platforms, because it will be very difficult to prove the websites caused the mental anguish among students which the lawsuits claim took place.  As one attorney for the tech industry stated, “It would be absurd to sue Barnes & Noble because an employee recommended a book that caused emotional harm or made a teenager feel bad. But that’s exactly what this lawsuit is doing.”  (AP/MyNorthwest)

A Kitsap County court clerk has filed lawsuit over being fired because she refused the COVID vaccine. Tammy Duryea had worked for the county since 1994, and she claims that the county refused to accommodate her working conditions after the county courts forced all employees to be vaccinated.  The courts were the only county department to impose this mandate on employees.  She applied for both a medical (supported by a physician) and religious exemption and claims she could have performed her work remotely. (Kitsap Sun)

Once again, the Democrats anti-police laws from 2021 has allowed a suspected criminal to remain free where he can make another Washington State resident a crime victim.  Moses Lake police continue to seek a man who was found asleep on Tuesday morning in a vehicle that was reported stolen.  The officers woke the suspect, who immediately started the car, crashed it into a police cruiser and fled the scene.  Since stealing a car does not meet the criteria for police pursuit under the Democrats’ preferred method of public safety, the suspect was allowed to go free. This is the latest criminal suspect among the thousands who have remained free due to the Democrats’ reckless endangerment of law-abiding Washington residents. (KPQ Radio)

Local media bias is on full display in recent coverage of lying politicians.  Both the Seattle Times and Everett Herald have said nothing for the past two months regarding Democrat State Representative Clyde Shavers and how he has yet to admit that he repeatedly lied to voters — and how Democrat leaders and special interests have welcomed him in Olympia – yet the newspapers have run numerous stories and opinion pieces regarding the lies Republican New York Congressman George Santos (admittedly) told to win his seat.

Evidently the newspapers believe it is more important for them to waste newsprint (and website space) on a Republican politician who represents constituents 3,000 miles away than to provide coverage and expressing opinions about a lying Democrat politician who unfortunately represents voters in their own distribution area (the 10^th Legislative District includes parts of Snohomish and Skagit County, and all of Island County).  This is just further proof that local media has one set of rules for the actions of Republicans and a different set of rules (and far less oversight) on the actions of Democrats that the reporters agree with.  (Please click to read full Shift Article)

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