Democrats continue their efforts to “normalize” the admitted liar that is State Representative Clyde Shavers (D – Kirkland) by appointing him to the House Veterans Committee — thus insulting the service of those who bravely fought for our country.  After Shift broke the story that Clyde Shavers’ father confirmed that his son repeatedly lied to voters about his military service, his work experience, his family’s history, and even where he lived, Democrat organizations and labor groups poured tens of thousands of dollars into his legislative campaign during the last week of the election.  The Democrats and their special interests weren’t ashamed to support a serial liar, they just wanted that legislative seat to make sure they could keep expanding the size and cost of state government by increasing state taxes.  Now Democrat Speaker of the House Laurie Jinkins has doubled down on her party’s hypocrisy by trying to help rehabilitate Clyde Shavers by appointing him to the House Veterans Committee. The state’s 500,000 veterans can’t be pleased to have someone who discredited his service with multiple lies representing them on this committee.  (Click to read full Shift Article)

The Everett Herald has finally broken its post-election silence on Democrat Representative Clyde Shavers, saying he should resign from the House Veteran’s Committee which Democrat Speaker Of the House Laurie Jinkins appointed him to earlier this week.  The newspaper’s editorial states that “Shavers, if he seeks the best interests of active duty members and veterans, should step down from the committee and use this year and next to rebuild their trust — and that of the voters — in him.”

The editorial also reports that Representative Shavers is now lying about his past lies. Evidently Shavers is now claiming he never said he had served on a submarine.  The newspaper then quoted him from a recording of his editorial endorsement interview last year in which he repeatedly said that he had served on a submarine. Thus it is obvious that the shameless representative has not learned from his past mistakes and is continuing to fabricate stories which embarrass himself, his party, and sadly, the people he is supposed to represent.

Meanwhile the Seattle Times continues to show its bias with its silence on Representative Shavers. It has only printed one story on his lies – nearly a week after Shift broke the story and after tens of thousands of mail-in ballots had been filled out and mailed.  At the same time they have now posted 28 stories on the very similar lies of a Republican congressman who represents constituents 3,000 miles away on New York’s Long Island. (Everett Herald, Shift, and Seattle Times)

One can’t help but see the connection with the Seattle Times’ double standard in its coverage of Democrats and Republicans and the paper needing Democrat support in the Washington legislature to permanently receive a major corporate tax break.  Some Democrat legislators – along with governor wannabe/Attorney General Bob Ferguson – are pushing a bill (SB 5199)  to give the Seattle Times a tax break 10 times larger then what it already receives.  Currently the state’s temporary tax break for newspapers costs taxpayers $400,000 in a two-year budget cycle. The bill before the legislature would make the tax break permanent and cost taxpayers more than $4 million every biennium.

The Times has recently been begging readers to donate money to its “Investigative Journalism Fund” claiming the money will be used to “hold those in power accountable.”  Yet the newspaper’s actions do not back up this claim. The paper rarely goes after Democrats in Washington State (i.e. those in power) and posts far more critical stories about Republicans.  When they can’t dig up something about Republicans in Washington State, they simply find something bad to write about some Republican lawmaker 3,000 miles away.

A perfect example of the Times’ bias is the shameful Representative Clyde Shavers. The Times sat on the story of his many lies as a candidate for a week, while tens of thousands of mail-in ballots were returned (Shavers barely hung on to win by just over 200 votes).  Since that one story, the paper has said nothing about the lying Democrat.  Yet the paper has now posted 28 stories about the lies of New York Congressman George Santos.

The Seattle Times has not reported once about the national news story that revealed 14 current and former staff members claimed that Democrat U.S. Representative Pramila Jayapal (Seattle) is abusive to her staff. Instead the newspaper wrote a puff piece a couple of weeks later stating she is now a power player in Congress.  Again this leads to speculation that the newspaper is providing favorable coverage to a Democrat politician who just happens to be pushing a federal bill which also benefits the Seattle Times.

There are many other examples, including the difference in coverage of former moderate King County Councilmember Kathy Lambert and current liberal King County Councilmember Rod Dembowski.

It is very clear to those paying attention that due to the Times’ need for taxpayer money to keep the paper in business it has even ceased to pretend that it is little more than the free communications department for the Washington State Democrat Party.  Here at Shift we openly admit we lean moderate/conservative.  The Times should display the same honesty to its readers and admit that its goal is to help Democrats who are providing the paper with taxpayer funds. (The Center Square, Washington Legislature Bill Summary, Seattle Times, and Shift)

Democrat Senator Karen Kaiser (Des Moines) proved that she is not a legal scholar as she asserted a false and illogical political narrative regarding the U.S. Supreme Court’s actions on the Dobbs v. Jackson case.  In order to scare pro-abortion activists even further, Senator Kaiser stated that the Supreme Court could soon revoke state laws on abortion.  Illogically she made this statement in pushing for the Washington State Legislature to pass a state constitutional amendment protecting abortion.  This leads to the question, if the federal courts are going to revoke state abortion laws (which they are not) than what good would it do to pass another state law protecting abortion?  More importantly, Senator Kaiser is clearly wrong about the actions of the court in the Dobbs case. The court’s decision actually GAVE POWER TO THE STATES to determine their own abortion laws and took it out of the hands of federal courts. That returned the issue to the voters of Washington State, who decided to legalize abortion before Roe was decided, and have strengthened that initial decision in subsequent votes.

In the same story, Senator Kaiser admitted she does not have enough votes in the legislature to pass the state constitutional amendment (SJR 8202) on abortion she is pushing in Washington State. In order to amend the Washington State Constitution, two-thirds of both the Senate and House must approve the amendment and a majority of voters must support. Senator Kaiser and other Democrats from Jay Inslee on down know that this will not happen, but talking about abortion beats talking about higher taxes, inflation, rising gas costs, and skyrocketing crime rates. (KING5 News, Dobbs v. Jackson decision, and Washington Legislature Bill Summary)

Socialist Seattle City Councilmember Kshama Sawant evidently senses that even the voters of one of the most liberal voting districts in the country (City Council District 3, including Capitol Hill and portions of Rainier Valley) are tired of her failed policies which are ruining the once-great city, and announced she will not be running for re-election this year.  Councilmember Sawant joins fellow councilmembers Debra Juarez, Lisa Herbold, and Alex Pedersen in racing for the exit rather than stand before the voters this fall to defend their liberal policies which have caused higher taxes, more crime, more homelessness, more fatal drug overdoses, higher rents, massive business closures and departures of tax-paying employers, and a dangerously short-staffed police department.

While the departure of so many liberal councilmembers may seem like good news to many people who are concerned with the self-destructive direction of the city, it will only be positive if the candidates to replace them support policies which reverse the failed policies of those on their way out.  The city desperately needs new elected officials who truly support police, employers, landlords, and its-hard working residents. (Seattle Times)

Two more murders occurred last night in Seattle, as 2023 appears to be just as deadly as 2022 for Seattle residents.  Two men were killed in their car in the Georgetown neighborhood (near Boeing Field) early Thursday morning.  Police have yet to release motive or possible suspects in the case. (MyNorthwest)

Agricultural groups are skeptical of Governor Inslee’s latest effort to force Washington State farmers to impose large buffers on their land next to streams. During the 2022 legislative session, the Inslee Administration surprised state farmers (even keeping his own Agriculture Department director in the dark) with a buffer bill which would have shut down many family farms.  After that poorly designed bill failed to make it out of committee, the governor has proposed new two companion buffer bills (SB 5266 and HB 1215) in the 2023 session with agriculture interests allowed limited input into during their development.  While Governor Inslee’s staff says the new bills are more friendly to farmers, agricultural leaders remain very skeptical about several provisions.

Among the concerns of some lawmakers is the possible future actions of the task force created by the legislation.  While farmers would have a seat on the task force, they would be in a distinct minority, with urban environmentalists and Native American groups controlling it.  The governor’s staff admits that the task force could impose severe restrictions on farmers.

Washington State Dairy Federation President Dan Wood is also concerned on the state’s focus on buffers to protect salmon.  Even Native American groups have admitted that past buffer laws have not worked.  Wood argued that there are dozens of reasons why salmon are struggling. “A buffer set aside does not equal more salmon. There is more to it.” (Capital Press and Washington Legislature Bill Summary)

You might have missed the Democrats latest act of extreme arrogance since local media rarely provides critical coverage of legislative events in Olympia.  House and Senate leaders from both political parties held their annual media event to discuss expectations for the upcoming 2023 legislative session. Throughout the event the Democrats ignored the needs of those who are suffering under their higher tax policies and instead spoke of the need for “targeted investment” (i.e. more taxpayer money for their friends) to fund measures they claim will fix state problems which their own policies have made worse.  The homelessness crisis in Washington State is the perfect illustration of Democrat ideology. After liberals have spent billions of dollars to increase the homeless bureaucracy at all levels of government, the problem has only become far worse.  Now the governor and the Democrats want to “invest” $4 billion more on the problem they created – yet this money won’t come from the high taxes which we are already paying.  It will be paid for by loans, thus saddling future budgets with paying off the debt, plus interest. (Click to read full Shift Article)

Shift’s Newsmaker Interview was with Representative Jim Walsh (R – Aberdeen), the fourth-term legislator from Southwest Washington’s 19^th Legislative District (portions of Cowlitz, Lewis, and Grays Harbor counties, and all of Pacific and Wahkiakum counties).  Representative Walsh is well known by his colleagues for being a straight-shooting and common-sense lawmaker not afraid to take on the state’s liberal political establishment.  He remains one of the strongest critics of Governor Inslee’s undemocratic abuse of emergency powers during the COVID pandemic.

In his interview, the representative provided his views on several major issues before the 2023 legislature. Representative Walsh outlines a few of the bills he has introduced which will provide families with more educational choices, keep skyrocketing property taxes from forcing seniors out of their homes, and prohibit the state from closing churches and other religious institutions during an emergency. He also shared his thoughts on the Democrats decriminalizing lethal drugs, the governor’s unconstitutional attacks on 2^nd Amendment rights, and what the priorities should be in the 2023 budget process. (Click to read full Newsmaker Interview)

Do you like The Daily Briefing? Do you want to keep seeing coverage of issues which are important to you?

Shift was the only Washington media outlet in 2022 to interview legislative candidates to obtain their views on the important issues facing Washington State voters.

Please consider making a contribution to ensure Shift continues to provide daily updates on the shenanigans of the liberal establishment.

Forward this to a friend.  It helps us grow our community and serve you better.

You can also follow SHIFTWA on social media by liking us on Facebook and following us on Twitter.

If you feel we missed something that should be covered, email us at [email protected].