If Governor Jay Inslee’s political spin could hurt as much as his policies, which, as Center Square reports, have delivered Washington with the nation’s highest gasoline prices for over a month now, then maybe his appearance on ABC’s Sunday morning program “This Week” would have attracted more attention. But, since the governor, by his own admission last week, is planning to do nothing this year to address the soaring gas prices he has caused, the Green Governor’s national appearance produced barely a blip on the local scene.

The comedy routine never ends at Seattle’s City Hall, with Axios-Seattle reporting that a City Council committee had finally voted down rent control – good move! – only to learn that the decisive vote only came because the proposal would not cause rent control to take effect sooner. That’s because Councilwoman Debra Juarez, who provided the swing vote, “said she voted no because she doesn’t want to create an expectation among Seattleites that the city is enacting rent control, when in fact it has no power to do so. ‘This is not a rent control law, it’s a trigger law,’ Juarez said, adding that she doesn’t foresee the Legislature lifting its rent control ban anytime soon.”

But no bad idea is really ever dead in Seattle, so you can expect this silly rent control debate to play out throughout campaign season, and you can read more about the bad idea here… Axios-Seattle.

Last week the state’s labor elite gathered to hear and makes speeches, with the highlight of their Labor Council Convention being a sweet kissing-up session from Attorney General Bob Ferguson (which Shift highlighted). The major message coming was a bit more negative, however, namely that unions are planning to make every Washingtonian’s life a bit harder this summer, with KUOW quoting the head of the state council opining, “There is a massive wave of enthusiasm for collective action and organized labor sweeping this country.”

And by “massive wave of enthusiasm,” the labor leader was talking about a trio of union actions that are shaking up politicians from here to the other Washington, with Politico reporting that the Biden Administration is nervously watching the fallout from the Teamsters likely strike against the United Parcel Service (UPS) on August 1, the United Auto Workers pending threats against car makers, and the ongoing Hollywood writers and actors strikes. You can read more about how this Labor Summer of Love could impact you here… Shift, KUOW, Politico.

The media was out in advance with warnings about how crowded downtown Seattle was going to be over the weekend – from sold-out baseball games and concerts to community events like the Bite of Seattle  – and the warnings worked like moths to a flame, with KOMO reporting the head of the police union saying “It was unruly across the entire city last night in terms of officers going call to call. They were 50% down on their minimum safe staffing levels, and I’m afraid it’s only going to get worse.”

And, for a city whose leaders promised to reduce the police force by 50% just a few years back, “worse” is becoming clearer. “In a blotter post, police confirmed that initial attempts to disband a crowd off-Broadway and Pike Street on Capitol Hill early Sunday morning were met with resistance, but officers stayed in the area. ‘The crowd was asked to disperse, and they refused public orders to do so, and when you don’t have enough cops and an unruly crowd, you lead to people engaging in criminality.’” You can read more about what happens when there are not enough cops to clear a city street here… KOMO.

The major money waster that is Sound Transit has found a new to blow through piles of taxpayer cash, as Crosscut reports that a “King County jury recently awarded $1.2 million plus attorney’s fees to a former Sound Transit employee who quit after filing a whistleblower complaint alleging a series of safety lapses. After the verdict, the public transit agency and the former employee, David Hopple, reached a settlement.” That’s right, not only did the lawyers at Sound Transit lose their case, they then cut a deal to ensure more secrecy about safety lapses at the agency.

Even worse, the whistleblower case was over safety concerns which the transit leaders were ignoring. You can read more about the dangers of riding (or working on) the Sound Transit trains here… Crosscut.

You might confuse this story for satire but, rest assured, the joke is only on those who actually believe that affordable housing is a top priority for the far-Left that dominates Seattle politics. Just consider how quickly housing for people falls behind a tree in this Associated Press article that highlights how using “ropes, a harness, a hammock, and a bucket pulley system, masked activists in Seattle have taken residence in the branches of an old, thick cedar tree to prevent it from being cut down to make way for new homes.”

It does seem strange that Seattle’s elected officials have spent months (years?) yelling about the lack of affordable housing causing the homelessness crisis, yet these “leaders” are nowhere to be found telling these far-Left activists to get their priorities in order and put people first. Instead, you get this strangeness coming from one of the tree occupiers, “We have to win this tree. We have to win because Luma (the name they have given the tree) is setting the tone for every other tree that’s under threat in Seattle.” And, with KUOW reporting that the Snoqualmie Tribe now has stepped into the dispute to exert its authority over the land use in the city of Seattle by claiming this is “about more than one tree,” you can read more about this special flavor of Seattle lunacy here… Associated Press/The Skanner, KUOW.

In last week’s Newsmaker Interview, Representative Joe Schmick (R-Colfax) discussed the recent federal court decision that fined the Inslee Administration $100 million for not providing legally required “competency treatment” for suspected criminals before they stand trial. The court case, known as “Trueblood,” revealed that the state failed to provide mental health treatment within the required 21 days, leading to overcrowding in local jails and substantial court fines. Rep. Schmick highlighted the Inslee Administration’s broader track record of failures in managing mental health policies, including issues with state hospitals, safety guidelines during COVID, and hiring a felon who later became the prime suspect in theft from patients. READ MORE ON SHIFT.

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