The entire team at Shift always has a very large grain of salt handy for when Governor Jay Inslee is making statements about his environmental policies, as we have well documented the governor’s tendency to avoid the truth (here’s an oldie, but goodie, from 2014). That’s why most of today’s briefing will be devoted to the revelation from environmental expert Todd Myers that “despite claiming for the past few years that his tax on CO2 emissions wouldn’t increase gas prices, documents from his administration show Jay Inslee has long known taxing CO2 emissions would significantly increase gasoline and natural gas prices.”

In his Washington Policy Center report, Myers relies on the words of “the governor’s own chief policy advisor and the Senior Policy Advisor of the left-wing environmental group Climate Solutions (who) said the policy would increase gas prices, even saying that was the intended goal.” At least that’s what the far-Left greens proudly said almost a decade ago before Inslee’s carbon tax had raised gas prices by 50 cents per gallon this summer.

Of course, as much as the governor and his fellow Democrats are trying to run away from their past comments about the need to raise gas prices, even the mainstream media cannot ignore that it “is now documented that Governor Inslee knew he was lying when he told reporters and the public that the tax on CO2 would ‘have a minimal impact if any. Pennies. We are talking about pennies’.”

Perhaps he’ll be called to account for those “pennies” soon, as the governor will be meeting with the media often in the coming weeks as the legislative session opens Monday. Now it is all set up for the lame-duck Inslee to finally admit the truth, which his administration put on paper in 2014, “especially when the State of California and energy economists across the political spectrum all agreed about the price increase a tax on CO2 emissions would generate. Now, there is no denying that Governor Inslee knew too.” You can read deep details about what the governor knew and when he knew it here… Shift, Washington Policy Center.

It appears that Attorney General Bob Ferguson does not want to let Gov. Inslee be the only Washington state Democrat consumed by scandal in the new year, judging from the ongoing ethical stink arising from the AG’s personal approach in his “chicken checks” cash-for-votes scheme. That’s certainly the takeaway from Spokesman-Review columnist Sue Lani Madsen, who points out the AG’s “letters were immediately denounced for fraud and deception by a candidate for governor using his office to distribute a self-celebratory direct mail piece during a political campaign. An ethics complaint was filed on Dec. 15 by former state legislator Toby Nixon, president of the Washington Coalition for Open Government.”

We’ll see how much longer the AG can go without actually addressing his stinky scheme, given that over 400,000 people know about his involvement, since “the attorney general made sure his name was on the envelope, the check and the letter announcing cheerfully, ‘Good News! You are Receiving a Refund!’.” You can read on to see just how much AG Ferguson abused his access to taxpayer funds to promote his gubernatorial campaign here… Spokesman-Review.

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