Transportation challenges have been a regular feature in Shift since our launch over a decade ago, from the Inslee Administration’s continual focus on raising energy prices to constant mismanagement at Sound Transit, but our broken ferry system has to rank at the top of the voter frustration list. Finally, the Seattle Times is taking notice of the problem, editorializing that “(I)mages of the ferry Issaquah’s car deck sloshing with saltwater in a gale storm off Whidbey Island this month conjured the latest metaphor to describe the condition of Washington State Ferries: a system that became adrift and increasingly unreliable due to state leaders’ failure to plan for and avoid the rough seas it’s now encountering.”

It would be too honest if the Times highlighted the key point – the “state leaders” involved in neglecting our state’s transportation infrastructure are all Democrats and have been for all of this century. The Times opines that the “lack of foresight by lawmakers in Olympia over the past 20 years plunged this network of marine highways into decay” without giving voters the key piece of information that a Democrat governor has signed every state budget since 1985, every King County spending plan since 1994, and every bicycle-heavy Seattle program since the 1970’s.

The reason that partisan fact matters was accidentally highlighted by a story over the weekend in the Times, which noted that cost estimates for finishing the missing link in Seattle’s streetcar system have soared (“a 43% jump from the previous $286 million estimate, published in 2018, and nearly triple what officials said at the outset”) and that the “larger question is around the city’s priorities. The new council faces a $250 million budget deficit this year.”

You can read on to see how it’s Democrat prioritization that is the real problem here, as there are just so many special interests to pay off and only so much tax money available (so far)… Shift, Shift, Seattle Times, Seattle Times.

Shift has noted before that the labor-funded “think tank” behind the breathless “news” that Washington state’s tax system is “the most regressive” in the country is accepted as credible by local reporters who agree with the conclusion. But we were reminded just how long the liberals have been fertilizing the media field by Danny Westneat’s Sunday column, which highlighted buying this propaganda “starting in 1996 (when a) Washington, D.C., analyst group called the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy put out a ranking of taxes in the 50 states.”

Nowhere in Westneat’s piece will you find out that the “think tank” behind this gaslighting is a union-funded group whichpenalizes states like Washington in its rankings for not having a state income tax. That’s because ITEP is committed to increasing spending in all states, and raising taxes to do so. But, you can read on to find out why Washington state is no longer number one here…  Shift, Seattle Times, ITEP.

The biggest story of the legislative session should be how the majority-party Democrats are handling the three (so far) initiatives – all submitted with over 400,000 signatures – which have been certified by the Secretary of State. Instead, with the help of a very compliant local media like Axios-Seattle, the “Democratic leaders in the House and Senate haven’t shown much interest in taking up” the initiatives – as mandated by the state constitution – and have even voted twice unanimously (in the House) to NOT hold hearings on the issues being raised by the voters.

Reporters are already starting to include the Democrats’ campaign messaging against the initiatives that “conservatives are pushing,” which “would mean billions of dollars less revenue for the state in the coming years” and “upend majority Democrats’ plans to invest more in clean energy projects, transit, and child care programs, among other priorities.” Read on to see how it’s just Republicans that believe “the carbon pricing law has caused higher gas prices that have hurt Washingtonians” here… Axios-Seattle.

It’s no wonder, as the Spokesman-Review points out, that with “more than a thousand bills introduced in any legislative session,” majority Democrats would have trouble avoiding stepping into some messes of their own making. And that’s because “it’s not surprising that some (bills) aren’t quite ready for prime time when they get their first legislative hearing.”

That first hearing for the latest pro-criminal bill from majority Democrats is one not even close to ready, as “House Bill 2030, which would rewrite state law” to allow current prisoners to vote, is now known as the “Green River Killer Gets to Vote Act of 2024”. You can read on to see that the current felons allowed to testify via Zoom “told the committee that allowing them to vote would give many of them a sense of social responsibility and a feeling their voice matters,” though perhaps their victims no longer have that opportunity here… Spokesman-Review.

You can file this one under “Too much time on their hands,” but it seems that the majority of Democrats in Olympia are such terrible bosses that they must encourage their workers to form a union to get better treatment. That’s the word from the Washington State Standard, writing that a “clearer path is emerging for nearly 400 employees of the Washington Legislature to form unions and negotiate contracts starting this spring.”

Republicans in the legislature opposed this new way to extract more money from taxpayers for bigger government, but the Democrats laughed at such concerns, crowing that this law means Washington “will have the most expansive collective bargaining law for any Legislature in the country,” and the word “expensive” could have been added as well. But you can rest assured that the “right to strike, participate in a work stoppage, or refuse to perform their official duties” is reserved only for teachers in this new Democrat approach… Washington State Standard.

Shift was reminded over the weekend just how far to the Left some in the judicial system will tilt when given a chance by a lengthy (Tacoma) News Tribune piece highlighting the thinking of “Pierce County Superior Court Judge Joseph Evans,” who decided an admitted arsonist “was failed by the system.” Judge Evans was willing to look past a defendant who “spoke candidly when she addressed the court, telling Judge Evans that her actions were the result of her drug use.”

You can read on to see how the defense attorney didn’t want too much honesty in the court, as he “opposed (Sumner Mayor Kathy) Hayden being allowed to address the court” because the mayor wanted to highlight the damage that the defendant had caused in her community, as opposed to blaming the state… (Tacoma) News Tribune.

Republican State Sen. Perry Dozier (16th LD) joined us for last week’s Newsmaker Interview. Sen. Dozier shared his priorities for the 2024 legislative session, including addressing the cost of living, public safety, and supporting parental rights in education. From his perspective working in the agricultural industry for over 40 years, Sen. Dozier also emphasized the need to address significant challenges facing farmers through the “Cultivate Washington” agenda – and criticized the ongoing failure to exempt farmers from the carbon tax. Read more.

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