Shift has long covered the controversy surrounding the state’s redistricting process, which was intentionally sabotaged in 2021 by Democrat appointees to the commission charged with drawing legislative district lines. Now that the Left has received from a liberal judge the map they could not obtain through the state’s bi-partisan process, it presents a potential dilemma, pointed out by a columnist for the Spokesman-Review that “(I)n a Democrat-controlled state, when a federal judge appointed by a Democrat president makes a decision on redistricting that affects no incumbent Democrats and multiple Republicans, voters may reasonably be skeptical of the impartiality of the results.”

The blatant unfairness of the judge’s decision  – “the new map moves more than 500,000 people in 13 districts” – means a certain appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court since “the first Latina senator elected from Eastern Washington is being forced out of her district because the judge accepted as fact an assertion that Hispanic voters prefer Democrats in spite of her landslide election.” Confirming that the partisan fix was in from the beginning, the state’s lawyer waived a white flag, as “Attorney General Bob Ferguson filed a ‘notice that defendant (Secretary of State Steve) Hobbs takes no position’ ” to keep the state out of the way of the racist lines the Democrats wanted.

The short-term political victory for the Democrats – more friendly legislative district lines for this election cycle – may swing against them, as “(S)etting up the court to make a political decision erodes confidence in the judiciary.” Read on for more partisan shenanigans. … Shift, Spokesman-Review.

The final story on the 2024 legislative session has yet to be written, since Governor Jay Inslee could still veto portions of some bills to satisfy some of his big campaign donors. However, State Senate Republican Leader John Braun outlines for the (Tacoma) News Tribune the real theme of the year, as the “people of Washington deserve congratulations for the great wins they achieved during our 2024 legislative session, which concluded March 7. Because of them, we witnessed something historic — six citizen initiatives submitted to the Legislature in one year, of which three were already passed into law.”

Shift has written plenty on the citizen initiative effort, and how Democrats from Gov. Inslee on down tried to stop the voters from being heard at every step in the process. Sen. Braun also defines the fight to come, as the “Legislature had its say by passing three initiatives. The people will get their say in November on the remaining three: I-2117, which would repeal the state’s “cap-and-trade” climate policy; I-2109, to repeal the state capital-gains income tax; and I-2124, which would let Washington workers opt out of the mandatory payroll tax for the state-run long-term care program.” Read on to determine how you answer the senator’s central question: “Did the initiatives get so much support because the majority has pushed the Legislature too far to the left?” … (Tacoma) News Tribune.

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