In advance of President Joe Biden’s visit to Washington State this evening (for fundraising) and tomorrow (to attempt to convince us liberal policies aren’t costing us money), U.S. Representative Dan Newhouse provided his thoughts on the negative impact of the Democrats’ policies. The Republican congressman and Yakima Valley hops farmer stated that under President Biden the country is moving in the wrong direction.  Inflation is at a 40-year high, gas and energy prices are hurting families, crime is rampant, open borders are bringing dangerous drugs into our communities, and the broken supply chain is hurting farmers’ ability to affordably feed Americans and the world.  Yet instead of switching away from their failed policies, President Biden and the Democrats are doubling-down and making conditions even worse. Representative Newhouse writes, “(President Biden’s) policies are not working for Washingtonians, and when November’s election rolls around, Republicans in Congress will be ready and waiting to hold this administration accountable and stop them from harming our constituents—and our country—any further.” (Click to read full Special Guest Commentary from Congressman Dan Newhouse)

An email sent to Democrat legislative leaders reveals the Democrats’ hypocrisy on helping working class families as they developed their “spin” after a Douglas County Superior Court judge ruled that their state income tax on capital gains was illegal.  In an email obtained through a public record request by Jason Mercier of the Washington Policy Center, members of the Democrats’ legislative press team sent House Speaker Laurie Jinkins the statement she should make if a reporter contacted her about the ruling that was made public by the court earlier that afternoon on March 1^st.

The media team provided Speaker Jinkins with this statement, “The ruling from Douglas County is precisely the outcome opponents of a capital gains excise tax were seeking when they chose to file suit there, and any other outcome would have been a pleasant surprise to me. We will have to wait to see whether the Legislature will be forced to decide how to handle loss of funding for child care and education for our state’s working families just so the wealthiest Washingtonians can avoid paying their share. I’m looking forward to the state Supreme Court weighing in, and will reserve further comment until then.”

Yet at the same time Speaker Jinkins was being instructed to say the state needs to raise taxes even higher to help “working families,” she and her legislative colleagues were making life more difficult for working families.  Republican legislators wanted to use the state’s $15 billion in surplus revenue to provide sales tax relief and/or gas tax relief to help working class families who were being severely impacted by the national Democrats’ inflationary actions and energy policies. Yet the Democrat legislators ignored the needs of working families and decided instead to use the money to expand the size and cost of state government (to pay back state employee union bosses who have funded Democrats’ campaigns).  The Democrats cared so little about the needs of working families, they even refused to eliminate taxes on diapers as they had promised.

The email and statement also confirms that Democrat legislators have indications that the nine liberal justices on the Washington State Supreme Court will likely ignore all previous court decisions and develop some strange reason to call the capital gains tax an “excise tax” (which is constitutional in Washington State) and not an “income tax” (which is unconstitutional in the state).  The court will also be ignoring the fact that the IRS and all 49 other states consider a capital gains tax an income tax. (Email to Speaker Jinkins, MyNorthwest, and Washington Policy Center)

Senator Republican Leader John Braun called for the Washington State Legislature to reconvene in a special session to cut the state’s gas tax to help low-and middle income workers who are struggling financially due to liberal policies. The senator stated two key facts led him to call for a one-day virtual special session. The first was the state reporting that tax revenues continue to exceed projections (by more than $255 million in just a couple of months) and that it can well afford to cut the tax that workers are paying at the gas pump. Secondly, the national inflation rate is the highest in 40 years (8.5%) and this is hurting those on low- and fixed- income the most.  Reducing the gas tax would not only reduce the cost of traveling to work and performing necessary tasks, but it would also lower the transportation costs for the necessities nearly all households much purchase.

Senator Braun mentioned that Democrats passed up an opportunity during the 2022 legislative session to help low- and middle- income households when they voted last month to use all of the $15 billion in surplus tax revenue to make state government even larger and not to provide any tax relief to struggling families.  The Democrats even refused to hold a simply public hearing on any tax relief measures.  The Democrats increased the size and cost of state government despite it doubling in size during the nine years of the Inslee Administration. (Senator Braun media release)

A tweet today by the Washington State Democrat Party shows how out of touch its leaders are to the concerns of most Washington residents.  The party asks in a Twitter poll, “Which issue is getting you to the polls for the 2022 midterms?” The tweet then lists, “Access to health care,” Climate action,” “Cost of Living,” and “High-quality childcare.”  Do you notice a major current issue missing?  That’s right, no mention at all of the skyrocketing crime rates. Evidently the unprecedented increase in violent crimes and property theft after the legislative Democrats passed their anti-police package in 2021 is of no importance to the Democrats.

Democrats also seem to have lost interest in solving the state’s homeless problem.  Seven years after it was called a “crisis” by Seattle Mayor Ed Murray and King County Executive Dow Constantine, liberal policies and a massive increase in public spending have only made the problem worse. (Washington State Democrat Party tweet)

Concerns over public safety is one of the key factors why Seattle workers lag behind the rest of the country in returning to work.  Data from a national security company reveals that more than 42% of workers in urban areas across the country have returned to the office.  Yet in Seattle, less than 33% have returned.  University of Washington historian Margaret O’Mara believes, “retail closure and boarding up of downtown … during, and after, the 2020 protests” were probably psychological barriers for some returning workers.  Downtown Seattle Association president and CEO Jon Scholes said, “If workers … had seen more [public safety improvements] at the end of 2021,” then more would be returning to the office.

Others contend the slow pace Governor Inslee took towards lifting government mandates also contributed to the slow pace workers are taking to returning to normal activities, like riding transit.  (Seattle Times)

New fish passage measures on one of the lower Snake River dams will enable even more fish to travel up and down the river.  While fish population has been steadily increasing on the Snake River over the past few years, the new methods and fish ladders at the Ice Harbor Dam (the western-most dam on the lower Snake River, just before it meets the Columbia River) will increase salmon survival rates even more. The new spillway will allow juvenile fish to travel past the dams in surface waters, thus keeping them away from larger predatory fish.   And two new fish ladders will enable the salmon to travel easier past the dams, while new screens will prevent fish from being drawn into turbines.  (KEPR – TV)

Democrats are oddly silent about the racism and bigotry of one of their longtime political leaders, Washington Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler.  The 78-year-old Democrat career politician was once again the focus of a very negative media story, this time for his racist comments made to staff members and for his bigoted views towards those who are transgendered.  Democrats who normally throw out the words “racists” and “homophobic” the same way the late U.S. Senator Joe McCarthy used the terms “communist” and “red menace” are noticeably quiet about Commissioner Kreidler’s actions.  When the Spokesman-Review asked the three lone Democrat legislators from Eastern Washington (Senate Majority Leader Andy Billig and Representatives Marcus Riccelli and Timm Ormsby) for comments on Commissioner Kreidler’s disturbing comments, all three of the normally media friendly liberal politicians suddenly became very quiet.  They are well-practiced at this approach after doing the same when Democrat party organizations and the Senate Democrat Caucus were previously labeled racist by fellow Democrats. (Click to read full Shift Article)

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