Senate Republican Leader Mark Schoesler (R-Ritzville) answers the many questions regarding the powers the legislature has in responding to Governor Jay Inslee’s emergency orders during the COVID-19 crisis.  In this op-ed for Shift, Senator Schoesler explains what the legislature can and cannot do. (Shift)

Last Friday’s Newsmaker Interview was with King County Councilmember Reagan Dunn, who has been at the forefront of the region’s response to the coronavirus outbreak. Dunn shares with us his thoughts about King County being the initial COVID-19 outbreak location in the U.S. and how we can recover from this sudden attack on our economy.  The councilmember also shares his thoughts about his Family Reunification program, which helps homeless individuals return to their families. (Shift)

Skepticism continues to grow over Gov. Inslee’s claim that his decisions related to COVID-19 are based on “science.”  The Governor has flip-flopped on his original last-minute restrictions on commercial and residential construction, and provided no new “science” to warrant the change.  The governor’s reversal was likely due Republican lawmakers, construction industry leaders, and the public (including Shift readers) pointing out the Inslee’s hypocrisy of allowing government projects to continue while shutting down private developments.  If Governor Zero is going to keep claiming that “science” is guiding his decisions, then he needs to provide more than “Zero science” to the public and inform everyone what the data benchmarks are that need to be met to lift restrictions. Otherwise we are left to assume that Inslee’s typical hyper-partisan approach is guiding his decisions. (Yakima Herald)

Gov. Inslee has announced that two more Democrat governors will determine when workers will return in Washington State.  While largely ignoring the concerns of Washington legislators (especially those pesky Republican lawmakers he generally ignores), the governor announced that Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak and Colorado Governor Jared Polis will be joining “the pact” Inslee has with fellow Democrat governors of California and Oregon to implement their “shared vision for modifying stay at home orders and fighting COVID-19.” While Inslee has repeatedly stated that his decisions are based on “science” (while never revealing to anyone what the “science” is behind his decisions), many of his coronavirus outbreak responses have appeared to be very partisan.  It is interesting that the Republican governors of Arizona, Idaho, Utah, and Wyoming are not included in this partisan group of Western governors – nor is our fellow West Coast state of Alaska – who will determine when and how our state’s COVID-19 restrictions are lifted.  It is also interesting that Governor Polis has already announced that starting today much of Colorado will have many of its restrictions eased. Guess the “science” is different in Colorado. (James Drew’s Twitter and The Denver Channel)

Gov. Inslee and his Department of Corrections (DOC) promised that only non-violent criminals would be included in the 1,200 inmates that he released from the state’s prisons, yet an investigation has shown that convicted sex offenders and gang members have been released.  KHQ-TV investigated the DOC list of released inmates and found eight gang members, two people involved in homicides, and a couple of sex offenders are among Jay Inslee’s “get-out-of-jail free” prisoners. (KHQ and Department of Correction list of released inmates)

Flop-Flop Alert: Governor Inslee will lifting some of the restrictions on recreational fishing, starting May 5^th. Washington was the only state in the country to prohibit recreational fishing, even while some states encouraged residents to go out in the water.  While saying his decisions are always based on “science,” the governor has failed to inform the public what science he saw that the other 49 governors did not see when he closed sports fishing in March. Maybe Inslee’s handlers just can’t bring themselves to admit that he was wrong, and there was no science ever involved in the decision. (Seattle Times)

Superintendent of Public Instruction Chris Reykdal hasn’t been getting enough attention, so he has jumped on the liberal bandwagon that is discouraging students from working hard during the coronavirus outbreak, and providing guidelines that encourages school districts to hand out good grades to all students no matter the quality of their work.  Reykdal even encouraged districts to follow Seattle schools and provide only “A’s” to students. Certainly there should be some leeway given to all students during the COVID-19 crisis, but one can imagine the frustration of the students who have worked hard during the at-home learning period upon learning that the alleged adults in charge want them to get the same r grade as classmates who did little. (MyNorthwest)

The City of Puyallup has furloughed 15 employees and will not hire seasonal Parks Department workers as the loss of sales tax revenues begins to force local governments to make cuts.  Most of the furloughed individuals worked for library branches which have been closed for over a month. (News Tribune)

The city of Edmonds is considering shifting $100,000 from its homeless prevention budget to help residents financially impacted by the coronavirus crisis.  Residents could receive up to $1,000 and it would be administered through local non-profits. (Everett Herald)

The Pierce County Republicans are hosting a Zoom meeting with 6^th Congressional District candidate Elizabeth Kreiselmaier, Ph.D.  The virtual event will take place next Saturday, May 2^nd, at 10:00 AM. For more details, contact the Pierce County GOP at [email protected] or 253.722.5353. (Pierce County Republicans Facebook invite)

The region’s popular Farmers Markets are developing guidelines for how they will operate under COVID-19 outbreak conditions.  No homemade “non-essential” products or flowers will be sold, no free samples will be allowed, face masks will be worn by both vendors and customers, and one-way foot-traffic will be enforced. (Everett Herald)

Flip-Flop Alert: The Tri-City Herald states, “Gov. Jay Inslee is losing his grip on his ‘Stay Home, Stay Healthy’ order.” Because of the hypocrisy of many of his orders (some of which punish the governor’s political opponents and favor his friends), the newspaper believes many Washington residents “are beginning to lose patience with Inslee’s vague, one-size-fits-all directives.” The editorial concludes, “Inslee must launch a recovery plan that includes fairness, substance and precision, as well as provide encouragement to business owners who fear they will have to close permanently. Too many Washington residents are on the edge. Inslee must regain their confidence and pull them back to hope.” Tri-City Herald

In yet another case of the Inslee Administration imposing two separate sets of safety regulations for similar work activities, Washington agriculture leaders are concerned about the state Labor and Industry Department’s draft of proposed safety guidelines for seasonal workers.  Employers state the restrictions would prohibit more than half of the state’s 50,000 seasonal workers from being employed and cause considerable amounts of products to rot in the fields. Many agriculture leaders are wondering why Inslee is imposing these measures on just the temporary workers and not all workers. This is yet another example where the Governor needs to make public the “science” that backs up his “thinking”. (Washington AG Network)

Members of the Spokane City Council signed a letter to Governor Inslee asking him to allow bars and restaurants to sell cocktails curbside.  Those with liquor licenses are currently allowed to sell factory-sealed bottles of wine, beer, and hard liquor, along with kegs of beer.  The Washington Hospitality Association is encouraging its members to advocate the temporary lifting of state laws that restrict drive-thru purchases of mixed drinks to financially assist establishments which have been impacted by Gov. Inslee’s emergency orders. (Spokesman Review)

As Gov. Inslee continues to seek the attention and approval of Joe Biden (in order to land an administration job if the former Vice President is successful in November), he is marching lockstep with other extreme Democrats in promoting the reckless idea of spending $500 billion and forcing 45 states (and nearly 3,000 counties) to dramatically shift how they conduct elections.  In an email to his supporters, Inslee is encouraging them to sign a phony petition calling for the entire nation to switch to a vote-by-mail system in just six months. While states and counties have far more pressing needs to tackle in the coming months, national Democrats are irresponsibly pushing this measure that might obtain them more votes from lazy liberal voters, but would cost over a half billion dollars while likely creating mayhem in our elections and causing considerable confusion among voters.  Shift will have more on this issue in the days to come. (Inslee email)

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