Governor Jay Inslee once again demonstrated his disrespect for Washington State taxpayers when he made them fund the most expensive state delegation to last year’s Glasgow Climate Change Conference (i.e., a boondoggle where liberal politicians and wealthy environmentalists attended elegant cocktail parties to lavish praise on themselves). A key reason for the expensive bills is that the governor and his wife chose to fly luxury class, for his self-appointed privileged status does not allow the couple to mingle with those of us who fly coach class.

Governors from six states (along with staff members and security details) attended the swanky events in Glasgow, but Governor Jay and Trudi Inslee were the only ones to fly business class getting there. These expensive seats feature “cozy lie flat beds,” “luxury dining,” and “exclusive premium check-in areas” (again, the governor believes he is so privileged that he can’t be bothered to stand in check-in lines or use a self-service kiosk like the rest of us). These seven hours of in-flight opulence cost Washington State taxpayers $12,510!  For point of reference, Inslee is currently the sixth-highest paid governor in the country, making more than $190,600 in 2022.

Remember, the governor made this trip last November, as the omicron variant of COVID was spreading throughout Washington State.  The COVID pandemic is so severe the governor uses it to justify his on-going undemocratic abuse of “emergency powers” (now on Day 789) which he employs to eliminate the state’s legislative branch and local health officials from making decisions which impact millions of lives.  Yet evidently the crisis was not serious enough to stop the governor from flying in luxury across the globe to hobnob with the liberal elite who arrived in Glasgow by private jets and yachts.

Forcing the Washington taxpayers to fund his greedy desires is nothing new for Governor Inslee.  He forced the state’s truck drivers, waitresses, farmers, construction workers, sales reps, nurses, etc., to pay millions to fund his (unnecessary) security costs for his five-month-long failed presidential campaign in 2019. (Remember, the only other governor in the presidential nomination contest, Montana’s Governor Steve Bullock, paid back his state for the additional security costs caused by his presidential campaign.)

Governor Inslee’s campaign reports nearly $1.4 in receipts since the 2020 elections.  He has placed a half million in a “Surplus Funds” account, while most of the rest is spent keeping his highly paid consultants happy.  Maybe this money (or even, God forbid, the governor’s own money) should pay for his family’s extravagant travel choices instead of forcing hard-working Washington residents to pay for his privileged status. (CenterSquare, KOMO News, Montana Public Radio, and Washington State Public Disclosure Commission report)

Floundering State Senate Democrats have stumbled into a “bizzarro” world where they actually have the nerve to label six of their more radical anti-police legislators as “public safety champions.”  (FYI – a “bizzarro world” is an alternative universe where everything is the exact opposite of reality.)  In a tweet posted yesterday, the Washington Senate Democrat Campaign Committee included a picture of Democrat Senators Manka Dhingra (Redmond), Rebecca Saldana (Seattle), Yasmin Trudeau (Tacoma), Joe Nguyen (Seattle), Jamie Pedersen (Seattle), and Reuven Carlyle (Seattle) attending a liberal special interest fundraising luncheon.  The tweet labeled the six Democrats as “our public safety champions.”  Sadly we are not making this up.

While crime rates have skyrocketed throughout the state, hurting residents of lower income neighborhoods the most, nearly every law enforcement agency in the state has blamed the Washington State legislative Democrats’ 2021 anti-police package of laws as the primary reason for increased criminality.  And when a legislative fix (albeit a watered down version) to allow police to resume pursuit of criminals was sent to the Washington State Senate for a vote during the 2022 legislative session, the Senate Democrat caucus (which includes these six senators) decided not to bring the bill up for a vote.

Thus, these six senators are responsible for preventing police from pursuing and questioning those suspected of serious crimes in our state. These six Senate Democrats are responsible for keeping Washington State a more comfortable place to be a criminal.  Only in a “Bizzarro World” can these six liberal politicians be called “public safety champions.” (Washington Senate Democrat Campaign Twitter, Washington Legislature Bill Summary SB-5919, and CenterSquare)

The super sensitive liberal Twitter users in Washington and Oregon are leading the nation in saying they are going to leave the social media site since it was announced that Elon Musk was purchasing the company.  None of us who reside in the Pacific Northwest are shocked by this development.  We have seen firsthand how many of our neighbors are only comfortable within their own liberal echo chamber and are “triggered” whenever anyone provides facts which conflict with their narrow point of view. Meanwhile moderates and conservatives are joining Twitter since Musk has promised to end the discrimination against those who don’t support liberal and radical viewpoints.  If you are one of those thinking of joining Twitter, we sure hope you will follow Shift. (KOMO News and Shift Twitter)

New Seattle City Attorney Ann Davison has asked the Seattle Municipal Court to allow her office to prosecute repeat offenders of serious crimes instead of allowing them to go through a community court which seeks to release criminals first and provide them with multiple government social services.  The Seattle Community Court was launched in 2019 as a liberal policy to keep criminals out of jail. City Attorney Davison wrote in a letter to the municipal court that her office has come to an impasse in negotiating with the court and the public defenders to allow her office to prosecute those who obviously fail to stop their criminal behavior after the community court has provided them with social services.  She wrote, “after over two years of poor results for this population (repeat offenders), I believe the time for continuing negotiations around keeping individuals that meet the High Utilizer criteria in Community Court is over.”

The public defenders use the “racial disproportionality” of their client as their excuse for not agreeing to City Attorney Davison’s request. The public defenders chose to ignore the “racial disproportionality” of the victims of these crimes and the fact that most of their criminal activity takes place in lower-income neighborhoods with a high percentage of people of color.  (Seattle Times, City Attorney Davison Letter to Seattle Municipal Court, and Seattle 2021 Crime Report)

Pierce County has reported 36 homicides since the beginning of 2022, setting a pace to break long-standing records.  Data also reveals there has been an increase in other violent crimes in the county, including assault, robbery, sexual assault, and arson.  Pierce thus joins nearly all other Washington State counties in experiencing skyrocketing violent and property crime rates since the Democrats in the Washington State Legislature chose to cave into the radical demands of their violent liberal rioters by passing anti-police legislation in 2021 which made Washington State a more comfortable place to be a criminal. (News Tribune)

Cost overruns and more construction delays continue to plague Sound Transit’s planned light rail service to Mercer Island and Bellevue. This story has become more than a tad repetitive for the troubled transit agency, as this route has predictably become yet another example of the failure of government entities to complete projects on-time and within the promised budget of taxpayer dollars. The latest report from Sound Transit (which likes to dispense bad news in slow dribbles) is that Eastlink will be completed nine months later (February 2024) than its last previously promised start date of June 2023. Sound Transit officials said they could not commit to this date until the agency conducts another study on why they are falling behind schedule. Because of the delays, the Sound Transit board will need to approve at least $15 million in additional taxpayer payments to contractors.  (Seattle Times)

Landlords with a few properties, or only one, are leaving the Seattle rental market due to the City of Seattle’s radical and unworkable rental laws. Data from the Rental Housing Association of Washington reveals that the city lost more than 11,500 rental units in 2021. The RHA points out 70% of this was from small property owners selling their Seattle properties, most of which were single family homes where the new owners reside in the homes. The loss of rental units only make it tougher for lower income individuals to stay in Seattle. (KING5 News)

Spokane Mayor Nadine Woodward and the Spokane Police Department announced the formation of the Violent Crime Task Force which will focus on preventing crimes committed by repeat offenders.  The task force is comprised of two sergeants and five officers, with Spokane Police Chief Craig Meidle saying, “Their job every day is to wake up and look at who are these repeat offenders that continue to go out and victimize the community.” The city is also looking to package multiple “misdemeanor crimes into felony charges for those responsible for dozens and dozens of offenses.”  (Spokesman-Review)

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