The Democrats are selfishly using the misfortune of Americans in an irresponsible attempt to dramatically change the country’s election laws.  The Democrats want Congress to spend $500,000,000 to force all states to switch to a vote-by-mail process for the 2020 elections. Currently only 5 states are vote-by-mail. Thus, in just six months, the Democrats irresponsibly want 45 other states (and nearly 3,000 county elections departments) to dramatically alter their voting methods (and pass legislation and budgets approving the change) when all levels of government are working from home and have far more immediate needs to address. (Shift)

Late Wednesday, Governor Jay Inslee’s team distributed a set of colorful dials pointing at random spots and said this was the “data” he was using to determine various actions he was taking regarding the coronavirus outbreak.  It was nice of Team Inslee to provide some graphics, but the problem is that his handlers provided absolutely no actual data to indicate why the arrows on the dials were pointing to random colors.  They also did not indicate where the various arrows need to be pointing for the state to start getting back to work.  And since Governor Inslee is committed to the “Democrats Only Club” of the Western States Pact, we would like to know where fellow club member Colorado’s dials are pointing, since that state is apparently safely opening retail businesses while Jay Inslee keeps our retailers shut down.  Washington residents are getting anxious and data-free charts from our governor, that are about as meaningful as a leprechaun pointing at a rainbow, are not helping to ease their concerns.  Of course, we all want to be safe in how we re-start our economy, but we need actual numbers and actual goals.  We also need a public discussion about these goals.  Here’s a thought – instead of just talking to other Democrat governors, maybe Inslee could talk with actual Washington residents.  (Governor Inslee’s COVID-19 Risk Assessment “Dashboard”)

Washington State Representatives Jesse Young (R-Gig Harbor) and Jim Walsh (R-Aberdeen) have proposed their “BOISE” plan to help restart the state’s economy.  The acronym stands for a dual moratorium on B&O taxes and Impact Statements on Everything and features a reduction of the state’s Business and Occupation tax, which will result increase sales tax revenues and encourage banks to invest in struggling businesses. (Aberdeen Daily World)

Governor Brad Little announced that Idaho will begin to safely re-open some businesses and offices, as his state starts to bring some people back to work.  Despite being a border state of both Washington and Oregon, Little has not been included in Governor Inslee’s partisan Western States Pact, evidently because he is a Republican.  Little stressed the importance of residents using safe practices as they return to work. “I want to reiterate that we can only progress through the stages if we demonstrate a downward decline in severe cases and meet other criteria. It is imperative that individuals take personal responsibility by limiting their exposure to others and maintaining good hygiene.” (Idaho News)

KIRO Radio’s Dori Monson expressed his concern that Governor Inslee is purposely using the coronavirus outbreak to cause damage to our state’s economy in order to justify an unpopular state income tax.  Monson contends the governor is doing this to satisfy the Democrat party’s big-donating special interest groups.  The radio talk show host concludes his post by stating, “I’ve tried to make sense of the baffling disparity of how Inslee has messaged his stay-at-home order. The private sector is getting wiped out. Why? Could it be, in his run for his last term as governor, that Jay Inslee is willing to use a pandemic to crush our private sector and reward his overlords with a major push for a state income tax?” (KIRO Radio)

In the media’s ongoing effort to portray all liberal political activities as innovative and cool (while portraying conservatives as sinister), a national story describes how progressive special interest groups plan to send letters to low turnout liberal voters in October.   The group claims it will send out 10 million letters.  We look forward to the follow-up story in the autumn when the groups fall considerably short of their stated goals. (The Olympian)

Seattle has the highest unemployment rate due to the coronavirus outbreak in the country.  According to the research of WalletHub, of the 180 most populous American markets, Seattle has lost the highest percentage of jobs.  Surprisingly, the city’s job loss is even greater than Las Vegas, which is totally dependent on travel and entertainment. (WalletHub)

Businesses that want to re-open safely are being denied by the state and are given no indication of what they need to do to bring their employees back to work.  Brown Bear Car Wash has provided the governor’s office a safe plan for re-opening its business, in which customers do not have to come in contact with employees.  The governor’s office denied the request and provided no guidance to the company as to what needs to occur for the company  to re-open its locations and bring employees off the state’s unemployment rolls. (KIRO-TV)

The Stranger, which has filled its leftist publication with anti-capitalist political rhetoric for years, is now asking for its readers to donate to keep it in business.  The free weekly Seattle publication is now experiencing first-hand what occurs when other related businesses are forced to close.  On its website, the Stranger states that 90% of its revenue comes from businesses which are “directly tied to people getting together in groups” (i.e. those being shut down by the government to prevent the spread of the coronavirus).  One wonders that if the publication survives, will it be more understanding of what other businesses in the region face when government actions hurt their ability to stay solvent? (The Stranger)

Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson says closing a homeless camp behind the Aberdeen City Hall would be in violation of Governor Inslee’s prohibition against evictions during the coronavirus outbreak.  Even though it has been determined that the camp is a “significant and immediate risk to the health and safety of others,“ it is still covered by the governor’s orders.  The city will now need to authorize the spending of $36,000 a month to keep the camp, where approximately 35 people reside, open. (Daily World)

A Washington Policy Center report shows that a recent Port of Seattle action is not the environmental victory the port claims it to be.  On Earth Day, the port announced it was spending $23 million over the next 10 years on a natural gas contract to heat the airport and provide fuel for its bus fleet. This works out to spending $209 per ton of CO2 avoided. Yet others pay considerably less to reduce CO2 emissions.  For example, Seattle City Light pays just $7 per ton to reduce CO2 emissions.  The report states, “95 percent of the money the Port is spending yields no reduction in CO2. It is 95 percent for politics, five percent for the environment.” (Washington Policy Center)

Angel of the Winds Casino in Arlington has stated that it will be smoke-free when it re-opens.  The Native American resort is not restricted by the state’s no-smoking ban.  The casino, which is also not covered by Governor Inslee’s COVID-19 orders, is planning to re-open next week.  The facility needs to resume making money so it can afford the contributions to Democrat lawmakers, who just gave tribal casinos the exclusive rights to the very lucrative sports betting business which was just made legal. (Everett Herald

Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Colville) is encouraging Governor Inslee to provide safety guidelines that allow small businesses to open.   McMorris Rodgers said that current policies allow big stores to remain open, yet small businesses are losing money.  She used her hometown Colville as an example, “Main Street is shut down. You drive through Colville and you see one or two cars parked on Main Street. But the Walmart at the end of town is doing well. Their parking lot is packed because that’s the only business that is open.” (MyNorthwest)

The controversial organization Jewels Helping Hands was informed by the City of Spokane that its  contract to operate the city’s warming center for homeless individuals will not be renewed. The city stated it had been contacted by “multiple parties” over legal concerns that the city will need to investigate.  Another organization, the Guardians Foundation, will now operate the facility after Jewels kicked everyone out on Wednesday. Ever since former Spokane City Council President Ben Stuckart rammed though an emergency contract with Jewels, the group has been the source of considerable controversy.  As reported first by Shift, one of the founders and operators of Jewels was recently convicted of embezzling a half million dollars from his previous employer. (Spokesman-Review and Shift)

Liberal special interest groups continue to push for higher taxes on the region’s workforce to pay for their big government utopia.  Liberal rich guy Nick Hanauer (who became ultra-wealthy because of Amazon’s success) funds a far-left PR machine called Civic Action, which continues to push for higher taxes despite the massive job losses which have hit the region’s private sector (while taxpayer-funded government employees have kept their jobs).  While condemning others for being “trickle-downers”, Hanauer’s minions fail to understand that liberals are the ones promoting ‘trickle-down” economics – they just want the money to trickle-down through the government, government employee unions, and liberal special interest groups. (Civic Action email)

Do you like The Daily Briefing? Forward this to a friend! It helps us grow our community and serve you better.

You can also follow ShiftWA on social media by liking us on Facebook and following us on Twitter.

If you feel we missed something that should be covered, email us at [email protected]