Democrat Senator Emily Randall is not getting much help from Democrat leaders who gut her bills and refuse to pass her other legislation.
Shift Article
“Moderate” Democrat lawmakers are desperately attempting to distance themselves from the unpopular radical Left policies which they supported. Even partisan Democrats realize that that this year’s elections are shaping up to be a “bloodbath” and the most vulnerable Democrats in swing suburban districts are pushing the false narrative that it is somehow just the radical (think socialist) members of their party who are responsible for all the bad policies. Unfortunately for these so-called “moderate” legislators (especially those most vulnerable in swing suburban districts) the record shows that when they were given the opportunity to either support the radical measures of their far-left colleagues or work with any Republicans, they nearly always chose to join their fellow Democrats to impose higher taxes, make government larger, increase energy costs, make the state safer for criminals, and allow Governor Inslee to continue his abuse of emergency powers. (Click to read full Shift Article)
State
Democrat State Senator Emily Randall (Bremerton) is one of the most vulnerable incumbents in this year’s elections and her party leaders don’t appear to care very much as they have gutted major provisions of successes she is claiming. Senator Randall is facing a tough challenge this November from six-term Republican State Representative Jesse Young who is well known as a hard-working candidate.
Senator Randall is touting that her bill to reduce tolls on the Tacoma Narrows Bridge passed during the 2022 legislative session. Unfortunately for her, the reality is that fellow Democrat and Chair of the House Transportation Committee Representative Jake Fey (Tacoma) actually gutted Senator Randall’s language on tolls and replaced it with more fiscally responsible language. Senator Randall’s bill specifically called for a 75 cent toll reduction for personal vehicles. Yet Representative Fey revised the bill, replacing Senator Randall’s’ specific toll reduction with language that required the state to transfer funds to the bridge’s debt but then instructed the Washington State Transportation Commission to “adjust tolls accordingly, in consideration of annual contributions from non-toll sources.”
Pouring a little more salt in the wounds, just last week Governor Inslee line-item vetoed major provisions of Senator Randall’s SB 5901 which would have provided tax incentives to rural communities for the construction of job-creating warehouses. Media reports indicate the governor’s actions greatly upset the senator from Kitsap County. Yet it could have been far worse for Senator Randall since evidently the governor was going to veto the entire piece of legislation, but his wealthy environmental contributors told him he needed to keep some portions of the bill which allowed them to grab even more tax money.
Remember it was Senator Randall’s “fake” reform (SB 5909) of the governor’s emergency powers which received so much criticism during the legislative session. After the public expressed its outrage over the bill’s failure to end Governor Inslee’s never-ending abuse of emergency powers (now on Day 766), Democrat legislative leaders allowed this Senator Randall bill to die a quiet death. (Senator Randall homepage, Shift Newsmaker Interview, Gig Harbor Now, SB 5488 original substitute version, Passed version of SB 5488, Seattle Times, Draft of Inslee letter explaining full veto of SB 5901, Washington Legislature Bill Summary, and Shift Article)
Democrat Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI) Chris Reykdal took time away from his efforts to continue reducing Washington State students’ test scores to tweet divisive comments about Elon Musk’s purchase of 9% of Twitter stocks. The hyper-partisan SPI tweeted “Free speech is not promoting election conspiracies, manipulating stocks for personal gain, or promoting hate. Every right has limitations and responsibilities. Elon Musk is positioning his attack on democracy and truth. Oligarchs thrive when propaganda smothers truth.”
If the SPI is consistent in his argument, then we look forward to him calling for expulsion from Twitter of those who called for voter fraud conspiracies after Donald Trump defeated Hillary Clinton in 2016, and those (like himself) who failed to condemn the political violence (including a mass murder attempt) by liberal activists in Seattle during 2020. We’re waiting… (Twitter and KOMO News)
Western Washington
In a silly display of political correctness, the Seattle Times posted a map of the state pointing out the 18 locations that contain the word “squaw,” but they displayed the word “sq__w.” Despite the map’s caption and related story fully spelling out the word, the map was censored. The story is on how the 18 locations need to come up with new names after U.S. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland labeled “squaw” as a derogatory term. (Seattle Times)
While Seattle’s liberal leaders have sought to eliminate criminal cases against individuals who repeatedly perpetrate violent or property crimes, they have decided to increase their efforts to punish those who commit minor driving infractions. The city will be installing a traffic camera on Fourth Avenue and Battery Street to automatically issue tickets against those who block an intersection or crosswalk due to traffic backing up through the intersection. More cameras will soon be installed around the city. While repeat shoplifters or those who publicly use illegal drugs are encouraged to roam free, a mom who is running late to pick up her child from soccer practice will be fined by the city. The reason why is quite clear – the city government makes money punishing the mom, and they use that money to hire more government workers. (MyNorthwest)
Eastern Washington
An Eastern Washington Superior Court judge, appointed by Governor Inslee, agreed to a plea bargain deal resulting in him admitting guilt for one count of Assault with Sexual Motivation in the third-degree and one count of Assault with Sexual Motivation in the fourth-degree. Originally former Superior Court Judge Scott Gallina, overseeing Asotin, Columbia, and Garfield counties (the Southeast corner of Washington) had faced six charges, including second degree rape, resulting from several incidents involving employees at the Asotin County Courthouse. Judge Gallina had been appointed to the bench by Governor Inslee in 2014. (KLEW – TV and Ballotpedia)
Say What???
Evidently Attorney General Bob Ferguson does not feel comfortable meeting face-to-face with the public even though Governor Inslee finally lifted most COVID-related restrictions last month. On Thursday, the hyper partisan third-term Attorney General and career politician will be holding his annual shrimp feed fundraiser – again via Zoom. Apparently standing outside while sipping wine and nibbling on seafood goes beyond the AG’s comfort level.
It is very telling that the Ferguson campaign is calling a $100 – $1,000 ticket price fundraiser a “grassroots event.” After Washington State Democrats refused to provide a tax cut for lower-and middle- income households, despite $15 billion in surplus revenue, labeling this high-dollar fundraiser as “grassroots” is further proof that liberals like Ferguson no longer care about those who work for a living. Instead they are very comfortable isolating themselves among wealthy urban environmentalists and government employee union bosses who control large bank accounts to fund their campaigns. (Ferguson Campaign Fundraising email)
Alaska
Shift normally focuses on state and local issues, yet the special elections to replace Alaska’s late Congressman Don Young, and the recently adapted new voting methods in the “Last Frontier” state, are very interesting to those who study elections. Two overlapping elections will determine who will temporarily replace Congressman Young (who passed away last month on a flight to SeaTac Airport), and who will be elected to a permanent two-year term in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Former Alaska Governor and one-time GOP nominee for Vice President Sarah Palin is among the 48 candidates who have filed to run in a June 11th special election to determine who will temporarily hold the House seat until November. The top four candidates will then run in an August 16th general election in which Alaska’s new “ranked voting” method will be put in place.
The rules go like this: voters will rank their top four choices. If no candidate receives 50%, then the candidate with the least number of votes will be removed and their votes will reallocated by their voters’ second choice candidate. If still no winner is determined, then the third place candidate will be removed, and their votes will be redistributed to those selected as their third choice. Confusing? Yes.
To complicate things further, on the same August 16th ballot that contains the general election to determine Representative Young’s temporary replacement, there be yet another primary election ballot (likely with many who just filed for the June 11th primary election) to determine Representative Young’s permanent replacement. The top four winners of that race will square off in a ranked-ballot general election contest on November 8th. This will definitely be interesting to watch. (Anchorage Daily News)
Shift Article
Senator Patty Kuderer (D – Bellevue) took time away from seeking the early release of criminals and restoring felons’ voting rights before they have completed their sentences to promote a new bloated housing agency (outside of her own legislative district) which will significantly increase the cost of living in King County while actually doing little about affordable housing. Last month, the East King County liberal state senator took to Twitter to endorse Seattle progressives’ plan to create a huge new government public housing bureaucracy. Evidently Senator Kuderer forgot that these are the same people who developed Seattle’s failed homeless, public safety, housing, education, and tax policies.
This wasteful new government bureaucracy would be like a “housing” version of Sound Transit. The leaders would have no accountability to taxpayers, so predictably the projects will suffer from massive cost overruns and fail to meet construction deadlines. Thus while many families struggle to meet their mortgage or pay rent every month, Senator Kuderer wants to raise their taxes even further to pay the bloated salaries and golden benefits of a bunch of government bureaucrats while occasionally building a few people a free home. (Click to read full Shift Article)
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