Shift’s Newsmaker Interview is with Representative Luanne Van Werven (R – Lynden), Co-Chair of the House Republican Organizational Committee. Van Werven provides her insights into how and where the House Republicans will pick up seats in the 2020 elections.  The three-term representative highlights the issues which are being discussed in the state’s legislative campaigns.  Representative Van Werven also comments about the complete silence coming from statewide and legislative Democrats even as their fellow Democrats in Seattle are imposing radical measures on the state’s largest city and are quickly taking control of the Democrat party. (Shift)

Governor Jay Inslee continues to demonstrate that he believes the primary purpose of his office is to promote national Democrat talking points (to help bolster his chances for a possible cabinet position) while ignoring major local events which are making national news.  The governor used his office yesterday to regurgitate national Democrat talking points on the U.S. Postal Service, while continuing to say absolutely nothing about the racist actions of his fellow Democrats on the Seattle City Council, or its actions to erode public safety for its 775,000 residents.  As Inslee demonstrated when he forced Washington taxpayers to pay for his failed Presidential campaign’s security, the governor obviously believes he no longer serves the citizens of Washington, but instead all of us (and our tax dollars) are here to serve his political ambitions. (Governor’s Office media release and Seattle Times)

Maybe Governor Inslee’s lack of leadership in Washington is being noticed by the Biden team.  Thus far, the Governor Zero’s presence has been reduced to inclusion in a montage of video clips with other failed presidential candidates during the Democrat National Convention telethon.  Maybe it is because he once described Biden’s environmental plan as “half measures” (although recently, he switched his position and now calls it “brilliant” – proving Inslee will do anything to get a cabinet post – except the job he is paid $189,186 to perform). (Spokesman-Review and Patch)

Governor Inslee’s office is making statements regarding legislative involvement on fiscal issues which do not align with reality.  It must be getting under Gov. Inslee’s skin that he is taking flak for ruling by Executive Order, without the involvement of the people’s elected representatives. Perhaps that’s why Inslee’s communications director states that legislators “see our proposal before we send it over. They make suggestions. We have accepted many of those. The legislature, both fiscal and leadership, are in the middle of these decisions.” If this is true, it must only be with a couple of Democrat members who don’t want to admit they are involved, for no one else has corroborated these self-serving claims of the hyper-partisan governor.  Instead of trying to solve problems now, Inslee and his fellow Democrats continue to delay necessary action on the budget until after the election. That’s their best way to their goal of raising taxes, since it is difficult to run for re-election right after you raised taxes on voters experiencing wage losses and financial insecurity. (Everett Herald)

State health officials refuse to acknowledge that spikes in the transmission rate of COVID-19 occurred in the days following the large protests in Seattle.  In the latest example of the Inslee Administration allowing partisan political considerations to override public safety, data shows that in the days following the initial large protests and riots in Seattle and Bellevue, the transmission rates among those in their 20’s spiked in Western Washington.  Even though the Institute for Disease Modeling stated the protest were a likely factor, the Inslee Administration has found it politically expedient to deny reality.  But, of course, for Inslee to blame the protests for the spike in transmission rates he would have to switch positions and acknowledge the riots took place. Instead,  since the data about the increase in transmission rates has become known, Inslee has said nothing to condemn the protestors’ unhealthy actions. (Washington Policy Center and Rebecca Perry Twitter)

A recall campaign has been launched against Seattle City Councilmember Kshama Sawant. A group filed paperwork this morning with King County Elections office, outlining its charges against Sawant and beginning the process to place a recall of the councilmember on the ballot.  The first hurdle will be to have a King County Superior Court judge rule on the sufficiency of the charges. If charges are approved by the judge, then the group will have 180 days to collect 10,739 signatures from voters in Seattle’s 3^rd Council District (roughly the area East of I-5 and between the Montlake Cut/Portage Bay and I-90) to place the recall on the ballot. The group behind the recall effort said that it is not tied to any business organization and is limiting contributions to $25. The group claims to have raised $10,000 thus far. The charges against Sawant include having an outside organization (Socialist Alternative Party) determine the hiring/firing of Seattle employees, using city resources to promote and raise money for political campaigns, providing access to hundreds of protestors to illegally enter Seattle City Hall, using her office to promote and assist individuals who illegally occupied portions of Seattle, using her council office to promote the illegal protest in front of Mayor Jenny Durkan’s home (which is legally classified due to her previous service as U.S. Attorney) and creating a criminal environment within the city (CHAZ/CHOP). The group is currently seeking contributions and volunteers to help distribute recall petitions. (Recall Sawant media release, Seattle Council Districts map, and Statement of Charges)

The Sawant recall campaign will now join the effort to recall Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan as the focal points in the battle within the state’s Democrat organizations.  If the past is any prologue, we fully expect to see Governor Jay Inslee, Attorney General Bob Ferguson, U.S. Senator Patty Murray, U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell and Washington State Democrat Party Chair Tina Podlodowski shirk their responsibilities as party leaders, and duck any question about who they support in this intra-party battle. It is interesting that the local media has not picked up on the fact that all of these “establishment Democrats” have abandoned Mayor Durkan, as they appear afraid of losing support among the extreme Left in their party.  Especially interesting to watch is Governor Inslee (who is the definition of “establishment”) avoiding any public support for Durkan, as he is courting the wingnuts to help promote himself for a cabinet position. (U.S. News & World Report)

While Democrat Seattle City Councilmembers continue to cave into the demands of rioters and disregard the public safety of the city’s 775,000 residents, experienced Seattle police officers have begun to quit.  Fed up with the abuse and physical danger they face every day, and the lack of support from within the state’s Democrat establishment, police officers are rightfully seeking new opportunities to serve the public – outside of Seattle. (MyNorthwest)

The third-place finisher in the recent 10^th Congressional District primary, Kristine Reeves, has announced she is supporting Marilyn Strickland in the general election.  Reeves, despite serving with the other candidate (Beth Doglio) in the state legislature (or perhaps because of it) endorsed Strickland, who is the former mayor of Tacoma.  Reeves and Strickland do have one thing in common… neither actually lives in the 10^th District. (Reeves email and the Daily Olympian)

The Seattle Times has applied a double standard on which authors it will run op-eds from.  The Times has previously stated that it does not run op-eds from “filed candidates” when Republicans have submitted articles. Yet, the Times ran an article today that was co-authored by a Democrat candidate for the 28^th Legislative District Senate seat.  The Times did not state why they made the exception for Democrat T’wina Nobles, who is challenging Senator Steve O’Ban in South Pierce County.  (Seattle Times)

Congressman Dan Newhouse was successful in promoting to federal authorities a local effort to name the third power plant at Grand Coulee Dam after a father-son duo who advocated for the region’s hydroelectric power potential.  The power plant will be named after Nathaniel Washington and Nathaniel Washington, Jr, two of the biggest boosters of turning Central Washington into an agricultural powerhouse thanks to the water and power provided by the Columbia River dams.  The two were also direct descendants of George Washington’s brother John. (iFiberOne and Seattle Times)

Yakima County continues to experience a decline in the number of new coronavirus cases.  Only 27 new cases were recorded on Monday, which was the 23^rd straight day with fewer than 100 new cases.  Yakima is the hardest hit county in Washington, with nearly 17% of all the state’s cases, despite only having 3.2% of the population. (Yakima Herald)

The agricultural industry will likely experience a reduction in funds available for loans, as more farmers are expected to miss payments in the coming months.  A weak market for key commodities led to a reduction in farm income during the 2^nd quarter. (Pacific Northwest Ag Network)

In an exclusive news-breaking story, Shift obtained access to internal documents which reveal that, in order to meet the goal of clearing the backlog of unemployment benefit applications, Employment Security Department (ESD) Commissioner (and major Democrat fundraiser) Suzi LeVine and her leadership team instructed state employees to remove the protective review and audit restrictions on unemployment claims that were coming in.  This directive allowed the ESD to process the backlogged applications quickly, even on claims that were more likely to be fraudulent.  ESD employees were told to approve so-called “quit claims”, without investigation of why the employee quit.  Department directors complained about removing the safeguards, but the Inslee Administration was more concerned about being able to say they finally removed the huge backlog which its policies had created than in denying obvious fraudulent claims. Such actions will end up costing taxpayers even more money due to the incompetence of the Inslee Administration. (Shift)

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