This week’s Newsmaker Interview is with Matt Larkin,Republican candidate for Attorney General. The Washington State native shares his views on Attorney General Bob Ferguson’s silence on the attacks on Seattle Police officers by rioters, and the Seattle City Council’s reckless decision to defund its police department. Larkin also provides insight into what it was like to work in the White House for President George W. Bush and the lessons he learned from Senator (and three-term Attorney General) Slade Gorton. (Shift)

Newspapers from across the state are calling for Governor Jay Inslee to convene a special session of the Washington Legislature to fix the state budget, which has been destroyed by an estimated $8.8 billion revenue shortfall. Despite the constitutional requirement to operate a balanced budget, Governor Inslee (in collusion with legislative Democrat leadership) has stubbornly refused to call back the legislature to fulfill their legal obligations (likely due to the fact the Democrats want to impose new and higher taxes and don’t want to do this right before the November elections).  Senator Hans Zeiger (R – Puyallup) correctly points out in a letter to his senate colleagues that “Our constitutional government was not designed to operate on an ongoing emergency basis. Emergency powers in our law are designed for brief circumstances.”(Washington Policy Center and Senator Hans Zeiger letter)

In a rare act of public honesty about the Democrats wanting to impose taxes on Washington citizens (instead of reducing some of the 20% increase in state government that has occurred in the past two years), Senator Jamie Pedersen (D – Seattle) says it will be easier to impose this financial hardship on Washington citizens after the election. Pedersen is able to be honest about the Democrats’ not-so-secret tax plans since he represents the very liberal 43rd District (Fremont, Wallingford, Queen Anne, and U District).  Pedersen admits that many legislative Democrats, along with their financial backers in the government employee unions, want to increase taxes to fix the budget, “but that’s not very likely to happen before the election.” It must be tough on the Democrat legislative candidates to have to campaign every day and not reveal to the public their true plans to raise taxes. (Crosscut)

The father of the one of the Black murder victims that occurred in the CHAZ is seeking one billion dollars each from the City of Seattle, King County, and the State of Washington for the wrongful death of his son. Horace Anderson filed claims (which is a precursor to a lawsuit) on Wednesday with his attorney stating, “We don’t exactly know where blame lies so we’re putting all the entities on notice and will begin the discovery process and flush out justice.” (Seattle Times)

An Alaska man has admitted to attempting to set fires to Seattle’s East Precinct on Monday night while others were attempting to seal people into the building by applying quick drying cement to doors. Meanwhile, Democrat officials including Governor Jay Inslee, Attorney General Bob Ferguson, U.S. Senator Patty Murray, U.S. Senator Patty Murray, and Washington State Democrat Chair Tina Podlodowski have refused to condemn the violent actions against police officers being perpetrated by liberal protestors. (Seattle Times)

King County Executive Dow Constantine is attempting divert attention from the colossal failure of his administration’s previous performance to reduce CO2 emissions by promoting to do even more of the same. In introducing his 2020 Climate Change Action Plan, Constantine and his public relations team fail to mention that the county has missed its previous CO2 emission goals by 96% instead focusing their achievements on bureaucratic matters.  As the Washington Policy Center points out, “Touting procedural successes while completely failing to achieve tangible goals is emblematic of the lack of seriousness by politicians who claim to be most concerned about climate change. Rather than being chastened by that failure, however, the County Executive will use the poor performance as an excuse to double-down on the same policies that have performed so miserably.” With nearly all levels of government failing dramatically to meet nearly every single climate goal they claim will be acheived, maybe they are not the best vehicle to save our planet. (Washington Policy Center)

KUOW reports on some questionable activities occurring at Redmond City Hall over the recent termination of Redmond Police Chief Tommy Smith. After reports leaked out that Smith and other fire department staff were told to stay quiet about testing positive for the coronavirus, Smith was informed by Mayor Angela Birney that his employment would be terminated. The mayor then hired an attorney (for $49,999.99, one cent more would have required city council approval) to investigate how the leak to the media took place (thus far the investigation has not revealed the informant). Sounds like Democrat Mayor Birney must have aspirations for higher office, given her paranoia about the media covering her mistakes and coverups. (KUOW)

A company associated with Jeff Bezo’s Blue Origin space travel venture is constructing a building near the Arlington Municipal Airport. As nearby aerospace manufacturer Boeing is expected to lay off workers, maybe some of them can use their skills to construct space crafts.  Casting Operations recently bought the land (already approved for construction) and has begun erecting a 78,000 square foot structure, yet its exact use is not known.  Blue Origin was selected by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration in April to help return Americans to the moon. (Everett Herald)

Spokane County Treasurer Michael Baumgartner supports school districts giving parents a stipend to make up for the loss of in-person instruction. Many of these families are losing wages due to being at home to supervise their children. Baumgartner also suggests that the Spokane teachers who received a 13.3% pay raise in September of 2018, temporarily forfeit that wage increase to help offset the costs to students’ families. (Spokesman-Review)

The Department of Energy (DOE) announced that more workers will be allowed to return to the Hanford Nuclear Reservation starting next Monday. Since March, only a limited number of essential employees have been working on site. The Tri-Cities region (along with neighboring Yakima County) has had the highest infection rates in the state.  Yet DOE officials believe it is safe for workers to return and administrators will be strictly enforcing health measures. (Tri-Cities Herald)

Walla Walla Valley has earned the distinction as “America’s Best Wine Region” in the 2020 USA Today 10 Best readers’ Choice Awards. The region had been a finalist the previous three years, but this is the first time it has come in first place. Italian immigrants first started growing grapes for wine in the valley in 1850. (YakTriNews)

The Washington State Democrat Party is admitting to some very disturbing (and unconstitutional) behavior by Governor Jay Inslee and Democrat legislators. In a fundraising email, the party writes, “Democratic state legislators are working in conjunction with Governor Inslee to expand ballot boxes, extend election deadlines, and equip local county auditors with the $2 million in funds.”  Really?  The Democrat legislators can do this without a special session that includes the Republicans?  So, when did Governor Inslee and the Democrats change the state constitution to designate these powers to only Democrat lawmakers?  Or maybe this email is just be another obvious mistake written by the same team that last week repeatedly sent out an email that claimed there is a “Cheval County” somewhere in Washington State. (Washington State Democrat Party email)

Has Ben Stuckart again violated the City of Spokane’s Code of Ethics, despite being out of office for just eight months?  While serving two terms as City Council President, Stuckart’s actions resulted in fines for ethics violations and supporters of his campaigns were slapped with Public Disclosure Commission complaints (and had ads pulled from TV).  Now we learn that Stuckart may have again violated the city’s ethics code.  City regulations prohibit former officials like Stuckart from lobbying the current city council and staff for one year after they leave public employment, yet a news report states he has been lobbying “behind the scenes” for the measure to fluoridate Spokane’s water. (Shift)

Do you like The Daily Briefing?

Please consider making a contribution to ensure Shift continues to provide daily updates on the shenanigans of the liberal establishment.

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]