A new Shift Newsmaker Interview with John Yoo, one of the featured speakers at the 2022 Roanoke Conference.  Yoo is a Professor of Law at the University of California at Berkeley. He is also a Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, and at Stanford’s Hoover Institution.   He has written 10 books and more than 100 articles on a broad array of subjects, and his most recent book, “Defender-in-Chief: Trump’s Fight for Presidential Power,” states that President Trump was aggressive in defending executive power, but well within the precedents established by previous administrations. The 13^th Annual Roanoke Conference will be held January 28-30, 2022, at the Ocean Shores Convention Center. (Click to read full Newsmaker Interview)

Senator Lynda Wilson (R – Vancouver), the  top Republican on the Senate’s Ways and Means Committee, expressed her severe disappointment that Governor Jay Inslee did not request any type of tax break for in his supplemental budget proposal, despite an $8.8 billion dollar surplus.  Republicans have been pushing for several different types of tax breaks (on property taxes, sales taxes, and state fees, including ending fees to enter state parks) in order to provide some relief to taxpayers.  The governor decided instead to give a 3^rd pay raise in two years to state government employees and expand the size of government by throwing more money at failed policies (see story below on the governor’s latest homelessness proposals).

Senator Wilson condemned the governor’s supplemental budget proposals, pointing out that the “state treasury is on track to be billions of dollars ahead, yet the governor doesn’t have the heart to propose significant, direct tax relief for a single resident of our state. It’s as though he has no respect for the taxpayers. That’s inexcusable. State spending has doubled during Governor Inslee’s time in office. It’s grown at more than twice the rate of median wages for working people across Washington – and that was before all the big spending in the governor’s new proposal. Is the governor oblivious to these times of historic inflation and how they affect struggling families? You wonder if he’s as out of touch as the chief executive in the other Washington.”  (Governor Inslee media release and Senate Republican Caucus media release)

Governor Jay Inslee confirmed his commitment to the liberal belief that solving a problem is secondary to using the problem to increase the cost and size of government, when he announced yesterday his plan for the state to spend $800 million more on homelessness.  Inslee’s latest spending spree is on top of the $2 billion already dedicated to the issue in the 2-year state budget passed earlier this year.  This unprecedented spending of taxpayers’ money ignores the fact it is liberal policies being the root problem for the region’s homeless problems, and despite all levels of government entities having already dramatically increased their spending to “solve” the problem.  In 2017, the Puget Sound Business Journal estimated that that combined annual spending on the homeless issue by governments, non-profits, and businesses in Western Washington exceeded $1 billion. This figure has likely increased two- or three-fold in the past 4+ years as homeless encampments have grown in many neighborhood parks and public spaces. But, instead of altering a failed approach to the problem, Governor Inslee has chosen to spend even more tax money on the failed policies, because larger government means more union dues, which are then used to financially support Democrat campaigns and fund liberal organizations. As we have pretty much come to expect from Inslee. (Seattle Times)

The Snohomish County Council completed the Democrats’ carefully orchestrated maneuver to remove  a somewhat moderate Democrat in the Washington State Senate and replace him with a far-Left liberal who will always follow the wishes of his party bosses (and governor) to support higher taxes and bigger government.  Last month, Governor Inslee removed the pro-transportation funding Senator Steve Hobbs from the upper chamber by appointing him Secretary of State. Then the 44^th Legislative District’s Democrat Precinct Committee Officers (PCOs) nearly unanimously nominated liberal Representative John Lovick to replace Hobbs in the Senate.  County councilmembers rubber stamped that decision yesterday, unanimously promoting Lovick.  The council ignored the PCOs’ recommendation and selecting “community organizer” (i.e., paid liberal activist) Brandy Donaghy to replace Representative Lovick in the House, because that’s what far-Left donors had already decided. (Everett Herald)

Even the very liberal mayor of San Francisco calls “bullshit” on the failed public safety policies which out-of-touch Seattle City Councilmembers continue to support.  San Francisco Mayor London Breed is combatting an increase in crime in her city similar to the one Seattle leaders appear to be ignoring in their own.  Yet while the Seattle City Council continues to slash the Seattle Police Department’s budget, and even wants to place constraints on a newly elected city attorney who won her recent campaign based on being tough on crime, the San Francisco mayor appears to have had enough with failed liberal public safety policies and stated drastic changes need to be made to keep residents safe.

At the end of a presentation on her city’s crime problem, Mayor Breed shocked many when she stated, “It’s time the reign of criminals who are destroying our city, it is time for it to come to an end.  And it comes to an end when we take the steps to more aggressive with law enforcement. More aggressive with the changes in our policies and less tolerate of all the bullshit that has destroyed our city.” (KPIX News and Seattle Times)

South King County appears to be hit especially hard by the Democrats’ pro-criminal package passed by the 2021 Legislature, as the subsequent rise in crime has severely impacted those communities. The mayors of Auburn, Federal Way, Kent, Renton, and Tukwila have all expressed concerns over the negative impact which new liberal “police guidelines” have had in their communities, and they are seeking to meet to discuss what can be done to keep their residents safe.  The anti-police legislation was written and guided through the legislature by Representatives Roger Goodman (D – Kirkland) and Jesse Johnson (D – Federal Way) to reward the liberal activists who committed political violence on Seattle’s Capitol Hill during the summer of 2020. (FOX13 News and Shift)

A group of 50 neighbors and parents of students who attend Broadview-Thomson K-8 School in North Seattle have filed a lawsuit against Seattle Public Schools (SPS) over its (non) actions regarding a large homeless encampment which developed on district property.  The group (“Save BTK8”) provided the school district with the required 60-day notice that it was filing the lawsuit back in October.  It is likely no coincidence that that SPS cleaned up the encampment this past week just as the 60 day deadline was coming to an end.  The group decided to file the lawsuit, even though the encampment has been removed, “because we want the school district to really come forward and take the action to make sure this never happens again.” (MyNorthwest)

The Washington State Department of Ecology has slowed its poorly developed idea of forcing all farmers providing water to their livestock from first having to obtain water rights.  This dramatic policy change could have been devastating for many ranchers and farmers. It was established, in 1994, that livestock should transition away from obtaining water from streams and ponds (for this method contaminates downstream water) by diverting it into troughs.

Last month the DOE suddenly announced that it was going to force livestock owners to go through the difficult process of obtaining direct water rights instead. Ranchers and farmers immediately expressed outrage over the decision, which led DOE to delay the implementation of the new policy “to take more time to listen to farmers and ranchers.”  Shouldn’t the DOE already be listening to ranchers and farmers? (Capital Press)

Democrat Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson is continuing his exploitation of his taxpayer-funded office staff to beg for even more money for his campaign for governor.  Despite more than $3 million spread across various campaign accounts, AG Ferguson flooded email boxes last week (prior to the pre-legislative session freeze) pleading for even more contributions so that he can continue using his office to further his partisan goals (such as attacking flower shops and going after Greyhound Lines for following federal immigration laws).  One thing we will be watching is whether the Ferguson campaign will follow state election laws and obtain permission from each of his past donors to move his vast fortune from his Attorney General and “surplus” accounts to his campaign for governor. (Click to read full Shift Article)

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