Shift’s Newsmaker Interview this week is with newly elected Senate Republican Leader John Braun (R – Centralia).  After a week of Governor Jay Inslee releasing his “equity package,” Low Carbon Fuel Standard, income tax on capital gains proposal, and other budget plans (all of which will make it more expensive to live in Washington State), Senator Braun provides his thoughts on the Democrats’ legislative agenda for the 2021 session. The Republican Leader, who has been the GOP’s chief budget writer, also gives his insight into what needs to be done for the thousands of Washington State employers and workers who have been negatively impacted by Governor Inslee’s shutdown orders and on legislators’ efforts to stop the governor’s future abuse of his emergency orders. (Newsmaker Interview)

An initial state audit of Governor Jay Inslee’s Employment Security Department (ESD) reveals that the department did not tell the truth about how much it allowed to be stolen, and had inadequate controls to prevent one the largest thefts in American history.  The first report from the state auditor’s office disclosed that ESD Commissioner Suzi LeVine and her staff reported “inaccurate numbers” regarding the amount of money they allowed to be stolen and how much had been recovered. In the real world, this is called a “cover-up”. The report is a serious indictment of Governor Jay Inslee, his administration, the ESD, and most notably, his hand-picked leader, Commissioner Suzi LeVine.  Where else besides the Inslee Administration can someone keep their job after being responsible for losing hundreds of millions of dollars, causing financial anxiety to tens of thousands of people (due to subsequent delays in processing applications), provide false numbers to auditors concerning the amount lost, not provide documents required in a public disclosure request, and hamper a state investigation.  In contrast, Oregon’s employment department chief was fired for simply delaying benefit payments, which is old hat for LeVine, who has been doing that since March without consequence.)  Side note: it does seem slightly peculiar for an audit of this magnitude to be released on the last Friday before Christmas. It provides the appearance of a Democrat State Auditor providing a political favor to the Democrat Governor and his dysfunctional administration. (Puget Sound Business Journal, Shift Interview, Q13 News, and AP)

Governor Jay Inslee proposed a $1.3 billion increase in taxes that includes his dream – a state income tax (on capital gains).  Despite it being unconstitutional to tax income in Washington State, the governor is hoping his friends on the all-Democrat State Supreme Court will overturn past precedent and let the state tax income (after an inevitable legal challenge) if Inslee’s proposal is passed during the 2021 legislative session.  Even though the funds will not be available until July of 2022 – at the earliest – the governor claims the money is needed to “strengthen our state’s pandemic response.”  When asked about the obvious timing problem of his argument, the governor says he will simply raid the state’s rainy-day fund until the new tax money comes in.  Yet, if the tax opponents are successful in court (which is highly likely), then Governor Inslee will have irresponsibly emptied the state’s rainy-day account with no funds coming in to replace the money he has recklessly wasted.  We know the future Democrat solutions to this problem would be to raise other taxes to pay for their current bad decisions. (Crosscut and Washington Policy Center)

Governor Inslee’s proposed budget is 8% more ($5.5 million) than the current state budget, which is 20% more than the previous two-year state budget.  The governor claims his proposed increase in spending is to maintain the current level of state government services, yet 8% far exceeds the rate of inflation during the past two years. Every time you hear Inslee and other Olympia Democrats talk about the danger of budget cuts, remember that they are not suggesting any. Tax revenues are already projected to go up enough to more than cover the state’s current obligations.  The problem is that Jay Inslee and his Democrat allies want to spend billions more than they have coming in, so they plan new taxes to make up the difference from your pocket. (Crosscut)

A Washington Policy Center report discloses that Washington State has the funds to financially assist families for the expenses they have incurred as the result of Governor Inslee shutting down the state’s schools.  Many parents have paid for day care, tutors, technology improvements, and school supplies due to the state forcing a transition to distance learning.  Some parents have had to reduce their work hours or even quit their jobs to be home with their children to direct their education. It turns out the state has over $500 million that was not sent to school districts, due to reduced enrollments, and because there has been no need for bus transportation districts have saved an additional $600 million.  The report claims this billion dollars is sufficient “to provide families with at least $3,000 per student as compensation” for taking on these educational expenses, without having to increase taxes or reduce current programs. (Washington Policy Center)

Laughably, Governor Inslee said, “We need accurate, predictable numbers to plan and ensure on-the-ground success,” in response to reports that Washington State will be receiving fewer COVID vaccines. This is coming from the governor whose administration has repeatedly failed to provide accurate data to back his job-destroying “emergency” orders which have imposed needless financial hardship on Washington State employers and workers. In fact, by its own admission, the state has failed by 84% to provide accurate contract tracing data, which the governor previously had claimed was the state’s key weapon to combat the spread of the virus. So, if Inslee has not been providing us with “accurate, predictable numbers to plan”, as he demands from the federal government, how can anything he puts forward be trusted?  (Seattle Times and Washington Policy Center)

The Seattle School District continues to push liberal political indoctrination instead of focusing on educating students.  Christopher Rufo obtained internal materials that reveal teacher training sessions where educators are told that “the United States was built off the stolen labor of kidnapped and enslaved Black people’s work, which created the profits that created our nation.” Teachers are also informed that they must atone for their collective guilt and be willing to “bankrupt [their] privilege in acknowledgement of [their] thieved inheritance.”  Rufo concludes his report by stating “Seattle schools like to claim they are ‘teaching tolerance,’ but in truth, they are teaching hate.” (christopherrufo.com)

The Seattle Police Department and Parks Department conducted a “sweep” of Capitol Hill’s Cal Anderson Park on Friday morning to remove the illegal homeless encampment that has been there since June.  The park is in the center of what was the CHAZ/CHOP “Summer of Love” zone, and has been cleared out twice before, only to have the illegal campers immediately return.  Thus far, 21 people have been arrested for trespassing, resisting arrest, felony harassment, and failure to disperse.  Some of the squatters broke into a nearby empty house, perhaps for new accommodations that don’t cost them money. Reports do not indicate how the city plans to keep the illegal campers from returning again once the police and parks department personnel finish cleaning up the park (at taxpayer expense, of course). (KING5 News)

A 16-year veteran of the King County Sheriff’s office has left the region due to the lawlessness that “continues to spread wildly.”  Viktor White, who is also a first-generation immigrant from Hungary, said, “I will not curtail to any politician that says it’s OK to commit these crimes, and the revolving doors of people going to jail and being let right back out. It’s unacceptable and the way it’s going so rapidly, I refuse to have my family in that environment.” White has moved his family to Arkansas where he continues to work in law enforcement. (MyNorthwest)

Spokane County Sheriff says that many politicians are afraid to stand up to political agitators and the result will be more illegal activity.  Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich said that he is often asked if he would have allowed a similar situation to the CHAZ takeover in Seattle to have taken place in Spokane, and he says he definitely would not.  Knezovich said, “That was the darkest day for the state in many, many years to watch nine blocks of that city be taken over and turned into a crime-ridden area that were run by petty tyrants — that should have never have happened in this state.” (MyNorthwest)

An Ephrata-based news website is still running political ads weeks more than six weeks after the election, and well after the election has been certified.  iFIBER One, which carries news for the Wenatchee Valley and the Columbia Basin (and whose stories are often featured in the Daily Briefing), was still running a campaign ad today for State Representative Tom Dent, despite the incumbent already being certified a 28,000+ vote winner in the November general election.  Apparently today must have been the virtual Christmas Party for the iFIBER One ad sales force. (iFIBER One)

In a Guest Editorial, Tri Cities business leader Colin Hastings contends that Congress should not hamper innovation in medical research by placing price controls on pharmaceuticals.  Congress should reject the so-called “Most Favored Nation” policy in determining the price Medicare is willing to pay for prescription drugs.  Hastings contends, “Such proposals would disrupt our free enterprise system, risking the biopharmaceutical innovation that is critical to delivering vaccines and treatments to combat COVID-19.” (Guest Editorial)

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