Republican House Leader JT Wilcox (R – Yelm) blamed the Democrats’ single party rule of Washington State for the expensive failure of the state’s Long-Term Care plan and tax. Representative Wilcox stated that decisions regarding the new tax were made behind the closed doors of the Democrat caucus instead of an honest debate on the House chamber floor, where many knowledgeable Republicans warned of the tax’ multiple failings (which have since become realities).

Senate Democrats last week sent Governor Jay Inslee a letter asking him to delay implementation of the tax, which is set to begin January 1.  The Democrats are hoping a one-year delay in stealing the money from people’s paychecks will give the legislature time to cover their tracks without actually dealing with the many problems with the tax.   Republicans have called for the tax to be completely repealed.  Representative Wilcox stated that the failure of the Democrats has been expensive for more than 300,000 responsible Washington residents who (now) unnecessarily purchased private long-term care insurance in order to “opt-out” of the state-run plan.  (JT Wilcox Facebook post and Senate Democrats’ letter to Governor Inslee)

Democrat Senator Emily Randall (D- Bremerton) needs to distract voters in her swing district (26^th) from her previous support for numerous liberal measures which make it more expensive to live and work in our state.  Her latest effort is suddenly proposing to eliminate tolls on the Tacoma Narrows Bridge, an idea her Republican opponent has been promoting for years.  Senator Randall, who won her 2018 election by just 104 votes, has been a strong party-line vote for a state income tax on capital gains, Long-Term Care payroll tax, Low Carbon Fuel Standard, Cap and Trade, and dozens of other measures which take money out of Washington residents’ pockets and places it into grossly expanding state government bank accounts.  Yet, since she is facing a tough challenge from Representative Jesse Young, she is suddenly seeking to allow some of her constituents to keep a little of their money by eliminating the tolls on the bridge which connects the Kitsap Peninsula with Tacoma. We should note that Representative Young has been working to reduce bridge tolls for many years, and championed HB 2990 which delayed toll increases and placed financing of the bridge on solid footing. (KING5 News, Washington Secretary of State election returns, Interview, and House Republican Caucus media release)

Significant COVID-19 outbreaks continue to occur in state-run residential facilities “managed” by the Inslee Administration. During the pandemic, nearly every single state-run hospital and corrections facility has failed to follow health and safety guidelines, which has resulted in thousands of inmates, patients, and state workers being infected with the virus. The latest outbreaks have occurred at the Monroe Corrections complex, where 107 inmates have tested positive for COVID and the Cedar Creek Corrections Center (outside of Olympia) where 94 inmates were infected.  (KING5 News)

Moderates and conservatives are proposing several different broad- based tax relief measures for Washington residents as state revenue forecasts continue to predict a significant budget surplus. One measure is to cut the state‘s share of the sales tax (currently at 6.5%) for the first time in 39 years. The most current budget forecast predicts a nearly $4 billion revenue surplus for the state government. Proponents of a 0.2% cut in the sales tax state this would only reduce state revenues by approximately $612 million, or just 15% of the current expected surplus.  When Governor Inslee was asked about this proposal to reduce the sales tax (which impacts low-income households the hardest) he stated, “I doubt this will be one of my proposals.” The governor, who has given state employees three raises in just over two years, will likely target surplus funds to permanently increase the size and cost of state government to the benefit of his campaign contributors in the state employee unions.  We should note that the Washington State budget has increased faster than nearly all other 49 state governments since 2015, with growth at nearly 40% (the average of all other states during this time period is just 15%) and has nearly doubled during Governor Inslee’s time in office. (Washington Policy Center/YouTube, Washington State Economic and Revenue Forecast Council November report, and Governor Inslee December 2^nd media event/TVW)

Likely no one within the Inslee Administration will be held accountable for the Employment Security Department (ESD) hiring and not properly supervising a convicted felon who subsequently stole more than $360,000 in fraudulent claims. This follows the pattern set by the governor after not one person lost their job or has been held accountable for reducing security measures which allowed more than $650 million dollars (one of the largest thefts in American history) to be stolen from the ESD during the Spring of 2020.  This is yet another example of problems which occur when one party has absolute power – its “leaders”, like Inslee, believe they are not accountable for their actions. (KOMO News)

The campaign to recall Socialist Seattle City Councilmember Kshama Sawant currently holds a 6.2% lead after the first batch of votes were counted. In a race that is expected to draw up to 60% turnout, Tuesday evening’s ballot tabulation was approximately 2/3rds of the anticipated vote in the historic contest. While these results are positive for those who mounted the first ever recall of a Seattle City Councilmember, no one is popping champagne just yet. Councilmember Sawant does have a history of coming back after being down after the election night count.

As we reminded readers yesterday, Councilmember Sawant was down 8% on election night in 2019, but post-election night votes gave her a 4% victory. Yet it does appear a far higher percentage of total votes were counted on election night this year compared to two years ago.  If the recall is successful, then Councilmember Sawant will be removed from office when the votes are certified on December 17th.  The eight remaining Seattle councilmembers will select her replacement to serve until a special election next November.  The victor of that race will then have to face re-election just one year later. (Seattle Times and King County Election results)

New documents and testimony reveals that, during the 2020 riots, Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan had proposed handing over the Seattle Police Department’s East Precinct building to the violent liberal activists who seized control of blocks on Capitol Hill, but that the rioters did not want the building. While members of the mayor’s staff had advised against move, her Deputy Mayor Casey Sixkiller testified initial discussions were held with the rioters and the idea was dropped after the rioters said they were not interested in receiving the building.

In a related matter, internal documents have been uncovered in which the mayor stated the violence which occurred in the CHAZ/CHOP was “foreseeable and avoidable.”  This will likely bolster the lawsuits against the city filed by the families of those who were subsequently murdered during the occupation of six blocks on Capitol Hill. (Seattle Times)

Good news for many Puget Sound area residents comes with announcement that, after a two-year absence, the U.S. Navy’s Blue Angels are scheduled to appear for the 2022 Seafair Festival. The flight demonstration team will again take part in festivities over Lake Washington in late July and early August, after being absent during 2020 and 2021 due to cancelation of most Seafair public events during 2020 and 2021. (MyNorthwest)

Reportedly the Inslee Administration is unhappy a health organization provided data to the Washington Farm Labor Association (an agricultural industry group of farmers who employ migrant workers) that immunization efforts by migrant workers’ employers were very successful. In an October 12th Seattle Times op-ed, the group used this information to report that more than 99% (5,684 out of 5,696) of the migrant workers in employer-provided housing accepted vaccines (this is considerably higher than the amount of state workers who were immunized following Governor Inslee’s vaccine mandate) and there were no COVID-related deaths among the migrant farm workers last year. It was later determined by the Centers for Disease Control and the Washington State Department of Health that workers living in employer housing were three times safer than those living in the general public. (Pacific Northwest AG Network and Seattle Times)

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