Brandi Kruse has more on her [un]Divided podcast on research conducted by the Washington Policy Center’s Mariya Frost finding the appearance of discrimination by the Inslee Administration against those who received religious exemptions from the governor’s mask mandate versus those who received medical exemptions.  Frost found that within the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT), 87% of those who received exemptions due to medical reason were “accommodated” (allowed to keep their job) by the state, while only 11% of those who received religious exemptions were “accommodated.”  This significant discrepancy was found even among those who held the same positions with the same level of interaction with other employees and members of the public.

Thus far the only response from the Inslee Administration fails to explain why there is such a large variance in the “accommodation” numbers.  Responding to Brandi Kruse’s report, WSDOT said, “Our exemption and accommodation process was in accordance with the mandate and guidance from the state Office of Financial Management for all state agencies,” and “We feel all employees were treated consistently in accordance with the mandate.”  It will be interesting to see if members of the media will ask the governor about this at his next media event, or if they will simply give him a pass as they have often done have during the 716 days of his undemocratic one-man rule of the state. ([un]Divided podcast, Washington Policy Center, and Mariya Frost Twitter)

Wealthy environmental groups are closer to obtaining even more power over the state’s ability to meet its housing needs, as the House passed HB 1770 over the weekend.  The bill would allow a board made up of Governor Inslee’s appointees (who will surely share his extreme environmental views) to impose even more restrictions on home construction.  Representative Dan Griffey (R – Allyn) spoke during the House floor debate on the measure and pointed out that once again Democrats would not allow those who opposed the bill to speak before a House Committee of Local Government public hearing on the legislation.

Representative Griffey listed nearly 20 labor, construction, and energy associations which signed up to testify, but were not allowed by Chair Gerry Pollett (D – Seattle) to present their views to legislators.  Representative Griffey said lawmakers, “lack the knowledge that we would have learned if we had listened to both sides.”

Yet as Washington residents sadly learned during the 2021 legislative process to pass the Democrats’ disastrous “police reform” laws, the majority party is not interested in hearing expert opinions from those who disagree with their extremist policies.  Thus, as housing prices continue to skyrocket (and more people end up homeless) due to the shortage of housing units, this bill looks like yet another piece of Democrat legislation that future legislators will need to fix. (TVW of Representative Griffey’s comments, Washington Legislature Bill Summary, and Building Trade Unions op-ed opposing HB 1770/Washington State Wire )

Evidently, the Democrat members of the Washington State House of Representatives need to waste yet another year and conduct more studies to determine whether or not catalytic convertor theft is significant enough problem to adopt simple legislation to prevent it from occurring in the future.  On Saturday, the House passed HB 1815 to do nothing today to prevent such devices from being stolen from cars (catalytic converters contain materials which are valuable on the scrap metal market). Instead, HB 1815 would form a “task force” to further study the issue.  The bill was sponsored by Representative Cindy Ryu (D – Shoreline.  Even the Seattle Times wrote that Ryu’s bill was “not good enough” and that Washington residents “deserve better.”  Fortunately there does appear some bi-partisan support for SB 5495 proposed by Senator Jeff Wilson (R – Longview) which would impose measures making it far more difficult for thieves to sell stolen converters to scrap yards. (Washington Legislature Bill Summary and Seattle Times)

The House of Representative passed a bill over the weekend that aims to fix one of the many flaws of the Democrats’ hastily written “police reform” package supported by only Democrats during the 2021 legislative session.  The House voted (87-11) to pass the bipartisan HB 2037 clarifying when law enforcement can use force to stop suspected criminals.  Unfortunately the confusion caused by the Democrats’ 2021 legislation could have been avoided if Democrats were not so concerned about rewarding the political violence which liberal activists committed in Seattle during the summer of 2020.  Yet both of the Democrats responsible for writing and championing the 2021 legislation, Representatives Roger Goodman (Kirkland) and Jesse Johnson (Federal Way), only listened to the demands of the liberal rioters and liberal interest groups, and chose not to listen to the concerns of law enforcement agencies, prosecutors, and victims. (KIRO7 News and Washington Legislature Bill Summary)

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has dumped $500,000 into a liberal initiative effort to make it legal to possess drugs including heroin, meth, and crack.  The Washington State Supreme Court threw out the state’s drug possession laws in its now (in)famous 2021 Blake case, which then resulted in the invalidation of 250,000 drug possession convictions.  The Democrats in the legislature have refused to consider any of the Republican efforts to fix the flaws which the court found and have instead been in favor of allowing individuals to carry significant amounts of these addictive and harmful substances.  The proposed liberal initiative would also place constraints on what local jurisdictions could do to pass their own drug possession laws. (MyNorthwest and Crosscut)

After replacing six plane glass windows in the past three months, a South Lake Union small business operator has decided to stop replacing windows whenever his small grocery store is broken into.  Robert Carson said that since costumers are driven away from his neighborhood due to crime problems, he is not making enough money to cover the cost (about $1,000) of replacing each window.  Carson, who has had to close a nearby small barbeque restaurant due to the city’s crime problem, blames much of the problem on the lack of accountability at Seattle City Hall over public safety and homelessness issues.  The only hope for the city’s small business owners comes from the election of Ann Davison to be Seattle’s new City Attorney.

Davidson appears committed to stopping the repeat offenders who are the source of most of the crimes. Yet this optimism is tempered by the liberal establishment’s drive to prevent her from being successful.  The extreme Left-wing members of the Seattle City Council continue to place roadblocks aimed at preventing City Attorney Davison from doing the job she was elected to do. For these liberal councilmembers, it is more important to flex their power than to actually care about crime and public safety in the city. (Q13 Fox News)

As radicals continue to overtake so-called “moderates” within liberal organizations, the infighting has once again left Spokane County Democrat Party without a leader.  This ideological split led to the 2020 resignation of the then-Democrat Party chair who sided with those less radical.  The intraparty division again played a significant role in last month’s resignation of the latest Spokane County Democrat chair, who appeared to be more connected with the more radical elements within the party.  In her resignation letter, former Chair Nicole Bishop blamed her departure on those who made “the party a space that does not feel welcoming to so many in our community.”  Bishop called these fellow Democrats, “unnecessarily hostile, suspicious, negative, and self-defeating.”  (Spokesman-Review)

Shift’s Newsmaker Interview was with Washington State Representative Kelly Chambers (R – Puyallup).  The second-term legislator was recently honored at the 2022 Roanoke Conference with the prestigious Slade Gorton Rising Star Award.  Representative Chambers is a lifelong Pierce County resident, former schoolteacher, and current owner of a home care and senior care business in Pierce County. During this very busy time in Olympia, the representative took time to provide her thoughts on winning the Slade Gorton award,  the frustration expressed by her constituents over the Democrats’ “police reform” package, the need for Washington residents to have affordable options for long-term care insurance, and the failure of the Democrats to support meaningful reform of the governor’s emergency authority. (Click to read full Newsmaker Interview)

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