Shift’s Newsmaker Interview is with Washington State Senator Keith Wagoner (R – Sedro- Woolley).  The retired Navy pilot and Commander first entered politics by serving as a city councilmember and mayor of Sedro Woolley. Senator Wagoner recently announced he will be running in the special election this fall to become Washington’s Secretary of State, but our interview focused on his work in the current legislative session.  The senator is critical of the “fixes” the Democrats claim to have made thus far to their ”fiscally flawed” Long-Term Care payroll tax plan, which he reminds readers drove many private insurance carriers out of the WA market, even though they were providing better plans than what the state will be offering. Senator Wagoner is very critical of the Democrats’ attempt to restrict voters’ rights (and their ability to create and repeal laws) by eliminating initiatives and referendums in odd-numbered years. Senator Wagoner also provides his thoughts on Governor Inslee’s latest attack on the state’s farming community (HB 1838), repairs to the Democrats’ hastily written “police reform” package, and the Democrats’ fake reform of “emergency” powers authority. (Click to read full Newsmaker Interview)

The House Committee on State Government & Tribal Relations will be holding a public hearing Monday afternoon on the Senate Democrats’ fake reform of the state’s “emergency powers” law.  The reform is meaningless because SB 5909 does nothing to end Governor Inslee’s 720 days (and counting) of abusing emergency powers and does absolutely nothing to prevent some future governor from doing the exact same thing.  Governor Inslee’s refusal to end his undemocratic snub of the legislative branch (as well as locally elected officials) is very telling in demonstrating how little confidence the governor has in his own leadership abilities and how he has no confidence in the Democrats who currently control the legislature. This year the governor will likely be campaigning for the many very vulnerable Democrat legislators who are up for re-election.  Voters should ask themselves one question, “If the governor believes his party’s current Democrat legislators are incapable of deliberating on pandemic-related decisions, then aren’t they unfit to serve in the legislature?” (Click to read full Shift Article)

Since legislative Democrats don’t want to obviously impose even more taxes on Washington voters before the November elections, they have proposed to impose likely unconstitutional taxes on residents of neighboring states, and obviously those states are not happy about it.  Puget Sound oil refineries provide vehicle fuel to several other states. Currently that gas that is exported is not subject to the 49-cents-per-gallon tax which are levied at Washington State fuel pumps.  As one of the many new and increased taxes/fees to fund the Democrats’ $16 billion transportation package they have imposed a 6 cents per gallon tax on the fuel exported to neighboring states.

In the past two days, both the Republican governor of Alaska and the Democrat governor of Oregon have spoken out against this tax.  Not only does it likely conflict with the interstate commerce clause in the U.S. Constitution, but other state residents will not receive the benefit for paying the taxes used on Washington State transportation projects.  Republican Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy says Washington Democrats are treating his state as a colony.  Democrat Oregon Governor Kate Brown said she told Governor Inslee that “unilateral action to increase gas prices for Oregon families and businesses is unacceptable.”  We should note that currently 90% of Oregon’s fuel is refined in Washington State. Oregon Republican leaders were more direct in their criticism of the Washington Democrats’ funding solution, stating, “The Washington Legislature set goals and approved transportation projects it couldn’t afford. Instead of doing a better job in writing public policy, they’re going to ask (Oregon) residents to pay for their roads.”

This is the latest example of the Democrats writing bad public policies because they have arrogantly refused to include Republicans in the process. (MyNorthwest, Democrat media release, AK Governor Mike Dunleavy Twitter, OR Governor Kate Brown Twitter, Shelly Davis Twitter, Representative Barkis media release)

Republican legislative leaders expressed their frustration that Governor Inslee is going to wait more then another month to finally remove the state’s indoor mask mandate.  Senate Republican Leader John Braun (Centralia) and House Republican Leader JT Wilcox (Yelm) said in a joint statement, “It’s time to end state mask mandates now. Don’t wait another month. If someone wants to wear a mask in public, it should be by choice – not by mandate.”  The indoor face mask mandate also applies to students in schools where even Inslee’s fellow Democrat Superintendent of Public Instruction Chris Reykdal and 50 Eastern Washington district superintendents have said the mask mandate should end. (Braun/Wilcox joint statement, KOMO News, and Q13 FOX news)

The Ellensburg Daily Record asserted that this week’s revelation that the state has more than $10 billion in excess revenue provides even more evidence that the legislators should lower the state’s portion of the sales tax.  As the paper correctly noted, the sales tax is a “regressive” tax which hurts those in lower and fixed income households the most, especially now during an inflationary period.  The paper said they support reducing the state’s 6.5% share by 1%.  Unfortunately, it appears that Governor Inslee and Democrat legislative leadership have no desire to give Washington State taxpayers any break of any size for they greedily seek to keep the excess revenue to permanently increase the size and cost of state government.  Even Democrat Senator Mona Das’ (Kent) campaign gimmick of proposing a bill (SB 5932) to reduce the sales tax is going nowhere (as predicted).  Democrat leadership hasn’t even allowed a public hearing on her proposal, demonstrating their lack of support for a tax breaks. (Ellensburg Daily Record and Washington Legislature Bill Summary)

Jason Mercier of the Washington Policy Center reveals the latest actions by Democrat lawmakers to severely limit public participation in the political process.  Both House and Senate Democrats will not publicly release their supplemental budgets until Monday (President’s Day holiday).  Then within hours they have scheduled hearings for the public to express their views (which obviously Democrats are not truly interested in hearing).  Mercier notes that it is apparent that the Democrats have already granted access of the budget to their liberal special interest friends, for many have already signed up to testify in favor of the currently secret budgets. (WPC Center for Government Reform Facebook posts)

The Washington Coalition for Open Government is calling for an investigation into why City of Seattle officials’ texts were deleted following the 2020 riots committed by violent liberal activists.  This law-breaking included texts from the phones of then-Mayor Jenny Durkan and then-Police Chief Carmen Best.  The deletion of these texts breaks several state and city laws governing the retention of public records. Current Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell and Interim Police Chief Adrian Diaz have yet to say whether there will be an investigation.

Not only are these records important for the public to understand what took place during the riots, but they are also sought as evidence in several lawsuits brought by residents and businesses negatively impacted by the riots, the families of those who were murdered in the CHAZ/CHOP, and even some of the liberal activists who were arrested for their violent actions. (Seattle Times)

As expected, the King County Board of Health repealed the nearly 30-year-old law requiring bicyclists to wear a helmet.  Despite overwhelming evidence that wearing head protection saves the lives of bicyclists, the county board made its decision based on the evidence which showed that many of those cited for not wearing helmets were homeless and that a disproportionate amount of ticketed individuals were Black. (MyNorthwest)

In yet another example of how Governor Inslee and legislative Democrats have made it more comfortable to be a criminal in Washington State, law enforcement in Okanogan County were unable to detain and question someone who is now a “person of interest” in a double murder – all thanks to the Democrat’s hastily developed “police reform” laws.  Twice while searching for a senior couple in Chesaw (30 miles north of Omak, near the Canadian border) Okanogan County Sheriff deputies spotted an individual who ran away once he saw the officers.  The Sheriff’s office stated in a media release, “At the time, the deputies did not have probable cause of a crime which under current Washington State law rendered them unable to detain him using reasonable suspicion to either question or identify him. Personal property belonging to the Covey’s (the missing couple who were later found murdered) and two of their dogs were located in the nearby cabin he was seen running from.”

Thus today, an armed and presumed dangerous individual is on the loose because Democrat lawmakers, led by Representative Roger Goodman (Kirkland) and Representative Jesse Johnson (Federal Way), rushed to reward the political violence committed by liberal activists in Seattle in 2020.  They refused to involve law enforcement experts and only listened to social justice warriors who have no background in public safety laws and enforcement. The results has been a dramatic increase in crime (mostly in lower income communities) and numerous examples (like this one in Chesaw) where suspects are free to commit more crimes. (KHQ News and Okanogan County Sheriff’s Office media release)

Kittitas County joins nearly two dozen other city and county governments to prohibit the implementation of a local income tax.  The Kittitas County Council unanimously supported a resolution on Thursday which stated that an income tax would hurt the county’s economy. (The CWU Observer)

BABYLON BEE FRIDAY!

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].