Democrat lawmakers are not only doing all they can to increase the size, cost, and power of state government, but they are also working hard to make sure their actions are kept secret.  Any history buff knows that it is very dangerous to have a powerful government that is permitted to operate in darkness, but this is exactly what the Democrats in Olympia are striving to perfect as they continue to take advantage of their one-party rule in our state.

The latest example of the Democrats’ wanting to keep their actions secret from both the media and the public has been their recent fabrication of the term “legislative privilege.” Democrats have repeatedly used the phrase to justify withholding and/or redacting documents and communications sought in public records requests.  The issue will likely be decided by the courts, as both media members and good government advocates are outraged by the Democrat legislators’ latest attempt to remove their own accountability to those they are supposed to serve. Shameful. (Click to read full Shift Article)

Amazingly, the Washington Education Association (WEA) is working hard to pass a bill which would reduce public school students’ instruction time by four hours every week.  This legislation (SB 5054) is the latest example that the WEA’s top concern is not the quality of education our children are receiving in the state’s public school system. The bill will reduce student instruction by four hours per week.  The state teachers’ union is pushing this measure despite knowing that current public school students suffered historic learning loss after Governor Inslee (with help from the teachers’ unions) forced them unnecessarily into distance learning for a year.  Evidently it is more important to provide teachers with additional time off (despite receiving even higher wages obtained through illegal strikes) than it is to prepare our children for the future.

The bill is sponsored by Senator Linda Wellman (D – Mercer Island) who chairs the Senate Early Learning and K-12 Education Committee. It would reduce the amount of time a teacher is required to instruct students from 30 hours a week to 26 hours, allowing teachers to spend those extra four hours a week participating in the vaguely described activity of “Professional Learning Communities” while students waste time in non-standard curriculum instruction (such as music, art, recess, watching films, etc.).  Liv Finne of the Washington Policy Center stated her obvious displeasure with the bill, “To see a bill like this come out of (the) Washington State Legislature is just a disservice to the people of Washington State and to their children.”

The bill barely passed in Senator Wellman’s Education Committee (with Democrat Senator Mark Mullet joining Republicans in opposition) and is currently awaiting action in the Senate Rules Committee. (The Post Millennial and Washington State Bill Summary)

Opposition to implementing a Road Usage Charge (RUC) is growing in Olympia due to the Democrats’ unwillingness to dedicate all funds collected from the new tax to “highway purposes”, as is the case with the state’s 49.4 cents per gallon gas tax.  The RUC is being proposed (currently at the rate of 2.5 cents mile) to replace the state’s gas tax because of the decline in the number of gasoline-powered cars on the road.  The state’s 18^th Amendment mandates that the gas tax be used for road construction and maintenance, and many people want the same protection applied to the RUC if it were to pass. This is due to the legitimate fear that future lawmakers will raise the RUC tax to fund their personal non-transportation-related pet projects.

Mike Ennis, a lobbyist for the Association of Washington Business, was among the hundreds of people who testified last week against the current version of the RUC legislation (HB 1832). Ennis spoke for many who opposed the current bill when he told the House Transportation Committee members that “The Legislature has a long history of sweeping funds for other uses.  Protecting the RUC for highway expenditures directly ties the per mile rate to actual road usage, thus providing much needed legitimacy to a new funding source that will be viewed skeptically by the public.”  Even though there was overwhelming public opposition to the current RUC legislation (only three people testified in favor of the bill during two days of public hearings), Democrat lawmakers were not rushing to make any necessary changes, since they always hate placing restrictions on their ability raise and spend tax dollars. (The Center Square and Washington Legislature Bill Summary)

In an interesting (but long) Politico article on former President Jimmy Carter, we learn that the one-time Georgia governor was somewhat of an inspiration for the failed five-month long presidential campaign of Governor Jay Inslee.  At the end of the article, Jared Leopold is identified as an aide to the Inslee presidential campaign, saying “Jimmy Carter showed us that you can go from a no-name to president in the span of 18 or 24 months.” Leopold then added, “For people deciding whether to get in, it’s a real inspiration.” (Politico)

The Democrats’ anti-police laws are likely a cause for the “spike” in younger people committing more crimes.  Teenagers are now well aware that they can steal vehicles and police are prohibited by the Democrats’ 2021 legislation from pursuing them.  This has led to some as young as 13-years-old stealing cars.  Sergeant Darren Moss with the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department said, “What I normally see in the recent year-and-a-half is that our biggest crimes that we’re having are being committed by younger and younger people.”

The Democrat response to the increase in juvenile crime is not to change their failed laws, but to delay facing reality for even longer by creating a task force (most likely stuffed with liberal, anti-police activists) to study the problem.  This is exactly what is being proposed by Senator Yasmin Trudeau (D – Tacoma) who is the vice chair of the Senate Law and Justice Committee when she was asked about the dramatic increase in young people committing crimes.  She likely learned this delay tactic from Senator Manka Dhingra (D – Redmond) who is the Chair of the Senate’s Law and Justice Committee.  The senator opposes repeal of state’s disastrous police pursuit restrictions and instead is calling for a unnecessary task force to study the issue, even though it is universally accepted by all law enforcement agencies that the Democrats’ 2021 restrictions is the primary reason for why vehicle thefts have doubled in our state since the bill passed. (MyNorthwest and Q13 Fox News)

Once again, the Seattle area ranks as the most depressed metropolitan markets in the United States, according to a new survey conducted by Household Pulse. The Seattle Times’ “FYI Guy” (Gene Balk) reports that this is the fourth time in the past six surveys that Seattle has topped the list as being the most depressed community. The latest survey found that 45.4% of local residents were “ down, depressed, or hopeless” for a few days during the first couple of weeks in February. Interesting that the far more conservative Dallas was the least depressed of the top 15 markets, with just 33.3% stating they had recent depressed feelings.  It is not known if liberal policies are the cause or the effect for the depression. (Seattle Times)

Brandi Kruse posted a video on her Facebook account on Friday saying that she had just completed her last day filling in at KIRO-FM Radio during Dori Monson’s former time slot.  Kruse, who credits Monson for much of her success, had filled in for the popular radio host after he suddenly died from heart failure on December 31^st.  Many people were hoping that Kruse would remain in the time slot, but she affirmed her commitment to building her podcast, [un]Divided, and will once again spend full time on that effort. (Brandi Kruse Facebook)

A shortage of prosecuting attorneys in Yakima County is impacting criminal charging decisions.  Yakima County Prosecuting Attorney Joe Brusic said that his office has eight vacancies, despite an increase in pay and signing bonuses.  A similar shortage is also occurring with attorneys who are assigned as public defenders for those who cannot afford legal representation. County Prosecutor Brusic said that there are many reasons for the decline in attorneys, but he said one of the newest factors is the growing trend within law schools to teach an anti-police narrative. “You have a perception that prosecutors and law enforcement are not good or we don’t work for the people, that we do bad things — which we do not,” Brusic said. (Yakima Herald)

Shift’s Newsmaker Interview was with Senator Mike Padden (R – Spokane Valley), the Ranking Republican member of the Senate’s Law & Justice Committee.  The senator is a graduate of the Gonzaga University School of Law, and he served as a Spokane County District Court judge for 12 years prior to becoming a state senator in 2011.  Senator Padden represents the 4^th Legislative District, which includes the cities of Spokane Valley, Liberty Lake, Colbert, and the rural communities of Northeast Spokane County.

In his interview, Senator Padden discussed his efforts to reform the Democrats’ “ridiculous” restrictions on police pursuit and the Democrats’ current “misguided” legislation to prohibit police officers from stopping vehicles with expired tabs or faulty equipment, and from pulling over drivers who have suspended licenses or outstanding warrants.  The senator stated his opinion that the legislature must make drug possession a Class C felony and reverse the Democrats’ disastrous 2021 legislation which essentially decriminalized possession of such lethal drugs as fentanyl, meth, and heroin.

Senator Padden also described his efforts to improve housing availability and to oppose legislation to make assisted suicide even easier in Washington State. Finally, the senator provided his thoughts on the state budget and why there is plenty of money available to provide tax relief to lower- and middle- income workers, if only Democrats were willing to reduce taxes. (Click to read full Newsmaker interview)

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