The Seattle Times attempts to promote a massive conspiracy of racial discrimination among the 39 counties elections while burying the fact that the Washington State Auditor found there is absolutely no basis for that allegation.  After irresponsibly posting a headline that claimed that people of color, younger voters, and men had their ballots rejected at a higher level, the article’s writer waits until the 18^th paragraph to inform the readers that the Washington State Auditor Office found “no evidence of bias in the acceptance or rejection of ballots.”  Also an audit of the rejected ballots (due to signature verification problems) found that nearly 99% of them were disallowed for appropriate reasons.

Thus since the story states that “fewer than 1% of ballots cast in the 2020 general election were rejected,” and that only 1% of the rejected ballots might not have been properly disallowed, the state audit is affirming that possibly less than 0.01% of the 4,115,585 ballots cast in the 2020 elections (or less than 400 ballots statewide) might have been rejected inappropriately.

While we should continue to seek perfection in our election process (and this can be done through improving outreach efforts to those who have sent in questionable ballots), the audit showed more than a 99.99% success rate in the verification process and no evidence of bias. Shouldn’t this have been the headline? Especially when the media rarely mentions the dismal success rate of other government endeavors, such as Governor Inslee’s climate policies huge failure to meet stated carbon emission goals or the Washington State Department of Health contact tracing effort which has met less than one-third of the announced goal of the program.

The Washington State Democrats obviously could not be bothered to read the story and have irresponsibly attempted to promote the phony bias narrative.  We took the time to respond to the disinformation they were spreading on Twitter. (Seattle Times,  Secretary of State 2020 Election data and Twitter)

The Maine Policy Institute (MPI), the leading authority on how each state administers its emergency executive authority, has come out with its latest rankings, and as expected, Washington State is again near the bottom of the list as Governor Inslee is now on Day 704 of his undemocratic abuse of the state’s emergency powers laws.  The MPI gives each state a score (out of 100) on the extent of legislative oversight, the powers delegated to the chief executive, and the process for initiating or terminating a state of emergency declaration. Washington received a score of 41.  Only Vermont (31) Nebraska (40) and North Dakota (40) ranked lower.  By comparison, South Carolina achieved a score of 83 – doubling Washington’s score.

The institute’s analysis found that 11 states have dramatically improved their rankings during the pandemic by increasing the oversight of the legislature or limiting the length of time a governor can use emergency powers.  Unfortunately Washington State has not followed suit because legislative Democrats appear to be comfortable with enabling Governor Inslee to continue his undemocratic reign over the state.

We asked the MPI staff how would Washington State’s score improve if either the Democrat’s very limited alterations to the state’s emergency powers laws (SB 5909) or the Republicans’ substantial changes (HB 1772) were to pass during the 2022 legislative session.   MPI’s response was that the Democrats’ bill would only increase the state’s ‘s score by just five points, leaving Washington still in the bottom third (tied with Oregon) of all 50 states.  If the legislature passed the Republican version, it would increase Washington’s score by 10 points and placing the state right in the middle of the rankings. (Maine Policy Institute and Washington Legislature Bill Summary)

Yet another data breach has taken place at a Washington State government agency.  The Washington State Department of Transportation is notifying 2,200 individuals that some personal data might be vulnerable due to someone successfully hacking into their computer system.  While this does not appear to be as troublesome as the massive data breach that took place in 2020, at the Washington State Employment Security Department or at the Washington State Auditor Office which gave criminals access to the private financial information of hundreds of thousands of Washington residents, it is still a concern that Governor Inslee’s administration still fails to take seriously the harm these data breeches could cause Washington residents. (610 KONA Radio)

For Washington State history buffs, the Secretary of State’s archive program (Legacy Washington) has published an autobiography from former three-term Republican Governor Daniel J. Evans.  The book is edited by former Aberdeen Daily World editor John Hughes, who has also authored excellent books on Senator Slade Gorton, Governor Booth Gardner, journalist Adele Ferguson, and various other noted Washingtonians for Legacy Washington. (Secretary of State store)

Kirkland residents have expressed their disapproval of King County’s attempt to purchase the Northup Way La Quinta Inn to house homeless individuals.  This is part of King County Executive Dow Constantine’s plan to use the homeless crisis to continue to expand the size and cost of government, by purchasing hotels throughout the county to permanently house those who are currently homeless.  Despite assurances from city officials that paid staff will be on-site if the county is able to purchase the property, local residents expressed concerns that it was near local pre-schools and that the county’s acceptance of individuals to live in the hotel is not contingent on the individual refraining from drug use. Last year the City of Renton was successful in stopping the county from placing 200 homeless individuals in a hotel in its city’s business district. (MyNorthwest)

Due to severe police staffing shortages, downtown Seattle businesses are having to pay up to a thousand dollars a day to private security firms to keep their businesses safe from theft, vandalism, and arson.    The Seattle Police Department is currently down nearly 400 officers because of the mass departure of officers due to lack of support from the city’s elected leaders. Police officials have told downtown businesses that the department does not have the resources to provide more patrols in their neighborhoods.  Thus, in order to keep their customers and workers safe, several employers are hiring outside security firms.  Money to pay for the additional security obviously increases the cost of doing business in downtown, and this is passed onto the consumers in the form of higher prices. (KING5 News)

In Tacoma, city officials have put forth three programs to help their downtown businesses experiencing an increase in crime in their neighborhood.  The first is a $250,000 proposal to pay for additional private security patrols.  The second is for the city to allocate $300,000 to pay to fix broken windows.  The third is to offer $3,000 to each business which signs up for the city’s BRAVO (Businesses Requiring A Vaccine Verification Onsite) program which provides incentives for businesses to require vaccination proof before entering the establishment. (News Tribune)

As crime continues to run rampant in Seattle, criminal actions are now impacting commuters’ ability to get around the city and onto the freeways.  On Tuesday, the Pike Street ramp leading onto the I-5 express lanes was shut because criminals stole the copper wiring used to control the gates and electronic signs, apparently in broad daylight. This is the 30^th time in the past 13 months the Washington State Patrol has been called in to investigate such thefts. (KING5 News)

Liberal hypocrisy over mask mandates and Governor Inslee’s never-ending abuse of emergency orders is in full swing on the Spokane City Council.  Last October, Shift wrote about liberal Spokane City Councilmember Zack Zappone when he was candidate for the position he currently holds. Zappone showed complete disregard for the state’s distracted driver laws when he filmed himself for six minutes while recklessly weaving his bicycle through Spokane traffic to deliver his ballot to a drop box.

Now Councilmember Zappone has taken his disregard for state laws one step further. While leading the charge to censure fellow Spokane City Councilmember Jonathan Bingle for not wearing a mask and for speaking out against Governor Inslee’s 700+ days of abusing the state’s emergency powers laws, pictures have surfaced which show Zappone not wearing a mask in multiple indoor public settings, including at official functions and in bars. More pictures show other liberal city councilmembers and their staffs not adhering to mask laws.  Not surprisingly, the hypocrisy of their actions did not stop the liberal councilmembers from censuring the moderate Councilmember Bingle. (KREM TV, Shift Article, Shift Newsmaker Interview, KHQ, and Bob Evans Facebook post)

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