Local media bias is on full display in recent coverage of lying politicians.  Both the Seattle Times and Everett Herald have said nothing for the past two months regarding Democrat State Representative Clyde Shavers and how he has yet to admit that he repeatedly lied to voters — and how Democrat leaders and special interests have welcomed him in Olympia – yet the newspapers have run numerous stories and opinion pieces regarding the lies Republican New York Congressman George Santos (admittedly) told to win his seat.

Evidently the newspapers believe it is more important for them to waste newsprint (and website space) on a Republican politician who represents constituents 3,000 miles away than to provide coverage and expressing opinions about a lying Democrat politician who unfortunately represents voters in their own distribution area (the 10^th Legislative District includes parts of Snohomish and Skagit County, and all of Island County).  This is just further proof that local media has one set of rules for the actions of Republicans and a different set of rules (and far less oversight) on the actions of Democrats that the reporters agree with.  (Please click to read full Shift Article)

State Representative Peter Abbarno (Centralia) gave the Republican response to Governor Jay Inslee’s State of the State speech yesterday afternoon, providing sensible solutions to issues facing Washington residents which differ from the Democrats’ agenda by “not investing in government but investing in you.”  The new Assistant Republican Floor Leader stated at the beginning of his remarks that “For 10 years the governor’s personal agenda, supported by his majority party in the legislature, has failed on critical issues such as affordability, public safety, housing, homelessness, and education.  You can draw a straight line from the policies of Democrat legislators and the governor to many of the problems we face today.  These polices have made living in Washington more expensive, our communities more dangerous, and failed to provide our children with the education they deserve.”

Representative Abbarno outlined Republican proposals allowing lower- and middle- income families to keep more of their own money through providing tax relief and allowing the building of more housing units (to drive down the cost of housing) by reducing regulations.  He stated that one of the reasons why Democrats have dramatically failed in solving the homelessness and drug addiction crises in our region is because they always base their progress on how much taxpayer money is spent and that Republicans want to base it on how many people are actually lifted out of their suffering.

On education, Representative Abbarno (whose wife is a schoolteacher) stressed the need to bring parents more into the process and provide them with more choices to meet their children’s needs.  Regarding public safety, the Democrats’ anti-police legislation has resulted in more people becoming crime victims and the state having the lowest ratio of police officers in the nation.  The representative said we need to reverse many of these failed policies (including allowing police to pursue once again suspected criminals) and invest in recruiting and retaining police officers.  (Washington State Republican Caucus/YouTube video)

Democrats continue to ignore 49 other states and the Internal Revenue Service, which all designate a capital gains tax as a tax on income (which is unconstitutional in Washington State) by mislabeling it as an “excise tax” (which is allowed).  Jason Mercier of the Washington Policy Center states the even the bureaucrats at the Washington State Department of Revenue used the phrase “income tax” 32 times in its recently published capital gains tax rules.  Last March, a Douglas County Superior Court repealed the new capital gains income tax (passed by the Democrats in 2021) by declaring it was an unconstitutional income tax.  The Washington State Supreme Court will hear arguments on January 26^th on the lower court’s ruling and we will see if the nine liberal justices believe the definition used by all other states and the federal government, and adhere to nearly a century of legal precedent, or if they are part of a backroom deal where they cave into Democrats who erroneously label the new tax an “excise tax.” (Jason Mercier Twitter and MyNorthwest)

In the first of the latest examples of how liberal anti-police policies have created a safer environment for criminals and how this has influenced and impacted our children, the Seattle, Renton, and Bellevue police departments were involved in the arrest of three 14-year-olds and a 12-year-old who are suspected in the theft of at least two separate vehicles on Tuesday.  A spokesperson for the Bellevue Police department said, “Very rarely do we see such violent felony offenses committed by very young teenagers. This really has taken a lot of people in the police department aback.” The suspects drove a stolen Hyundai Elantra before carjacking a Dodge Charger at a Renton shopping mall.  A Seattle police officer saw the stolen vehicle heading towards the Eastside and notified the Bellevue Police Department. A police pursuit then took place in South Bellevue before a flat tire caused the suspects to ditch the car before being arrested. Note, the police pursuit was allowed to take place because the suspects used a gun in their carjacking.

In the second example, two young girls were victims of an armed robbery in Spanaway. The two girls, aged 11 and 13, were walking home from buying sandwiches on Saturday, when four young boys used a gun to steal their phones and sandwiches. So far the police have not made any arrests.  (MyNorthwest)

Related to Shift’s featured story about local newspapers providing repeated coverage of a Republican New York congressman’s lies while not posting any new stories about a Western Washington Democrat legislator who also lied to voters, the Seattle Times has posted yet another story today about GOP Congressman George Santos.  The latest story reports that local Republicans on New York’s Long Island have called on Representative Santos to resign.  Why hasn’t the Seattle Times sought quotes from Democrat leaders in Representative Clyde Shavers’ 10^th Legislative District (Island, Skagit, and Snohomish counties) to see if they follow the Republican Party leaders in New York and call for Representative Shavers to resign because of his many lies to voters?  Why not get on the record,  Governor Jay Inslee, Attorney General Bob Ferguson, Secretary of State Steve Hobbs, and Speaker of the House Laurie Jinkins on whether they are as committed to honest and good government as New York Republicans are by calling on Representative Shavers to resign? (Seattle Times and Shift)

Students call the Seattle Public Schools’ lawsuit against social media platforms a “PR stunt” which will do nothing to reduce the mental health issues they are experiencing.  One Franklin High School student said, “ “It’s obviously a PR stunt the district is pulling, but it’s not addressing the needs we have as students.”  The district announced earlier this week that it has filed a lawsuit against the companies that operate Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat, claiming they are the cause for the mental problems of many students.   The Kent School District filed a similar lawsuit this week.  Coincidentally, teachers in both districts conducted illegal strikes at the beginning of the school year and both received substantial pay raises. (KOMO News)

The City of Bellingham is moving forward on its lawsuit against a property owner who has allowed a homeless encampment grow on his property.  The city is seeking to clean up the site and move all of the encampment’s residents into shelters at the property owner’s expense.  (Bellingham Herald)

Legislation introduced by a liberal King County Councilmember would prohibit retailers from being able to operate a cashless operation.  Councilmember Jeanne Kohl-Welles stated that cashless operations discriminate against those who don’t have bank cards. Supporters of cashless operators say it allows customers to spend less time waiting in checkout lines and allows retailers to reduce overhead costs and sell items for less.

If passed, this overreach would only apply to businesses in unincorporated King County. This appears to be yet another attack on innovation by liberal lawmakers, similar to one the Seattle City Council continues to wage against ride share companies resulting in a dramatic increase in cost for Uber and Lyft consumers. (Seattle Times).

Local elected officials and Eastern Washington State legislators are upset with Governor Inslee’s latest disrespectful actions towards those who live East of the Cascade Mountains.   The governor’s proposed  transportation budget placed a four-year hold on funding for the North Spokane Corridor, so the state can use the taxpayer money to fund more road construction projects in Western Washington.  Planners had originally scheduled for the corridor to be complete by 2029, but the governor’s funding freeze will push this back to 2035 (if it is completed on schedule, which rarely happens with Washington State Department of Transportation projects).

Meanwhile, dozens of unsightly concrete columns will be mothballed in the Spokane Community College neighborhood.  The project has been in the works for decades to remove freight transportation from surface streets and provide an additional North-South corridor through the city.  Senator Mike Padden (R – Spokane) said, “It’s almost unconscionable that the governor would offer that after everything we’ve been through.”  (Spokesman-Review)

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