Shift’s Newsmaker Interview is with Representative Jim Walsh (R – Aberdeen), the fourth-term legislator from Southwest Washington’s 19^th Legislative District (portions of Cowlitz, Lewis, and Grays Harbor counties, and all of Pacific and Wahkiakum counties).  Representative Walsh is well known by his colleagues for being a straight-shooting and common-sense lawmaker not afraid to take on the state’s liberal political establishment.  He remains one of the strongest critics of Governor Inslee’s undemocratic abuse of emergency powers during the COVID pandemic.

In his interview, the representative provides his views on several major issues before the 2023 legislature. Representative Walsh outlines a few of the bills he has introduced which will provide families with more educational choices, keep skyrocketing property taxes from forcing seniors out of their homes, and prohibit the state from closing churches and other religious institutions during an emergency. He also shares his thoughts on the Democrats decriminalizing lethal drugs, the governor’s unconstitutional attacks on 2^nd Amendment rights, and what the priorities should be in the 2023 budget process. (Click to read full Newsmaker Interview)

Since today is Friday the 13th, the folks at the Washington Policy Center posted the above cartoon comparing the Democrats’ never-ending quest to impose a state income tax on Washington residents to Jason, the villain from the Friday the 13^th movie franchise, who never seems to die despite multiple times when everyone believed he had been killed.  The Democrats keep resurrecting their desperate desire to tax your personal income (to fund an even faster expansion of state government) by ignoring the state’s constitution (which clearly states an income tax is illegal), 100 years of legal precedent, and 10 voter rejections of a state income tax. The Democrats’ current effort is based on our state’s liberal lawmakers ignoring the Internal Revenue Service and 49 other states to mislabel their income tax on capital gains an “excise tax”. On January 26^th, the Washington State Supreme Court will hear arguments on the Douglas County Superior Court’s ruling last March that the capital gains tax is an illegal income tax. (Jason Mercier Facebook)

Yet another Democrat-controlled state is doing what Democrat lawmakers in our state refuse to do – providing tax relief to lower- and middle- income workers who are financially suffering due to rising costs caused by liberal inflationary policies.  New Jersey’s Democrat Governor Phil Murphy joins many other Democrat governors (including in very liberal California!) to offer a tax rebate on property taxes. Governor Murphy is expected to announce next week a $750 refund to most homeowners and $250 refund to renters.

Unfortunately the big government greed of Washington’s Democrat lawmakers is so extreme that not only do they refuse to provide any tax breaks for Washington residents, but they actually seek to impose new and higher taxes and fees on our state’s lower- and middle- income families who are currently facing financial difficulties. That’s because Governor Inslee and Democrat legislators need more of your money to fund government programs demanded by their campaign donors. (NJ.com,  KCRA News,  Washington Policy Center, Auburn Examiner)

The Inslee Administration’s mismanagement of the state’s Employment Security Department (ESD) continues to inflict problems on those who are without employment, as a recession caused by liberal economic policies continues to force the layoffs of thousands of workers.  We all remember that mismanagement and poor security decisions by Inslee’s incompetent political  appointees at ESD led to one of the largest heists in American history at the start of the COVID pandemic.  Yet despite numerous promises by the governor that everything was just fine at the troubled state agency, reports are now emerging that new employment benefits are taking far longer to process than they did before the pandemic.  Also, only 12.5% of the calls to ESD are actually being answered.

As one recent applicant stated, “It’s just been like a surrealistic nightmare.”  Maybe the unemployed should have made large contributions to the governor’s campaigns, like wealthy urban environmentalists and government employee unions have done, in order to get the Inslee Administration to take their problems seriously. (Seattle Times and OPD)

National conservative news site are beginning to report on the hypocrisy of local media outlets constantly running stories on the lies of a Republican congressman who serves constituents 3,000 miles away while failing to provide any coverage of the local Democrat legislator who lied to voters actually residing in their distribution area.  PJ Media posted a story this morning regarding the many lies told by Democrat Clyde Shavers during his 2022 campaign. It’s especially illuminating how Democrat Party organizations spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to get him elected and continued to pour money into his race after it was confirmed by Shavers’ father that the Democrat candidate had lied about his military career, work experience, family history, and even his residence.

After the votes were finally counted (Shavers won by just 211 votes), Washington State Democrat Party Chair Tina Podlodowski displayed no shame in her organization’s part in electing a candidate who repeatedly lied to voters by saying, ““I want to congratulate Representative-elect Clyde Shavers on his win and know he will do an excellent job serving the 10th district in Olympia.”

Shift was the first to report on Clyde Shavers’ father confirming his son had repeatedly lied.  Earlier this week Shift reported on the how the Seattle Times and the Everett Herald have irresponsibly provided far more coverage to the lies of a Republican New York congressman than they have on the lies of a Democrat legislator in their own backyard. (PJ Media and Shift)

The Tri-City Herald condemned Democrat legislators who are seeking to hide behind a fabricated classification in order to not provide government documents requested by the public and media.  The Democrats have recently used the fictitious categorization of “legislative privilege” in order to not provide documents and communications requested through public records requests.  The Herald stated that Democrat lawmakers, “can’t seem to resist finding ways to justify working in the dark when they know they’re supposed to be conducting all their business in the light.” The newspaper then wrote in its editorial that this is a “a morally wrong attitude” for the Democrats to possess. (Tri-City Herald)

The owners of a family-run convenience store in Tacoma are the latest victims of the Democrats’ 2021 anti-police legislation, which has led to skyrocketing crime rates in our state.  Lakhena Pon and her husband have owned and operated a small market just north of Downtown Tacoma for 31 years, and last Tuesday they experienced the first armed robbery of their business.  Pon said that the robber actually thanked her after he stole all the money in their cash register.

Meanwhile Governor Inslee, with his 24/7 Washington State Patrol protection, continues to display how out of touch he is by claiming it is a ”myth” that the Democrats’ anti-police package is one of the reasons there are far more crime victims today then there were before the package was passed (and he signed into law).  The question we have for the governor is that if he believes the Democrats’ pro-criminal legislation is not causing an increase in crime, than why in the same interview did he state he could support a repeal of the legislation’s restrictions on police pursuits? Perhaps someone told him that nearly all local law enforcement agencies have said the Democrat laws have led to the increase in crime and have emboldened criminals to commit more crimes without the fear of being arrested? (MyNorthwest and KOMO News)

Liberals in Seattle believe it is a constitutional right for them to paint graffiti on both private and public property.  A lawsuit has been filed over the police arresting an individual who was caught writing graffiti on the concrete barriers outside Seattle’s East Precinct on Capitol Hill in January 2021.  The lawsuit contends the suspect should not be arrested because eventually the graffiti will wash away. (Seattle Times)

As workers across the state are getting layoff notices, Washington State University is asking the legislature for $34.5 million dollars to provide a 4% raise this year and 3% more next year, to its employees.  A spokesperson for the university stated that the increase in funding from the state is partially due to the fact that revenue from student tuition is down since the school failed to meet its enrollment targets. So, taxpayers should pay for salary increases that actual students will not fund. Moscow-Pullman Daily News)

It is great having our friends at BabylonBee back on Twitter!

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