When will Democrat lawmakers stand up against all political violence the way Republican lawmakers have?
Shift Article
Democrat Governor Jay Inslee was afraid of a special session of the legislature, and now we know why. Even before the regular session of the Washington State Legislature began this week, both Republican and Democrat legislators were pre-filing bills to remove Inslee’s dictatorial “emergency” powers that the governor mis-used during his failed one-man rule of the state since March. Inslee feared any session of the legislature, even one controlled by his own party, because he knew the legislature would challenge his broken logic, overreaching rules, and inaccurate COVID dashboards by instead putting responsibility back into the hands of the elected representatives of the people of Washington. (Shift Article)
State
Why have Democrat politicians allowed without comment the violent actions by the liberal activists who control their party, and yet Republicans stood up against the violence committed by far-right criminals in the Capitol last week and continue to rebuke those among their supporters who advocate violent behavior to achieve their goals? As Shift has reported many times during the past year, not one Democrat statewide elected official or one Democrat member of the state’s congressional delegation has condemned the violent actions of liberal activists who forcibly took over a portion of Seattle’s Capitol Hill last summer and conducted numerous violent attacks on businesses and police officers. In fact, the Democrats on the Seattle City Council rewarded the violence by breaking their campaign promises to increase police funding by instead caving into the activists’ budget demands to defund the police. Q13’s Brandi Kruse has recently criticized Washington State Democrat Chair Tina Podlodowski for remaining silent and not standing up for media members who were attacked by the violent mobs.
Meanwhile Republicans (including Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers, Congressman Dan Newhouse, House GOP Leader J.T. Wilcox, and State Republican Party Chair Caleb Heimlich) immediately condemned the violence perpetrated by a fringe group of Trump supporters in the nation’s capital and in Olympia. Former Republican Washington State Attorney General Rob McKenna has been critical of the President and has said, “Republicans who are not extremists need to step up and take the party back.” McKenna has also stated that Republicans need to continue to “criticize threats of violence, the use of violence, to stand against it.” In doing so, maybe Democrats can learn the importance of condemning violence by their activists instead of mindlessly caving into the rioters’ demands. (KUOW, Brandi Kruse Twitter, McMorris Rodgers Twitter, Newhouse Twitter, Wilcox Twitter, and Heimlich Twitter)
Governor Inslee gave his virtual “State of the State” speech on Wednesday – and it was instantly forgettable. The governor failed to mention major issues that have impacted the state during the past year. Not one mention in Inslee’s speech regarding the violence by Left-wing activists who forcibly took over a police precinct and six blocks of Seattle’s Capitol Hill (or the loss of life due to six shootings in CHAZ/CHOP). Inslee failed to mention his administration being responsible for one of the largest scams in American history, when foreign criminals stole hundreds of millions of dollars due to incompetence at his Employment Security Department (or the resulting delay in providing unemployment benefits to tens of thousands of Washington workers that the governor’s “emergency orders” had thrown out of work). Inslee also failed to mention the many failures of his administration in managing the state’s response to COVID-19. From phony dials on an unscientific “dashboard” which provided little actual data, to dramatically failing to perform contact tracing (only notifying 6%, out of the promised 90%, of those who came in contact with someone infected with the virus), to state run hospitals and corrections centers failing to adhere to the state’s own health guidelines and being the source of many COVID-19 outbreaks, to Washington State being in the bottom five of states for distributing the vaccine now that we have it. We can understand why the governor would choose to leave out of his speech all of these failures of his administration, yet he also failed to mention one of his key proposals for the 2021 legislative session – his unconstitutional income tax on capital gains. As we said, the speech was forgettable. (Seattle Times and Shift)
Everyone, but state Democrat lawmakers, knows the income tax on capital gains proposal is an income tax. Besides all other 49 states and the IRS categorizing a capital gains tax as an income tax, now nonpartisan legislative analysts in our own state agree with that classification. While Governor Inslee and legislative Democrats continue to insist their capital gains tax proposal is an excise tax, not an income tax (and thus not unconstitutional in Washington State), the nonpartisan legislative staff’s analysis of the proposal used the words “income tax” at least seven times in describing the bill. If it quacks like an income tax and waddles like an income tax, it is an income tax. (Washington Policy Center)
Washington State continues to rank near the bottom of all states for the percentage of the state population who have received the first round of COVID-19 vaccination. Thus far only 2.7% of Washington residents have been vaccinated. According to the Centers for Disease Control, the national average is 3.1%. Even the state’s Secretary of Health Dr. Umair Shah is admitting that the Inslee Administration’s vaccine distribution has been “uneven at best.” (Q13 News)
It appears the folks over at Crosscut have difficulty in understanding public opinion polls. Repeatedly in recent stories, Crosscut has stated that, “A recent Crosscut/Elway Poll showed that only 55% of Washington state residents INTEND (our emphasis) to get vaccinated”. Yet the poll shows no such thing. The survey asked, “When a Coronavirus vaccine becomes available, how LIKELY (our emphasis) are you to get vaccinated?” Here are the percentages for each of the answer options – 37% “Certain to get it as soon as I can,” 18% “Very Likely to get it,” 27% “Going to wait and see,” 15% “Certain not to get it,” and 3% No Answer. Crosscut added the first two sets of responders to determine that 55% of respondents INTEND to receive the vaccination. Yet, the wording of the poll does not measure “intent”, instead it actually measures “enthusiasm.” The 27% who responded “Going to wait and see” could very likely “intend” to receive the vaccination, but first they will wait to see if it works or if the side effects are prohibitive. Only 15% say they will not receive the vaccination. Thus, there are 85% of Washington State residents who are in the potential vaccination pool. This is a much more realistic picture than the 55% Crosscut keeps stating, because, well, bias? (Crosscut)
The Democrats latest proposal to make it more expensive to live in Washington State is legislation introduced by Senator Mona Das (D – Kent) that will make it illegal for insurance companies to use credit ratings in determining insurance rates. Insurance companies warn that this proposal (SB 5010) will increase insurance rates for nearly all Washington residents. (Lens and Washington Legislature Bill Summary)
Western Washington
Dow Constantine’s administration is (again) responsible for more sewage being pumped into Puget Sound and Lake Washington during Tuesday night’s windstorm. The West Point Treatment facility off of Magnolia released 11 million gallons of waste into Puget Sound and the Shoreline pump station released an additional 165,000 gallons. This led the Kitsap County Health District to issue health advisories for those on its Eastern shorelines. Seattle’s East Pine Pump Station also released 2 million gallons of sewage into Lake Washington. Good thing those were not private companies involved, or someone might be held responsible for this environmental damage. (KOMO News)
Over objections from the teachers’ union, the Puyallup School District has begun to return students to in-person instruction. Kindergarten and 1st graders started a two day per week in-person hybrid schedule on Tuesday, and all remaining elementary students are expected to return to classes by February 9th. Teachers who were uncomfortable returning to classrooms were offered to take a “gap year.” (News Tribune)
As the City of Seattle continues to seek ways to provide “safe-injection” sites for heroin addicts, a federal court ruling in Pennsylvania over a similar program could put up additional roadblocks. Seattle’s latest effort involves allowing heroin users to inject the drug at current city health facilities, with trained medical personnel available to assist those who overdose. Yet the Third Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a similar injection site in Pennsylvania violated federal law. Current Western Washington U.S. Attorney Brian Moran had previously warned Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan that the city’s proposed sites could violate federal laws, and he would be enforcing federal laws. (MyNorthwest)
The Washington State Commercial Aviation Coordinating Commission released the list of six current airports which are being considered for expansion as SeaTac Airport is close to reaching capacity. The CACC listed are Arlington Municipal Airport, Bremerton National Airport, Paine Field (Snohomish County Airport), Sanderson Field (Shelton), Tacoma Narrows Airport (Gig Harbor), and Ed Carlson Memorial Field (South Lewis County Airport). Locations that are not currently airports could be added to the list. (iFIBER One)
Eastern Washington
The Washington Farm Bureau is asking the Inslee Administration to list all farm workers as essential and to revise health guidelines that were put in place last Spring. Currently only farm workers over the age of 50 are listed as a priority group to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. The Farm Bureau is requesting that all agriculture workers be part of this group. Agriculture groups believe the old health guidelines put in place last Spring, especially those regulating housing of H-2A workers, are outdated due to the availability of the vaccine. (Yakima Herald)
Central Washington University in Ellensburg has announced that Jim Wohlpart will become the school’s newest President in June. Wohlpart has been the Provost for the University of Northern Iowa. (YakTriNews)
Quick Takes
Republican lawmakers are concerned about the lack of transparency in the rules the Democrats have adopted for the 2021 “virtual” legislative session. One of the new rules allows the majority Democrats to eliminate public hearings on bills in the Senate. (Shift Quick Takes)
The four education leaders in the Washington State Legislature sent Governor Jay Inslee a letter saying his immunization plan was “unacceptable.” The Republican and Democrat education committee leaders were mostly concerned that the plan would keep many school districts closed to in-person instruction for the remainder of the school year. Inslee’s actions are leading many to believe the governor is not as supportive as he publicly claims he is regarding reopening schools. (Shift Quick Take)
Blood Drive
In honor of a friend of all of us at Shift, Hunter Goodman, we would like to encourage Shift readers to consider participating in a blood drive being organized by his son Grayson and a classmate. Hunter worked for Rob McKenna for many years, at King County and later the Attorney General’s Office, before becoming the Secretary of the Senate – so the start of the legislative session meant he was in his element. He was one of the nicest people in Washington politics, and all who knew him were saddened by his untimely passing in April of 2019, after a long battle with cancer. To participate in Grayson’s blood drive, click on this link to make an appointment before January 31st with Bloodworks NW. When you check in to give blood, give the code “SHS” so Grayson and his friend Jake are given credit for encouraging your donation. Thank you! (Grayson and Jake’s Blood Drive)