The Washington State Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments on the Democrats’  unconstitutional state income tax (on capital gains) and liberals have begun their PR campaign to back the tax, yet they fail to provide a legal argument for why the nine justices should ignore a century of legal precedent and the definition of income tax of 49 other states and the Internal Revenue Service, which all show the tax is illegal. The University of Washington Economics Professor Katie Baird is one of the latest big government liberals to weigh in on the issue.  Her Puget Sound Business Journal op-ed details all the serious problems the state could solve if it only had $500 million more dollars the illegal tax is slated to bring into the state coffers.

Evidently Professor Baird has not examined how the state under Governor Jay Inslee has “solved” such issues as homelessness, crime, housing shortage, traffic congestion, education, and drugs despite more than doubling the size and cost of state government since he has been in office.  But more importantly, the professor fails to answer the legal question at the center of the lawsuit the court will be ruling on – is a state income tax (on capital gains) constitutional?  Last march a Douglas County Superior Court used a century of legal precedent in stating this tax clearly violates Washington State’s constitution.  The professor’s only mention of whether the tax is legal is one sentence where she writes, “Foremost, the Court should let the tax stand because it is constitutional,” without providing a single bit of evidence on why this is true. (Puget Sound Business Journal and MyNorthwest)

Democrat House leadership is rightfully receiving criticism for adding Representative Clyde Shavers (Kirkland), who repeatedly lied about his military service, to the House Veterans Committee.  This decision is a slap to the face to the more than 500,000 Washington State residents who honorably served in our country’s military.  During his 2022 legislative campaign, candidate Shavers repeatedly stated he served as an officer aboard a US Navy submarine. The truth is he never completed training so that he could actually serve on a submarine. Shavers also lied about work experience, his family’s history, and his actual residence (he claims a room at an Oak Harbor Bed & Breakfast, not his Kirkland condo, as his official residence).

The action by Democrat leadership is the latest evidence that they have no problem with a serial liar serving in office. After Shift broke the story that Shavers’ father confirmed that his son repeatedly lied to 10^th Legislative District voters, the Washington State Democrats and a local Democrat organization poured $20,500 into Shavers campaign and liberal union organizations spent an additional $18,000 on last-minute independent expenditures. Meanwhile the Seattle Times continues to show its bias by failing to report on the controversy over Shavers taking office or on the Democrat Party’s strong financial support of the confirmed liar, yet they have posted 25 articles regarding a Republican congressman who lied but serves constituents 3,000 miles away.  (Brandi Kruse Twitter, Shift, Clyde Shavers’ Public Disclosure Commission report, and Seattle Times)

Former Washington State Trooper and current Representative Eric Robertson (R – Sumner) has introduced a bill that lifts restrictions the Democrats placed on police pursuits as part of their 2021 anti-police package.  The bill (HB 1363) has bipartisan support with Democrat Representative Alicia Rule (Blaine) signing onto the measure.  When the Democrats recklessly passed their restrictions on police pursuits, it was a major contributing factor in the state’s skyrocketing crime rate, especially with stolen cars.  During the 2022 campaign, many nervous Democrat legislative candidates promised to look at ways to allow police to pursue suspected criminals again.  We will now see if the Democrats will keep their promise to the voters.  Some analysts believe the bill should pass through the House but will have trouble in the Senate where many anti-police Democrat Senators led by Manka Dhingra (Kirkland) kept Democrat leadership from placing the bill on the Senate calendar. (Representative Eric Robertson media release, Washington Legislature Bill Summary, and The Center Square)

Failed liberal policies led to a record-braking number of people dying on the streets of King County in 2022.   While liberal politicians cruelly use the suffering of those who are homeless to selfishly grow the size and cost of all levels of government, the region’s homelessness problems continue to get worse.  Last year 310 homeless individuals died, and liberal politicians response is to to waste even more taxpayer money on their failed policies.  Liberal policies on drugs (in 2021 the Democrats in the legislature effectively decriminalized possession of such lethal drugs as fentanyl, methamphetamines, and heroin) have also contributed to the increase in the number of homeless individuals dying. Officials state that 77% of the homeless deaths were “accidental” and that most of these fatalities were caused by fentanyl overdoses. (KING5 News and Seattle Times)

Seattle City Councilmember Andrew Lewis, who received considerable criticism for caving into the demands to drastically cut police funding made by liberal rioters in 2020, announced that he is running for reelection on Monday.   Lewis faced one-time Interim Seattle Police Chief Jim Pugel in 2019 for the then-open council seat.  Candidate Lewis had promised voters that one of his top priorities was to increase police funding and hire more police officers.  Yet, just a few months later when liberals destroyed businesses, set cars on fire, and attempted mass murder of police personnel, Councilmember Lewis quickly flip-flopped and joined the city council’s actions to defund the police department.

After nearly 500 well-trained and diverse officers reacted to the council’s anti-police actions by fleeing the Seattle Police Department, crime skyrocketed throughout the city. Councilmember Lewis then flip-flopped again and said that defunding the police “was a mistake.”  Incredibly now Lewis states that crime is one of the top issues he is running on.  Councilmember Lewis has floated the idea of increasing taxes to pay for the council’s previous mistake of transferring police department funds to completely ineffective anti-crime projects organized by liberal special interest groups.

There are seven district-based council seats up for election in 2023 (the two citywide seats will be contested again in 2025).  Thus far current Councilmembers Debra Juarez, Lisa Herbold, and Alex Pedersen have chosen not to defend the council’s disastrous record and will not face the voters for re-election. Lewis’ 7^th District takes in Magnolia, Queen Anne and the Downtown neighborhoods.  (Seattle Times and KOMO News)

New Representative April Connors (R – Kennewick) has introduced legislation to regulate the use of annoying large blinking red lights on top of wind turbines, similar to what has been done in several other states.  When placed on top of dozens of wind turbines in a large wind energy farm, the massive blinking red lights create a visual disturbance to those who are nearby.  The lights are put in place to warn low-flying aircraft.  Representative Connors legislation (HB 1173) would keep the large red lights from blinking until an aircraft is recognized by detectors. (Tri-City Herald and Washington Legislature Bill Summary)

Democrat lawmakers Senator Rebecca Saldana (Seattle) and Representative Amy Walen (Kirkland) have introduced legislation which is the current frontrunner to be the worst idea of the 2023 legislative session.  The bills (SB 5109 and HB 1095) will give people who enter the United States illegally, who are not permitted to work in the country legally, to claim unemployment benefits paid for by the taxpayers (and legal residents) of Washington State.  Essentially the liberal Democrats are pushing to circumvent US immigration law and simultaneously create a universal basic income program. To make the measures even worse, they contain a provision which requires the state to destroy any paperwork within 15 days so federal immigration officials can’t use it to perform their jobs. (Click to read full Shift Article)

Shift’s Newsmaker Interview was 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 provided 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 shared 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)

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