Shift’s Newsmaker Interview is with new Republican Senator Nikki Torres who made history last November when she became the first person of Hispanic heritage to be elected to the Washington State Senate from Eastern Washington. Senator Torres represents the 15^th Legislative District including the Yakima Valley, Pasco in the Tri-Cities, and Othello in Adams County.  The former Pasco City Councilmember is a manager for Western Governors University and is the mother of two daughters and has three grandchildren.

In her interview, Senator Torres outlines her agenda for the 2023 legislative session stating that her top priority is to improve public safety by reversing many of the Democrats’ disastrous anti-police measures. The senator asserts these liberal mistakes have “put the public at greater risk, making the streets safer for criminals, hostile to law enforcement, and dangerous for our families.” She outlines her belief that the legislature should focus more on providing tax relief to help families instead of using extra tax revenues to expand state government even further.

Senator Torres also provides her views on policies urban Democrats continue to impose of Eastern Washington farmers threatening their existence. She explains her legislation designed to help our farmers by improving their access to water. (Click to read full Newsmaker Interview)

Evidently Democrat Senator Manka Dhingra (Redmond) believes she knows more about public safety than nearly all law enforcement agencies in the state, as she will likely once again stubbornly block legislation which would remove restrictions on police pursuits.  Major law enforcement organizations and local officials have repeatedly called for the removal of the pursuit restrictions the Democrats placed on law enforcement in 2021, when they caved into the reckless demands of violent liberal rioters. Nearly all public safety experts have cited these restrictions for causing the state’s skyrocketing crime rates and for emboldening of criminals.

During the 2022 legislative session Senator Dhingra led the effort by liberal Democrat senators to kill a bi-partisan reform bill which passed the House. Now Senator Dhingra as chair of the Senate’s Law and Justice Committee, she has stated that she won’t even allow a public hearing on either the Republican HB 1053 or even the bi-partisan HB 1363, both of which would allow police to once again pursue and question suspects in crimes.  You know, like do their job.

Republicans are currently discussing several legislative actions to work around the irresponsible actions of Senator Dhingra as they seek to bring one of the bills to a vote on the Senate floor. In order to be successful, the GOP senators will need a few Democrat senators to stand up for victims of crimes to support the legislation. But, Senator Dhingra seems to have a hold on the Democrat caucus when it comes to pro-criminal legislation, so it remains to be seen if a few Democrats will actually stand up for public safety and oppose her misguided beliefs. (Q13 Fox News, Snohomish County Sheriff’s Department/YouTube, The Center Square, and Washington Legislature Bill Summary)

Representative Cyndy Jacobsen (R – Puyallup) has introduced two bills designed to allow local governments to provide affordable housing.   The affordable housing shortage in Washington State has been created by liberal environmental and energy policies which has not only have reduced the number of housing units built but have also driven up the cost of home ownership and rental rates.  Representative Jacobs’ proposed bills (HB 1401 and HB 1402) would allow local governments to adopt an expedited permit process for smaller housing units (below 1,801 square feet) and allow local governments to slightly adjust urban boundaries to provide more land for housing development. (House Republican Caucus media release and Washington Legislature Bill Summary)

A federal judge ruled that texts were intentionally deleted from the phone of former Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan and former Police Chief Carmen Best and that city officials purposefully attempted to hide the deletions of the text from opposing attorneys.  Judge Thomas Zilly made this ruling in lawsuits filed by residents and business owners, who claimed they were harmed by the city’s actions during the violent liberal riots and the illegal takeover of portions of Seattle’s Capitol Hill (CHAZ/CHOP) during the summer of 2020.  Judge Zilly ruled, “The Court finds substantial circumstantial evidence that the city acted with the requisite intent necessary to impose a severe sanction and that the city’s conduct exceeds gross negligence.” He stated that he will instruct the jury it may presume the text messages would hurt the city’s legal defense.

The deletion of texts requested as evidence in lawsuit has become a common practice among liberal officials as they seek to hide their actions from the public.  Lawyers for Attorney General Bob Ferguson’s office recently admitted that Democrat Redistricting Commissioner April Sims – since promoted to head of the state’s labor council – deleted incriminating texts she sent to Democrat staffers which were sought in public records requests made by the media members and citizens seeking to learn more about the illegal last-minute shenanigans performed by the Democrats attempting to derail the commission’s public process. (Seattle Times and The Olympian)

The Amazon company confirmed that it will relocate 2,000 employees to offices on the Eastside as it terminates its lease in the 28-story West 8^th Avenue Tower in Seattle’s Denny Triangle neighborhood. The company stated that the move was unrelated to its recent announcement that 18,000 employees were being fired.  Most of these jobs on the move were in its group responsible for producing the Alexa and Echo speakers.  The move is the latest decision by Seattle employers to close retail and office space locations in the city following several reckless anti-business and anti-police decisions made by the Seattle City Council. This latest departure will impact nearby small businesses dependent on the patronage of the Amazon employees and further reduce the city’s tax revenue used to pay for all of the city’s liberal social programs.  (MyNorthwest)

The Times won’t even join the Everett Herald in condemning Democrat Speaker Laurie Jinkins’ decision to disrespect the state’s 500,000 veterans by appointing Representative Shavers to the House Veteran’s Committee despite him repeatedly lying about his military service (along with his work experience, family history, and where he lived, etc.).

Many have speculated that the Times’ double standard is due to the newspaper needing Democrat support to pass tax break legislation (SB 5199) which will increase the financially struggling newspaper’s state tax credits tenfold.  The Times’ often criticizes those who benefit from keeping secret their conflict of interests on the use of taxpayer funds.  Why aren’t they willing to publicly explain their obvious conflict in reporting negative stories about Democrat lawmakers?  (Seattle Times, Everett Herald, Shift, The Center Square, and Washington Legislature Bill Summary)

Even the Seattle Times is encouraging the passing of Senator Nikki Torres’ farm internship bill, which will expand the program to all counties in the state.  Senator Torres discussed the bill this week in her Newsmaker Interview with Shift. She stated it is “critical to preparing the next generation of farmers.”

Current state law limits the program to select counties and the senator’s bill (SB 5156) expands it statewide. The current average age of a Washington State farmer is 59, and the bill will seek to encourage more younger people to take up a career in agriculture.  The bill has passed the Senate Committee on Labor and Commerce and is expected to receive a vote soon from the full Senate. (Seattle Times, Shift, and Washington Legislature Bill Summary)

The Pasco City Council voted 4-3 Tuesday to allow a very limited number of cannabis retail shops to open in the city, making it the first city government to allow the sale of legal marijuana in the Tri-City area.  While state laws allow a city of Pasco’s size to authorize four marijuana retail locations, city councilmembers have limited the number of permits to just two.  The stores will be allowed to open in the city’s industrial areas. (Tri-City Herald)

The family of an 83-year old Deer Park man who was murdered on December 26^th is wondering why the state released the murder suspect from prison after serving a short sentence following his 14^th felony conviction. Career criminal Gary Ault has been charged with the murder of Richard Purdy.  Ault had been released from prison earlier last year. He had served only three years in prison for his multiple felony convictions.  Purdy’s daughter stated, “The system has failed the public when after 14 felonies, some of which were actually violent, (criminals) are released back into society.” (KREM TV)

Democrats continue their efforts to “normalize” the admitted liar that is State Representative Clyde Shavers (D – Kirkland) by appointing him to the House Veterans Committee — thus insulting the service of those who bravely fought for our country.  After Shift broke the story that Clyde Shavers’ father confirmed that his son repeatedly lied to voters about his military service, his work experience, his family’s history, and even where he lived, Democrat organizations and labor groups poured tens of thousands of dollars into his legislative campaign during the last week of the election.  The Democrats and their special interests weren’t ashamed to support a serial liar, they just wanted that legislative seat to make sure they could keep expanding the size and cost of state government by increasing state taxes.  Now Democrat Speaker of the House Laurie Jinkins has doubled down on her party’s hypocrisy by trying to help rehabilitate Clyde Shavers by appointing him to the House Veterans Committee. The state’s 500,000 veterans can’t be pleased to have someone who discredited his service with multiple lies representing them on this committee.  (Click to read full Shift Article)

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