Republican Senate Leader John Braun (Centralia) stated that data and common sense should guide lawmakers to repeal the Democrats’ disastrous police pursuit restrictions. Nearly all law enforcement agencies have stated it’s partially responsible for the dramatic rise in crime in the state, especially the dramatic increase in stolen vehicles.  Senator Braun joined many other legislators, including some Democrat House members, in dismissing flimsy excuses made by Senator Manka Dhingra (D – Redmond) who is again the major roadblock in getting this much-needed legislation passed.

The “data” – or fake science –  presented by Senator Dhingra has been refuted by many public safety experts, including Professor Matthew J. Hickman, chair of the Department of Criminal Justice, Criminology & Forensics at Seattle University.  The professor stated the data would be “summarily rejected as it does not satisfy threshold criteria for quantitative scientific work.  The analysis should be disregarded in its entirety and should not be used to inform legislative decision-making.” Unfortunately, it is exactly this fake science which Sen. Dhingra depends on to justify inflicting terrible policy on the entire state.

Senator Braun also rejected a Democrat proposal to “punt the public safety issue to an unelected state commission.”  The Senator expressed concerns that this new commission would be unable to develop clear and necessary crime solutions. (Senate Republican Caucus media release and Q13 Fox News)

Liberal anti-police measures have caused a severe drop in number of law enforcement officers in numerous law enforcement agencies in Washington State, and this has forced more tax dollars to be spent on retaining current officers and attracting replacements.  It is well known that after the Seattle City Council and the Democrats in the Washington State Legislature caved into the demands of liberal rioters to pass their anti-police measures, the Seattle Police Department experienced a mass exodus of more than 500 well-trained and diverse officers.  Since this obviously caused a steep increase in crime rates, the city has been forced to increase bonus payments (up to $30,000!) to keep remaining officers from departing and attempt to lure new officers to the department.

A similar exodus of officers has also taken place within the Washington State Patrol, which is down nearly 250 officers.  This has caused our state’s freeways to be more dangerous and people are driving more recklessly due to the belief they won’t be caught.  Troopers report that drivers are now more agitated and there has been an increase in number of road rage incidents.

Representative Drew Stokesbary (R – Auburn) and former state trooper Representative Eric Robertson (R – Sumner) have introduced legislation (HB 1380) which would pay existing troopers and new recruits a $5,000 bonus as the state patrol attempts to rebuild its number of officers.  The bill was introduced a couple of weeks ago, and on Monday it was moved to the House Appropriations Committee.  It is not known if the Democrat majority will even allow a public hearing on this much-needed measure.   (Q13 Fox News, Seattle Times, and Washington Legislature Bill Summary)

Democrat lawmakers continue to seek methods to make Washington State more comfortable for criminals by proposing legislation which greatly reduces the ability of police to stop motorists. Democrats have introduced bills in both the House (HB 1513) and Senate (SB 5572) to ban police from pulling over vehicles with expired tabs, misdemeanor warrants, or equipment failure.  Liberal lawmakers appear committed to passing their latest anti-police measure despite research from the Washington Traffic Safety Commission which found that fatalities increase when officers give fewer citations for safety-related issues.  Often suspects of violent crimes are arrested when police make routine police stops.  Remember Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh was arrested in a routine traffic stop 90 minutes after a bomb in a rental truck killed 167 people in 1995. (KING5 News, Washington Legislature Bill Summary, and Los Angeles Times)

Media reports reveal that one of the liberals’ many wealthy lobbyists has been barred from stepping on campus grounds due to a protection order obtained by a Democrat legislator.  Representative Lauren Davis (D – Shoreline) successfully obtained a domestic violence protective order last year against wealthy lobbyist Cody Arledge.  The representative claims that Arledge has “terrorized” her and that he has escalated his obsessive and threatening behavior since she broke off her romantic relationship with him in the middle of 2021.  Union and tribal lobbyist Arledge disputes Representative Davis’ allegations, though without much evidence.

The protective order prohibits Arledge from being within 1,000 feet of  Davis’ home or workplace (which includes the state Capitol and nearby legislative office buildings). He must wear an ankle GPS monitoring device to ensure he abides by the order.  The State Public Disclosure Commission reports revealed that Arledge’s lobbying firm collected approximately $1.2 million dollars last year as he has lobbied for the City of Seattle, tribal governments, and labor unions. (Seattle Times)

The (Tacoma) News Tribune today highlighted two separate front-page stories about the Pierce County Medical Examiner identifying the names of murder victims as violent crimes continue to run rampant since the Democrats passed their anti-police measures in 2021. In yet another disturbing sign of our times, the newspapers’ website featured stories about two murders which recently took place in Pierce County.  The first was a 19-year-old man who was shot while in his car near Puyallup on Saturday evening.  The second was a 47-year-old man who was shot on January 22^nd in the Stadium District just north of Downtown Tacoma.

Liberals like to dismiss claims that their policies are responsible for the rise in crime in our state by saying that crime rates are up throughout the country.  Yet crime rates are declining across the country while they continue to increase throughout Washington State.  The City of Tacoma broke homicide records in 2022 with 79 murders and the city is already on pace to beat that record this year. (News Tribune)

Washington State University will end its COVID vaccine requirements for most students this summer. The decision from administrators comes after a recommendation from the university’s Infectious Disease and Public Health Advisory Committee.  WSU’s assistant vice chancellor of student health Joel Schwartzkopf stated, “Our understanding of the virus and the tactics to combat it are evolving and we continue to follow the best available evidence from local, state, and national public health authorities, just as we have done throughout the pandemic.”  We wonder if anyone has sent this “best available evidence” to Governor Inslee to demonstrate to him (again) that his vaccine mandate of state workers still does not meet his claim that it is based on science. (iFIBEROne)

Our Newsmaker Interview was with second-term Republican Representative Cyndy Jacobsen who serves the 25^th Legislative District (East Pierce County).  She is a former Puyallup City Councilmember, schoolteacher, home school parent, and small business owner. She is the mother of seven children.

The representative discussed her bill to allow the state to rehire the workers who were unfairly fired when Governor Inslee abused his emergency powers by terminating the employment of state employees who were unvaccinated for COVID.  Representative Jacobsen also discussed her bill to improve safety in our schools and the proposal to provide more educational options to families by having the state fund the student and not the schools. She called the Democrats’ 2021 restrictions on police pursuit a “disastrous policy” and she is strongly supporting legislative efforts to repeal the law. She stated that Governor Inslee’s $4 billion bond measure for the state to purchase affordable housing is unwise fiscal policy and believes the housing crisis could be addressed better through lifting many of the bureaucratic restrictions Democrats have placed on development. (Click to read full Newsmaker Interview)

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