For the third straight year, there will be no statewide initiative to the voters on this November’s general election ballot.  Earlier this year, an initiative campaign to eliminate the state’s unconstitutional income tax on capital gains (I-1929) decided not to pursue a signature-gathering effort due to the high cost of collecting signatures and the possibility that the Washington State Supreme Court might actually make the correct ruling that the tax is unconstitutional (as it should if the justices follow state laws and court precedents). Meanwhile the liberal effort (backed by the American Civil Liberties Union) to pass an initiative to completely decriminalize drugs (I-1922) had been actively seeking signatures, but apparently fell considerably short of the 325,000 valid signatures needed to get on the ballot before last week’s deadline. (MyNorthwest)

Administrative failures at many levels and soft-on-crime practices allowed a repeat criminal to remain free to murder an innocent mother of nine in Spanaway — on her 39^th birthday.  Jerrmell R. Warren had been arrested and released three times between June 2021 and January 2022 for violating his parole.  The Washington State Department of Corrections (DOC) issued another arrest warrant for Warren in February, due to his failing to report to his probation officer. He also had two arrest warrants out on him from the City of Kent.  A Pierce County Sheriff’s spokesperson said officers do not put effort into arresting those on DOC warrants since they know the state will simply allow the offender to go free within a couple of days.

Warren was free on May 26^th when he was allegedly drunk and harassing individuals at a 7-Eleven.  An altercation occurred and Warren fired a gun, killing the mother of nine who was a bystander in the incident.  An interesting fact was revealed in the story as Warren had admitted that his crimes are often the result of drinking sprees. In Washington State, those convicted of a misdemeanor charge related to drinking are more closely monitored on their alcohol treatment than those who are convicted of felony charges which involve alcohol. Warren had been sentenced to alcohol treatment at least a couple of times, but never attended. Tragic, but clearly the liberal soft-on-crime approach failed here. (News Tribune)

City of Bellevue leaders shot down rumors that they were planning to impose a special tax on Amazon after the Seattle Times’ Danny Westneat wrote that it was a possibility.  Bellevue’s Deputy Mayor Jared Nieuwenhuis stated, “We are not, despite what you may have read in the Seattle Times, looking at an Amazon tax, looking at a head tax, or looking at a JumpStart tax.” Recently the City of Seattle imposed its so-called “JumpStart” tax on the salaries of more than $150,000 from all companies which spend more than $7 million in payroll. This tax played a role in Amazon deciding to move many of its top-salaried employees to Bellevue.  City of Bellevue officials stated they have built a strong relationship with Amazon, as it prepares for more than 10,000 Amazonians in the city in the next couple years.  Amazon has already partnered with the city to finance the construction of more than 1,100 affordable homes in the city. (CenterSquare)

The Olympia School District Education Foundation is not subtle in discouraging white straight males from applying for its Board of Trustees. On its website, the foundation makes it very clear that it will prioritize applicants who “identify as Black, Indigenous, or People of Color, and/or are multilingual” or “LGBTQ+.” Applicants are asked about their sexual orientation, gender identification, race, religious affiliation, age, disabilities, immigration status, and whether they had received government assistance to buy food.  Most businesses don’t require applicants to answer these types of questions for fear of discrimination lawsuits, but Olympia schools are evidently using the information to ensure no white males are selected. One volunteer has left the board as he believed it was becoming obsessed with race and that they were being exclusive instead of inclusive. (MyNorthwest and Olympia School District Education Foundation website)

40% of the Seattle Public School’s 3,227 full time teachers are making more than $100,000, yet the teachers union is demanding “respectful pay.” Top pay for a Seattle teacher is $130,272. It currently only takes eight years of seniority to reach the $100,000 level.  The teacher’s contract requires them to work just 180 days each year. (CenterSquare)

A military service family learned firsthand about Washington State’s out-of-control crime rate after all of their possessions were stolen as they moved to the Puget Sound area.  A Coast Guard family had just been transferred to the area from Michigan, and were still staying at a Tacoma hotel, when their vehicles and attached trailers were stolen from a hotel parking lot on Saturday.  The fact that the vehicles were stolen during daylight, from a busy parking lot, is a demonstration of how criminal friendly our state has become since the passage of the Democrats’ 2021 anti-police package and the failure of the Democrats to support a fix of the state’s police pursuit laws during the 2022 legislative session. (Q13 FOX News)

The Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission handed a major defeat to Governor Inslee and his wealthy urban environmentalist campaign supporters when it voted to oppose new rules which would have made it more difficult for ranchers and farmers to protect their livestock from attacks by grey wolves. In a 5-4 vote last Friday, the commission struck down an attempt by Governor Inslee to force the Washington Fish and Wildlife Department to adopt new rules (written by urban environmentalists) which would have made it nearly impossible for ranchers to use lethal force to stop wolves from attacking their cattle and other livestock. Despite the defeat in the two-year process, which included the governor only appointing new commission members who supported his belief in further restricting ranchers, the governor’s spokesperson claimed the process was a victory because a couple of the commissioners stated that future use of lethal methods to control the wolves needs to be improved (which they have been saying throughout the entire process of re-introducing predatory grey wolves into Washington State). (Capital Press)

Three Republican state senators collectively submitted a Seattle Times op-ed asserting that Governor Inslee and U.S. Senator Patty Murray’s partisan report on the costs associated with removing the Snake River dams “ironically makes a good case for keeping the dams in place.”  The op-ed was authored by the two Southeast Washington state senators whose legislative districts (the 9^th and 16^th) would be the most impacted by the nonsensical idea of removing the four dams, Senators Mark Schoesler (Ritzville) and Percy Dozier (Waitsburg), and by Republican Senate Leader John Braun (Chehalis). The article outlines how removing the dams will severely – and negatively – impact the state’s clean energy production, irrigation ability, transportation of crops to market, and tourism. (Seattle Times)

Shift’s Newsmaker Interview was with 30^th Legislative District House candidate Ashli Tagoai, a Federal Way native, community activist, and promising young attorney.  Republican strategists believe the 30^thLegislative District (Federal Way, Algona, Pacific, and portions of Auburn and Des Moines) is where the GOP has a good opportunity to pick up both State House seats and the Senate seat as they attempt to win control of the Washington State Legislature.  Tagoai is running for the House position currently held by Democrat Representative Jesse Johnson, who was one of the primary architects of the Democrats’ controversial anti-police package, which many law enforcement agencies blame for the sharp increase in crime in the state. Representative Johnson decided to not run for re-election and the two Democrats seeking the seat were described by The Stranger as having “sincere support for progressive policies.”

In her interview, Tagoai provides her thoughts on the Democrats’ disastrous crime bill, the already insolvent Long-Term Care program, providing tax relief to Washington’s working families, what the legislature can do to prevent domestic abuse, and whether Seattle’s “progressive policies” represent the priorities of South King County. Togoai also selected a classic book as her favorite because it provides young attorneys with an important lesson. (Click to read full Newsmaker Interview)

Once again Governor Jay Inslee used a national media appearance to make reckless and irresponsible statements in his usual quest to attract more attention for himself.  In an appearance last week on the Washington Post’s video blog, the governor made outlandish comments regarding recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions, as he sought to stand out among all the other irresponsible and inaccurate comments made by Democrat electeds and liberal activists. The governor’s comments are what one would expect from a drunk college student on social media and not from someone who wishes to portray themselves as a statesman. Sadly this is nothing new for Governor Inslee, as he has desperately sought recognition from national Democrat activists who have repeatedly shunned him in the past.  In 2019, the governor likely cost the state thousands of high-paying manufacturing jobs when he went on national TV and called Boeing “muggers” and “blackmailers” as he sought support from the Democrats’ anti-business activists for his short-lived presidential campaign. (Click to read full Shift Article)

Do you like The Daily Briefing? Do you want to keep seeing coverage of election issues which are important to you?

Please consider making a contribution to ensure Shift continues to provide daily updates on the shenanigans of the liberal establishment and provides you inside coverage of the 2022 elections which includes exclusive interviews with top candidates.

Forward this to a friend.  It helps us grow our community and serve you better.

You can also follow SHIFTWA on social media by liking us on Facebook and following us on Twitter.

If you feel we missed something that should be covered, email us at [email protected].