Governor Jay Inslee’s strategy to deal with the emerging state budget crisis is to keep handing out pay raises to state employees and keep refusing to cut a budget that has grown 20% over its predecessor, all while hoping for a federal bailout and waiting until after the election to increase taxes even more on Washington citizens.  Instead of being responsible and calling for a legislative special session to align our state spending with new budget realities of slower growth in revenues, Governor Inslee and Democrat legislative leaders want to keep spending money to create an opportunity to create new taxes (hello, state income tax), despite the financial insecurities of Washington taxpayers.  (Shift)

Last Friday’s Newsmaker Interview was with Jason Mercier, Director of the Center for Government Reform at the Washington Policy Center. Given the stubborn refusal of Governor Inslee and the Democrat legislative leadership to call a special session to align state’s expenditures to projected tax revenue coming in, we thought it would be an appropriate time to talk with one of the leading experts on the Washington State budget. Perhaps that will allow us all to better understand the strategy behind the Democrats’ irresponsible decisions.  Jason discusses the damage the Democrats are causing to the state’s budget, the pay raise Governor Inslee just gave state employees (while millions of Washington taxpayers are facing financial insecurities), the Democrats’ desire for a new state income tax, making collective bargaining negotiations more transparent for taxpayers, and finally breaking down to buy a smart phone. (Shift)

Because of the historic failure of Governor Jay Inslee’s Employment Security Department, state legislators’ offices have been overwhelmed with constituent calls asking for assistance to receive their promised benefits.  The governor pays lip service to the financial suffering of Washington State residents disappointed by his administration by saying “their frustration is real, sincere, and deep, and something I share.” Meanwhile, Inslee who was already the 6^th highest paid governor in the country, is “sharing” in their frustration by taking a $6,000 annual (non-merit-based) pay raise, which kicked in July 1^st. (The Divide with Brandi Kruse)

A vast majority of Canadians would like to see their border with the United States remain closed due to the coronavirus outbreak.  According to a Toronto Globe poll, 81% of Canadians would like to see the border remain closed.  With a population of 5.1 million, British Columbia has seen 3,028 cases and 186 deaths, while Washington State has 7.5 million residents has 39,218 confirmed cases and 1,424 deaths.  (News Tribune)

In a development which will impact public transportation needs (and taxes), one-third of workers would like to continue to telecommute from home permanently.  As more businesses and employees adjust to new working conditions during the coronavirus outbreak, a survey found that 1/3 of workers would like to work everyday from home, while nearly 3/4 said they would like to telecommute at least one or two days a week. (Route-Fifty)

The people behind the annual Roanoke Conference will be holding two online debates this Wednesday (July 15^th) evening with the Republican candidates for Lt. Governor and Attorney General.  The five Lt. Governor candidates will be featured at 5:30 PM and the three GOP candidates for Attorney General will present at 7:00 PM.  There is no cost for this Zoom event, but registration is required (click here).  Mike McClanahan of TVW will moderate both debates. (Roanoke Conference candidate debates)

Due to the liberal establishment pushing political agendas instead of focusing on results, Seattle has one of the highest private school enrollment rates in the country.  Behind only San Francisco and Milwaukee, Seattle Public Schools (SPS) has the third highest percentage (22%) in the country of its students attending private schools.  While the school district appears to essentially follow the liberal doctrine established by the Washington Education Association, a growing percentage of parents feel the district is not doing its job of educating children. As one parent said, “Things got so bad in SPS that I finally pulled my kids out, not being willing to sacrifice the quality of their education for a moral principle.” (Seattle Times)

Mayor Jenny Durkan and Police Chief Carmen Best released their version of proposed public safety cuts, setting up for another showdown between the mayor and Seattle City Council over police budget cuts,.  Durkan’s plan to cut $76 million from the police budget relies mostly on moving current law enforcement services (like the 911 call center operations and parking enforcement) out of the department and reducing overtime pay.  Meanwhile, the reactionary members of the city council are looking to slash money out of the police department and handing the saved revenue to special interest community groups. (KING5 News)

While some members of the King County Council want to remove the public from selecting the county’s top law enforcement officer, current sheriff Mitzi Johanknecht believes the voters should continue to select who serves in that position.  Councilman Rod Dembowski and other councilmembers want to have the council select the sheriff.  Sheriff Johanknecht said, “I think as a member of the same community as every other voter, we have a right to elect people to office, which has included the King County Sheriff’s Office since 1996. It’s not just because I’m in the office. Certainly, I’d like to run for re-election and win another opportunity to serve.” (MyNorthwest)

Bothell has resumed Lime scooter services despite the coronavirus outbreak. After a trial period in 2019, the city council unanimously approved bringing the shared service this summer.  At first this was delayed, but 100  scooters were deployed around the city on June 19^th. Riders are encouraged to abide by safety guidelines and the scooters are cleaned daily. Everett has postponed expanding such service until 2021. (Everett Herald)

The coronavirus outbreak reveals more of the administrative failures of Governor Jay Inslee’s Department of Corrections (DOC).  Due to rioting at the Monroe Corrections Center in April, the DOC released 1,200 prisoners statewide to reduce the spread of the coronavirus among the inmate population.  The failure of state personnel to adhere to health guidelines has resulted in a severe outbreak at the Cayote Ridge Correction Center near Connell, where 229 inmates and 54 staff members have been infected with the disease, and two prisoners have died.  Inmates are now locked in cells with no bathrooms for 23 and a half hours a day (often it takes 90 minutes to be given permission to visit facilities). (Spokesman Review)

A survey of eight Tri-Cities area grocery stores reveals that 95% of the customers were wearing face masks.  This is a 42% increase from the previous survey.  The Tri-Cities to Yakima area in Southcentral Washington is the hardest hit region of the state, with nearly 30% of the state’s coronavirus cases. (YakTriNews)

State Democrat Party Chair Tina Podlodowski continues to display bitterness for her 2016 failure to turn the Secretary of State’s office (which oversees of our state’s election system) into a partisan Democrat office, and continues to throw mindless attacks at Secretary Kim Wyman who defeated TPod four years ago.  By throwing a frivolous and inane charge that Wyman supports voter oppression, Podlodowski is attempting to draw attention away from the serious split that is occurring within her own party.  While progressives and the liberal establishment are literally fighting in the streets, Podlodowski and elected Democrat officials are afraid to take sides on whether they support Mayor Durkan and Police Chief Best or if they support Councilmember Sawant and those who forcefully took over portions of Seattle. (Democrat State Party fundraising email)

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