Senator Ann Rivers (R – La Center) places the blame on liberal, urban state senators for defeating a measure which would have instantly reduced the number of car thefts in our state.  The SW Washington State Senator points out in a News Tribune op-ed that in the first six months of 2022 the state equaled the number of stolen cars for all of 2019.  And the problem continues to worsen due to the failure of the Senate Democrats during the 2022 legislative session to support a needed fix of the state’s very restrictive police pursuit laws, which the Democrats had proudly featured in their 2021 anti-police package of laws.

The stubborn refusal of the Democrats to fix the pursuit laws has enabled car thieves to step up and steal vehicles at a record pace.  Despite the overwhelming evidence that the Democrats police pursuit policies are a complete failure (turning more Washington residents into “crime victims”), Democrats such as Senator Manka Dhingra (D-Redmond) continue to defend their restrictions on police officers so criminals can escape investigation and incarceration.

The bi-partisan Senate Bill 5919 would have restored “reasonable suspicion” as the standard for allowing police to pursuit a criminal, as law enforcement agencies across the state requested. The House overwhelmingly passed a revised version of the bill by an 82 – 16 vote during the 2022 legislative session. Yet the bill was never brought up for a vote in the Senate because urban, liberal Senators opposed it and Senate Democrat Leader Andy Billig (D – Spokane) caved into their demands.

Senator Rivers points out the irony of the actions taken by liberal, urban Democrats, which is allowing  the problem to worsen for their voters. Crime rates reveal that it is their constituents who now face a greater likelihood of being a victim of car thieves.  Yet, the well-being of their constituents is of less concern to urban Democrat legislators than continuing to cave into the policy demands of the radical violent rioters who illegally took over portions of Seattle in 2020. (News Tribune, Seattle Times, Washington Legislature Bill Summary, and CenterSquare)

Property owners and managers are suing the state over a new law which delays eviction by six months or more.  The Democrat-controlled legislature passed a law in 2021 requiring landlords to bring in a Dispute Resolution Center to attempt collection of past due rent before the landlord can begin the eviction process.  Landlords argue that this process delays evictions by six months. The lawsuit contends that often the centers are not performing their tasks, and when they do, it is not timely.  This is one of many liberal local and state measures which is reducing the number of rental units available (and thus driving up rents) as property owners are finding it financially difficult to maintain rental properties under the new rules and regulations. (Seattle Times)

Todd Myers of the Washington Policy Center has been posting energy supply graphs during our recent stretch of warm weather which display one of the many problems in removing the clean energy provided by hydroelectric dams and trying to replace it with wind power. The graphs reveal that during the three hottest days of the year, when energy demands were at their highest, energy provided by wind actually declined because there has been very little wind (which often occurs when the region has hot weather).  At the same time, the hydroelectric dam-generated energy provided the flexibility needed to meet the energy demands, even during peak power usage.  A timely reminder that needlessly removing the four lower Snake River dams will increase the likelihood of “brown outs” during periods when power is most needed. (Todd Myers Facebook post)

An op-ed argues that taxpayers and state employees would both benefit by allowing transparency in contract negotiations between Governor Inslee and his political allies in the government employee unions.  Currently Governor Inslee is in secret contract negotiation with state employee unions, all of which have donated large amounts of money to the campaigns of Democrat politicians, including Governor Inslee.  The op-ed by Chris Cargill of the Washington Policy Center asserts that taxpayers deserve to know what the governor is offering to, or rejecting from, the unions. Recent polling shows that 70% of Washington voters support transparency in contract negotiations. Cargill also believes that union members would also benefit from knowing “exactly what proposals their union representatives are requesting and rejecting. Transparency benefits rank-and-file union members, providing information on how they are being represented.” (Spokesman Review)

The Washington State Ferry Cathlamet crashed into the West Seattle ferry terminal this morning and instantly many wondered if Governor Inslee’s firing of nearly 200 ferry workers as part of his unilaterally imposed vaccine mandate had any part in the crash.  The Cathlamet sustained heavy damage to its front left section and the Fauntleroy ferry dock suffered damage to its loading platform and is now closed. Fortunately no was hurt. The ferry terminal provides service to Vashon Island and to Southworth on the Kitsap Peninsula. All Vashon Island traffic has been diverted to Tacoma.

Representative Jim Walsh (R – Aberdeen) wondered if the understaffing at the Ferry System played any role in the accident.  The representative wrote in a Facebook post, “When the current Gov fires experienced state workers for no good reason, he creates staff shortages. When he creates staff shortages, he causes overwork, fatigue and mistakes.” (Seattle Times and Representative Jim Walsh Facebook)

KTTH radio host Jason Rantz stated that the King County Council is celebrating the creation of a gun buyback program which already exists and does almost nothing to reduce gun violence. The council voted to have King County Executive Dow Constantine investigate implementing a “voluntary safe firearm and ammunition return program within the King County Sheriff’s office.” Yet former King County Sheriff Mitzi Johanknecht states there is already a gun buy-back program in place in the sheriff’s office, as there is at most police departments. The problem is that nearly all guns that are returned are old and rusty and not the newer models that are often used in crimes.  (MyNorthwest)

There are growing reports that the illegal behavior on Seattle’s 3^rd Avenue has resumed since the departure of the Seattle police “emphasis patrols.”  SPD increased its presence in Downtown Seattle after multiple murders occurred on 3^rd Avenue in late February and early March.  Open markets for stolen goods and other illegal behavior disbanded when the police moved in with many officers and mobile precincts.  Yet now that the emphasis patrols have moved on, as crime runs rampant throughout the city, so the illegal behavior has returned.  Downtown resident Brad Foster tweeted a video of people having to walk in the street to get around the suspicious behavior occurring on the sidewalk at the corner of 3^rd & Pike. (Brad Foster Twitter)

The final report from Democrat Governor Inslee and Democrat U.S. Senator Patty Murray’s partisan study on the Snake River dams has been delayed by a month.  The delay appears odd to many observers since the final conclusion of the taxpayer-funded study was well-known by everyone before the study began.  The report was originally due this week, but it was announced that it would not be available until mid- to late- August.

The initial draft of the study was released a few weeks ago and drew much criticism for its many factual errors and for not seeking input from those who don’t agree with the wealthy urban environmentalists’ point of view to remove the dams and the clean energy they produce. (Neither U.S. Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers nor Congressman Dan Newhouse was contacted by those authoring the study, despite the two representing in Congress the people most impacted by the dams.)  Also, many people were critical of the extremely broad range (between $10.3 to $27.2 billion) the draft study gave for the price tag to destroy and then replace the benefits of the dams.  Not only do many consider even this broad range to be too low, but they also question a study which cannot pinpoint the cost to a more precise figure – especially since figuring out the cost to replace the dams was the prime objective of the study. Or maybe the prime objective was just to make the wealthy environmentalist donors happy? (Lewiston Tribune and Congressman Dan Newhouse media release)

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