Shift’s Newsmaker Interview is with Chad Magendanz, GOP House candidate in the 5^th Legislative District (Issaquah, Maple Valley, East Renton Highlands, and East King County) who is challenging two-term incumbent Democrat Representative Lisa Callan.  Many readers will recall Magendanz from when he previously served in the legislature from 2013 – 2017.  In 2016 he ran for the 5^th LD Senate seat and barely lost to the Democrat incumbent by just 500 votes.  Magendanz is a U.S. Navy veteran, a former Microsoft software developer, and is currently a high school computer science teacher.  Education issues have been important to Magendanz as he was formally the president of the Issaquah School Board and was the Ranking Republican on the House Education Committee.  In his interview Magendanz discusses education, what taxes he would cut, repairing the damage the Democrats caused with their drug legalization and anti-police bills, repealing Long-Term Care, ending the state’s attempt to socially engineer residents out of their cars by actually causing congestion, and he provides a fun selection for his favorite book. (Click to read the full Newsmaker Interview)

The country’s inflation rate hit a 40 year high and Washington State Democrat lawmakers continue to refuse to provide tax relief for struggling lower- and moderate- income households who financially struggling.  The U.S. Labor Department announced that consumer prices increased 8.6% in May.  Since items cost more, inflation usually means tax (especially sales tax) revenues will increase.  On June 22^nd the Washington State Economic and Forecast Council will reveal how much of a surplus the state can expect. Republican legislative leaders have repeatedly called for a virtual special session of the legislature to provide tax relief (sales, property, gas, or B&O) to help lower-income workers and the Democrats have refused. As the Democrats showed earlier this year when the state had a record-breaking $15 billion surplus, their top priority is to grow state government even larger (after doubling in just nine years) and not the financial well-being of those who are facing financial difficulties. (Yahoo Finance, Washington State Economic and Forecast Council meeting schedule, and Washington State Senate Republican Caucus)

The Automobile Association of America (AAA) says gas prices in Washington State are averaging $5.51 a gallon, which is two dollars higher than it was last year.  Washington State would currently be just above the national average of $4.97 a gallon if Governor Inslee and the Democrat legislators agreed with the Republican proposal to temporarily suspend the state’s gas tax of 49.4 cents a gallon to help lower- and moderate- income workers.  Instead the governor insults the intelligence of Washington State residents by stating obviously false reasons why he can’t support helping those who are financially struggling by providing a temporary gas tax suspension. (MyNorthwest and Washington Legislature Bill Summary)

According to the Washington Center for Real Estate Research there are only three counties in the state where it is affordable for the average first time home buyers to purchase a home.  According to the state funded research group, only Asotin (in SE Washington), Ferry (NE Washington), and Lincoln (just west of Spokane) counties are affordable for possible for the average new homeowner. The group asserts that construction restrictions in the state’s Growth Management Act is the major cause for the shortage of available homes which is causing the high prices. The group also stated that rent cost are also high due to more people stuck in the rental market. (Northwest Public Broadcasting)

The Tiffany Smiley for U.S. Senate campaign and the Washington State Republican Party are organizing a “Statewide Day of Action” on Saturday, June 18^th.    Volunteers will gather at twelve locations across the state volunteers to go doorbelling and conduct a phone bank.  As the Smiley campaign says, they need your help to get the word out that there is a “new mom in town.” (click on the link to find a location near you). (Smiley for Washington)

A settlement has been agreed to in one of the many lawsuits filed against the City of Seattle for its actions (or inactions) during the 2020 violent riots by liberal activists. The city agreed to pay $500,000 to the father of one of two young men murdered at the CHOP/CHAZ.  Originally the father had filed a $3 billion lawsuit against the city claiming police were either unwilling or unable to enter the CHOP/CHAZ and that this prevented medics from being able to provide aid to 19-year-old Horace Lorenzo Anderson who had been shot.  The lawsuit contended that Anderson died because he did not receive immediate medical attention.  (Seattle Times)

More costly construction problems for Sound Transit as it was revealed that some of the concrete on 7,800 track supports on the I-90 bridge is flaking away. The agency was forced to hire engineering consultants and an out-of-state laboratory to determine what caused the deterioration of the supports. The $3.7 billion Seattle to Bellevue light rail corridor was scheduled to commence operation in June 2023, yet this has been delayed and the agency is currently refusing to provide a new estimate for when trains will begin service or what the final construction costs will be. In 2016 voters in King, Pierce, and Snohomish counties approved a $54 billion light rail service.  In just over five years the budget has nearly tripled to an estimated $130 billion due to significant cost overruns on all projects. (Seattle Times)

The folks at Safe Seattle have provided reports of the increase of “non-destinational riders” who use Sound Transit trains as a place to sleep.  Since it has become known that Sound Transit has made it easy for people to ride the trains without paying fares, there has been an increase in the number of people who use the trains as a place to stay dry or get some sleep. (Safe Seattle Facebook post)

In the wacky world of Washington State and Seattle criminal justice, a man who violently attacked two women is now receiving $250 a day from the state while he is in custody.  In April, Alexander Jay was seen in video (that has gone viral) repeatedly throwing a woman down a flight of stairs at an International District Sound Transit stop in Seattle.  Then a few minutes later, witnesses say Jay repeatedly stabbed a different woman at a Metro bus stop. Jay was found incompetent to stand trial and was ordered to receive 90 days of mental treatment from the state before a trial could begin.

Yet, because the Inslee Administration and the Democrat legislators who wrote the state budget failed to provide adequate funding to help mentally ill patients, there is no space available at The Western State Hospital to treat Jay. Upon being informed that Jay is still in jail and not the hospital, the judge ordered the state to pay Jay $250 a day because his due process rights have been violated. Thus Jay is making $7,500 a month because he committed the violent crimes and Democrat lawmakers, with record breaking revenues, did not feel it was a priority to fund treatment of mentally ill patients.  (KOMO News)

The Tri-City Herald criticized the false reasons given by Governor Jay Inslee on why the recommendation provided in the comprehensive federal study on the future of the Snake River dams should not be accepted.  In 2020, after a long process involving multiple agencies, the federal government determined that the scientific data showed that it is best for the region to maintain the four Snake River dams due to both economic and environmental considerations.  While urban environmentalist want to demolish the dams because they believe it will increase salmon population for the Puget Sound Orca whales to feed upon (which NOAA scientist say is not scientifically correct), data for the past three years shows a significant increase in the number of salmon migrating in the Snake River simply due to making a few changes.

Governor Inslee has made politically charged and flippant comments about not being able to trust the federal government under President Donald Trump without providing any examples of how the president altered the data the federal government used to reach its conclusions. The Herald also pointed out the federal agencies under President Obama made very similar findings.

The Herald spoke to Inslee just before the release of a draft report he and U.S. Senator Patty Murray released yesterday. The editor of the Herald wrote, “We hoped Inslee would give a thoughtful remark on (why the federal report is not acceptable). But instead his response cemented the concern that the joint Inslee-Murray report is a politically-driven tool to give hope to dam opponents. “The editorial continued, “Tri-Citians deserved a better response than that.” (Tri-City Herald)

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