Governor Jay Inslee has a way of making even the mundane just another exercise in his favored style of lazy partisan politics. The latest example of the accidental governor’s “leadership” was signing two bills at the same time – to ensure that the state would waste money trying to overcome his dereliction of duty. And, it’s not the first time that Inslee has deployed his money-wasting ways to the state’s treasury  (Click to read full Shift Article)

Democrat legislators forgot one key thing when they jammed through their (unconstitutional) state income tax this session – the truth. Democrats in Olympia, from Governor Jay Inslee on down to the newest freshman state representative, desperately want a state income tax. Far-Left legislators have been pushing for one for years, despite voters saying “no” the last 10 times it was on the ballot, because the special interest groups (think unions, extreme environmentalists, etc.) which give them campaign money desperately want a state income tax. But, as former gubernatorial candidate Bill Bryant points out, in the liberals’ haste to jam through their new tax, they forgot to tell the voters the truth about their scheme to get more money for state government – and set themselves up for failure. Bryant wrote that “Washington Democrats might think jamming through a new tax under a made-up essential need is effective legislating.  But misleading people with phony emergencies and denying them their right to vote only contributes to things breaking down.” (Crosscut) WA Democrats undermine democracy when they bend the rules | Crosscut

In their never-ending attempt to destroy jobs which survived Jay Inslee trying to destroy them during COVID, Washington bureaucrats are proposing wildfire air quality rules which are twice as stringent as even California’s loony laws. Jay Inslee’s professional regulators at the Department of Labor and Industries (L&I) are proposing “emergency” rules for the summer wildfire season, which includes “proposing farms alter schedules or hand out masks to filter wildfire smoke even if the air quality remains at a level the Environment Protection Agency calls “acceptable.”” That’s right, the EPA has it wrong, and California has it twice as wrong – because according to Inslee’s crackerjack team at Ecology, “Scientists haven’t found any level of smoke that’s ‘safe’ “. The bureaucrats are at least following Inslee’s lead in proposing things that are good PR, even if they don’t work, L&I wants to mandate that “workers who labor in smoke for more than an hour a shift must be provided respirators (such as N95 masks)”, but under the emergency rule “workers don’t have to actually wear the masks.” What a perfect metaphor for these times under Jay Inslee’s “science-based” rule – forcing small businesses to waste money on a governor’s mandate that is not actually a mandate to do anything. Eastern Washington farmer Art Swannack and Whitman County commissioner said “I think they’re going overboard. I’d like to see commonsense in this agency and do something reasonable, instead of overreaching rules.” Wouldn’t we all Commissioner Swannack, wouldn’t we all.   (Capitol Press) Washington proposes wildfire smoke rule twice as strict as California’s | Washington | capitalpress.com

Legislators took a swing at solving the mental health crisis which has festered for years in Washington, and they may have made public safety worse. The law of unintended consequences was not one of the many new laws jammed through by Democrats in the latest legislative session, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t impacting plenty of the liberal efforts to reduce public safety. KUOW reports that the mutual trust between police officers and mental health advocates is being strained, as “police and mental health workers across Washington are navigating a new reality — one where officer may decide that a crisis responder’s determination that someone poses an imminent threat isn’t enough to risk a use of force incident.” The Democrats pushed through HB 1310, which Shift featured in a recent column, without considering its negatives. Noted Democrat intellectual/pot enthusiast Representative Roger Goodman, whined that “the goal of the new law, Goodman said, was to reduce the use of physical force, not get police out of the business of assisting with mental health calls.” But, when you have spent the last year attacking police officers, like Rep. Goodman and his Democrat cronies have, it seems that is not good for public safety. (KUOW, Shift column) KUOW – Police say it is hands off for some mental health cases after use-of-force law change

Can a King County Councilman succeed in cleaning up the “war zone” next to the County Courthouse? In a move that might make Don Quixote proud, King County Councilman Reagan Dunn is tilting at the windmill that is the Seattle Homelessness Industrial Complex, proposing the county condemn the “park” next to the courthouse “as a public safety hazard.” That’s right, an elected official is actually suggesting that Seattle politicians not allow a squalid campground to exist just because loud homelessness advocates demand that they do so. My Northwest reports that “City Hall Park — situated along Third Avenue directly next to the courthouse — has been home to a growing homeless encampment over the last year, with many courthouse employees frequently complaining about a subsequent increase in violent crime in the area.” Councilman Dunn was a little more blunt: “It’s a little bit like a war zone down there.” Unfortunately for those who have to go to the public court house on business, this is a war which liberal politicians have no intent on winning, or even fighting in. (KIRO Radio’s Gee and Ursula Show) King County councilmember pushing to condemn park near downtown Seattle courthouse (mynorthwest.com)

Port of Olympia snaps into action – to make government a little bit bigger. A majority of the Port of Olympia commissioners (that would be two of them) have evidently been hanging out with their public-employee neighbors now that COIVID has broken, and learned that nothing improves government like making it bigger. So, as the Olympian reports, “A Port of Olympia work session proposal to expand the current commission to five members from three ramped up quickly on Monday, finally resulting in a 2-1 vote to move forward with the idea.” Only one member of the commission seemed bothered by the effort to add a few more public employees to the payroll, with Commissioner E.J. Zita  asking, “Why is the commission going rogue on these things instead of working with our community partners?” she said. “I don’t understand. We don’t have the money, we don’t have the staff and what’s the hurry?” (The Olympian) Port commission moves forward on plan to expand to five members | The Olympian

Liberal trial lawyers shake down agricultural company for retroactive overtime pay which state law did not require at the time the work was performed. Shift has covered the liberal attack on Washington farmers during the recent session, which resulted in new regulations which will drive up the costs of food across our state. The latest shoe to drop in this attack on rural residents was reported by the Yakima Herald, as the “Yakima County Superior Court has granted final approval for a $1 million settlement that provides retroactive overtime pay”. The case was brought by Seattle’s Columbia Legal Services which crowed about bringing civilization to the rural hinterlands through its successful blackmail : “The settlement reflects that (we would win). The settlement is pretty good.” Good for Seattle lawyers that is, not so good for people who grow our food. (Yakima Herald)

Here’s the next idea that would help rural Washingtonians that Seattle liberals will try to stop.  The Goldendale Pumped Storage Project would provide the Pacific Northwest with the “new, innovative energy storage” it will need in a less carbonized future. A former Oregon Congressman has weighed in on why this is a good long-term project for southwest Washington. That means that urban liberals will soon be coming up with reason to stop the project. (Tri-City Herald) OPINION: New energy storage project near Goldendale, WA will help NW power needs (Greg Walden, a Gorge resident, represented eastern Oregon in Congress for 22 years, and chaired the House Energy and Commerce Committee/Tri-City Herald)

Taxpayers have already been forced to give over $2,000,000 to a variety of unqualified and/or wacky far-Left Seattle political candidates, most of whom are seeking to become the city’s next mayor (where the eventual winner will likely become the 6^th straight elected mayor to be leave city hall in disgrace due to the multitude of problems created by the region’s dysfunctional liberal establishment in the state’s largest city).  If you follow the money, you’ll find most of the tax money that funds Seattle’s “Democracy Voucher Program” will end up in the bank accounts of ultra-liberal political consultants, who get paid to spin the lies that their candidates will solve the city’s increasing problems by giving away even more free stuff and taxing the wealthy (i.e., the same promises which have created and exacerbated the city’s never-ending and ever-growing social problems for the past three decades). (Click to read full Shift Article)

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