Shift’s Newsmaker Interview is with Republican State Senate candidate Ryika Hooshangi, the challenger seeking to remove controversial Democrat Senator Manka Dhingra.  This 45^th Legislative District (Kirkland, Redmond, Sammamish, and East King County) contest will be one of Washington State’s most watched campaigns in 2022, as Republicans seek to pick up four seats to take control of the state senate.  Hooshangi is an attorney, small business owner, PTSA president, water commissioner, and mother of two children.  She says she is running for the state senate because “we need real solutions to our problems, not extreme personal agendas.”  Hooshangi’s opponent has received much very deserved criticism for her leading efforts in passing the Democrats’ 2021 anti-police package. Senator Dhingra even went so far as to defend her Democrat colleagues who failed to support a legislative fix to the state’s police pursuit laws, which have allowed thousands of suspected criminals to flee police.

In her interview, Hooshangi provides her thoughts on the Democrats’ police pursuit restrictions, education reform, gas tax relief to help those who are struggling financially, and the Democrats’ “poorly written” Long-Term Care plan and payroll tax. She also provides an interesting choice for her favorite book. (Please click link to read full Newsmaker Interview)

Liberal greed is on full display here in Washington State as Governor Inslee and Democrat legislators have decided it is more important for the state government to keep billions in surplus tax revenue than it is to help lower- and middle- income families by suspending or reducing the state’s 49.4 cents a gallon gas tax.  As the famous economist and social theorist Thomas Sowell once said, “I have never understood why it is ‘greed’ to want to keep the money you have earned but not ‘greed’ to want to take somebody else’s money.” Republican legislators have repeatedly called for a short, virtual special session to suspend the state’s gas tax, which is the third-highest in the country, but Democrats have stubbornly held onto their liberal beliefs that it is better for government to have too much money than it is for working families to have enough money to pay their bills. Despite President Biden calling on states to follow the federal example he wants to set by of suspending its 18-cents-per-gallon gas tax, Governor Inslee continues to push false arguments which not even the national leader believes. (Click to read full Shift Article)

Republican lawmakers are discussing censuring or impeaching Democrat Washington State Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler.  The legislature could also consider significantly reducing Commissioner Kreidler’s pay.  The actions against the 78-year-old career politician are in response to reports that Kreidler berated his staff and used offensive terms to refer to people.  Last week it was announced the commissioner fired one of the Insurance Commission’s employees who made public Kreidler’s abusive conduct. Democrat and Republican leaders of both the State House and Senate called for Commissioner Kreidler to resign, yet he says he plans to stay in office. House Republican Leader J.T. Wilcox said, “A censure is obvious,” and that other tougher measures are currently being discussed. (CenterSquare)

Thousands of possible drunk driving cases across Washington State could be thrown out due to yet another administrative failure by the Inslee Administration.  As the Daily Briefing reported previously, a panel of four Kitsap County judges ruled unanimously that the breathalyzer equipment used by the state did not meet legal requirements and they threw out all cases which involved this equipment in the county.  The judges further ruled that the state knew about this problem for 10 years and nothing was done to correct this error.  Now attorneys across the state are using the Kitsap County decision as they attempt to have their clients’ drunk driving charges thrown out.  If the defense attorneys are successful, thousands of possible drunk driving convictions will not take place and those defendants will not be forced to serve the punishment which often leads many problem drinkers to obtain help. (Everett Herald and Centralia Chronicle)

A Republican state legislator is among the growing number of Washington residents who have woken in the morning to find their property had been stolen. Since the 2021 passage of the Democrats’ anti-police legislation, unfortunately the list of Washington residents who have experienced this shock continues to grow at a record pace. Representative Andrew Barkis (Olympia) posted on Facebook this morning that his family’s camper had been taken in the middle of the night.  It is a 24-foot Timber Ridge white camper, with the Washington license plate 37624AC. If you see it, please notify the Olympia Police Department. (Andrew Barkis Facebook post)

One of the temporary workers brought in by the Inslee Administration in 2020 to handle the large backlog of unemployment benefits applications at the Washington State Employment Security Department (ESD) has pled guilty to committing fraud and enriching himself by at least $130,000.  The temp on at least 10 occasions was bribed by friends to access ESD records to make them eligible to receive state benefits, which were actually intended for workers who lost their paychecks at the beginning of the COVID pandemic.  (MyNorthwest)

Seattle taxpayers are forced to pay $1.5 million to settle another lawsuit because city officials broke the law in deleting their phone texts, this time with high-paid liberal lobbyists over the location of a marijuana retailer. The city had first allowed the plaintiffs in the suit to relocate their SODO cannabis store to Ballard.  This ruling was reversed after a competitor’s lobbyist (who was also the political consultant to then-Mayor Jenny Durkan) met with city officials.  The plaintiff sought the texts from the city official through a public record request and was informed that texts from both his phone and his deputy’s phone had been deleted.  A week after the plaintiffs filed a motion stating the city had purposely destroyed evidence, the city settled the lawsuit. (Seattle Times)

5^th Legislative District GOP Candidate Chad Magendanz is holding a kick-off event next Wednesday evening at the Gibson Elk High School in Issaquah (379 1^st Place SE) starting at 6:00 PM.  Magendanz, who was Shift’s Newsmaker Interview two weeks ago, is running to unseat Democrat Representative Lisa Callan in one of the top targeted races in the state. Click on the link to learn more about the event and to RSVP. (Chad Magendanz Facebook post and Shift’s Newsmaker Interview)

Governor Inslee is scheduled to make a rare appearance in Eastern Washington today as he plans to make a few stops in the Wenatchee area.  Hopefully this trip will go better then his previous visit to the area in 2020. It was then that the governor broke state laws and brought maggot-infested apples from his trees in Olympia as “gifts” to those who had lost their homes to wildfires. Again, we will point out how odd of a gift this was.  The region is the true fruit capital of the world, and bringing apples to these people is like bringing ice to the North Pole. (KPQ Radio and KREM-TV)

Democrats and liberal special interest groups continue to pull out all stops to help the struggling campaign of 71-year old U.S. Senator Patty Murray.  It is not difficult to notice the deluge of TV and radio ads by national special interest groups nervous that the five-term senator (who has never once held a town meeting and rarely makes public appearances in Washington State) could lose her seat this November. Yet this is a likely possibility since the primary legacy of Senator Murray’s 30 years in office is that she always votes the way her Democrat party bosses tell her to vote.

Governor Jay Inslee is at the top of the list of Democrat politicians who are now attempting to help Murray, who was outraised by her 40-year old Republican opponent Tiffany Smiley during the first quarter of 2022. It is understandable that Inslee would be assisting Murray since both of them are strong believers in political party over people and principles. The governor is currently wasting taxpayer dollars on an unscientific study on the Snake River dams to bolster Senator Murray’s appeal with the rich urban environmentalists who have long funded Inslee’s campaigns.  He is also sending emails from his campaign asking his supporters to give money to Murray

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