Shift’s Newsmaker Interview is with Washington State Representative Drew MacEwen (R – Union), the five-term legislator who yesterday after Sine Die announced he will be running to replace the retiring Senator Tim Sheldon in the 35^th Legislative District.  Representative MacEwen is part of the GOP Caucus leadership team and has become an expert on state budget matters as a member of the House Appropriations Committee.  We spoke with the representative earlier this week as the 2022 legislative session was ending and he shared his thoughts on the Democrats’ recklessly spending nearly all of the state’s $14 billion surplus and the Democrats’ failure to provide “fixes” for either their disastrous Long-Term Care payroll tax or their hastily developed “police reform” package which resulted in skyrocketing crime rates throughout the state. Representative MacEwen pulls no punches when he describes the Democrats’ refusal to pass emergency powers reform, calling it “an utter breakdown in a republic form of government.” (Click to read full Newsmaker Interview)

Like a 19^th Century snake oil salesman in the Old West, Governor Jay Inslee continues to peddle his false notion that only he can save us as he (along with his complicit legislative Democrats) refuse to end his unprecedented 741 days (and counting) abuse of the state’s emergency powers.  One day Governor Inslee says his (fake) “science” indicates that state residents must continue to wear masks for another month.  Then the Centers for Disease Control says the (real) science shows that the entire country can immediately stop wearing masks.  So like any snake oil salesman who gets tripped up by the facts, Governor Inslee became flustered and then changed his story for why he continues his undemocratic and divisive one-man rule, by making the totally ridiculous statement that Republicans want to end his emergency orders because “They just want to follow Donald Trump.”  In the Old West this is where the scam artist begins to lose his crowd as they laugh and walk away. For Governor Inslee, it appears this will likely happen to his party’s legislative candidates in November. (Click to read full Shift Article)

The irresponsible, divisive, and expensive 2022 legislative session mercifully came to an end yesterday, with Governor Jay Inslee and the majority Democrats demonstrating again that they lack the leadership skills to allow honest debate, listen to diverse opinions, and develop real solutions to problems they created.

The session ended with the Democrats irresponsibly failing to fix huge obvious problems in legislation they previously passed.  While the legislators did delay the implementation of their disastrous Long-Term Care payroll tax until after the 2022 elections, Democrats refused to fix the major flaws in the program (such as it is dramatically underfunded and still taxes hundreds of thousands of Washington workers who are ineligible to receive benefits), choosing to force the 2023 legislature to “fix” the expensive and job-killing entitlement program.  Republicans meanwhile have called for a total repeal of the program.  Democrats also only made small fixes to their 2021 hastily developed “police reform” package, more afraid of losing support from the radical wing of their party than in improving public safety in our state.

The Democrats continued their divisive methods by allowing Governor Inslee to continue his undemocratic one-man rule of the state, where he continues to ignore science, Republican lawmakers, local elected officials, and health experts while simply lying about why he refuses to end his unprecedented 741 days of abusing his authority.  The Democrats also broke the long-standing tradition of legislators proposing a bi-partisan transportation package by completely ignoring Republicans ideas and rural projects as they wrote and passed their 2022 version. The $16 billion-dollar package raids funds set aside for local projects and funds transportation projects mainly in Democrat districts while ignoring the real transportation challenges across the state. Fortunately Governor Inslee’s divisive massive land grab of rural property through expanding buffer zones around streams and rivers suffered a quick death, as the state’s agriculture community revolted at the plan which was arrogantly developed without any input from those most impacted (as it was written by Inslee’s rich Seattle environmental donors).

The Democrats passed their expensive $16 billion dollar transportation package including raising many fees (such as increasing the cost of drivers’ licenses, tolls, and car tabs) and is partially funded by the Democrats’ 2021 cap-and-tax climate package which the state admits will raise gas costs by at least 17 cents a gallon.  Democrats in their supplemental budget chose to ignore the financial suffering of many lower- and middle- income households by refusing to provide them with any tax relief, even as they are forced to pay higher prices due to the liberals’ inflationary policies and irresponsible energy management. Despite having an unprecedented $15 billion in unexpected tax revenue, the Democrats disregarded Republicans’ repeated calls to relieve some of the financial insecurities of Washington residents through tax cuts, and instead selfishly used nearly all of the money to permanently increase the size, cost, and power of state government. But we should not be surprised by this disrespectful attitude Democrat lawmakers have towards the state’s taxpayers, after all, their leader had no difficulty in forcing them to financially subsidize his failed 2020 presidential campaign by making them pay millions for his unnecessary security detail. (Washington House Republicans The Current, KING5 News, Safe Washington Plan,  Washington Legislature Bill Summary, House Republican media release, Senator Lynda Wilson media release, and Seattle Times)

Only hours to go before Governor Inslee’s indoor mask mandate ends tonight at midnight. The mandate went into effect August 23, 2021.  And, only a few weeks ago, the governor had said the “science” told him to leave it in effect until March 21^st. Then actual scientists at the Centers for Disease Control said a couple of days later that the most of the country (including Washington State) could safely remove their masks immediately.  The governor then randomly selected today to be the last day he would unilaterally force Washington residents to wear them in most indoor public locations.

People will still need to wear masks in medical facilities and on public transportation.  Businesses and other organizations may also still choose to require them in their facilities. (MyNorthwest, Governor Inslee media releases, Seattle Times, and CDC/Yale)

The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to hear oral arguments next month in the legal battle of the Bremerton School District firing a Bremerton High School assistant football coach who led a voluntary prayer at midfield following each game. It has been seven years since Joe Kennedy was fired for leading a short prayer after the game, in which players and coaches from both teams were allowed to participate.  Recently the U.S. Supreme Court announced it would review the case. For more information on the legal questions to be decided, please read Shift’s interview with Kennedy’s lead attorney Mike Berry. (KING5 News and Shift Newsmaker Interview)

In a story often repeated in Seattle, a Georgetown neighborhood business owner is frustrated by the lack of assistance she has received from city officials despite her multiple pleas to clean up a large homeless encampment which has been the source of criminal activity.  Earlier this week a man was shot just feet away from the auto repair business owned by Mariajose Barrera.  She said she has contacted the city many times as crimes have increased in her neighborhood.  The city responded to reporters’ inquiries by saying the encampment will be removed in the coming weeks. (KOMO News)

After a contentious five-year legal battle, Lincoln County has successfully negotiated two government employee union contracts in public.  In September 2016, the Lincoln County Commissioners voted to be transparent and have their government employee union contracts negotiated in public.  The unions fought back, wanting to keep negotiations behind closed doors.  Because the Lincoln County officials stood firm, they were successful in making a change in how they determine one of the largest expenses for most local governments.  The Freedom Foundation provided legal assistance to Lincoln County, and said of the victory, “The result is a powerful precedent showing that bargaining in public is both legal and practical.” (Freedom Foundation)

Spokane Mayor Nadine Woodward struck back at a liberal social media troll, who often hurls sexist insults when he is not extolling the virtues of such radical leaders as Venezuelan Socialist President Hugo Chavez.  Evidently the troll forgot his lessons on how to be “woke” when he attempted to belittle the many accomplishments of Spokane’s fourth female mayor by calling her “t.v. girl” (which the troll made on “International Women’s Day” on Tuesday).  Mayor Woodward was a reporter and news anchor on a local television station prior to being elected in 2019.

The troll (Jewish Space Laser Technician) made the insult responding to Mayor Woodward’s post on her efforts to help Limerick, Ireland, a Spokane sister city, elect its first publicly elected mayor.  Mayor Woodward posted a screengrab of the comment and wrote, “What a misogynist little *rick.”  When asked about her actions, the mayor said, “I’m not going to apologize for that tweet.  It wasn’t my finest moment, but I wanted to push back on a nameless coward who trolls me constantly and push back on men who degrade and belittle the talents and successes of women because of their gender.” (Spokesman Review, Mayor Nadine Woodward Tweet, and Troll’s Tweet regarding Chavez)

BABYLON BEE FRIDAY!

A little satire to start your weekend

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