Shift’s Newsmaker Interview for this week is KVI’s John Carlson. John has long been a leading political voice in the Pacific Northwest. He has provided the conservative free market perspective through his radio shows and newspaper columns since the early 1980s.  In his interview, John talks about the successes Republicans had during the 2020 legislative session (despite being in the minority), the impact of KVI on both local and national politics, and what it is like to be a conservative commentator in ultra-liberal Seattle. (Shift)

Democrat spending was out of control, but at least Gov. Inslee didn’t get his way on raising your energy costs.  Once again, a few Democrats in the State Senate kept Inslee and the even-more liberal Democrat House majority from burdening Washington citizens with absurd energy policies that would add costs to everything from the gas in your tank, to your home heating fuel, to anything that requires transportation.  Inslee’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard, which the House passed for the second year in a row with only Democrat votes, failed to make it to the Senate floor for a vote. Governor Zero whined about that a bit at his post-session press conference, saying “We need to either change minds or change people in the seats to get this job done.” Of course, as polls have shown, taxpayers agree with that sentiment, starting with changing the occupant in the Governor’s seat. (Cornfield Report/Everett Herald)

The legislature has adjourned, but they took plenty of your money with them. The Democrat-controlled legislature was in such a hurry to get out of town – and back to campaign fundraising – that they didn’t pull the usual stunt of going up until midnight (or beyond) to wrap up the session on its scheduled adjournment date. Several media outlets provided overviews of the session, with the AP providing the Senate’s top Republican budget writer, Sen. John Braun, the opportunity to point out “we missed some opportunities. The underlying budget spends a lot of money. We are fortunate to have that money this year thanks to our great economy, but we know that’s about to be tested, and I worry about sustainability.” Democrats were less worried about sustainability than in taking care of their financial backers in the government employee unions, as they added over $1 billion to a budget that they had already jacked up to over $50 billion last year.  As the Spokesman Review reported, the budget “calls for the state to spend 20 percent more than the previous two-year budget.” (AP and Spokesman Review)

A referendum campaign is being organized to repeal the controversial seXXX education bill that was written and proposed by Superintendent of Public Instruction Chris Reykdal and pushed through the Democrat controlled legislature.  Despite coronavirus, hundreds of parents demonstrated against the measure at the capitol building earlier this week and asked Governor Inslee to veto the bill.  Since every indication is that the governor will sign the legislation, a referendum campaign has begun to place the bill before the public in this fall’s elections. (Seattle PI)

Feelin the Bern? Nevermind. Turns out that even those far-lefties who dominate Democrat primaries could not sustain their love of socialism long enough to carry Sen. Bernie Sanders over the top in the party’s presidential primary held this week. Though the Secretary of State’s Office estimates that there are still a few hundred thousand ballots left to count – many of which will be wasted on candidates who left the race before primary day – the Seattle Times reports that “Vice President Joe Biden continued to widen his lead over Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders … with nearly 37% of the vote, compared with Sanders, who had nearly 35%, as of Thursday evening.” (Seattle Times and Secretary of State’s Election Turnout Report)

For the far-left, the solution is always the same: Tax the rich. The coronavirus crisis is anything other than business-as-usual, except perhaps for the professional activists on the Left, who see it as just another reason to call for raising taxes. The latest example comes from the Transit Riders Union, which is funded by the Democrat Party and labor groups to push for more big-government priorities.  In this case, the call is pretty clear from the headline: “How to fund coronavirus relief? Tax big business.” You have to get into the story to see the true intent – the liberals don’t want a temporary tax, but a permanent one: “With luck and vigilance, in a month or two the coronavirus crisis will abate…At that point, when the need for pandemic-related relief evaporates, we can pivot and use Seattle’s new big business tax to tackle our other official state of emergency: homelessness.” (Crosscut and Transit Riders Union)

Costco reverses controversial “equity” coronavirus workplace rule once it receives public criticism.  The Issaquah based warehouse retailer originally disregarded public health requests to allow employees to work from home due “equity” reasons – i.e. if warehouse employees can’t work from home than office workers can’t work from home.  After KUOW made this policy known the company reversed their decision and now allow some of their office employees to “work remotely.” (KUOW and MyNorthwest)

Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan announced that the city will spend $1.5 million to hand out $10,000 grants to some small businesses impacted by the coronavirus.  The money will go to businesses with a physical establishment, that have five or fewer employees and is owned by someone whose income is at 80% of the region’s median income.  The statement announcing the program says these specific grants will target businesses “owned by immigrants, refugees, people of color and non-English speakers in neighborhoods dealing with displacement and gentrification.” (Seattle Times)

The Northwest River Partners (NRP) is encouraging people to comment on the draft of the federal study on the lower Snake River dams.  The study’s draft conclusions were to recommend several new water management methods and that breeching the dams was not in the region’s best interest.  The NRP provides a webpage that allows the public different options to provide comments on the study.  (Northwest River Partners)

While the “Tax Amazon” group had absolutely nothing to do with the failure of state lawmakers to come up with a King County business tax increase that would have also prevented a new Seattle head tax, Seattle City Councilmember Kshama Sawant’s group took all the credit. (The email that proclaims “Victory” includes a funny picture of a couple of dozen people marching with Sawant onto the capital grounds – as if this was an impressive political gathering.)  Sawant self-congratulating herself is not surprising.   It is also not a shock that after a two-year state budget increase of 20%, the group complained that government did not grow large enough.  It will never be enough for these people until government controls all aspect of our lives. (Tax Amazon email)

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