Leave it to the Seattle Times to spotlight a rain cloud over our state on the first day of spring (from a recent conversation with Governor Jay Inslee as described by King County Executive Dow Constantine): “I came away from that meeting very much thinking he might run for a fourth term.”

What could be worse than a 4th Inslee campaign/term, after everyone told us we’d endured the last one? Perhaps the thought of who is salivating in the wings to fill Inslee’s very tiny shoes. Again, from the Times Jim Brunner, out of the mouth of the always-eager State Attorney General Bob Ferguson, “I am preparing for running in 2024, either for reelection, or, if the governor should choose not to seek a fourth term, obviously I would seriously consider running for governor.” And it doesn’t necessarily get better, as even though Executive Constantine has taken himself out of the running, still very much keeping her lane open is current State Lands Commissioner Hilary Franz, offering the usual tripe: that a “lot of people have asked me to run for governor, which I am very humbled by. I am very strongly considering it.” What a dreary consideration as we start our spring. (The Seattle Times)

Sometimes it helps to have the perspective of someone with a front row seat to the action, especially when you were locked out of the building where the action was allegedly being held. That’s why it’s instructive to read this about the Covid-panicked/all-remote 2021 legislative session, coming from Republican Senate leader John Braun in the Centralia Chronicle: “After trying for more than a dozen years to impose a carbon tax in our state, legislative Democrats succeeded in 2021. That’s the now-infamous session which also gave our state a new income tax, the virtual decriminalization of hard drugs and the criminal-friendly restrictions on police pursuits.”

Of course, now the “fruits” which were planted in darkness during that session are coming to the surface. As Sen. Braun writes, “At the time, Republicans warned the carbon tax would drive up energy costs. The new year brought a significant step in the rollout of the tax, and it seems we were right. Within the first three weeks of 2023, according to the Washington Policy Center (WPC), gas prices went up 25 cents per gallon in Washington compared to other West Coast states. Gov. Jay Inslee recently denied any connection between the carbon tax he pushed and the rising gas prices in our state.”

We should not be surprised, as the late Republican Sen. Doug Ericksen predicted the consequences of following the “Inslee path” before one of his last votes. “This legislation will raise billions of dollars from the people of Washington state. Now, who’s going to pay those billions of dollars? It’s not going to be the oil refineries, it’s not going to be the manufacturers, it’s going to be the people of Washington state who will pay through increased costs for their energy.” And boy was he right. (Centralia Chronicle)

It’s bad enough that Jay Inslee’s first-ever cap-and-tax auction extracted almost $300 million from Washington’s private economy/private consumers. What’s worse is that, although the Democrats designed the cap-and-tax program to transfer taxpayer money into their control, they almost broke the system by squeezing too hard in their first attempt. As the folks at Capital Press reported on it, “Washington’s price was just short of the $51.90 that would have caused the Department of Ecology to auction reserve allowances. Coming “so close to the emergency valve” suggests features of Washington’s cap-and-trade will make compliance costly.” Costly, indeed. And that’s not a bug, that’s feature of this program. And starting at “$48.50, Washington’s cap-and-trade fee equals 38 cents on emissions from a gallon of gasoline and 47 cents on a gallon of diesel, according to economist Kris Sjoblom of the Washington Research Council, a nonpartisan policy analyst.” (Capital Press)

At the risk of encouraging members of the Seattle City Council to show up and inflict more of their “work” on the people of the city, it is worth repeating this question from a former member of the council – wouldn’t it be a better look for struggling businesses in Seattle if the people making their rules were actually still willing to come to work downtown? As Jean Godden writes, “City Hall is a lonesome place. Walking through the lobby at Seattle City Hall is a lot like visiting a mausoleum. If it weren’t for City Grind Espresso, the coffee stand tucked into a niche near the elevators, you’d swear the place had been abandoned. But while Mayor Bruce Harrell shows up in person weekdays along with most of his office staff, the rest of the building is almost silent. Take the spacious Council Chambers where today rows of mostly empty seats face an elevated dais with seats for the city’s nine councilmembers. You seldom see more than three councilmembers warming those nine seats, even during full council meetings.” While disappointing, it may not be that bad of thing.  (Post Alley)

A former sheriff from Lewis County made it very clear that the actions of the state’s big-city representative are not sitting well in rural Washington, even those on the West side of the mountains. In an opinion piece in The Chronicle, John McCroskey writes “When the state Legislature made the largely thoughtless and knee-jerk changes in law regarding the way we police in our state, there were many voices who said many of the new changes were poorly thought out. But the Democratic sponsors, and most Democrats in Olympia, said the outcomes predicted by opponents, largely Republicans, would never happen. Democrats called them scare tactics. However, since the laws went into effect, people have been harmed by an intensifying crime wave that shows no signs of subsiding. Most recently, two children were killed when Washington State Patrol troopers couldn’t pursue a car driving at 111 mph on Interstate 90 due to limits placed on them by changes to pursuit laws.” For more on his view, read on. (The Chronicle)

What could be a better combination than supporting higher education and selling surplus land for development in a depressed part of your city? Well, for the liberals running Everett, the answer is nothing, because that is what they have after running out the clock of potential deal with Washington State University to add land for future expansion of its branch campus. As The Herald reports, “After four years of searching, Washington State University has come up empty in its attempts to buy land in Everett for a future branch campus.” In addition to slowing potential future development of what should be a major positive for the city, bureaucratic silliness “means WSU must return $10 million received from the state for land acquisition.” Thanks Democrats. (The Herald)

State Representative Skyler Rude has been a persistent voice this session on an issue that Democrats virtually refuse to mention now that they have allowed students to move beyond virtual learning – the learning loss that occurred during Washington State’s overly long in-person-school shut downs. As he points out in a piece from Walla Walla, “Our teachers and staff rose to the challenge. Still, it wasn’t humanly possible to fully mitigate the lost opportunities associated with face-to-face instruction and in-person support, especially for our youngest learners and those requiring special education services.” His House Bill 1710 would utilize existing federal funds “on high-quality tutoring and rigorous, extended learning programs to close this gap in learning.” Of course that means the Democrats are ignoring it. (Walla Walla Union Bulletin)

State Senator Shelly Short (R – 7th LD) joined us for last week’s Newsmaker Interview. Representing a heavily agricultural area, Sen. Short gave her thoughts on Governor Jay Inslee’s failure to follow the law and exempt farmers from the impact of the his expensive cap-and-trade policies. She also offered insights into the governor killing the bi-partisan effort to improve fish runs on agricultural lands. Among other topics, Sen. Short concluded by offering her views on reforming agriculture overtime laws and improving wildfire prevention methods. Read more.

Can we just start by “completely replacing” this guy from the public payroll?

Good thing that can’t happen in Washington State…

Isn’t it great how Sound Transit takes care of taxpayer money?

Do you like The Daily Briefing? Do you want to keep seeing coverage of issues which are important to you?

We continue to be the only news source in Washington to conduct regularly interviews with Washington State Legislators on the important issues being decided in Olympia.

Please consider making a contribution to ensure Shift continues to provide daily updates on the shenanigans of the liberal establishment.

Forward this to a friend.  It helps us grow our community and serve you better.

You can also follow SHIFTWA on social media by liking us on Facebook and following us on Twitter.

If you feel we missed something that should be covered, email us at [email protected].