Republican lawmaker calls for an investigation into former Democrat House Speaker and current State Representative Frank Chopp’s efforts to redirect $2 million in state funds into a controversial non-profit he co-founded and is currently led by a close friend.  Last week the Seattle Times reported that Representative Chopp deployed a little-used legislative procedure (“local community project information forms”) to take money which was designated for the new King County Regional Homelessness Authority (KCRHA) and instead sent those funds into the Low Income Housing Institute which Representative Chopp co-founded in 1991.  The KCRHA had already publicly stated that its process determined that the $2 million would go to two “competing” homeless non-profits, the Catholic Community Services and Chief Seattle Club.

Senator Ron Muzzall (R – Oak Harbor) has called for a full audit and investigation into Representative Chopp’s actions. The senator stated, “This isn’t what state legislators are supposed to be doing, and we’ve got way too many of them that are playing around in this arena, and I don’t understand how they justify it.”

Unfortunately there is little chance the legislature will conduct an investigation into Representative Chopp’s questionable actions while his fellow Democrats maintain full control over state government.  If the Democrats were not willing to conduct a meaningful investigation into Governor Jay Inslee’s Employment Security Department being responsible for the loss of $650 million (one of the largest thefts in American history), they certainly will not conduct any hearings into one of their own taking $2 million for his pet project. (MyNorthwest and Seattle Times)

Representative Jenny Graham (R – Spokane) is working on legislation to allow the victims, or the family of murder victims, to have a voice in determining whether a convicted criminal is allowed parole.  Representative Graham, whose sister was killed by Green River Killer Gary Ridgeway, was asked to view March 16^th Indeterminate Sentencing Review Board hearing of Timothy Pauley, who is seeking parole for his brutal murder of three people and other crimes in 1980. Representative Graham said “there is a travesty” that the families of the victims are not allowed to express their views or question the convicted individual who is seeking release.  She said, “It doesn’t seem fair, especially if they have proof that he (Pauley) wasn’t being honest” during the parole hearing.

Pauley is seeking parole for his murders at a time in which Democrat legislators are seeking to allow prisoners with life sentences to receive parole.  The bill (SB 5036) was sponsored by Senator Manka Dhingra (D – Redmond) and was supported by all Democrats in the Washington State Senate during the 2022 legislative session.  This misguided was fortunately stopped in the House.  (John Carlson/KVI and Washington Legislature Bill Summary)

Many of the state’s top law enforcement officials were in Tacoma Friday afternoon, mourning the recent murder of Pierce County Sheriff Deputy Dom Calata, when they heard another officer was senselessly killed in Snohomish County.  Everett Police Officer Dan Rocha was allegedly shot in the head by a career criminal with 18 felonies during the officer’s investigation into suspicious behavior by the suspect. One has to wonder if the recent increase in violence against police officers has been influenced by 2020 liberal activists’ violent riots and Democrat lawmakers’ rush to cave into the rioters’ demands.

It is impossible to draw a direct correlation between liberals’ actions and the murders because of the number of factors involved in both officers’ killings, yet it is a legitimate argument that lawmakers’ actions have contributed to the anti-law enforcement attitude which has grown in certain segments of our community.

Consider that if just one elected Democrat would have been brave enough to stand up to the repeated physical attacks (including a mass murder attempt) conducted on police officers by the violent rioters, or if Democrat lawmakers hadn’t rushed to pass “police reform” laws which have made Washington a more comfortable place to be a criminal, the negative attitude toward police would not have grown unchallenged.

A memorial fund for Officer Dan Rocha has been set up by the City of Everett. Please click here to learn more.  (Snohomish County Sheriff Adam Fortney Facebook post, Q13 Fox News, KOMO News, Seattle Times, and Officer Rocha Memorial Fund)

Governor Jay Inslee continued the Democrats’ assault on Eastern Washington by reducing the ability of local citizens to control the building of “clean energy facilities” used to provide energy to Puget Sound region consumers.  Governor Inslee line-item vetoed sections of an energy facility siting bill (HB 1812) which would have provided Eastern Washington residents more input and control of where large solar and wind farms.  The sections were negotiated into the bill by Representatives Mary Dye (R – Pomeroy) and Mark Klickers (R – Walla Walla) and were approved by Democrat legislators. Yet since Governor Inslee does not care about any political support from Eastern Washington residents, so he decided they should not have a say in how these large energy farms impact their communities.

Representative Dye responded to Governor Inslee’s latest divisive veto by stating, “Now that the governor has vetoed these sections, it opens the flood gates for big out-of-state energy corporations to swoop into these small, rural economically-disadvantaged communities and offer leases at a fraction of the value of the agricultural land to struggling farmers and landowners. It’s absolutely devastating to our Eastern Washington farmlands.” (Tri-City Herald, Washington Legislature Bill Summary, and Washington Republican House Caucus media release)

Washington State Democrat Attorney General Bob Ferguson is asking his contributors for even more money just a couple of days after quietly filing an appeal against a Douglas County Superior Court decision that the Democrats’ state income tax on capital gains was unconstitutional.   The Ferguson campaign already has more than $3 million stashed away for a his likely 2024 bid for the Governor’s Mansion yet still filled his latest fundraising email will fake claims of important deadlines and needing “500 donations before the end of the quarter” (why???)  The one thing his fundraising email doesn’t mention is that last week he filed his appeal so Democrats can achieve their goal of imposing a state income tax on Washington residents.  As the Daily Briefing mentioned last week, the normally publicity seeking attorney general did not hold a media event to announce his appeal, nor send out a press release, or even post a tweet on his unpopular action. (Ferguson Campaign fundraising email, Attorney General Office media releases, and Ferguson Twitter)

Shift’s Newsmaker Interview was with Julie Barrett, the founder of a new grassroots organization Conservative Ladies of Washington (CLW).  Now that we are finally done with the 2022 legislative session, Shift will begin to focus more attention on candidates, campaigns, and organizations who view the November elections as an opportunity for those rational folks on the political spectrum to unite to end the reckless and expensive policies which Democrats have imposed on our communities and our state.

Barrett became involved politically in November of 2019, when she created the Facebook group Conservative Ladies of Washington, and the group rapidly grew as Governor Jay Inslee unilaterally imposed COVID restrictions on Washington residents and liberal activists violently rioted in Seattle.  CLW is no longer just a social media group, as it has evolved into an active grassroots organization becoming involved in critical issues, such as public education and supporting law enforcement.

CLW has encouraged members to become active at the local and state level by testifying at hearings, organizing support or opposition to proposed policies, and becoming involved in campaigns.  (Click to read full Newsmaker Interview)

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