The coronavirus outbreak has shown that Senate Democrats were irresponsible in attempting to ban bottled water operations in Washington State.  As retailers are running out of bottled water, the Democrats’ actions could have had a negative impact in future emergencies by limiting the local availability of this necessary provision. (Shift)

The News Tribune criticized Governor Jay Inslee for playing politics with coronavirus. In condemning actions of both the governor and President Donald Trump, the paper criticized Inslee’s childish and selfish tweet last week and said the governor should have listened to his own 2018 advice to the President when Inslee said, “We need a little less tweeting, and a little more listening.” (News Tribune, KING News, and Governor Inslee Tweet)

While a couple of hundred logging truckers took over the capitol campus, Governor Jay Inslee’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) appears to have a tough path to passage.  The truckers represented thousands of rural residents who need to have their products trucked long distances to reach markets and would be significantly impacted if LCFS were passed.  While government estimates reveal that LCFS would increase the cost of gasoline by 57 cents a gallon, one trucker testified that Inslee’s measure would likely take food out of his children’s mouths.  There are many reports of Inslee and Democrat leaders strong arming the Senate Democrats who are not supporting this expensive legislation. (Seattle Times)

In order to protect their campaign contributors in the Native American tribes, Senate Democrats voted for a special “emergency clause” in its sports gambling bill to require a super majority of voters to overturn their actions.  Invocating a rarely used clause, Senate Democrats want to make sure only tribal casinos profit from the state entering the sports gambling market. The Democrat controlled Ways and Means Committee voted for an amendment to HB 2638 that requires a 60% margin for the state voters to overturn the bill and allow non-tribal entities to also offer gambling on sports contests.  Non-tribal businesses are threatening to spend $30 million dollars to overturn the Democrats restrictive measures. (Seattle Times and Washington Legislature Bill Summary)

Voters are concerned about the information that will be publicly available if they participate in next Tuesday’s presidential primary.  First, many voters are concerned that if they mark on the outside of the ballot that they are Republicans then they no longer have a secret ballot since President Trump is the only candidate on the Republican ballot. Some are also concerned about their safety due to the heated rhetoric Democrats have used against the President.  Secondly, voters from both major parties are concerned that their party selection will be made public along with their personal information (including birthdays).  While the Washington State Democrat Party has been working to conceal the birth dates of public union members, they don’t feel the general public should have the same safeguards.  Once again, if you are a large contributor to their party and candidates, the Democrats will make sure you receive special privileges not offered to everyone. (News Tribune)

Seattle City Councilmember Teresa Mosqueda carelessly stated that special procedures should not be used to stop the spread of the coronavirus among the city’s large homeless population.  While promoting bigger and more expensive homeless programs as a solution to the housing crisis liberal policies have made worse, Mosqueda said, “Seattle’s prevention, treatment, and response to our homeless residents should be no different than that of any other population.” Apparently Mosqueda is unaware that many of those who are without shelter live in unsanitary conditions, some in crowded confines, and some don’t have access to running water or hand sanitizer to kill the spread of germs.  (MyNorthwest)

To save time and money, Snohomish County will be processing its budget on a biannual basis, instead of each year.  The new process won’t start until 2022 when the county executive and council will develop the county’s operating budget for 2023 – 2024. (Everett Herald)

Tri-Cities community leaders demonstrated their strong support for the four lower Snake River dams.  Following the release last Friday of the federal study that rejected the extreme environmentalists’ desire to demolish the dams, leaders of many Benton and Franklin County organizations stated both the economic and environmental reasons to maintain the dams. Vicki Gordon, Port of Pasco commissioner and vineyard owner said, “I see firsthand the benefits the dams provide, including moving cargo up and down the river along with irrigation for agriculture.”  Washington Governor Inslee’s “study” on the dams will be released this Friday, and many predict it will have skewed results meant to favor his environmental contributors from the Seattle area who believe the Snake River has more impact on Puget Sound salmon than Puget Sound does. (YakTriNews)

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