Democrats in the Washington State Legislature are providing every false excuse they can think of for why they have failed to pass any reform of the emergency powers which Governor Jay Inslee has now abused for more than two years – and counting.  During the past couple of years the Democrats have used their legislative majorities to pass many unpopular and unwanted pieces of legislation which even they admit need fixing (such as their disastrous “police reform” package, their unconstitutional state sales tax on capital gains, a state budget that doubles the size of state government in just nine years, and Governor Inslee’s ineffective climate measures which will increase the cost of gas even further).  Yet apparently it is too difficult for Democrats to use their majorities in both legislative chambers to pass a much-desired reform of the governor’s emergency powers.

Representative Sharon Shewmake embarrassed herself on Friday by tweeting a completely false excuse for why the Democrats failed to pass a reform bill.  She wrote that a “Republican filibuster killed SB 5909 on emergency powers reform.”  Representative Shewmake is described in her biography as being a Western Washington University economics professor and a four-year member of the Washington State House of Representatives. You might think she would know there is no “filibuster” in the chamber she serves in. The real reason the bill died was the Democrats did not want to be on record voting against Republican amendments which would have ended Governor Inslee’s undemocratic abuse of power. (Click to read full Shift Article)

A recent partisan decision by newly appointed Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs confirms fears that he is putting Democrat party interests in control of the office which oversees our state’s election process.  Former Secretary of State Kim Wyman, like her the Republican predecessors since 1964, was respected for acting impartially on election issues to ensure the office was recognized for running fair elections. In her two re-election campaigns, Secretary Wyman defeated very partisan Democrat candidates (current Chair of the Washington State Democrat Party Tina Podlodowski in 2016, and former Seattle Representative Gail Tarleton in 2020) because voters rejected the Democrats’ attempt to take control of our state’s election process.

Secretary Hobbs is already demonstrating his fealty to the Democrat Party.  After all, Hobbs only obtained his new job through appointment by Governor Inslee after Secretary Wyman accepted a Biden administration job, mainly because every other Democrat wanted Hobbs out of the Senate.

So, first chance he gets to reward his party bosses, Secretary Hobbs turned his back on the people of Washington and chose to ignore his constitutional duty to defend a lawsuit brought forward by Democrat operatives who want to destroy the redistricting plan agreed to by the bipartisan Washington State Redistricting Commission.

Thus, instead of legally defending the work of the state’s own commission (which Secretary Wyman would definitely have done), Hobbs has chosen to do what Democrat bosses are telling him to do.  It is worth noting that the non-voting Chair of the Redistricting Commission (herself a Democrat) suddenly announced her resignation yesterday when the Democrat commissioners and Democrat legislative leaders joined Secretary Hobbs in the partisan decision to not defend the state against the partisan lawsuit.

Many Republicans have expressed concerns that the lawsuit, and having both the Secretary of State’s office and the Democrats on the Redistricting Commission refuse to legally defend the legislative boundaries agreed to by the four commissioners, are part of a larger Democrat strategy to blow-up the commission’s bi-partisan efforts in favor of one that strongly favors the Democrats.  One has to wonder if Hobbs had to agree to this act of submission, and not have his office defend the plan, before Governor Inslee appointed him to the position last November. One thing is very clear, now that the Democrats have control of the Secretary of State’s office, Washington’s election process is now ruled by the desires of the Democrat Party bosses, not the voters or our state’s constitution. (Seattle Times and Shift)

Senator Jeff Wilson (R-Longview) has called for Washington State Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler to resign following the publication of reports that the 78-year-old Democrat career politician verbally abused his staff so much that his dysfunctional office had a very high staff turnover rate.  Senator Wilson said these reports are the latest in a series of incidents which warranted the six-term commissioner’s resignation.  Senator Wilson cited other examples of questionable behavior by Commissioner Kreidler, including equating Republicans in Texas to the Taliban terrorists and using illegal methods while attempting to raise the insurance premiums of those on a fixed income.  Senator Wilson said, “This behavior demonstrated that Mike Kreidler doesn’t know when he has gone too far. And this is exactly the same thing we are now hearing from his staff.” (Washington Senate Republican Caucus media release)

Democrat legislators continue to meet in secret to work out the final details of their supplemental budget in which massive tax surpluses will lead to no tax relief for Washington State’s lower- and middle-income households. The Democrats have chosen to spend nearly all of the record-breaking $15 billion in budget surplus on their greedy desire to expand the size and permanent costs of Washington State government.  Evidently doubling the size and cost of state government during Governor Inslee’s first nine years in office is not sufficient to satisfy the liberals’ lust for a larger and more powerful government.

By rapidly expanding the size of government, there will be more state employees paying union dues.  Those dues will then go towards funding more union efforts to re-elect Democrats.  So when Washington residents are bringing home fewer groceries due to liberal inflationary policies, putting even more money into their gas tanks due to Governor Inslee’s ineffective and expensive climate policies, and paying higher property taxes due to the higher costs of larger governments, they should “thank” the Democrats.  Instead of using the MASSIVE $15 BILLION DOLLAR tax surplus to help Washington residents by providing any of the multiple tax relief measures (including sales tax relief, property tax relief, B&O relief, and fuel tax relief) offered by the Republicans, the 84 Democrats in the legislature chose to think only of themselves. This will be yet another difficult action for the Democrats to defend this November. (Yakima Herald)

Cybersecurity concerns are on the rise as many believe Russian President Vladimir Putin will strike Western computer systems as his war in the Ukraine continues.  This should be especially alarming for the Inslee Administration, as Washington State has become well known as an easy target for international criminals.  The state’s computer system has been hacked multiple times by foreign criminals who have obtained personal financial information of state residents.  These hacks include the 2020 break-in of Governor Inslee’s Employment Security Department computer system which resulted in over $650 million stolen (one of the largest thefts in American history) and the more recent break-in at Governor Inslee’s Washington State Department of Licensing (where the personal data of 650,000 Washington residents was left unprotected by the state).  Since no disciplinary action was taken on any of the state employees responsible for the data breaches (in fact they have been promoted), it is a very safe bet that the state’s computer system is still vulnerable to attack. (Northwest Public Broadcasting, Washington State Auditor Office, and Seattle Times)

Idaho and Montana real estate companies are finding success in advertising to those who are fed up with the destructive liberal policies in Seattle and throughout Washington State.  Idaho has been the fastest growing state for five straight years, almost exclusively due to in-migration into the state from liberal areas. (AP/Seattle Times)

The University of Washington has informed faculty, staff and students that it will be extending its facemask mandates two weeks past the end of the state mandate.  UW President Ana Mari Cause announced today that her school will not join Washington State University in lifting its mask mandate with the rest of the state this Saturday.  Instead the school will wait until the beginning of Spring Quarter Monday, March 28^th to make wearing a facemask optional inside UW facilities. Then the school is “strongly recommending” that all individuals on the campus still wear a facemask for the following two weeks.  This is on top of the previous vaccine mandate for all staff and students.. (University of Washington Office of the President message)

A top official with the Washington Farm Bureau stated that the 2022 legislative session has not been a favorable one for the state’s family farmers.   On top of the unexpected attacks Governor Inslee and the Democrats made when they attempted a massive land grab of rural properties with increased buffer zones along streams and rivers (HB 1838), the Farm Bureau’s Director of Government relations Tom Davis said the agriculture community received no help in getting their crops to market from the projects Democrats chose to fund in their transportation package.  The Democrats instead are spending nearly all of the state’s transportation funding on urban area projects – including wasteful transit and bike projects – in their districts.  Davis said this is due to the Democrats breaking tradition and failing to put forward a bi-partisan transportation plan. “There weren’t enough projects aimed at Eastern Washington, especially those that helped the farm to market roads, so to us, that was a short coming.  We think budgets like this need to be bipartisan to ensure they are well crafted.” (Pacific Northwest Ag Network)

Do you like The Daily Briefing?

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].