In the final installment in a two-part series, Shift examines six suburban Democrat legislators who originally ran as moderates, yet when they arrived in Olympia quickly joined the far-Left members of their caucuses to impose Seattle’s failed liberal policies on the rest of the state.  It is looking like 2022 could become this generation’s 1994, with Democrats being swept from office after going too far to the left by raising taxes and pushing their extreme agenda after campaigning as moderates.  Shift reports on six Democrat lawmakers who will be among the dozen legislators that are most vulnerable in their election contests next year.  These endangered Democrats know their far-Left policies are not always popular in their district, and they will be seeking financial help from their Seattle special interest friends to push the false “moderate” narrative once again to their voters.  Yet this time, the Democrat candidates will have a record of supporting extreme policies which will provide the truth about how they will vote once they are in the legislature.  (Click to read full Shift Article)

Both Democrat and Republican legislators are outraged over Governor Jay Inslee’s latest overstepping of his executive authority.  This time it is his line-item veto of language which linked the implementation of his costly and inefficient climate bills to the passage of a transportation funding package by the end of the 2022 legislative session.  Inslee usually spends the legislative session visiting schools around the state and making partisan statements about national events which have no relevance to his job as Washington State governor, so he might be surprised he’s already facing a bi-partisan lawsuit for misuse of his veto authority (oral arguments before the Washington State Supreme Court are scheduled for June).  Legislative leaders immediately announced plans to file another lawsuit over the governor’s veto of language linking a transportation bill  to obtain the votes to pass the climate bills (Low Carbon Fuel Standard HB 1091 and Cap-and-Trade – SB 5126) in the Washington State Senate.  The reasons for the linkage language was well known by all who follow the legislature, but maybe Inslee will claim blissful ignorance like he did with forced closure of a Seattle’s East Precinct and the creation of the CHAZ/CHOP, and the violent actions of Antifa.

Here are just some legislative leaders’ reactions to the governor’s latest misuse of executive veto powers:

House Speaker Laurie Jinkins (Democrat) “The governor’s partial veto today of E3SHB 1091, the clean fuel standard bill, reaches beyond his constitutional powers and we will ask the Washington courts to again rule on the balance of legislative and executive branch powers.”

House Minority Leader JT Wilcox (Republican) “It is good to see that Democratic legislative leaders are again threatening to go to court and hold the governor accountable. We should all join together to send a strong message about the governor’s emergency powers, too.”

Senate Majority Leader Andy Billig (Democrat) “This veto is an overstep of executive power. The governor has attempted to create a power for his office that simply does not exist. The constitution is clear that the governor is permitted only to veto a full section of a bill. In this case he has vetoed a subsection.”

Senate Minority Leader John Braun (Republican) “The Constitution is clear – the governor may not veto anything less than an entire section of a bill. Maybe he’s emboldened by the sweeping authority he continues to have because majority Democrats refused to address emergency-power reform. Maybe he thinks the Supreme Court will overturn the lower court’s ruling. Whatever the reason, his subsection veto today is illegal.”

It is good to see the Democrats finally start to assert that Governor Inslee has overstepped his veto authority. Yet Democrat legislators helped to create this power-hungry monster by failing to join their Republican colleagues in bringing legislative oversight to the governor’s emergency orders (which still continue with no end in sight after more than 440 days).  (Seattle Times, Lens, Washington Legislature Bill Summary,  Rebecca Perry Twitter, C-SPAN, House Democrats’ media release, House Republicans’ media release, Senate Democrats’ media release, and Senate Republicans’ media release)

The company that runs the immigration detention center in Tacoma is suing Washington State over recent legislation which requires the privately operated facility to close soon.  The GEO Group states in a lawsuit filed in federal court that HB 1090 interferes with its contract with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and attempts to undermine the enforcement of current immigration laws.  The bill was supported by Democrat legislators who seek to overturn national immigration laws, yet do not have the courage (or the votes) to change them at the federal level – thus they resort to placing several restrictions on ICE efforts at the local level, wasting taxpayer dollars on a partisan far-Left agenda.  (Seattle Times and Washington Legislature Bill Summary)

A group has filled a recall petition against Governor Inslee primarily due to his actions during the COVID-19 pandemic.  The Recall Inslee organization states that in the “last 2 years his actions have crossed the line and become malfeasance, misfeasance, and violation of his oath of office.  The voters of Washington have had enough of his criminal actions and his unprecedented grab of tyrannical power.” The group has levied five charges against the governor, including violating religious freedom and the right to assemble by banning faith gatherings, and infringing on the rights of landlords with his eviction moratorium.  The charges will need to be found legally sufficient by the courts to move forward to a signature-gathering phase, when the group would need to collect approximately 1.5 million valid signatures to place a recall on the ballot.  The group’s website provides links to register to Facebook accounts they have started in each of Washington’s 39 counties.  (MyNorthwest and Recall Inslee website) 

While national and state guidelines allow people who have been fully vaccinated to not wear a face mask except in certain settings, King County is currently considering imposing a more restrictive mask wearing requirement.  King County Public Health officials state they may require even fully vaccinated people to wear masks indoors when they are around those who are unvaccinated. Because, why not, they have been issuing orders for over a year now. (MyNorthwest)

Lewis County Commissioners are upset with Governor Inslee because the state has taken over the Lakeview Inn located in Centralia, to quarantine foreign travelers and work release inmates for 10 – 14 days.  The commissioners sent a letter to the governor to express their displeasure with the governor for not including local officials in the decision.  The letter claims that the state’s “utter lack of outreach to Lewis County, The City of Centralia, our health department and our community at large is shocking and unacceptable to us and to the constituents we represent.” As one commissioner stated, “Maybe we should tell our constituents to follow the lead of the state and do whatever they want if that’s the example we’re being shown” by the state’s actions. (KELA AM Radio)

Wheat grower associations from four Pacific Northwest states sent a letter to Congressman Mike Simpson (R – Idaho) to correct some of his recent statements regarding dams on the lower Snake River.  Simpson is pushing his $33.5 billion proposal to tear down the dams, and wheat growers from Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Montana claim that many of his arguments are incorrect.  Simpson has stated that less wheat is being transported down the river system, which is dependent on the dams’ existence to operate, while attempting to devalue the importance of the dams to the inland farming communities,.  Yet wheat growers provided charts which showed more wheat than ever was moving on the river system. (Pacific Northwest AG Network and Wheat Growers letter to Congressman Simpson)

One has to wonder if coordination took place between Governor Inslee’s office and the sudden appearance of ads that appeared in Puget Sound newspapers this morning.  The day after Governor Inslee overstepped his executive authority to veto the linkage language in his climate bills, full page banner ads appeared on the Seattle Times website (and smaller ads in the News Tribune and The Olympian) purchased by a liberal “business organization” calling itself the Washington Business Alliance (mostly companies that survive by having contracts with government entities and thus profit from bigger government).  The ads thanked Governor Inslee for his (expensive and inefficient) climate legislation. Since the governor’s staff knew they would receive tremendous heat for his vetoes of the linkage language in the legislation, having this expensive show of support appears to be well timed.  In our discussion with local agencies that buy advertising space, the Seattle Times ads alone likely cost around $30,000, and such coverage usually requires three weeks advance notice. So, what did Inslee have to offer his “business” friends to make this PR blitz happen?

Shift’s Newsmaker Interview was with former Washington State Attorney General Rob McKenna, who provides his insight on the much-anticipated lawsuit to overturn the Democrats’ recently passed state income tax on capital gains.  McKenna will argue against the new tax on behalf of the Opportunity for All Coalition, as he previously did when successfully challenging the City of Seattle’s illegal income tax.  While Democrat lawmakers claim the new tax on capital gains income is an “excise tax” in an attempt to avoid the problem of a state income tax being unconstitutional in Washington State, McKenna argues, “The IRS, Congressional Budget Office, and 49 state revenue departments all say that a tax on capital gains is an income tax, because it plainly is an income tax. Relabeling an unconstitutional tax does not change its substance and cure its constitutional defects.” (Click to read full Newsmaker Interview)

BabylonBee Friday

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].