This week’s Newsmaker Interview is with emerging legislative leader Senator Ron Muzzall (R – Oak Harbor).  The fourth-generation Whidbey Island native and farmer was appointed, in October 2019, to fill the position vacated by the retirement of Senator Barbara Bailey.  In the 2020 election, Senator Muzzall was able to retain the 10^th Legislative District seat despite a well-financed attack campaign waged by the Democrats and their wealthy special interest allies. Senator Muzzall, though relatively junior in seniority, has already earned powerful assignments on the tax-writing Ways & Means Committee and the influential Rules Committee.  In his Shift interview, Senator Muzzall is open about his criticism of Governor Jay Inslee (“I have some concerns about his integrity”), argues the legislature needs to reassert its oversight of the governor’s mismanaged state agencies (like the Employment Security Department), and criticizes Seattle liberals who “micromanage farming when they have no clue.” (Click to read full Newsmaker Interview)

Governor Jay Inslee’s Washington Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF) is the latest state government agency to reveal serious administrative problems as it forced children to sleep in cars on cold January nights as a form of punishment.  In the latest example of multiple costly actions by state agencies, thanks to poor management by the Inslee Administration (Employment Security Department, Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Transportation,  Department of Corrections, etc.), KING5 News uncovered a long “pattern of Washington child protection workers dangling basic necessities like a safe, warm place to sleep as a way to get certain ‘hard to place’ foster children to behave or follow orders.” DCYF is led by former Democrat legislator Ross Hunter and has been under repeated scrutiny for how the state handles hard to place children.  Many are expensively kept at hotels. (KING5 News, MyNorthwest,  Seattle Times, Seattle P-I, Seattle Times, and Crosscut)

Controversial Superintendent of Public Instruction Chris Reykdal is promoting state roads he previously said should be defunded to punish counties which supported I-976 (the last car tab initiative).  Remember on 2019 election night, when a cranky/buzzed (?) SPI Reykdal sent out his infamous tweet (since deleted by Reykdal, but not before we obtained a screenshot) telling Democrat legislators to “Step up” by slashing road funding for counties which supported the measure to reduce car tab fees?  We remember that arrogance.  Thus, we thought it was strange that this morning Reykdal was promoting Highway 12 (White Pass) on his Twitter account. The pass runs through two counties (Lewis and Yakima) which were both near the top of the counties in support of the initiative (71.2% and 72.4% respectively).   We also found it odd that the SPI has restricted comments on his Twitter posts to only those people he follows.  He has taken this censorship action even though he is a public official, and the account is full of his political comments and actions taken by his office.   Reykdal is the perfect example of the modern day “open minded” liberal, he first wanted to punish those who disagreed with him, and now he refuses to even listen to those who have a different perspective. (Reykdal Twitter 5/21/21, Reykdal Twitter 11/05/19, and 2019 I-976 Election Returns by county)

In the City of Seattle’s latest example of preferring to not enforce existing laws, the city’s Inspector General has issued a letter to Interim Police Chief Adrian Diaz stating that officers should not pull over drivers for “low-level, non-dangerous moving violations.”  Without providing specifics as to what exact violations police should now overlook, the Inspector General’s letter stated that traffic stops are often the cause of physical (sometimes fatal) confrontations between police officers and the public.  Also the Inspector General stated that traffic stops often result in “community members form(ing) negative opinions of the police.” If you think about it, the exact same arguments could be used to assert that the police department should not confront or apprehend murder or rape suspects. And, in Seattle, it seems mainly the elected officials who spend every day helping “community members form negative opinions of the police” by attacking their public safety work and personal integrity. (Q13 News and Inspector General Letter to Interim Police Chief Diaz)

Major cruise lines began revealing their diminished schedule of Seattle-based Alaska cruises, after Congress finally passes a temporary waiver of the Passenger Services Act.  Princess Cruises, Holland America Lines, and Carnival announced that their schedule will begin in late July, while Norwegian Cruise Lines and Royal Caribbean said they will soon release their schedules.  This is good news for Seattle hospitality businesses and workers, since nearly all cruise ship passengers come from outside the city, and usually spend a few days in Seattle either before or after their Alaska cruise.  A PSA waiver was necessary due to the Canadian government banning the docking of any cruise ship for the remainder of 2021 due to COVID-19 concerns.  Since all major Alaska cruises are conducted by foreign flagged vessels, and not built in the U.S., the PSA requires them to stop in a Canadian port between their dockings at U.S. ports. (Seattle Times)

The City of Bellevue has already begun to receive the benefits of its receptive attitude towards Amazon, as the company announced a $1.4 million dollar donation to the city.  The funds will be used to help the city in park construction, rental assistance, and public daycares. This is the kind of greedy corporate behavior that the Seattle City Council is proudly driving out of Seattle. (The Lens)

A sign that things are slowly improving in the travel sector is Alaska Airlines’ announcement that the company plans to double its number of flights out of Paine Field by October.  Currently the airline operates six daily flights to various West Coast destinations from Everett, with plans to increase this to 12 flights by October.  Prior to the pandemic, Alaska operated 24 daily flights from the new terminal at Paine Field. (Everett Herald)

An irresponsible environmental group has filed a lawsuit to prevent the Colville Confederated Tribes and the Forest Service from performing necessary maintenance work to prevent more devastating wildfires. The little-known Kettle Range Conservation Group filed a lawsuit falsely claiming the tribes were going to clear cut a portion of the Colville National Forest (in Northeast Washington).  The reality is the tribe will use the same measures of thinning brush and providing buffers that have successfully been used for generations to prevent forest fires.  This is the latest attempt by a struggling environmental group to use a flimsy lawsuit in order to attract attention, so it raise money for itself. (Washington Policy Center)

The Washington Observer reports that, “Loren Culp’s political consultant finally drained the last dollar out of the Republican’s failed bid for governor.”  The Las Vegas-based consultant, Christopher Gergan, brought the Culp gubernatorial campaign balance down to $0 with a final payment of $12,810.02 (to bring his total take from campaign donors to $573,320).  The Observer has called the Culp operation “less political campaign than a long grift” which obtained most of its funds from small donor conservative voters by promoting false voter fraud theories since his 550,000-vote defeat last November.  Culp and Gergan have now set their target on raising money for his announced campaign for congress in Central Washington’s 4^th Congressional District (despite Culp not residing in its current boundaries). (Washington Observer and 2020 Gubernatorial Election Returns)

While Washington State’s politically correct universities are mandating their students be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 to participate in classes and other campus activities this Fall, they have yet to make the same requirement of union members who are on their own payroll.  This hypocrisy is due to the level of control public unions now have on our state campuses, as school administrators know that in order to ask union members to do something not already in their contract, they will be forced to cave into other union demands (usually starting with dollar signs).  It is also worth noting that while administrators are able to appear to be promoting the liberal mantra of vaccinations-for-all, students can actually opt out of the requirement by signing a document that states they don’t want a vaccination for whatever reason they might have. The mandate is really just to sign a piece of paper (or e-mail). (Click to read full Shift Article)

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].