In case you missed this post from Shift over the weekend…

Governor Inslee has refused to respond to nearly all letters sent to him by Republican lawmakers. The governor has disbanded the bi-partisan Business Recovery Legislative Task Force and replaced it with “advisory groups” made up of only campaign contributors, liberal special interest groups, and government employees. He has formed the Western States Pact made up of only Democrat governors and ignored our Idaho neighbors and our trading partners in Alaska because they have Republican governors.  Inslee has missed the unique opportunity to be a leader to unite Washingtonians in a common battle and has instead chosen to use other people’s pain and suffering to promote his divisive political agenda. (Shift)

Washington resident are still talking about the embarrassing interview Governor Inslee had with Q13’s Brandi Kruse, in which he labelled workers who are concerned about their financial future as being people who want all people over 60 to die.  (BTW – so the record is crystal clear, Governor Inslee showed his backbone and took “strong exception” to having all Washington residents over 60 die.)  The interview capsulizes why there is growing frustration with Governor Inslee and his lack of responding to concerns and fears of Washington residents.  Instead of responding to the legitimate questions posed by Kruse, Inslee chose to use the sophomoric technique of posing a strawman argument that anyone who questions his actions is unconcerned about the health and welfare of senior citizens.  Inslee is failing to understand that residents are frustrated with his partisan decisions, the lack of science and data in making decisions, and not being held accountable for his actions. (We will note that Kruse’s interview with Inslee, which was aired on Sunday, could have even been worse for him as it was taped prior to the news that the Inslee Administration had given  “hundreds of millions” of taxpayer dollars to Nigerian criminals in fraudulent unemployment claims.)  (Brandi Kruse Twitter, Shift, Washington Policy Center, and Shift Facebook)

It is now the 6^th day since the Inslee administration revealed how its lack of competence and oversite allowed Washington State to be the largest victim of a scam conducted by Nigerian criminals, costing state taxpayers “hundreds of millions of dollars.” (BTW – can the state be more precise?  There is a huge difference between $200 million and $900 million.)  It is also the 6^th day since Governor Inslee abruptly canceled a media event and has been in hiding ever since, avoiding questions on one of the largest heists in world history.  Inslee had been appearing before the media nearly every day prior to the news of the scam.  We can predict Inslee’s handlers are going to limit the opportunity of the media (and public) to ask the governor questions and will avoid the few state reporters who are known for asking tough questions (i.e. Brandi Kruse). (Seattle Times and News Tribune)

In late April, 43 state legislators sent a letter to the Washington Citizen’s Commission on Salaries for Elected Officials, asking the members to reconsider a pay raise that is scheduled to take place on July 1st.  The letter noted (at that time) 630,000 Washington State residents had filed new unemployment claims and that 99% came from the private sector. Those signing the letter believed “At a time when so many are unemployed, it makes no sense for elected officials to be granted a raise.” The partisan makeup of the letter is interesting with 18 Republican Senators and only 2 Democrats Senators (both, Christine Rolfes and Annette Cleveland, are up for re-election in 2020) signing the request.  Some 15 House Republicans signed the letter along with 8 House Democrats (mostly from swing districts). The number of House Democrats who signed onto the letter is interesting because there are rumors that Democrat Speaker Laurie Jinkins sent messages to her members telling them not to join in the effort.  It is also worth noting that Governor Inslee has been silent on the pay raise he is set to receive, even though he is already the 6^th highest paid governor in the country. Maybe Jay could use some of that extra cash to pay the state back for the money his campaign stole from taxpayers to cover security costs during his failed presidential run. (Legislators letter to the WCCSEO and Ballotpedia)

Speaking of pay raises – there has been no response from Governor Inslee or Democrat legislative leaders regarding the Republican call for a special session in June, after the state reveals its latest economic forecast.  One of the primary reasons for the June timing is to allow legislators to re-consider a second 3% pay raise state employees are scheduled to receive starting July 1^st.  While private sector jobs have been sacrificed during the coronavirus outbreak, nearly all state employees (including those who are “non-essential”) have been collecting their wages. In fact, it was not until last week that Governor Inslee finally placed a hiring freeze on state employees (despite everyone knowing since early March that the COVID-19 crisis was going to greatly impact state tax revenues).  If Governor Inslee and Democrat legislative leaders allow this pay raise to go through, it will be yet another example of the Democrats making the financially insecure Washington State residents pay for the political favors of Democrat politicians.  (Republican Senate Caucus media release)

Another of Governor Inslee’s (Democrats only) Western States Pact members has moved to safely reopen commercial activity.  California’s health officials have stated that “all retail stores can reopen for in-store shopping under previously issued guidelines.”  This does not include personal services like barbers, nail salons or tattoo parlors.  Meanwhile, it is expected that a large majority of Washington residents live in counties that will have emergency orders extended past June 1^st. (NBC Los Angeles and MyNorthwest)

The most extreme members of the most liberal major city council in the country continue to promote legislation to make it even more difficult for Seattle neighborhoods to remove unsafe and unsanitary homeless encampments.  Even Seattle’s very liberal Mayor Jenny Durkan is opposed to the proposal by councilmembers Tammy Morales, Teresa Mosqueda, and Kshama Sawant which would make it almost impossible for city “navigation teams” to remove unsafe encampments and could even stop landowners from removing people “camping” on their property.  Mayor Durkan’s spokesman said, “This bill is as poorly drafted and analyzed as I’ve ever seen and fails to recognize basic and legitimate operational, legal, and policy considerations, without any consultation with the impacted city departments.” (MyNorthwest)

UW Medicine will furlough an additional 4,000 employees (previously 1.500 workers were laid off) due to the loss of revenue caused by the coronavirus outbreak.  This is a 15% reduction in the hospital system’s workforce. The halting of non-emergency procedures, which were part of Governor Inslee’s draconian emergency orders, has caused financial problems for medical facilities across the state. (Seattle Times)

There is a vacancy on the Mukilteo City Council after the sudden resignation of Anna Rohrbough, who has been a very vocal critic of Mayor Jennifer Gregerson.  Rohrbough resigned due to her husband receiving a job in California. The remaining councilmembers will fill the vacancy from those who apply by June 3^rd.  (Everett Herald)

In the state’s latest attack on the Columbia and Snake River dams on behalf of environmental special interest groups, the state of Washington is seeking to regulate the temperatures in the water behind the rivers’ dams.  Despite a NOAA scientist stating salmon from these river systems have almost no impact on the welfare of Puget Sound orcas, state officials claim they seek to regulate the rivers’ water temperature to provide more salmon for the nutrition-deprived whales. (Yakima Herald)

One wolf pack in Northeast Washington was responsible for three depredations in one week. The Wedge Pack attacked cattle in Stevens County, killing at least one calf.  The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife has put non-lethal deterrents in place to attempt to eliminate future attacks. (Washington AG Network)

Apparently, Washington State Democrat Party Chair Tina Podlodowski is still very bitter about losing to Kim Wyman in 2016, for she is now making extremely false claims about the Secretary of State in fundraising emails.  In a very misleading message, Podlodowski claimed Wyman did not “condemn Trump’s attack on voting rights.” (Note: Only Democrat operatives believe it is a “voting right” to force all states to completely revamp their voting systems in a few months at a cost of $500,000,000 to taxpayers.)  The truth is Secretary Wyman published an op-ed, in USA Today, in which she fully explains her position on vote-by-mail.  To avoid making such embarrassing mistakes in the future, Podlodowski should learn how to “Bing” or “Google” and check her facts. (Washington State Democrat Party email and Shift)

If people were to obtain an offer to receive texts from “Someone exciting,” it is very doubtful anyone would believe they would soon be receiving messages from Jay Inslee.  But Inslee’s campaign staff wants us to think Inslee is “exciting.”  We here at Shift think it would be exciting to receive texts from the governor only if he used them to answer questions about the “hundreds of millions of dollars” his administration gave to Nigerian scam artists. (Inslee campaign email)

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