Governor Jay Inslee wants us to “trust” him when he says he does not plan to expand his just-passed state income tax (starting with capital gains) to include more taxpayers.  Unfortunately for the trusting kind, the governor has an extremely poor record of keeping his promises regarding taxes.  During his 2012 campaign for governor, candidate Inslee said he would veto any tax increases that came across his desk and that “new taxes are the wrong direction.”  Yet in his three months in office, Inslee was supporting and signing bills that raised taxes.  Since then he has repeatedly broken his promise to Washington State voters by constantly pushing for higher taxes, even as the state’s expanding economy was pushing more money into the state treasury. In Jay Inslee’s 8+ years in the governor’s office, the state budget has doubled, as new and higher taxes have paid for his greedy pursuit of a larger and more expensive state government. For Inslee, it’s a virtuous circle: more state employees mean more union dues, which means more contributions to Democrats’ campaigns. With this track record on taxes, should Washington State residents really trust the former 15-year Congressman when he says he will not expand the state income tax he fought so hard to create? (Click to read full Shift Article)

Governor Inslee signed the Democrats’ state income tax on capital gains legislation during a big production event in Tukwila on Tuesday.  During the signing ceremony, the governor did not repeat his previous promise to not expand the tax to less wealthy individuals then those currently targeted by Democrat legislators, likely due to fears that laughter would spill from those in attendance (who know him best).  The bill (SB 5096) has already resulted in one lawsuit (from the Freedom Foundation), with another to be filed (by the Opportunity for All Coalition [OFAC] next week), and an initiative challenge that being drafted for the November 2022 ballot.  OFAC President Collin Hathaway said in a statement, “With a stroke of the pen, the governor has removed Washington from the list of states without an income tax. What the governor signed into law today is an unconstitutional and illegal income tax that we believe will be struck down in court.”  The legal tax website Law360 pointed out that “Washington became the first state in the nation to tax only capital gains without also having a personal income tax.”  (Lens, Washington Legislature Bill Summary, Law360, and OFAC website)

Representative James Walsh (R – Aberdeen) continues to speak out against “vaccine passports.” During the legislative session, Walsh introduced a bill (HB 1570) that would have prohibited the government from requiring proof of being fully immunized (i.e., a “vaccine passport”) in order to obtain entry to a public place. Of course, the Democrats who controlled the legislature refused to even give the bill a public hearing, opting to allow Governor Inslee to continue his one-man rule over the state’s event attendance policies.  On Monday, Governor Inslee issued his latest dictatorial order which allowed “sporting events, graduations, religious services and other similar activities” to “add vaccinated sections until their total capacity is 50% maximum” and that proof of vaccination would be required. (BTW, the governor previously stated he was opposed to vaccine passports.)  Walsh contends this violates the Washington State Constitution’s Article 1, Section 12, which states, “ No law shall be passed granting to any citizen, class of citizens, or corporation other than municipal, privileges or immunities which upon the same terms shall not equally belong to all citizens, or corporations.” Walsh called this order, “state implemented segregation” and that “We have to motivate the people of this state to stand up against this policy.” Walsh encouraged people to contact their legislators about this issue.   (Walsh Facebook video, Washington Legislature Bill Summary, Governor Inslee media release, and Washington State Constitution)

Governor Inslee believes it is “more moral” for him, instead of local officials, to decide what activities should be allowed during the pandemic.  The governor did not elaborate on this pompous declaration, or how his random restriction of activities without consulting local authorities is morally superior to local officials, who actually live in the communities impacted by their decisions and thus better understand the environment and citizens of their area, making their own regional decisions to reduce COVID-19 infections. (MyNorthwest and Yakima Herald)

Pierce County Executive Bruce Dammeier immediately vetoed a partisan county council measure which would have required grocery stores in the county’s unincorporated areas to increase wages $4 an hour for hazard pay.  The legislation passed the council along party lines, with the Democrats prevailing 4-3.  In issuing his veto 30 minutes after council passage, Dammeier said, “If grocery stores are unsafe, make them safer, not more expensive.  The best way to reduce this risk is to get vaccinated.” (News Tribune)

Speaking of Pierce County Executive Dammeier, he is obviously upset over Governor Inslee treating counties differently with the state’s unscientific and politically drive “phases”.  Executive Dammeier stated his displeasure yesterday after the governor instituted a “pause”, instead of rolling more counties back to Phase 2 as he did to Pierce County (and Cowlitz and Whitman counties) three weeks ago, when their infection and hospitalization rates went above the arbitrarily set data points the governor claims to use to determine a county’s “phases.”  In a tweet, Dammeier wrote, “Today’s “pause” by @GovInslee is beyond frustrating. Treating different counties differently is not science.”  Dammeier elaborated later in an interview, “The frustration was primarily that three weeks ago, when the numbers showed that we, by his rules, should have rolled back to Phase 2 and we asked for a pause, we were denied,” he continued. “So you can understand why when all of a sudden King County and others — their numbers are worse than ours were three weeks ago — that why it’s frustrating for Pierce County residents to see our community get rolled back, our businesses are suffering under Phase 2 restrictions, and to have King County and Snohomish County and others be given a pass or a pause.” (MyNorthwest and Twitter)

The concrete barriers around the Seattle Capitol Hill East Precinct are starting to be removed.  The barriers were put in place during last June’s violent riots by liberal activists, which led to the unlawful takeover of six blocks known then as the CHAZ. Neighborhood residents and businesses have been asking the city to remove the barriers so people can again use the sidewalk and to remove the “adversarial” environment they believe the concrete barriers symbolize. As the concrete barriers are removed, a black wire fence has been installed against the precinct walls. (KOMO News)

Representatives Cathy McMorris Rodgers and (R – Spokane) Dan Newhouse (R – Sunnyside) were joined by Oregon Congressman Cliff Bentz (R – Ontario) in criticizing Idaho Congressman Mike Simpson (R – Blackfoot) for his secret discussions with Oregon’s Democrat Governor Kate Brown over Simpson’s expensive ($33.5 billion) proposal to tear down the four lower Snake River dams.  The discussions came to light due to the release of records from a Freedom of Information Act request, which showed Representative Simpson and Governor Brown have long been coordinating on the issue and that they wanted to keep these discussions private and out of the public eye.  In a joint statement, the three Members of Congress stated that the previously secret discussions reveal that Congressman Simpson’s proposal “is not just a starting point, but rather a radical and fully-baked plan he is actively seeking to put into law. On top of that, we have to ask, why is he building his plan around the Governor of Oregon’s perspective – not his own state’s? And why do so behind closed doors? Not only does this have harmful impacts on our regional dialogue, but it also raises questions about the viability of the ‘Four Governors’ agreement signed last year.” (Joint Statement and Oregon Public Records Log)

Klickitat County residents are organizing to fight a possible “solar energy farm” that might be placed in their community.  Several developers are looking at the possibility of placing thousands of solar panels on land in the county, due to being able to tap into nearby Bonneville Power transmission lines. Many residents are concerned about the development of “solar panel jungles” and what they will do to their views and the environmental damage they will cause. (KNKX/NPR)

Governor Jay Inslee’s appointment of Cheryl Strange to head his embattled Department of Corrections demonstrates that he is unconcerned with improving state government’s performance, and after all, why should he be since our local media fails to hold Inslee accountable for his many administrative failures.  This latest example of “failing up” under Jay Inslee also shows the utter lack of accountability which permeates state government after 8+ years of Jay Inslee and 36+ years of one-party control in Olympia.  This latest bureaucratic churn, Cheryl Strange, previously led Western State Hospital just before the federal government decertified the facility, costing Washington taxpayers $54 million. Yep, that’s the type of performance that’s a ticket to the top under Jay Inslee. (Click to read full Shift Article)

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