Shift’s newsmaker Interview is with Spencer Hutchins, Republican candidate for the open House seat in the 26^th Legislative District (which includes much of Bremerton, Port Orchard, Gig Harbor, and most of South Kitsap County). The Gig Harbor native and former city councilmember is co-owner of a successful local real estate company.  Hutchins jumped into the race earlier this year and immediately was able to outraise his likely Democrat opponent by a nearly 3-to-1 margin, with nearly all of his contributions coming from individuals who live in the district.  In his interview, Hutchins expressed his frustration with the legislative Democrats’ “spending spree” with the state’s record-breaking $15 billion budget surplus, providing no tax relief for low- and middle-income households, and “then had the audacity to demand even more from taxpayers.”  Hutchins also states his strong opposition to the Democrats‘ anti-police legislation which has negatively impacted individuals, small businesses, and even health care workers who have been the subjects of “a rash of violent incidents.” (Click to read full Newsmaker Interview)

A new report shows Governor Jay Inslee’s ego-puffing trip to the United Nation’s Climate Change Conference in Glasgow (COP26) last November cost Washington State taxpayers at least $66,000, and that does not include overtime costs for the governor’s security team – so the real price is still not known, but it keeps going up. The liberal PR event known as COP26 to the “green elite” like Governor Inslee featured a multitude of lavish receptions where wealthy environmentalists and liberal politicians hobnobbed and lavished self-proclaimed virtues onto each other.

As Shift previously reported, the governor brought his wife on this taxpayer-funded trip – because it wasn’t his money after all – and out of the six American governors who attended the event, Governor Inslee was the only one to spend more than $12,500 to purchase luxury business class tickets, with exclusive privileges including “cozy lie flat beds,” “luxury dining,” and “exclusive premium check-in areas” on Aer Lingus.

The new reports reveal that the taxpayers also funded the $9,609 rental of a four-bedroom villa (for just three people) and spent nearly $10,000 to rent Mercedes Benz vehicles and $2,500 to rent an Audi wagon. The governor’s office defended the lavish spending of taxpayer funds by stating, “The trip to COP26 was well worth the costs paid by the governor’s office given the global leadership role Washington state government and industries play in solving climate change.”  Evidently the governor’s “global leadership” is dependent on taxpayers funding luxury accommodations for both he and his wife.

This is yet another example of the greed and excesses of those who have clearly been in power for far too long.  Governor Inslee previously made Washington State taxpayers fund millions in extra security costs for his failed five-month long campaign for president, while the other governor in the 2020 Democrat nomination contests, Montana Governor Steve Bullock, paid back his state for his additional security costs.  The governor clearly believes that Washington State taxpayers are here to serve his lavish needs, despite the fact he is already the sixth highest paid governor in the country (receiving more than $190,000 a year) and is already receiving a lavish taxpayer-funded pension for his time in Congress.

Remember that Governor Inslee and his fellow Democrat legislators recently refused to use any of the state’s record-breaking $15 billion revenue surplus to provide any assistance to low- and middle-income workers by providing them with any type of tax break (even one on diapers). This is despite the many who are struggling to make it through these difficult financial times as liberal inflationary policies are eating away workers’ paychecks and are devastating to those on fixed incomes.  Yet the governor forces taxpayers to purchase his luxury airplane tickets, rentals of luxury villas, and the leasing of luxury vehicles so he can attend lavish receptions that have no impact whatsoever on Washington State citizens.  These are not the actions of a person who believes they are a public servant.  Washington State taxpayers have every right to be outraged and demand the governor (or at least his campaign, which has more than a million dollars in the bank) to refund the taxpayers for his lavish and wasteful expenses. (CenterSquare and Shift)

An observant Shift reader pointed out a couple of omissions from Attorney General Bob Ferguson’s taxpayer-funded “The Ferguson File”, in which he mostly brags about his office’s accomplishments to members of the media and to his supporters. The AG failed to include any news of his loss in the Douglas County Superior Court, where the judge ruled that the Democrats’ state income tax on capital gains (SB 5096) was unconstitutional, or how another judge ruled against Ferguson after he attempted to falsely describe the tax as an “excise tax” in the proposed title he office wrote for the initiative (I-1929) that seeks to prohibit such taxes.

Ferguson did find room to mention the meaningless stand he and other Democrat politicians took when they held a taxpayer-funded rally to state their opposition to the leaked U.S. Supreme Court decision draft which will take the abortion issue out of the courts and allow states to decide the laws.  One thing AG Ferguson and the other liberal politician always fail to mention at their partisan pep rallies is that the decision, if it is the one that is ultimately made by the court, will have little to no impact in Washington State, since prior to the Roe v. Wade decision in 1973 voters here decided at the polls to make abortion legal in 1970, and strengthened that decision in 1991. (The Ferguson File, MyNorthwest, Washington Legislature Bill Summary, and WPC’s Jason Mercier on the Jason Rantz Show

The Edmonds City Council chose on Thursday night to delay its final vote on a measure which will make it a misdemeanor to camp on public property overnight after refusing offers for shelter. Liberal officials from neighboring cities and Democrat activists from the 32^nd Legislative District spoke out against the measure, for evidently they believe it is acceptable for large homeless encampments to develop in neighborhood parks and on public sidewalks, even though those who construct such encampments have been offered a free location to spend the night.  Those who refuse the assistance and chose to “camp” on public property will be subject to a $1,000 fine and a 90-day jail sentence. The council is expected to continue debate on the issue at the next Edmonds City Council virtual meeting on May 17^th. (Everett Herald)

The Seattle City Council is debating proposals on how best to recruit officers to work for the Seattle Police Department (SPD), which is severely understaffed after the mass exodus of officers due to lack of support from the city’s elected officials.  One proposal sets aside money for signing bonuses, while the other calls for the hiring of a recruiter.  No matter which plan the council chooses to support, the failure of not one member of the Seattle City Council to condemn the political violence committed by liberal activists in 2020 will cost Seattle taxpayers plenty of money.  Hundreds of well-trained and diverse officers have left the SPD due to this lack of support after repeated acts of violence, which included a mass murder attempt of police officers. 

Councilmembers chose to double-down on the failure to support police officers by rushing to “Defund the Police”, a partisan policy decision which has forced Seattle’s 750,000 residents to suffer through two years of skyrocketing crime rates and slower emergency response times.  The communities most negatively impacted by the council’s actions are lower-income neighborhoods, which have the city’s larger non-white populations. It is fair to say that the city’s liberal public safety policies for the past two years have been a complete disaster and the taxpayers are the ones forced to pay the tab. (MyNorthwest and KOMO News)

A wealthy international solar company has run into an environmental roadblock in its desire to build a large solar panel farm just outside of East Wenatchee, as Governor Inslee’s Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) has announced it opposes its development. The Spanish company Iberdola Group is attempting to build its 2,400 acre Badger Mountain Solar Energy Project on land leased from the Washington State Department of Natural Resources and private landowners.  The WDFW claims the 200-megawatt plant is a threat to the greater sage grouse, which the state lists as an endangered species.  Meanwhile, Attorney General Bob Ferguson’s office is arguing the facility needs to be built to prevent global warming.

This is one of the first of likely many conflicts between environmental state agencies over the development of large solar and wind farms across Eastern Washington. Thus it is a conflict in which Washington State taxpayers are funding both sides of the debate (which are already leading to calls for more expensive studies done by environmental activists) since our governor has failed to provide leadership in how the state should proceed. The governor has also pushed to reduce local input in the process to approve large energy farms. (FYI – the Douglas County Commissioners say the plant conflicts with the county’s land-use laws.)  (Capitol Press)

Babylon Bee Friday

Conservative Satire to start the weekend

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