Washington State voters have again clearly demonstrated that they reject the Democrats’ desire to impose a state income tax to fund the unnecessary growth in the size and cost of state government.  Advisory vote #37 on Tuesday’s statewide ballot concerned the controversial state income tax on capital gains (SB 5096) that was passed by the legislative Democrats and signed by Governor Jay Inslee during the 2021 session.  The tax is currently being challenged by citizens in a case in the Douglas County Superior Court.  After the initial vote count on Tuesday evening, an overwhelming 63% of voters rejected the Democrats’ latest new tax in the advisory vote. This non-binding vote is consistent with the last 10 previous statewide votes in which Washington residents have strongly rejected liberals’ attempt to impose a state income tax.

Of Washington’s 39 counties, only Jefferson County (Port Townsend) supported imposing this new tax on the state’s residents. Even normally irresponsible King County voters rejected the tax (51.4%).   The advisory vote showed that Democrat legislators in swing districts who supported the tax (along with Democrats’ unpopular pro-criminal bills) should be very vulnerable in the 2022 elections. (No wonder the Democrats on the Washington State Redistricting Commission are working hard to eliminate swing districts and protect their incumbents.)  This anti-tax sentiment is especially worrisome for liberals since many voters are outraged that the Democrats used the rare strategy of labeling their income tax an “emergency” (even though the state currently has nearly $4 billion in surplus revenue) and thus denied the citizens the right to repeal the tax via a referendum.  (Washington Secretary of State Vote Totals, Washington Legislature Bill Summary, Olympia Watch Twitter, Shift, and Centralia Chronicle)

Longtime liberal columnist Joel Connelly used both local and national vote returns to argue that “the militant activist far left wing of the Democratic Party is losing touch with Democratic voters, and that its demands have hindered the party from showing that it can productively govern.”  Connelly admonished longtime liberal organizations (both liberal special interest groups and party organizations) for caving into the radical demands of its violent extremists. Connelly asserts that the many losses experienced by the Democrats yesterday were self-inflicted due to liberal politicians imposing radical pro-criminal and big government policies. Connelly sardonically states, “When Democrats form a firing squad, all too often it’s in a circle.” (Post Alley)

The duplicative and wasteful Western States Scientific Safety Advisory group has once again approved use of a COVID vaccine which the federal government has already approved.  The partisan group was formed by the Democrat governors of California, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington as a means of attacking the previous administration, though it has simply rubber-stamped approval of vaccines which the federal government has already approved.  The group recently authorized use of the Pfizer vaccine for children over the age of five, which the federal Centers for Disease Control had already approved. The group was formed by the four Democrat governors in October 2020 as a partisan stunt against President Trump, implying the governors – just before the election — didn’t trust the federal vaccine approval process.  There is absolutely no further reason for the group’s existence unless the Democrat governors don’t trust the vaccine approval process of the Biden Administration, right? (Governor Inslee Facebook Post and Governor Inslee media release)

Tuesday’s vote clearly demonstrated that even Seattle voters believe the region’s liberal establishment has gone too extreme and that they have had enough of the Left’s failed crazy policies.  While the city is still incredibly liberal, it rejected the extremists’ attempt to make Seattle City Hall an expensive copy of The Evergreen State College student government. At the top of the ticket, barely moderate liberal Bruce Harrell easily defeated outgoing Seattle City Council President Lorena Gonzalez (64.8% to 35.2%) to become Seattle’s next failed mayor.

Perhaps a more drastic difference could be found in someone who is a business owner finally being elected to the Seattle City Council, as Sara Nelson swamped extreme activist Nikkita Oliver (60.5% to 39.5%) to replace Councilmember Gonzalez in one of the two at-large city council seats.  In the other at-large contest, Councilmember Teresa Mosqueda is currently holding a surprisingly narrow 52.6% to 47.4% lead over more moderate Kenneth Wilson, despite buying votes with public money for four years and having a $300,000-to-$100,000 fundraising advantage.  Moderate Ann Davison easily defeated the radical Nicole “police should eat covid-lace sh*t” Thomas-Kennedy (58.6% to 41.4%) in the race to replace the pro-criminal Pete Holmes (who lost in the primary) as the next Seattle City Attorney.

The one disappointing note from the current vote totals is that the liberals on the King County Council were apparently successful in their smear campaign (along with generous support from the Seattle Times) against the highly respected Councilmember Kathy Lambert, as her Seattle-centric liberal opponent Sarah Perry currently holds a 55.5% to 44.5% lead in the Northeast King County contest.  Meanwhile liberal King County Councilmember Rod Dembowski, who has been verbally abusing female staff members for years and has cost county taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars due to legal settlements (and the hiring of consultants and counselors), easily defeated his opponent with 82.6% of the vote as the liberals in the media and on the council barely slapped his wrist for his incessant overtly sexist and illegal behavior. (King County Election Returns, Shift, and Seattle Times)

It was interesting to see the front-page coverage of the election in the print edition of the (Tacoma) News Tribune, as the decaying newspaper continues its sad decline. The paper’s only election story was a national one regarding election rules which do not apply to Washington State voters. The paper did feature on the front page a story indicating that this morning’s hard copy edition was printed before local election totals were known (nearly all Washington counties reported their vote totals prior to 8:30 PM, so that is one early deadline) and that readers would need to log onto the paper’s website to learn the current results. Extra, extra, read electrons all about it! (News Tribune)

Point Roberts officials have convinced Washington State to pick up the $180 spent on COVID tests by Canadian citizens (who also own homes in their community) in order to help them meet Canadian requirements to return across the border after visiting the city.  Point Roberts is an American community at the end of a peninsula connected and only accessible by land via Canada. The U.S. border with Canada will reopen next week with requirements for travelers to be vaccinated, yet those returning back to Canada must also show a negative test taken within 72 hours.  Point Roberts wants to make it easy for Canadians who own homes in their community by picking up the tab for the test, which is not covered by Canadian health insurance.

Point Roberts has severely suffered during the border closure due to losing two summers worth of revenue from Canadian travelers.  Governor Inslee claimed he had been lobbying President Joe Biden to make an exception for Point Roberts, and allow its border to reopen much earlier.  Yet, like local Washington officials who attempted to talk with the governor over his “emergency” restrictions over the last 600+ days, President Biden simply ignored his request with no public explanation. (Bellingham Herald and Governor Inslee press release)

Puyallup police claim that the new pro-criminal laws passed by legislative Democrats and signed by Governor Inslee (to reward liberal activists’ violence) kept them from pursuing suspects who rammed into two police vehicles.  Two officers were questioning the driver of the vehicle regarding car prowl incidents when the driver suddenly fled the scene, crashing into the police vehicles as he left.  Since the officers were out of their car, the crime did not rise to level of allowing the officers to pursue the subject under the new laws.  A police spokesperson stated, “Does that sound crazy to you? It’s the world we live in now. The legislators wrote and enacted this legislation. This is what we are bound by. It’s what we will do.” (KOMO TV)

Yakima voters added their city to the growing list of local governments which have banned income taxes as a source of future revenue.  With 78% of the vote, the City of Yakima joins Battle Ground, DuPont, Granger, Kennewick, Longview, Moses Lake, Richland, Spokane, Spokane Valley, Union Gap, and Yakima County in banning an income tax. (Washington Policy Center)

In the two hotly contested races for Spokane City council, one of the pro-business candidates appears to be a likely winner, while the other pro-business candidate is relying on late arriving ballots to make up a 4.5% deficit.  In the 1^st District (Northeast Spokane) contest, Jonathan Bingle appears to have a commanding 1,010 vote lead over his opponent, while receiving 57.2% of the vote. In Northwest Spokane’s 3^rd District, restaurant owner Mike Lish with 47.8% currently trails his liberal operative opponent Zack Zappone by just 579 votes.  Shift will continue to follow this race. (Spokane County elections returns and Shift Newsmaker Interview)

Pullman City Councilmember Al Sorenson filed a police report stating that Washington State University Athletic Director Pat Chun verbally abused and physically threatened the councilmember and his daughter.  Councilmember Sorenson said that AD Chun made the threatening comments after Sorenson and his daughter had posted on social media a video of an outside dinner party at Chun’s residence in which people were physically close and not wearing facemasks (which is allowed for outdoor gatherings with fewer than 500 people).  Chun has been the source of some public resentment due to his firing of WSU football coach Nick Rolovich for not following Governor Inslee’s vaccine mandate for state employees. (Spokesman Review)

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