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Leaders of the League of Women Voters of Washington and the Washington Coalition of Open Government were critical of the lack of transparency by the Washington State Redistricting Commission, as its last-minute deliberations left the public wondering who was truly responsible for the commissioners failing to meet their November 15th midnight deadline.  In a Seattle Times op-ed, officials from the two watchdog organizations write, “Making the case that the Washington State Redistricting Commission flouted open meeting laws is easy. It did, plain and simple. But what made the actions in its final public meeting so egregious is that the four voting members of the bipartisan commission essentially hid their discussions and actions from citizens and the press.”

Commissioner Brady Walkinshaw, appointed by the Senate Democrats, is rightfully receiving much of the criticism for the last-minute delays which caused the commission to miss the deadline, as it has become clear the Democrats’ strategy was to remove both the public and Republicans from the redistricting process, and have their nine liberal friends on the Washington State Supreme Court decide the boundaries for the 10 congressional and 49 legislative districts for the next 10 years. (Seattle Times op-ed and Washington Observer)

State Senate Republican Leader John Braun (R – Centralia) believes the Washington State Supreme Court should not reward the partisan games played by the Democrat members of Washington State Redistricting Commission, and that justices should approve the maps the commissioners ultimately approved.  New boundaries for congressional and legislative districts were approved by the four commissioners just after the midnight deadline and were sent to the court.  Senator Braun said, “I don’t like everything I see in the maps, but the (Supreme) Court’s only role should be to endorse the maps.” Of course, the Democrats are hoping for much more partisan action than that from the justices. (Battle Ground Reflector)

Representative Mary Dye (R – Pomeroy) announced the comprehensive “ORCA Plan” to use the money collected by the state’s new Climate Commitment Act (Cap and Trade) to improve outdoor recreation and climate adaptation. The Outdoor Recreation and Climate Adaptation (ORCA) plan would make state parks more accessible to the public by eliminating fees and making necessary upgrades on park facilities.  It would also address climate concerns through investments in forest health, drought resiliency, flood mitigation, and Puget Sound restoration (by removing many of the pollutants which are currently flowing into the body of water). (House Republican Caucus media release)

A non-profit agency took a couple of weeks to clean up “The Lawnmower Man’s” large encampment in a Ballard neighborhood after the City of Seattle did nothing for months to remove the large public nuisance.  In fact, Seattle City Councilmember Dan Strauss had originally told the volunteer group “We Heart Seattle” that they were a “distraction” to the city’s efforts and that they should “stand down.” Neighbors had been complaining for months about the encampment, which contained dozens of lawnmowers and thousands of pounds of scrap metal and wood beams, but the city did nothing.  “We Heart Seattle” came to the rescue and worked with the individual responsible to remove the debris.

Councilmember Strauss suddenly changed his silly tune about “We Heart Seattle” after seeing volunteers succeed in doing over a few days what highly-paid City of Seattle workers had failed to do for months.  His office released a written statement to the media saying, “I’m glad when volunteers are able to interact positively with unsheltered residents. Redeploying efforts where they’re needed and leaving sites of critical focus to governmental and community leaders.”

We wonder if Councilmember Strauss considers whether the growing number of encampments around Green Lake and Woodlawn Park (also in his council district) should be a “site of critical focus” by city officials? Last week Shift highlighted a story on how the neighbors of the parks were growing increasingly frustrated by the city’s lack of effort in removing the many encampments which have made the parks unusable for Seattle’s families and children. Stunningly, Councilmember Strauss had no comment when a reporter asked him about the city’s failure to respond the citizen’s complaints, as the longtime government employee is evidently too scared of losing the only high-paying job he has ever held by taking a public position. (KOMO News, We Heart Seattle,  , and Seattle Times)

Semi-retired reporter Joel Connelly is the first member of the local mainstream media to even mention the negative national story on Seattle’s extreme Left-wing U.S. Representative Pramila Jayapal, which has gone unreported locally for almost three months.  The former political reporter for the Seattle P-I briefly mentioned the very critical Buzzfeed story in his latest post for Post Alley, while pointing out the national Left loves Rep. Jayapal more than local voters.  Buzzfeed ran a story on September 13^th, in which an unprecedented 18 former and current staffers of Representative Jayapal complained about the regular abuse they received from their boss and the “dysfunctional and volatile” work conditions she has created in her congressional office. Even though this article was carried by many national media outlets, it was not covered in the local press (a fact often pointed out by Shift).

Embarrassingly, the Seattle Times ran a large “puff piece” feature on Representative Jayapal on October 1^st, and amazingly left out any reference to this national news story. Despite Connelly mentioning the Buzzfeed article, he is one of the many Seattle reporters who seem to forget that Jayapal’s first public act as a Member of Congress was to be repeatedly told by then-Vice President Joe Biden to be quiet as she frequently objected to the Electoral College certifying the 2016 elections. (Post Alley, Buzzfeed, Shift, Seattle Times, and KING5 News)

The Mayor of Kent argues that the recent number of shootings in her city is due to the failure of the King County Prosecutor to bring drug crimes to court and the effort of state Democrat lawmakers to decriminalize drug possession (after the Washington State Supreme Court tossed out the state’s previous drug possession laws, in the Washington State v. Blake decision).  Mayor Dana Ralph stated, “King County has been, by choice, very lax in prosecution of drug crimes. You throw in the Blake decision from earlier this year that essentially decriminalizes possession, and it’s a huge problem that all of us working here on the ground knew was coming.” (MyNorthwest)

Omak Library officials are considering closing the facility due to a few protestors’ reaction to wearing a face mask. Officials state that some members of the public have yelled obscenities and even spit on library employees when they are told that state regulations require wearing a facemask inside the building. A spokesperson said that a hostile act has been occurring almost every other day since the mask mandate went into effect in October. Officials said that if aggressive actions continue, the library will need to return to “curbside” service. (Wenatchee World)

Seattle City Councilmember Kshama Sawant released her last-minute “surprise” that fellow Socialist Senator Bernie Sanders has “endorsed” her “don’t recall me” campaign, though technically he is not able to vote in her 3^rd City Council District.  Actually this comes as no surprise to anybody who has witnessed Councilmember Sawant’s previous campaigns, which have been heavily funded by wealthy out-of-state Socialist sympathizers who do not have to live under the negative impacts of her crazy policies. During Sawant’s time on the city council, Seattle has gone from being repeatedly named the country’s “Most Livable City” to one where homeless encampments have taken over nearly every park, crime rates and drug addiction are skyrocketing, 300 well-trained police officers have left the force, and large and small employers have taken their jobs to other communities.

Not one of Senator Bernie Sanders three homes are within the city’s borders, thus he doesn’t mind the increases in taxes and the higher cost of living which have resulted from Sawant’s policies.  But that doesn’t stop him from telling others they have to endure the pain she has created. (Kshama Sawant Campaign fundraising email)

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