Today the Washington State Supreme Court made a disappointing – yet expected – decision today, agreeing with the Democrats by ruling that the Washington State Department of Revenue (DOR) can continue to make rules and procedures for collecting on a tax which the Douglas County Superior Court ruled last March was unconstitutional.  The non-profit group Citizen Action Defense Fund (CADF) filed a cease and desist letter in early October when it learned that the DOR was using taxpayer money to prepare collections on the illegal state income tax on capital gains. Democrat Attorney General (and defender of higher taxes) Bob Ferguson responded by asking the nine liberal members of the State Supreme Court to “stay” the Douglas County court’s decision to allow the DOR to continue planning the collection of the new tax until the high court rules on the state’s appeal of the lower court’s ruling. (The arguments for the appeal will take place at end of January). Today’s court ruling favored AG Ferguson’s request for a stay on the Douglas County judge’s decision, which he had strangely not asked for when the state first lost its case.

CADF’s Executive Director Jackson Maynard issued a statement on the court’s ruling in which he stressed that Democrat officials and government bureaucrats must also follow the law, though they often don’t when it is inconvenient for them.  Jackson stated, “While we are disappointed in the Court’s ruling today, the fact that the State was forced to follow proper procedure demonstrates that no one – even a state agency – is above the law.  CADF was clearly right in insisting that the Department needed to get a motion to stay the trial court ruling and couldn’t just ignore it.” (Bloomberg Tax News and Citizen Action Defense Fund media release)

Republican State Senators released their “Power Washington” plan which sets a responsible course to maintain a strong power grid while at the same time reducing carbon emissions.  Senator Curtis King (R – Yakima) stated that the GOP plan is more responsible and differs from the very expensive top-down policies passed by the Democrats. Senator King said,  “What we have been given so far (by the Democrats) is a series of dates and goals that are mostly unattainable and not at all realistic.”   The Senate Caucus media release stated there are seven goals within the Republican energy plan:

• Help people access different kinds of alternative vehicles, such as hybrids and hydrogen.
• Preserve, improve, and expand Washington’s clean hydropower system.
• Enable the capture of carbon and invest in Washington’s working forests and natural resources to maximize carbon absorption.

• Slash high fuel prices for drivers.

• Ensure that the transition to new energy technology is environmentally responsible.

• Shore up the state’s electric grid to keep providing affordable and reliable power.

• Keep energy costs low so people can be secure in their homes and businesses.

Republican Senate Floor Leader Shelly Short (Addy) said, “This is about taking the base policies that have been enacted in this state and do our work to make sure that reliability and affordability are there as we continue to innovate, and I’m confident that we can get there.” (Tri-City Herald and Senate Republican Caucus media release)

A University of Washington School of Medicine study found that synthetically enhanced cannabis products legally sold at Washington State marijuana retailers “heightens a user’s chances of developing a psychotic disorder for life, particularly among young people.”  Most marijuana products have a THC level of 10% – 20% while enhanced products called “dabs” have THC levels exceeding 35%.  There has been a significant increase in the number of calls to poison hotlines and emergency rooms from paranoid dab users.  Researchers found that using dabs is equivalent to taking a shot of 190 proof alcohol.

The lead author of the UW study, Beatriz Carlini stated that the research into the long-term effects of high-potency cannabis is important for it has more negative effects than the “normal” marijuana products which Washington voters legalized in 2012.  She said, “I don’t remember voting for 90% THC.”  She also believes that manufacturers want to increase the amount of THC because “they want loyal patrons who depend on this high-potency cannabis.” Thus, like street drug dealers, marijuana growers want to make more money by increasing the number of people addicted to their products, no matter the impact this has on the individual or society. (University of Washington School of Medicine media release)

King County is seeking reimbursement from the state because it has been forced to house an inmate who is not receiving the mental health treatment the court has ordered the state to perform.  Alexander Jay is the suspect in the brutal assault of a nurse who was beaten and thrown down a set of stairs at Seattle light rail station. The courts ordered Jay to receive mental competency treatments before going on trial.  Yet because of the poor management the state’s mental health facilities by the Inslee Administration, this treatment has never taken place (just as it hasn’t been performed in hundreds of cases around the state).  The court has already find the state $50,000 for failing to provide this service for Jay.  It is estimated that many local courts combined have fined the state nearly $100 million for failing to perform its responsibility. Earlier this year a Clark County judge released a prisoner who the state failed to provide mental treatment to, and he is now the suspect in the murder of an Idaho couple.

King County is now asking the court to force the state to pay the $219.90 per day (since May 9^th) which the county says it spends to house and feed Jay.  As of today, that is a little over $45,000. (MyNorthwest, Shift article, and Vancouver Columbian)

It is so comfortable to be a criminal in Washington State that apparently Canadians are coming into the state to participate. Yet unfortunately for one British Columbia resident, he was killed by police after he carjacked a semi-truck near Olympia a couple of weeks ago.  The suspect flipped the semi onto its side in a traffic accident on I-5 on November 18^th.  When police freed him from the vehicle he charged them with a knife and was shot by police. (KIRO7 News)

A battle is brewing on the Spokane City Council over a liberal rental ordinance proposal which critics claim will increase rental prices and force many smaller landlords to remove units from the market, as has occurred in Seattle following similar destructive measures being passed.   The liberal majority on the Spokane City Council is pushing to impose new rules on landlords which would even require landlords to help tenants register to vote.  Most of the proposed rules involve tenant background checks and providing taxpayer-funded legal services to renters.  Moderate Councilmember Michael Cathcart has proposed what he called “reasonable alternatives” to the rules proposed by the liberal councilmembers. Seattle’s number of housing units has dropped significantly (by at least 3,000 in the past year) and rental rates have skyrocketed due to restrictive rental policies imposed by the Seattle City Council.  The Spokane Council will debate the measures at its next meeting on Monday. (The Center Square and MyNorthwest)

Nearly all political fundraising appeals exaggerate the importance of “deadline” to encourage donors to contribute to a campaign, yet the latest email from Governor Jay Inslee’s campaign takes this tactic to a ridiculous level.  To further insult the intelligence of his contributors, it appears the primary reason why Inslee’s campaign organization continues to raise money is to pay the expensive retainers of his campaign consultants.

The latest fundraising email provides two reason why people should give money to the Inslee campaign. Using the end of November as an artificial deadline, the first reason they provide is, “It’s the FIRST (deadline) since the midterm election.” The second reason is because it is, “the LAST end-of-month deadline before Washington state’s legislative session fundraising freeze begins.” So, the only reasons the Inslee campaign provides for giving his campaign organization more money, is because the campaign made up a meaningless deadline.

And it is not as if the Inslee campaign is doing anything with its money.  From looking at the campaign’s Public Disclosure Commission reports, its only major expenses are to give his campaign consultants (Newman Partners and AK Consulting LLC) each $8,100 every month.  We also noticed that the campaign has stashed another $500,000 into a “surplus funds” slush-fund account.

If the governor wanted to show respect to Washington State taxpayers, he would give that money back to the state to partially offset the cost taxpayers paid to provide him with unnecessary security during his failed 2020 presidential campaign.  The only other governor in the ’20 Democrat contest, Montana Governor Steve Bullock, paid back his state for extra security, but Governor Inslee refuses to do the right thing, even though his campaign has large amounts of cash sitting in “surplus accounts.”  Or the campaign could repay the taxpayers for his lavish overseas trips with his wife where he rents expensive villas and Mercedes Benz sedans so he can hobnob at exclusive receptions with wealthy environmentalists and woke corporate executives who are profiting from his inefficient and expensive “green” policies.

Washington’s state-run mental health programs and facilities are a complete mess with recent revelations about who the state hires to assist patients indicate it is not getting any better despite promises from Governor Jay Inslee.  The Tacoma News Tribune reported last week that Western State Hospital, the state’s largest mental health facility, knowingly hired in 2017 a repeat criminal with 22 felony convictions, and more pending, as a counselor.   Mark James’ annual salary started at $41,800 and quickly jumped nearly threefold to $118,000.  While this might be bad enough, the News Tribune reports that James is the suspect in the theft of thousands of dollars taken from patients’ petty cash accounts which he had access to during this time.

This is yet another serious problem with Washington State’s mental health programs and facilities under Governor Jay Inslee. These troubles include failed inspections, Western State decertification by the federal government (costing Washington taxpayers $53 million), nearly $100 million in daily court fines for failing to perform the state responsibility of “competency” treatments on criminals (who are currently left untreated in local jails), massive COVID outbreaks due to administrative failure to follow state safety guidelines, losing costly lawsuits to workers who are physically attacked by patients, and failing to adhere to public record requests.  We can expect the governor to do what liberals do best when faced with such problems: demand more tax money be wasted on the problems (so more dues-paying government employees can be hired), yet fail to change the bureaucrats or the policies which are causing the problems. (Click to read full Shift Article)