One of the new regular features that will be coming to Shift this month has very little to do with politics, but we hope you’ll find it as enjoyable as we have over the years.  Many of our readers continue to be friends with former Congressman Rod Chandler, who was a reporter and anchor on KOMO TV before entering politics in 1974.  Rod served in the Washington legislature until 1982, representing the 45^th Legislative District, then became the first person elected in the new 8^th Congressional District in 1982. He spent a decade in Congress, and after politics, among other things Rod taught high school civics classes (and coached baseball) in Colorado.  A proud Oregon State Beaver alumnus, Rod and his wife Joyce now live in retirement just south of Portland, in Wilsonville, Oregon.

In his post-politics free time, Rod has finely tuned his photography skills. His nature pictures are some of the finest we have seen.  From all over the American west, Europe, and Australia, his images are remarkable.

With his permission, we will be featuring one of Rod’s photographs every Monday at the top of the Daily Briefing.  We think this will be a nice way to kick off the week.

You can view more of Rod’s work by visiting his website, RodChandlerPhotography.com

If you missed our Newsmaker Interview on Friday with Christopher Rufo, you can read it here.  Christopher provides a good analysis of Seattle’s current political environment after the 2019 elections (hint – he is moving out).  (ShiftWA)

The Inslee campaign sent out a fundraising email informing its donors that this Friday the “fundraising freeze” will begin for Washington’s elected officials.  This commences 30 days prior to the start of each legislative session.  Inslee’s bemoans the fact that his opponents will be able to raise money during the session while “while I’m hard at work governing.”  Does the Governor really think his donors have such poor memories?  Wasn’t it just one year ago when Inslee said he could govern AND run for President at the same time?  How did the job become so time consuming in the past year? (Inslee Campaign email)

The Washington Public Disclosure Commission (PDC) is asking the legislature to update the state’s Fair Campaign Practices Act before the upcoming 2020 election year.  The PDC would like to see the reporting requirements streamlined to focus on information that is more likely to demonstrate a conflict of interest. (News Tribune)

Because Governor Jay Inlsee failed to stand up to the extreme radicals within Antifa, Christmas carols were cancelled this past weekend at the state capitol.  Approximately a half hour prior to the start of the “Carols at the Capitol” event, organizers were informed the safety of those in attendance could not be ensured due to Antifa’s protests and skirmishes on the Capitol campus. (MyNorthwest)

Available on Amazon is this “Washington D.C.” Ugly Christmas Sweater t-shirt.

It yet another move to reduce the number of apartments is Seattle, Councilmember Kshama Sawant has proposed legislation to prohibit evictions from November 1^st to March 31^st every year.  To go along with Seattle’s “just-cause” eviction laws, Seattle’s elected officials don’t appear to understand that their actions will result in an inhospitable environment for those who develop, own, and manage rental units. Why would anyone operate an apartment when the city makes it legal for a tenant to not have to pay rent for five months? (Seattle Times)

The has been much public discussion regarding the possible construction of a new Costco in Lake Stevens.  After pubic comment was cut-off after nearly two hours during the last city council meeting, more written testimony was received.  More than half of the public comments are in favor of opening the new 160,000 square foot store which will hire over 300 employees. (Everett Herald)

In response to the voters approving I-976, the Sound Transit Board voted to increase property taxes by 1%.  The Board approved the measure 14 – 2 with only Pierce County Executive Bruce Dammeier and University Place Mayor Kent Keel voting against the increase. (Washington Policy Center)

It was violent statements from pro-wolf sympathizers that caused the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) to cancel a series of public hearings over the wolves.  With environmentalist making social media comments such as, “Kill the state officials responsible for the crime,” “I would kill every man that wants to kill nature. This is what nature needs now, dead stupid people,” and “our nation needs to take lethal action against WDFW!!!!” the state was right to cancel the public hearings. (Inlander)

Vicki Baker was appointed to fill the position of retiring Yakima County Commissioner Mike Leita.  Baker is co-owner of the Yakima Grocery Outlet and will serve the remaining year of Leita’s term. (KIT Radio)

Balls drawn from a milk bottle will determine who wins the tied election for Fairfield City Council.  On Monday afternoon Dave Watling and Steve Walk will find who will be declared the winner of their race in which both candidates received 78 votes. An official from the Spokane Auditor’s office will put the two balls in the milk bottle and draw one out. The candidate represented by that ball will be declared the winner. (KHQ)

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