Former Washington State nine-term Democrat Representative Pat Sullivan (Covington) will see his pension payments increase considerably now that his friend Governor Jay Inslee has hired him for a high-paying administration job. Last Friday, when they hoped no one was paying attention, Governor Inslee’s office announced that the former longtime Democrat House Majority Leader will become the governor’s new Senior Policy Advisor for Labor, where he will make sure union bosses get everything they paid for when they financed Governor Inslee’s many campaigns.  This new job will be a large boost for Sullivan’s future taxpayer-funded pension payments, since those benefits are based on an average of the state worker’s highest two years of annual salary. As a legislator, Sullivan was paid approximately $58,000 a year.  His new job has a starting salary of $133,908.

Sullivan announced in March that he would be joining many other Democrat legislators who decided not to run for re-election this November.  Sullivan made this decision despite giving the strong impression he would run again by raising approximately $25,000 in the weeks leading up to the legislature’s campaign contribution freeze which started in mid-December.  Many speculated that, after the 2022 session, Sullivan feared his South King County constituents would take out their frustrations over the Democrats’ disastrous anti-police legislation (which has had a large negative impact on their communities) by voting for a  candidate with a more responsible public safety agenda. (News Tribune and Washington State Public Disclosure Commission candidate report)

Seattle’s Chinatown International District community members celebrated Saturday their victory over King County Executive Dow Constantine, King County Councilmember Joe McDermott, and Seattle City Councilmembers, who attempted to ram through a major expansion of a homeless shelter in their community.  Executive Constantine announced  that he was scrapping plans for a controversial 500-resident shelter, after CID members packed meetings at Seattle City Hall and King County Courthouse, levelling charges of racism against the liberal officials who sought to impose yet another homeless shelter on their neighborhood without ever notifying community leaders.

CID community leaders at the “victory” rally recognized the active participation of seniors from their community who sought to protect a neighborhood which already has five homeless shelters, is facing a major increase in violent crimes due to liberal anti-police policies, and will face years of disruption from future Sound Transit construction.

As expected, one liberal elected official is refusing to take responsibility for the latest failure and is attempted to blame a “conservative think tank” for why the plans have been scrapped.  Seattle City Councilmember Tammy Morales, whose district includes the CID and who is a member of the council’s Homelessness Committee, released a statement saying that the process should have included notifying neighborhood leaders. “This lack of transparency allowed for bad-faith political actors without ties to the CID, such as a conservative think tank, to co-opt the narrative and cloud organic neighborhood resistance.” Even for Councilmember Morales this is a particularly dimwitted view of the world.

The councilmember is referring to the Discovery Institute’s Jonathan Choe, who posted several reports about CID leaders being upset about the proposal. Evidently Choe has more “ties to the CID” than the councilmember, for he heard about community members’ frustration which apparently Councilmember Morales knew nothing about.  The real question is, why didn’t Councilmember Morales (or one of her many taxpayer-funded staff members), pick up the phone and call a CID leader herself and ask how they felt about the planned expansion? (Jonathan Choe Twitter, Seattle Times, Councilmember Morales information page, MyNorthwest, and Discovery Institute’s Fix Homeless project)

Washington State taxpayers will likely be forced to pay for the growing revenue deficit from the I-99 tunnel debacle, as toll income is considerably lower than originally forecasted.  The tunnel under Downtown Seattle is already running a $29 million deficit, and current projections are that this will increase to $237 million over the next 30 years.  This is despite an unplanned 15% toll rate increase already imposed. Current tunnel usage is at pre-pandemic levels, yet this is much lower than originally projected.  And with more workers permanently telecommuting and fewer employers wanting to locate in Downtown Seattle, it is doubtful future tunnel toll revenue will come close to original projections.

The tunnel was completed in 2019, three years after it was originally forecasted to open. Like all public works projects managed by local liberal government entities, final construction costs were considerably overbudget. The final bill was nearly a quarter billion dollars more than what was promised to taxpayers.  So like Sound Transit, where fare collections are far lower than promised, taxpayers who don’t use the transportation method will be forced to pay even more of the bill because government overestimated revenue from tolls and fares. (Seattle Times)

A young woman was shot in a drive-by shooting in Tacoma and is now in serious condition. This was the first of four shootings which took place in the city on Saturday night. Fortunately no one else was hurt in the other incidents.  Democrat Representatives Tarra Simmons (Bremerton) and Larry Hackney (Tukwila) proposed HB 1692 during the 2022 Legislative Session to reduce the penalty on those convicted of a drive-by shooting.  Democrat Speaker Laurie Jinkins kept the controversial bill off the floor because she thought it wasn’t a good issue to support during an election year.  If the Democrats remain in control of the legislature in the 2023 session, then we can expect to see the bill receive more attention from the Democrats who seek to make our state more comfortable for criminals. (KIRO7 News and Washington Legislature Bill Summary)

Another violent car crash involving a stolen car occurred early Monday morning in Pierce County.  Two people were seriously injured as a stolen vehicle crashed into another car on South Tacoma’s Oakes Street.  The two injured people were in the stolen vehicle and two or three others in the car ran from the scene.  The driver of the second car did not suffer serious injuries. Car thefts across the state continue to break records as the Democrats’ anti-pursuit legislation forbids police officers from chasing suspects, even if they are in a car known to be stolen. (News Tribune)

Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) officials appear committed to keeping open the large homeless encampment that is on its property near I-90, despite the violence taking place inside the camp and the number of crimes committed nearby. Both the Spokane County Sheriff and the City of Spokane Police Chief have defined the encampment as a “nuisance” and have threatened to remove the encampment by mid-November if WSDOT refuses to act. In the latest exchange of letters between local law enforcement officials and members of the Inslee Administration, WSDOT’s Secretary Rich Millar attempts to blame the city for the 500-person encampment which has grown on its property, and reiterates the state’s desire to keep the squalor open despite reports of brutal violence taking place behind its fences. (The Center Square and KXLY)

Shift’s Newsmaker Interview was with Republican State Senate candidate Janelle Cass, who is running against controversial career politician Senator Marko Liias in the 21^st Legislative District (Southwest Snohomish County). The Democrat incumbent made news during the 2022 legislative session when he was forced to apologize on the senate floor for insulting Oregon Governor (and fellow partisan Democrat) Kate Brown. This was after he nearly caused a retaliatory tax war with Washington’s neighboring states over his proposed “export tax” on fuel refined in Washington State but sold in other states.

Cass is an Air Force veteran (a graduate of the Air Force Academy), small business owner, and the mother of two college-aged children.  In her interview, Cass described her opponent as “a firehouse of bad legislation” and was frustrated by the “trade war” with our neighbors Senator Liias almost caused by his actions. She drew another contrast with Senator Liias by stating she supports the coalition of Snohomish County local officials who are seeking to repeal the Democrats’ anti-police legislation which Liias supported. She stated her opposition to her opponent’s plan to take zoning out of the hands of local citizens and give it to state bureaucrats in Olympia, as well as her frustration with our state’s public schools for passing students to the next grade despite failing subjects. Finally, she listed her favorite book as a classic science fiction comedy which millions of people have enjoyed.(Click to read full Newsmaker Interview)

Why can’t Democrat politicians be honest with voters about the costs of their environmental policies? Representative Alex Ramel (D – Bellingham) provided the latest example of how Democrat officials avoid telling citizens how much the Democrats’ extreme environmental policies will cost taxpayers.  In answering a candidate questionnaire for the media, the longtime environmental activist with a degree in Environmental Studies deliberately mixed up two separate pieces of environmental legislation to avoid admitting that the Democrats’ Cap and Trade legislation will add 40 to 50 cents to the price of each gallon of gas Washington residents purchase starting next year. Either Representative Ramel is completely ignorant of the laws he supported in the legislature, or he is purposefully attempting to deceive taxpayers about the cost of the Cap and Trade law, which even the Washington State Department of Ecology has said will raise gas prices by more than 40 cents a gallon.   (Click to read full Shift Article)

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