King County Councilmember Rod Dembowski receives less than a slight slap on the wrist despite verbally abusing female staff members for years, and is the latest poster child of liberal privilege being granted by the local media.   Evidently the Seattle Times believes Dembowski’s on-going sexist actions were worth only one story buried in the local section and apparently the newspaper will maintain its endorsement of the liberal politician’s campaign for re-election despite his abuse.  Meanwhile the Times did what the region’s liberal establishment was hoping the paper would do to help a hyper-partisan liberal, by posting three front-page stories featuring liberals attacking the reputation of moderate Councilmember Kathy Lambert, and then endorsed the left-winger opponent, as liberals seek to eliminate any non-Seattle-centric viewpoint from the county’s legislative body. (Click to read full Shift Article)

Nearly a quarter of a million workers in Washington state have already applied for an exemption of the state’s unpopular new Long-Term-Care insurance payroll tax, despite confusion with the process, and despite it being very difficult to obtain the necessary alternative insurance.  Some 227,402 exemptions have been filed with the state as of last Thursday, according to a new report from the Washington Policy Center. Many of these individuals were able to obtain long-term-care insurance before private insurance companies stopped offering such policies in Washington State, due to the belief that many will simply stop paying for coverage once they receive the state exemption.  Many people have also complained that the state’s website to apply for an exemption is confusing. (Washington Policy Center)

Democrat lawmakers’ passage of an unconstitutional state income tax on capital gains has already negatively impacted business investment in Washington State.  An op-ed in the Wenatchee World highlights that given the choice in whether to invest in Washington State businesses or in one where there is no such tax looming, investors are already spending their money elsewhere.  The tax is especially damaging to family farmers, and is one of the primary reasons why many people involved in agriculture are part of the lawsuit filed against the tax.  On a related note, opening arguments for the lawsuit have been scheduled for February 4^th in Douglas County Superior Court. (Wenatchee World, Shift’s Newsmaker Interview, and WPC Center for Government Reform Facebook post)

The Eatonville School District Board of Directors voted not to fire employees who failed to provide proof of being fully vaccinated, and has criticized Governor Jay Inslee for once again refusing to consult with local officials before imposing his mandates. The three members of the Southeast Pierce County school board rejected a motion which would have resulted in the firing of district employees who failed to comply with the governor’s vaccine orders. One member stated that Governor Inslee’s actions had placed the board in a tough position stating, “Yet again, we’re just put in a lousy place with no local input and just stuck taking it.”

The State Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI) Chris Reykdal’s staff has said the SPI will begin the process to warn the district that the failure to comply with Governor Inslee’s orders will result in the SPI’s office withholding state funds from the district. One would think that under a democracy, approval for such a draconian action would include those in the legislative body.  But since Democrat legislators have allowed the governor free reign to continue his one-man rule for over 600 days now, Washington State does not resemble such a democracy right now. (News Tribune)

A new website has been created to expose the radical statements of Seattle City Council candidate Nikkita Oliver, including her view that the police should be defunded 100%.  This is similar to the website which was recently launched which details the radical views of Seattle City Attorney candidate Nicole Thomas-Kennedy.  Oliver is running against Sara Nelson, a liberal but rational businesswoman (and former council staffer), for the at-large council seat vacated by current Council President/mayoral candidate Lorena Gonzalez.  The website publicizes the candidates own words, including Oliver’s view that the Seattle’s riots in 2020 were caused by the police, that “policing is inherently racist,” and that the police should be 100% defunded.  Oliver’s radical views on homelessness and criminal justice are just as disturbing, including that the city should never sweep any homeless encampment and that repeat criminals should not be prosecuted. (nikkitaforcrime.com, NTKforcrime.com, and Sara Nelson Campaign website)

A recently released attack ad by the Lorena Gonzalez campaign has put the current City Council president in hot water with some of the region’s Black leaders.  The ad attempts to portray Gonzalez’ opponent, former City Council President Bruce Harrell, as being supportive of disgraced former Seattle Mayor Ed Murray’s alleged sexual assaults, and that Harrell is insensitive to the trauma experienced by sexual assault victims.  About 40 Black community leaders signed a letter to Gonzalez asking that she pull the ad, writing that her campaign perpetuates the stereotype that Black men are “insensitive to issues of sexual violence” and that it is “a new low in our civic discourse.” (MyNorthwest and Letter to Gonzalez from Black community leaders)

With the Seattle Police Department’s staffing at a dangerously low level due to attacks by the Seattle City Council and from the vaccine mandate imposed by lame-duck Mayor Jenny Durkan, the remaining officers continue to deal with an increase in violent assaults.  There were five more shootings this weekend.  In each of the five shootings, police have yet to locate the suspect.  Just more proof that actions by liberal lawmakers at both the local and state levels have made it much safer and easier to be a criminal in Washington State.  (MyNorthwest)

A Mill Creek councilman is advertising jobs in his city’s police department and stating that it “will not be mandating a vaccine to anyone of our personnel.”  Councilman Vincent Calvaleri made the announcement last week on Facebook immediately after nearly 200 Washington State Patrol and Seattle Police officers failed to turn in proof of being fully vaccinated.  Councilman Calvaleri stated that those who have experience in other departments will be placed on the “fast track.”  Due to administrative problems within the city, Mill Creek has a severe shortage of officers, and is offering bonuses up to $20,000 for new applicants.  (Everett Herald)

Hi-tech data centers are sprouting up in rural areas which have cheap electricity rates, but locals are worried about the amount of water they use to keep the equipment cool.  Amazon, Google, and others have opened data centers in Eastern Oregon and Washington, and soon others may follow.  After the drought experience of Eastern Washington farmers last summer, some are worried the data centers might worsen drought conditions in the future. (YakTriNews)

Walla Walla Community College said that it will lose 18 of its 490 employees due to Governor Inslee’s vaccine mandate.  The college said that 38 members of the staff sought medical or religious exemptions to the mandate, but the school was only able to accommodate 20 of those requests. (Walla Walla Union Bulletin)

Those of us at Shift sifted through leadership quotes this past week as Washington State begrudgingly commemorated 600 days of the undemocratic one-man rule of Jay Inslee.  We were attempting to find quotes that supported Inslee’s autocratic methods of removing all others (from legislators to local health officials) from the decision-making process on serious government actions which impact millions of people’s lives and personal finances.  Not surprisingly, we mostly found quotes which run contrary to the governor’s actions, for the most featured leadership quotes mentioned the need for inclusion of other people’s views. (Click to read full Shift article)

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