The folks at Safe Seattle pose a legitimate question regarding recent wildfires and whether or not Governor Jay Inslee’s vaccine mandate has impacted the ability of state firefighting crews to contain the carbon-emission intensive blazes.  The group posted on Facebook that the Bolt Creek Fire in East King County was previously 96% contained and that today it is just 7% contained. This led Safe Seattle to ask, “I have to wonder… If all the unvaccinated firefighters who currently aren’t allowed to respond could join the effort… would it still be burning?”

Prior to the recent surge in wildfires, firefighting officials expressed concerns that the governor’s vaccine mandate was going to leave them severely short-staffed to fight wildfires.  Officials stated that up to two-thirds of firefighters would be unavailable due to the governor’s mandate and warned this would lead to larger fires, greater property damage, and more injuries.  Despite these concerns from the  experts, Governor Inslee and Democrat Superintendent of Public Lands Hilary Franz have not swayed from their belief that firefighters working outside, often spread out and wearing face protection, must be immunized against the COVID virus. Because, evidently they don’t care about public health, they care about public control – it’s a Democrat thing. (Safe Seattle Facebook post and Wenatchee World)

The Washington State Emergency Management (WEMD) agency has been tasked by the legislature to obtain the public’s views on how leaders handled the state’s COVID-19 response.  Problem is that when many people go to the website where they can take the survey, they are informed “You have already taken the survey” and thus not allowed to participate.  We asked several people to go to the survey page and well over half said they were also denied by WEMD from participating.  Evidently, like Governor Inslee has for the past 940 days abused the state’s emergency orders, no one at the state really cares to hear your opinions on the state’s COVID response, unless you are willing to donate large amounts to the Democrats’ political campaigns. (Q13 FOX News, WEMD SurveyMonkey website, and WEMD webpage screenshot)

The Seattle Times featured a Sunday story detailing the mini-flip-flop of the Seattle City Council on whether or not to “defund the police” by cutting the department’s budget by 50%.  In 2020, the councilmembers caved into the demands of violent liberal rioters — who destroyed businesses, illegally took over parts of Seattle, and attempted mass murder of police personnel — to support cutting funding for law enforcement by this randomly selected percentage. This caused Police Chief Carmen Best, the city’s first Black woman to hold the job, to resign from the department, followed by more than 400 (and still growing) well-trained police officers. Violent crime rates skyrocketed and continue to do so.

Councilmembers Debora Juarez and Alex Pederson, while still expressing anti-police sentiments, were the lone voices of semi-responsible public policy (Juarez stated, “We need a plan, not a percentage”) on the nine-member council in 2020.  The Times reports there is currently a 6-3 majority opposed to such an extreme defunding policy.  Among the biggest flip-floppers is Councilmember Andrew Lewis (who represents the Downtown, Magnolia, and Queen Anne neighborhoods). Councilmember Lewis  won his council seat running in 2019 on a platform to increase police spending, but then quickly caved to the rioters’ demands to support defunding.  Now the councilmember has flipped-flopped back, saying “50% was a mistake,” after his constituents let him know they are fed up with the crime wave his extreme political agenda helped create.

One note about the Times article.  Barely is it mentioned that the council’s anti-police actions have resulted in violent crime rates that continue to climb and that police response times to emergencies have reached a crisis point.  The only mention was a quote, from Councilmember Juarez, that the council’s 2020 agenda “caused damage, it caused pain, it caused trauma.”  Concerns over public safety is the overriding reason why in the 2021 city elections the public voted against one of the prime sponsors of the defund movement (former Council President M. Lorena Gonzalez) and elected a pro-police candidate (Sara Nelson), and why many councilmembers have flipped-flopped.  It seems shocking that an extensive article on the Seattle City Council changing its position on a major issue would fail to contain the reason why so many politicians are now fleeing from their previous disastrous actions. But, again, it’s a Democrat thing. (Seattle Times, Seattle P-I, KIRO7 News, Axios, and Q13 FOX News)

Today’s story on yet another new tax increase proposed by yet another liberal Seattle politician comes from King County Executive Dow Constantine, who wants to raise the average annual property tax by an additional $121 to fund the construction of five new government-operated mental health crisis centers, at a cost of $1.25 billion.  Since these facilities will be run by the same county bureaucrats, like Dow Constantine, who have previously raised taxes claiming more funds were needed to solve issues related to homelessness, drug addiction, carbon emissions, massive sewage spills, public safety, and housing costs, there is reason to be skeptical that this latest tax increase proposal will do much to help the number of people facing mental health issues.  Executive Constantine said this proposal will appear on the April 2023 ballot. (Seattle Times)

Liberal McCarthyism is alive and well with the Seattle Sounders (and some of the team’s more radical fans) after one of the team’s players posted a political cartoon which goes against their liberal beliefs.  Here’s the scoop – Sounder Xavier Arreaga posted on his Instagram account a cartoon which showed parents tied up and gagged while rainbows emitting from a TV are beaming into their children’s heads, with the boy being offered a dress and the girl a pair of pants.

In typical liberal fashion, social media erupted due to a political opinion being expressed which liberals do not support.  Many fans called for Arreaga, who is from Ecuador, to be fired and ironically called him “intolerant.”  Arreaga gave an apology, stating “I want to express that I respect the way of life and thinking of all people.” Of course this was not good enough for the liberals, who still want him fired.  Coach Brian Schmetzer then stepped in and basically said the Sounders will need to re-educate their star defender, saying the team was going to meet with Arreaga to “make sure he understands that what he said wasn’t correct.”  (MyNorthwest)

Spokane County Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich’s plan to remove, by mid-October, a major homeless encampment on Washington State Department of Transportation property in Spokane, has become a hot issue in the city, and it even has the sheriff calling a candidate for his job a liar.   The inapropriately named “Camp Hope” is a 500+ person encampment the state has allowed to grow on property next to Interstate 90.  Sheriff Knezovich said his department plans to handle the homeless situation in Spokane the same way his office dealt with the problem in Spokane Valley, by offering a “hand-up and not a hand-out.” This led sheriff candidate Wade Nelson (Sheriff Knezovich is not running for re-election, but he has endorsed his Undersheriff John Nowels) to say that there was a homeless encampment of more than 100 people at Spokane Valley’s Appleway Trailhead.  This led Sheriff Knezovich to immediately hold a press event at the trailhead where there were no signs of homelessness, and he asked the media gathered, “Do you see homelessness?” The Sheriff then stated, “He (Nelson) lied to y’all.” (Spokesman Review)

Shift’s Newsmaker Interview was with community leader, business owner, and Marine veteran Dan Johnson, the 42^nd Legislative District Republican House candidate in the open Position 2 contest.  Johnson grew up in Whatcom County, where he owned and operated his family’s tow truck business until it was sold in 2019.  Johnson worked, as a private citizen in 2009 with then State Representative Doug Ericksen to write the strong DUI legislation known as “Hailey’s Law” (the legislation was revised in 2020 to incorporate a Washington State Supreme Court ruling). His campaign recently released a video of Johnson driving around Bellingham while describing how failed liberal crime, drug, and homeless policies have had a negative impact on the community.

In his Shift Interview, Johnson outlines his legislative agenda to reverse the Democrats’ disastrous anti-police package to “restore a safe living environment for our citizens”, implement meaningful emergency powers reform, and to provide Washington residents with tax relief by reducing the state’s property, sales, and fuel taxes.  Johnson also provides a timeless classic as one of his all-time favorite books. (Click to read full Newsmaker Interview)

Once again, Governor Jay Inslee is paying off his political supporters using taxpayer money, while Washington State residents receive no benefits from the billions in surplus tax revenue the state has collected in the past couple of years.  The Washington Federation of State Employees announced last week they received “The largest compensation package in our union’s history” in its secret behind closed doors negotiations with Governor Inslee.  State employees, regardless of performance, will receive a 7% pay raise over the next two years, two $1,000 bonuses (one for getting a COVID booster vaccine and the other for simply not quitting their job), and Washington State taxpayers will be forced to pay a higher percentage of state workers’ health care costs.  While taxpayers in other states with surplus revenues are receiving tax breaks, Governor Inslee and Democrat legislators are forcing Washington State families to pay higher taxes and fees so they can continue to rapidly grow the size and cost of state government. (Click to read full Shift Article)

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