Last week, when Governor Jay Inslee spoke to the Washington Labor Council (whose members have had millions involuntarily taken from their paychecks to fund the governor’s campaigns), he provided phony excuses for why he has failed to call a legislative special session. Inslee does what Democrats always do – blamed his failures to follow the law on someone else – this time it was his fellow Democrats who control the legislature.  Inslee said if the House and the Senate were called into session to repair the budget, Democrats would cut benefits for working people, cut mental health spending, cut health care benefits and cut aid to the homeless.  Yet, no legislator, Republican or Democrat has said they want to do this.  The real reason for Inslee’s inaction is that he wants to wait until after the November elections to bring the legislators back.  The governor and his campaign contributors in the state employees’ unions want to raise our taxes without the fear of the voters retaliating by immediately voting Democrats out of office.  (Shift)

Governor Inslee’s selfish actions likely contributed to Boeing’s decision to layoff thousands of Washington State workers and consolidate its production of the 787 Dreamliner in South Carolina.  A Tuesday Wall Street Journal report revealed that the airline manufacturer has chosen to reduce costs by moving all 787 production to its South Carolina facility. Boeing had previously announced it was reducing the monthly output of the Dreamliner from 10 to six, due to the decrease in demand.  The decision was made easier due to South Carolina officials being appreciative of the jobs and tax revenues Boeing provides their state, while Washington State officials (led by Governor Inslee) have acted like spoiled children. Remember, during his failed presidential campaign last year, Governor Inslee attempted to appeal to the anti-business sentiment within the Democrat party by going on national TV and saying Boeing “blackmailed” him and likened the company to muggers.  If the Wall Street Journal’s reports are true, then Governor Inslee’s selfish political desires have helped to contribute to thousands of local jobs disappearing. From Governor Inslee’s recent comments that, if the reports are true, he will need to review the company’s tax treatment, it appears he has not learned that when he attacks employers, he is providing incentives for the company to move its jobs to another state.  (Everett Herald, Wall Street Journal, and KUOW/The Daily Show)

The Washington State Auditor’s Office is currently conducting five separate audits of Governor Inslee’s dysfunctional Employment Security Department (ESD). Three of the audits are regularly scheduled, while two are in response to the historic theft of hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars from the department and ESD’s failures to provide benefits to Washington residents who suddenly lost their wages during to the COVID-19 pandemic.  A spokesman for the Auditor’s office said its audits have three primary concerns. The first is the “large-scale benefit fraud;” secondly is ESD’s failure to provide promised benefits to Washington residents; and finally, the department’s “lack of response” to Washington citizens inquiring about their benefits. Conveniently, the Democrat Auditor has scheduled the release of these audits in December and early 2021 (i.e. after the November elections). (MyNorthwest)

A new state law will allow bicyclists to treat stop signs as a yield sign and they can now legally “roll though” intersections.  The law was passed by state lawmakers during the 2020 legislative session, and will go into effect on Thursday. It does not apply to stop lights, where bicyclists must still stop. (Seattle Times)

The Nisqually Tribe’s hatcheries are crucial to improving the Chinook salmon population in Puget Sound, as highlighted by the pro-free market Washington Policy Center.  The tribe’s Natural Resource Director says that without the two hatcheries in the Nisqually Valley, “we would not have Chinook salmon” which would significantly impact the food supply for Puget Sound Orcas. But, since hatcheries don’t require ripping out dams in Eastern Washington, Seattle Democrats don’t care about them. (Washington Policy Center)

It appears Mayor Jenny Durkan will reward the protestors (and their violent allies who continue physical assaults on police officers and destruction of businesses) by paying them off with $100 million in taxpayer funds.  The mayor released her proposed 2021 budget, which shows she wants to take leftover revenue obtained by taxing Seattle’s successful employers and then drain the city’s budget reserves to give “communities of color” $100 million.   Since no future mayor or city councilmember will be inclined to risk being called a “racist” for reducing this financial obligation, this new commitment will now become a firm fixture in the city’s subsequent budgets – in fact, Durkan said she’d like to see it stay in place for at least the next decade (totaling $1 billion in giveaways). Since rioters were successful this time in obtaining their financial goals, this action by the mayor will only encourage more destructive actions in the future by those on the far Left.  Durkan’s budget proposal will now go to the even-more liberal city council, which is expected to reward the protestors even more.  (Seattle Times)

A Drainage District Commissioner (yea, we didn’t know there was such a thing either) and his wife have been indicted for stealing nearly a half million dollars in King County taxpayer funds, by receiving kickbacks from companies which did not perform the contracted work.  Allen and Joan Thomas were indicted on 15 federal counts, for arranging contracts with companies operated by family members and friends to repair drainage ditches, and then receiving most of the funds back which they deposited into personal accounts. (U.S. Department of Justice)

After much confusion from the Inslee administration, Eastern Washington agritourism businesses are beginning to open for their normally profitable Fall season.  It took state officials three tries, but they finally developed guidelines which allow employers in five “modified Phase I” counties (Benton, Chelan, Douglas, Franklin, and Yakima) to safely open this year.  Throughout the region, farms are offering pumpkin patches, corn mazes, hayrides, and pumpkin cannons to customers, while adhering to Gov. Inslee’s random mandates. (YakTriNews)

McCain Foods announced it will resume construction on the company’s 170,000 square foot expansion of its Othello potato processing facility.  Work was suspended last Spring due to the coronavirus outbreak. The company already employs 400 people in Othello, and the expansion is expected to create 180 new jobs. (Pacific Northwest Ag Network)

Jay Inslee’s campaign no longer even pretends that the governor’s job is to serve the citizens of Washington State and to oversee an increasingly bloated and dysfunctional state government.  In a fundraising email with the subject line “We’ll keep this simple”, Inslee’s team provides the three top reasons why people should financially support his campaign.  Those reasons are: “A historic Supreme Court battle. Trump’s taxes. Presidential debates.”  None of these items have anything to do with state government or his role as governor. Last July (while the vast majority of private sector workers in Washington State were facing financial insecurities), Inslee received a $6,000 pay raise to make him the 6^th highest paid governor in the country.  Yet for all that money, the Inslee campaign believes the only thing Washington taxpayers should expect to receive is an overpaid partisan hack for the Biden campaign and the national Democrat Party.  Maybe we should ask, how much money would we need to pay him for the governor to finally comment or act on liberal protestors who are assaulting police officers, or on his fellow Democrats on the Seattle City Council risking the public safety of 775,000 Washington residents by defunding the police? (Inslee campaign fundraising email)

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