In a ruling that showed a stunning lack of regard for illegal gerrymandering – and basic math – Spokane Judge Tony Hazel rewarded far-Left Spokane City Councilman Zack Zappone with the partisan-inspired  district lines he chose for himself, even though he ruled that “Councilman Zack Zappone appeared to have violated rules in the city charter” by submitting a redistricting map that would favor him and his political allies.

The judge’s bizarre decision allows the Democrat-drawn lines to remain in effect for City Council races this year after, according to the Spokesman-Review, “the judge deliberated for five minutes before issuing his ruling.”

Beyond his bad decision-making, the judge showed extreme ignorance by trying to minimize the impact Councilman Zappone’s illegal map saying “(W)e’re talking about 1.5 percent versus 3 percent. The differences are not ginormous. It does not scream to me gerrymandering when I look at it.” Perhaps the judge could have taken a look at the last election – which Zappone won by 1% – to help him understand that adding a 1.5-3% advantage through illegal gerrymandering was Zappone’s intent all along. He didn’t “ginormous” gerrymandering, just enough to make it easier for him to win next time – unless the voters remember his illegal activities and how he tried to hide his role in the scheme. (Inlander, Spokesman-Review, Shift)

Shift wrote last week about the late-session attempt to both keep a promise to farmers that they are exempted from the state’s disastrous cap-and-trade tax law and hide from the public the true costs of that law. Well, after a little heat came down on the State Senators proposing the bill, it was pulled from being heard in committee today. So, farmers will keep having to pay for the cap-and-tax program they are exempted from by law because the state’s Department of Ecology is still not able to administer the program.

According to Capital Press, “Mullet blames Ecology for not doing its job,” but he pulled the bill from consideration because of growing opposition to State Senator Joe Nguyen’s insistence that the bill contains a gag rule on businesses from listing cap-and-trade charges on their invoice. It’s frustrating to see Democrats fight so hard to keep the public in the dark, but you can read more here… (Shift, Capital Press)

School officials across the state are facing budget shortfalls of their own creation, as dropping student enrollment in some districts (where parents found better options during pandemic shutdowns) threatens to take away money that the schools had already given away in recent contract negotiations. Seattle officials, facing a $131 million budget deficit, are said to be targeting a highly successful Central District band program to come up with funds to cover their failures. It’s sad, but read more here… (Axios – Seattle)

A favorite tactic during the legislative session is to line up supporters from local governments and interest groups to attack your foes and their ideas. Legislators avoid the dirty work of going negative, and you might even get a story out of it. And it really pays off when the state’s largest newspaper decides to put your attack on the front page – four daysafter your press conference that public radio covered then.

Washington State REALTORS are the subject of this attack because they had the bad manners to run advertising which points out that raising taxes to make real estate sales more expensive in the name of affordable housing is sort of silly. And those ads made Democrats mad because they hate it when the public is told the truth about their tax-raising ways in a manner that could foil their plans. So, somebody worked overtime over the weekend to convince the Times this story had to be on page 1, and voila, you can read more here… (KNKX Public Radio, Seattle Times)

WATCH DEMOCRATS RACE TO SPEND EVERY TAXPAYER DOLLAR FASTER

ADMINISTRATION SLOGAN: FAILURE IS AN OPTION

JUST IN CASE YOU MISSED LEGISLATIVE MISCHIEF FRIDAY NIGHT

To get early insight into what might make Shift’s next Daily Briefing worth reading, tune in to 570 KVI on your AM dial weekday mornings at 8:05, to hear John Carlson talk Washington State legislative politics with Shift co-founder Randy Pepple. And you can always stay for the rest of the Commute with Carlson by tuning in here.

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