The lack of any public budget negotiations in Olympia has created a legislative lull in the action, which leaves the media with the need to highlight other stories while waiting to find out how liberal Democrats have carved up a $70 billion+ budget behind closed doors. Thus Crosscut dove today into how the Democrats increasingly need to hide what they are working on from the public, and thus need to punch more holes in the state’s public records act – but the reporter has to do this without blaming the Democrats, instead writing that “(G)overnment transparency isn’t a partisan issue: There are supporters on both sides. And both Republicans and Democrats have used legislative privilege” even though all the stories of abuse of the public records system are taking place under Democrat control – secrecy is their policy.

But, the media can’ admit that, even while bragging about what a leader Washington is for its “sunshine laws”, even while Governor Jay Inslee and legislative Democrats have been pulling down the shades on the public’s access to records at every opportunity. Indeed, there is a lack of any serious review of how Gov. Inslee abused his 975 days of “emergency” authority over the state, but plenty of praise for him not invoking executive privilege (instead choosing to hide his actions in plain sight from a compliant press).  You can get more disappointed in the issue here. (Crosscut, Shift)

You know Democrat spinmeisters are in trouble for good things to say about their party’s own bills when they have to stretch the truth IN THE HEADLINE about a bill on its way to the governor.  But such is the case with Senate Bill 5599, the top priority of State Senator Marko Liias, to help the state provide shelter to minor children runaways with whose parents he disagrees politically. Even Democrat staff know that Sen. Liias’ approach, which has been to claim a massive “misinformation campaign” by those using words from an op-ed that Sen. Liias wrote, is a loser, which is why they had to suggest that “abuse or neglect” had to be somehow be involved before the state could hide your minor child. You can read why that headline is just no so here. (Shift, Democrat House Caucus)

It is somehow appropriate on 4/20 that a former Democrat official would blow some smoke about the massive environmental achievements of recent legislatures acting under the “leadership” of Governor Jay Inslee. Even when those accomplishments have been confined largely to extracting massive amounts of money from Washington taxpayers in the name of climate change, which of course continues even as our state continues to contribute at emission levels unseen before Mr. Inslee took the helm of the carbon-belching ship of state. Consider how many green substances one would have to inhale to believe that “In our policy journey to 2050, under the helm of Gov. Jay Inslee and my former legislative colleagues … Washington passed sweeping legislation that is a model for the world.” If you want to see if by “model” he means “hazard lights warning of the coming crash” that is the state’s energy sector under Gov. Inslee’s cap-and tax scheme, than you can decipher more of his stuff here. (Seattle Times)

As the jokes keep rolling in about the Washington State Ferries, what with the conversion of the Walla Walla ferry to a land vessel over the weekend.  Now news comes from Olympia that the state has decided it is time to get serious about buying some new boats, so serious that it will allow more than one bidder. As KUOW reports, “Washington state has charted a bipartisan course to overhaul its ferry procurement plans. Officials will now broaden their scope when seeking builders for the state’s new ships.” That’s right, no longer boats just from Washington state only, as has been the case for the last 50 years of overdue vessels. Of course, the news is coming a bit late for those who have been waiting for a ferry to arrive ever since Gov. Inslee eviscerated the system’s staffing with his nonsensical vaccinbe order.  But waiting on Inslee’s ferry system will give time to read more here. (KUOW, Shift)

Shift, following up on the Lynnwood Times coverage, has provided regular updates on the spectacle that is Lynnwood City Councilman Joshua Binda. Now Snohomish County’s largest paper, the Herald, has tuned into the controversy, letting Council President Shannon Sessions of the stunts of the state’s youngest city councilman lay out the reality for those just tuning in: “Council member Binda continues to think he’s above everyone else and that the rules the rest of this council and other elected officials have to follow don’t apply to him. He’s very good at making excuses blaming others for his poor choices.” However, the Herald notes the normally talkative Binda “was absent from Monday’s council meeting. He could not be reached for comment.” More fun with Binda here. (Shift, Everett Herald)

It turns out that being a Hollywood billionaire is a good thing when Democrats are running the state, as Washington’s Democrats have learned from their California colleagues that rewarding rich sports owners can lead to much better tickets. At least that is one conclusion you could draw from this KOMO piece about the public gift to the Kraken owners being delivered by the legislature. Even one Democrat senator could hardly stand the stench of the taxpayer waste: “Doesn’t reek of fairness, but rather more like a giveaway” Seattle Democratic Senator Bob Hasegawa told KOMO. More on the sad story here. (MyNorthwest)

JUST A REMINDER – DEMOCRATS WILL START EXPANDING THE STATE INCOME TAX NEXT YEAR, BECAUSE THEY CAN

DEMOCRATS DO LIKE THEIR SECRETS, WHICH UPSETS MEDIA TYPES OCCASIONALLY

DON’T USE YOUR FACTS TO SHADE MY GREEN INTENTIONS

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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