Now that Governor Jay Inslee and his majority minions in the Democrat House and Senate Caucus have finished carving out their budget negotiating positions as required by legislative law, the Seattle Times has compared the three documents and determined that the people of Washington State are… royally screwed. (April Fool’s, belatedly) Actually, the Times found that all three entities found different ways to spend $70 billion, ensuring that the final number will be higher than any of the three proposals now on the table. As House Majority Leader Joe Fitzgibbon understated, “I think we have a lot more in common than we have separating our budget proposals.”

And when Democrat legislators “have a lot more in common” about spending your money, hold onto your wallets. They have powerful friends (read: public employee unions) who have powerful appetites (read: mo’ money) that must be satisfied (read: to get more campaign contributions). That might be why, as the Times notes, “Raises in public workers’ salaries are the biggest driver of new spending.” Other Democrat policy priorities – inflationary government overspending and overregulation – will also make sure the budget keeps rising, as the Senate’s budget writer admitted: “It’s very fair to say inflation and workforce shortage were the biggest drivers” in more spending.

However, one more Democrat priority may need to be met – taxes must be raised.  That’s true for the liberals even though the state is still running a budget surplus, and the new budgets are projected to be 20% larger than the current one. Public radio captured from House Speaker Laurie Jinkins, The Times points out, “(I)t’s also possible they could raise money from another source: Majority Democrats say that a potential increase in the real estate excise tax is still on the table, even though it wasn’t written into either budget proposal.” Just what we need to make housing more affordable – raise taxes to make housing more expensive. What will these Democrats think of next? (Seattle Times)

It should come as no surprise that Governor Jay Inslee has been on a media blitz around Washington State lately since he knows being in Olympia will only irritate the legislators who have to work there for another three weeks. However, his grandstanding has gotten so outlandish and unsupported by the fact that he is taking on incoming fire from members of both parties. None is more aptly targeted on his failings than comments from Republican Senate Leader John Braun in a Centralia Chronicle op-ed: “Washington is unlike any other state when it comes to the number of homeless residents. Not in a good way. In December, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development issued its Annual Homeless Assessment Report to Congress based on 2022 numbers. In the categories of unsheltered homeless, chronically homeless, and unsheltered chronically homeless, the numbers in our state have increased at a rate roughly 20 times more than the nation as a whole. That’s over the past decade. It coincides exactly with Gov. Jay Inslee’s time as chief executive.”

It’s that unfortunate self-made reality that the governor faces and needs media cover for. But Sen. Braun tries to close that option off with a challenge: “The truth is, Inslee made choices that not only allowed encampments to remain but also have made our state an outlier on homelessness. We must do better.” The question is, when will enough Democrats in the state agree that “better” should be a priority? (Shift, Daily Chronicle)

The ink is barely dry on the State Supreme Court’s highly partisan and ideological decision to define the Democrat’s state income tax on capital gains as an excise tax, to help the liberals get around that pesky state constitution of ours.  That has predictably cracked opened the door to more Democrat tinkering with the tax code. Today’s entry, uncovered by Jason Mercier over at the Washington Policy Center, is an excise tax on hospital administrators who make more money than Democrat State Senators Emily Randall and Christine Rolfes think they should make. This new error, SB 5767, is undoubtedly the first of many that Democrats will introduce to allow more rich people to give them more money to spend on their friends. Of course, another favored approach will be to just start fiddling with those figures on tax rates in the now-legal state income tax, the first of which was already lined up before the Supremes made their decision in SB 5335. You can’t say the Democrats aren’t in a hurry to grab even more of your tax dollars. (Washington Policy Center)

You would think that the tragic stories coming out nightly about yet another drug crime victim, directly thanks to the Democrats’ legalization of hard drugs in 2021, would motivate enough legislative Democrats to admit their error and change their law. Unfortunately, too many liberals refuse to admit any error and are fighting the meager attempts to change the approach. In fact, as KNKX reports, “some House Democrats say this year’s bill doesn’t do enough to destigmatize and decriminalize drug addiction. Rep. Tarra Simmons (D-Bremerton) says the bill doesn’t recognize different avenues people take to recover from substance use disorder. ‘There are multiple pathways to recovery – it’s not just treatment.’” Unfortunately for the public, far from just offering “treatment,” continuing to legally use hard drugs is the one “pathway” which Rep. Simmons and other Democrats demand must remain open for criminals. (KNKX Public Radio)

West side Republicans are well aware that last year’s congressional elections did not end well, with the needless elimination of GOP representation in Washington’s Third Congressional District. However, even Joe Kent’s losing effort did not keep Republicans from winning back a U.S. House majority, which is good news not only for the growing power of U.S. Representatives Cathy McMorris Rodgers and Dan Newhouse but also for ensuring the Snake River dams, which serve their constituents (and the rest of the region) so well will remain in place despite complaints from Seattle environmentalists. As House Commerce Committee Chair McMorris Rodgers points out, “The dams are critical infrastructure to the Pacific Northwest,” and not candidates for removal because of some environmentalists’ dream. Rep. Newhouse adds that “Washington Gov. Jay Inslee and U.S. Sen. Patty Murray ‘have been misleading the American people with unscientific information in order to breach these dams,’” and that won’t work as well with the new Republican majority. (Crosscut)

Shift has taken no pleasure in pointing out how the Seattle Times sat on the story about then-candidate Clyde Shavers telling whopping lies to get elected. But it seems that issues other than lying Democrat State House candidates will also be slow-walked by the Times, as was shown with the publication of today’s piece exposing a cozy contract given by Mayor Bruce Harrell to longtime Democrat fixer Tim Ceis – as initially reported by Publicola’s  Erica Barnett just last Tuesday. Even more telling – Barnett predicted the Times would ignore her story for a while, which she seemed to be attributing to sexism as opposed to ideological protection. But, at least the Times gets around to telling Seattle folks the city is blowing over a quarter million on a no-bid contract to develop “positive board-level relationships that support Seattle’s goals for WSBLE and enable effective decision-making at the [Sound Transit] board.” Expensive gibberish, no? (Shift, Times, Publicola)

The folks at Center Square do a deep data dive on the Seattle Public Schools and come out covered with red ink. The staggering $100+ million in debt being accumulated at Seattle Public Schools is ensuring that the fiscal irresponsibility of district officials will ensure pain for students as the next budget is developed. The twin factors of a “steady drop in enrollment” and staffing exploding “from 5,609 staff members in 2014 to 7,273 last school year” have helped dig the hole for the district. (Center Square)

Last week’s Newsmaker Interview was with Senator Lynda Wilson of Vancouver. Sen. Wilson is the Ranking Republican on the powerful Senate Ways and Means Committee. She provided her thoughts on the negative consequences of the Washington State Supreme Court’s controversial and partisan decision to allow the Democrats’ state income tax on capital gains. And – among other thoughts – she also provided insights on Gov. Inslee hypocritically calling for more new housing construction when many of his policies are the reason why our state has the most severe housing shortage in the country. Read more.

Progressives define “PROGRESS” differently than normal people

Unfortunately NOT an April Fool’s Day joke

The partisan racist games Democrats play (when they hope no one is watching)

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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