Plenty of ink has been spilled in recent weeks over why Washington State has the highest gas prices in the country, with Crosscut opining that the two sides actually agree on the cause, as “(C)onservatives are blaming Washington’s high gas prices – the highest in the nation right now – on the state’s new carbon pricing system. And the environmentalists and other progressives who pushed Washington to adopt its new cap-and-invest system aren’t really disagreeing.”

Finally the extreme environmentalists who helped Governor Jay Inslee push the disastrous cap and tax program through the legislature in 2021 – during a closed-to-the-public legislative session that was the most partisan ever – have come to the reality that they can’t keep denying the truth. Crosscut puts it bluntly that the lefties “say higher gas prices are not a surprise result of the program.” But a little truth is all, as the articles features the governor pushing out one of his PR people to claim that gas prices are going up not because of his misguided policies, but rather “geopolitical events”, “maintenance work”, and (his favorite) oil company “profit margins.”

The fact is that all of the items mentioned by the Inslee Administration impact other states as well, but only Washington introduced a new carbon tax on January 1 to drive up your gas prices. You can read more about how the Democrats led Washington to its tops in the nation status here… Crosscut, Shift.

It seems every day you can read about another expensive failure by the so-called “experts” and public officials charged with fixing our state’s homelessness crisis. The latest comes from the Seattle Times, which reports that “nearly 300 people have left a hotel shelter program that collapsed this spring — either to temporary shelter, permanent housing or an unknown destination.” So that’s the good part, sort of.

The sad part was buried by the Times, which is that this debacle with taxpayer money might have been avoided had officials worried more about results than in political pandering. The story admits that the Washington Lived Experience Coalition “a group composed of people who know homelessness firsthand, started the hotel program near the end of 2022 using $1 million it received from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The group had never run a homeless hotel shelter program before and by March was $700,000 in debt.” You can read more about how you can go from plus-$1 million in cash to minus-$700K in four months with only “lived experience” to guide you here… Seattle Times.

The senior citizen residents at Arrowhead Gardens near the City of Seattle/White Center border are well aware that problems have increased since a homeless encampment grew rapidly next door. KING reported one resident providing this perspective on the situation months ago: “Older people are scared to come out of their houses now in the dark. I’m home. I can’t run from here. This is where I live at.”

Now KING highlights that “Residents report hearing gunshots almost daily. Seattle Police are still investigating a homicide that happened there in May.” That has led “WSDOT and City of Seattle officials (to) hold a meeting with residents on Tuesday. (One resident leader) anticipates a plan will be laid out and a timeline given to residents on when they can expect the encampment to be cleared.” Until we post more, you can keep track here… KING5.com

Once the rulemaking starts, the bureaucrats never stop building their fiefdoms, using your tax dollars. That’s why Shift is bringing to you this perfectly boring story from the Washington Policy Center that the “Department of Revenue held its first public meeting (as required by law) to discuss proposed changes to the capital gains income tax WACs.” That’s Washington Administrative Codes to the un-legislated, and means that the bureaucrats are working on cleaning up the mistakes (think definitions and such) made by Democrat legislators when they jammed through the new state income tax in 2021. What you won’t read here is the next step in making real progress, which is having the law ruled unconstitutional… Washington Policy Center.

The next time you hear any Democrat in state government talk about how they don’t have enough money for our mental health system, or to address public safety, or even to help the homeless, remind them of this story about the highest priority for Governor Jay Inslee, even higher than fixing climate change – using taxpayer dollars to score political points on abortion. A recent example was highlighted by the Washington State Standard, which pointed out “Washington’s three-year-supply of mifepristone isn’t going anywhere — at least until dueling court cases on access to the widely-used abortion pill are decided.”

You might recall all the attention the governor received back in March, when he claimed he was the only person who could protect our access to a pill that everyone in Washington State continues to have access to. The governor is an attorney, and knew well that the wheels of justice will grind slowly on this issue. But that didn’t stop him from writing a multi-million dollar check with your money. The kicker is the closing line of the story, that “Mifepristone has a five-year shelf life, but officials said there’s no plan yet for what happens should the medication expire before the state’s supply is needed.” You can read about why don’t need a plan when you are spending other people’s money to advance your political agenda here…Washington State Standard.

Last week’s Newsmaker Interview was with Steven Strachan, the Executive Director of the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs (WASPC). Last week the organization released its annual Crime in Washington report which revealed that while violent crime rates are dropping around the country, they continue to rise in Washington State.

The report also showed that Washington ranks dead last (behind all other states and the District of Columbia) for the number of police officers per the number of residents they are paid to protect.  The data also demonstrated that it is persons of color who have been disproportionately impacted by the rise in crime and the reduction of police officers.

In Shift’s interview with Executive Director Strachan, he discussed the data in WASPC’s report and how local and state lawmakers must be mindful of the disturbing trends when developing “balanced” future public safety proposals.   He also shared his thoughts on how more police officers can be recruited to the state, the legislature’s recent “fix” of the Blake decision (drug possession laws), and what still needs to be done to improve law enforcement’s ability to pursue suspected criminals… Shift.

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