Former State Commerce Director and veteran state legislator Lisa Brown has long wanted a bigger job – whether in Congress, or statewide office, or, now, running for Spokane Mayor. The problem is that she may have been using state taxpayer money to facilitate her transition into local government, as official emails show, which the Spokesman Review notes has her under an ethical cloud already.

A Spokane columnist writes that there really is “no precedent for a cabinet-level state employee running for mayor of a major city. Lisa Brown’s candidacy in the city of Spokane is raising new ethical questions about the revolving door in and out of public service.” That lack of precedent seemingly has led Brown to push the ethical envelope as far as it will go, which has likewise drawn the attention of a local activist, and “editor Robin Ball is using her website www.ontheball509.com to raise questions about the propriety of Lisa Brown as the former director of the Department of Commerce applying for a new job as mayor of Spokane after signing off on multimillion dollar contracts with the city.” You can read more about how statewide Democrats may be required to protect one of their own by slow-walking the ethical process here… Spokesman-Review.

At a press conference that would have qualified as comedy if it weren’t so sad, Governor Jay Inslee led a liberal legislative lineup defending their cap-and-tax law which has driven Washington’s gas prices to the highest in the country.  Despite being so wrong in predicting his cap-and-tax law would costs “pennies” per gallon, the governor had little interest in questioning his own policies, as the Seattle Times reported him whining that “the state did the best it could to estimate the (higher-gas price) impact. ‘But you can’t ask the legislators to solve every problem with one [legislative] session,’” Inslee closed, ignoring the fact that the law in question passed three sessions ago, and the price increases which have taken place were predicted during testimony on the bills then.

Indeed, from using a month-old chart to suggest “maintenance” was to blame for the Democrats’ higher gas prices, to his focus on company profits which seemingly end at the Washington state line, the governor showed little regard for the truth, but an extreme focus on defending his extreme policies. That was punctured by an industry leader, who pointed out “They claimed the program would cost ‘pennies,’ but Washington’s consumers are now paying 50 cents per gallon for just the cap-and-trade program.” You can read more about why you should thank only Jay Inslee and legislative Democrats for the nation’s highest gas prices here… Seattle Times, Medium.

Shift, along with many in the Puget Sound, has been watching with interest at what the Washington State Department of Transportation and the City of Seattle would team up to do to end a homeless encampment’s siege of a senior citizen complex near White Center, which we highlighted yesterday. The answer came from KOMO coverage, which noted that “the state wouldn’t commit to a timeline for closing the encampment”, with bureaucrats talking of trying to move people out of the dangerous situation, while senior residents complain “they’re offering these people homes, they’re refusing, so that means this apartment has to deal with the stealing and vandalism. You’ve got old people scared to come outdoors. It’s the wild wild west, right across the street.”

You can decide who is in charge of the situation by reading more about how “Monica Parrish identified herself as the leader of the encampment and recently installed a swimming pool for the residents. Parrish told KOMO News this week she turned down an offer of housing.” … Shift, KOMO.

Democrats across Washington state often seem to be confused as to why crime rates have gone up in Washington while they have dropped in other states. Indeed, “crime rates in Washington state saw an alarming increase, encompassing various crime categories, as reported by Washington’s Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs,” as Shift has highlighted.

KREM television reports that the numbers left “Spokane County Sheriff John Nowels unsurprised, pointing to policy changes as a key factor behind the surge in reported crimes.” You can read more about, surprise, how Democrats were the ones pushing the pro-criminal policies which have resulted in decreased public safety here…Shift, KREM.

Seattle officials are having to get creative to catch criminals, given the decreased numbers on the police force. That has forced city government, as MyNorthwest reports, to come up with ideas like the city council’s “Transportation Committee (looking) at the idea of designating half a dozen streets as ‘Restricted Racing Zones,’ where cameras would be used to catch people drag or street racing.” Of course, the idea won’t eliminate the dangers of street racing, but it would provide camera footage for liberal city and county prosecutors to ignore in the future.

You can decide on the sincerity of far-Left and anti-police Seattle Councilwoman Lisa Herbold saying that “Police attempting to chase down drivers in fast cars sounds so much more dangerous than issuing speeding tickets from traffic cameras” here… MyNorthwest.

In a story that begs the question of why Democrats are fighting so hard to legalize hard drugs in Washington state, the Everett Herald reports that city librarians have essentially been turned into bathroom monitors, so that the homeless and drug users can use the bathrooms for a variety of non-hygienic activities. The story’s opening words are chilling: “Pervasive drug abuse has hit Everett’s library bathrooms, including in the main branch’s area for children.”

It turns out that “Earlier this year, the Everett Public Library quietly launched sensors in every bathroom at its Evergreen and main branches.” And the results were that “in just the first two months, the sensors sent over 100 alerts. In the same period, staff temporarily banned a couple dozen people from the libraries for code of conduct violations, mostly for drug use.” You can read more about your tax dollars at work providing safe drug use spaces here… Everett Herald.

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