Democrats’ progressive policies leave kids in dangerous homes and when the lawsuits pile up, their answer is always the same — pay the settlements and change nothing.
Washington’s Record $537 Million Lawsuit Payouts Expose Democrat Failures at Child Welfare Agency
Washington paid out a record $537 million last year to settle claims over state agency failures — five times higher than in 2021 — and the bulk of that money came from the Department of Children, Youth and Families.
Rep. Travis Couture (R-Allyn) is renewing calls to fix the agency that oversees foster care, child abuse investigations, and juvenile rehabilitation. He notes that many of the settlements stem from recent cases in which children were left with abusive or drug-addicted parents under the 2021 Keeping Families Together Act, which made active drug use alone insufficient grounds for removal.
During the last session, Couture offered amendments to strengthen child-protection bills, arguing the current standard prioritizes keeping families together even when it endangers kids. Those efforts went nowhere in the Democrat-controlled Legislature. He also points out that DCYF Secretary Tana Senn has been largely absent from accountability conversations while publicly defending the very laws that limit the agency’s ability to intervene.
The state is self-insured, so these payouts function like a credit card the Legislature keeps paying the minimum on while the long-term liability climbs into the billions. Taxpayers are footing the bill for the human damage caused by progressive policies that treat parental drug use as a secondary concern.
Couture says he will announce next steps soon to force attention on an agency that keeps harming the most vulnerable while the political class looks the other way. Washington’s child-welfare system is broken by design under one-party Democratic rule, and the record settlement numbers are simply the bill coming due. Read more at Center Square.
Navy Veteran Takes On Democrat Brandy Donaghy in Olympia’s One-Party Fiefdom
Chris Elder, a retired 20-year Navy veteran and small-business owner, is challenging Democratic incumbent Rep. Brandy Donaghy in Washington’s 44th Legislative District — a stretch of Snohomish County where one-party Democratic rule has become the default setting.
Elder, a real-estate professional who’s lived in the area for more than three decades, jumped into the race after Donaghy faced no opponent last cycle. He says the leadership the Navy drilled into him — listen more than you talk — is the exact opposite of how Olympia operates.
After walking more than 300 local businesses, Elder heard the same story on repeat: crime and disorder so bad that shops lock their doors during business hours, commercial vacancies climbing, and high costs driving customers away. Progressive policies have consequences, and local storefronts are paying them.
On the new 9.9% income tax, Elder rejects the Democratic talking point that Olympia is somehow short on revenue. He points to former Democratic governors Gary Locke and Christine Gregoire, both of whom admitted the state has a spending problem. Elder wants actual transparency so taxpayers can see where the money disappears.
His closing pitch is aimed at the conservatives who keep staying home: stop handing Democrats free wins. Elections are decided by the people who bother to vote, and too many on the right are still treating the ballot as optional.
In a district long controlled by progressive politicians who face little accountability, Elder is offering voters a basic choice — more of the same one-party failure, or a candidate who actually listens to the businesses and families getting crushed by it. Read more at Seattle Red.
Tragic Seattle Mass Shooting Same District of Senator Who Wants Juvenile Killers Out Early
The mass shooting that killed three people and wounded four others — including a 2-year-old — at the Bite of Seattle on Sunday night happened inside the legislative district of Sen. Noel Frame (D-Seattle), a lawmaker who has spent two sessions trying to make it easier for juvenile killers to leave prison early.
A 15-year-old surrendered at the scene after gunfire erupted near the Armory at Seattle Center. A second shooter fled. Police booked the teen on investigation of first-degree assault and firearms charges; no one has yet been charged with homicide.
As Seattle Red’s Jason Rantz explains, Frame is the prime sponsor of Senate Bill 5266, the so-called Youth Hope Act. The bill would let most offenders who committed crimes before age 18 petition for early release at 24 instead of serving the current 20-year minimum. The only carve-out is for those convicted of three or more murders. A juvenile convicted of two killings could still ask to go home after a few years — and qualify for taxpayer-funded rental vouchers on the way out.
Rantz points out the hard to miss relevance. Three people died. Under Frame’s own bill, that would keep a convicted juvenile on the longer track. Had the third victim survived, the same offender would fall into the early-release category Frame wrote into the legislation.
The measure is not law yet — a companion bill stalled last year and was reintroduced this session — but Frame keeps pushing it. Critics, including the Washington Association of Prosecuting Attorneys, say it fails to account for the severity of the crime or the lasting harm to victims’ families.
Seattle already struggles with juvenile violent crime. Frame’s constituents just watched three people die at a public festival in her district. They might reasonably ask why their senator’s priority remains shortening sentences for the exact demographic driving much of the violence. Read more at Seattle Red.
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