Or at least it appears that way after the decision that a rider who claimed their constitutional rights had been violated because they had been asked to show their ticket, or proof of payment, was correct. Removing them from the public transportation they had not paid for was an illegal seizure. Guess transit in Washington State is back to being an optional payment thing. Thanks Supremes! (The Seattle Times)

The spinning continues from the Left (and state government functionaries) on the success of the first auction of the Jay Inslee Cap and Tax era, which extracted $300 million “as bids flew in for three hours from the state’s largest oil refineries, manufacturers, natural gas companies and energy providers.” We know that means increased fuel prices for Washington consumers/taxpayers/users of any kind of transportation. What we don’t know is where the money will go (after the state takes its usual cut for overhead to add employees to oversee their new fiefdom). And that’s the way Governor Jay Inslee and the Democrats in the legislature like it. After all, it’s easier to reward campaign donors when everything but the skies are murky. As Crosscut notes, the “law specifies that funds should be allocated toward ‘overburdened communities,’ but which areas actually get the money for these environmental projects won’t be known until the Legislature makes its allocation decisions.” Who wants to bet those “overburdened communities” have lobbyists who have given contributions to the right people? (Crosscut)

It takes a fellow Democrat to do what the mainstream political media has been unwilling to do over the past few years, which is to call out Washington State Senate Democrats for their political cowardice in dealing with public safety issues. As Democrat Senator Mark Mullett told KTTH’s Jason Rantz, “In the six years that the Democrats have been a majority in the Senate, we’ve never had a situation where we actually went into committee, took a bill out of committee that hadn’t been given a bill hearing, and then brought it to the floor for a vote.” But that’s what Senator Manka Dhingra forced them to do this year, by refusing to even allow a hearing for a bill fixing the mistake that was the Democrats’ 2021 police pursuit law. Mullett isn’t sure what will become of his effort, but it’s not a new fight among the Democrats, as “I don’t think [Manka Dhingra] was supportive of the policy, so it just never got a hearing. That was tough. I mean, I tried to get a vote on this bill last year on the Senate floor, and that ended up not happening. So I think it was just kind of a carryover from the fight we had last year in March. It’s been a rough topic down here, but I’m really glad we got it out to the House.” And so are we, for now. (KTTH)

Shift readers might be surprised, but the newsreaders on radio were right, as according to the numbers the large county (with at least 75,000 employees) experiencing the second-highest wage growth in the USA was our own Kitsap County, as the “county west of Seattle saw wages jump 12.7% in 2022, behind only Midland, Texas, a key oil and gas hub where salaries increased 13.9%.” After all, the myth is all the money-earners leave the county by bridge or ferry in the morning, and bring back the cash from their mainland jobs. However, Axios-Seattle uncovered what Jay Inslee would call the “secret sauce” underpinning Kitsap’s success: “Kitsap County’s largest employer is the federal government through Naval Base Kitsap, which employs thousands of military and civilian personnel.” Aha, the sweet smell of never-ending federal money. (Axios Seattle)

It’s a bit of an exaggeration to say that every bill sponsored by an Eastern Washington Republican is already dead for this session, but not by much. And that’s to be expected given the Democrats’ increased dominance in the state legislature, as Spokane columnist Sue Lani Madsen writes: “In a single party-dominated Legislature, the future of any bill is often predictable along partisan lines. The majority party controls access. It’s an easy excuse to just say there’s not enough time, or the issue is too controversial, or it won’t have enough votes to pass so why bother. Sometimes the majority just doesn’t want to talk about controversial issues challenging their version of the world. Good bills sponsored by the minority party are often denied even the courtesy of a hearing.” Just the way it is, move along here – though she does cover the fate of many bills you might care about, some are even passing. (The Spokesman-Review)

The headline says it all, we have nothing to add. Just read on. “Man arrested for arson during CHOP enters race for Seattle city council seat”. (MyNorthwest)

Just hand over the money, we’ll use it well, no questions please, just hand it over

Hey, that cartoon actually makes fun of a Democrat legislator by name!

Did the lefties on the Seattle City Council intend to attract qualified opponents?