The Democrats have had two years of watching innocent people die or become victims of crime because they will not correct the error they made in 2021, when in the wake of the “Summer of Love” protests in Seattle they passed a law which restricted police from pursuing suspects. This pro-criminal law forces police to watch suspects drive away without fear of being chased, which has resulted in deadly consequences for innocent Washingtonians.

One such victim who is speaking out is Amber Goldade, whose daughter Immaculee was killed last year by a man driving a stolen truck, who police were forbidden by this Democrat law from pursuing. You can see her plea for the Democrats to do the right thing here.

Unfortunately, legislative Democrats continue to play games instead of doing their jobs, with Speaker Laurie Jinkins stopping even those Democrats who originally co-sponsored legislation to fix the law from voting for their own bill. The Democrats are expected to try and avoid really fixing their pursuit law by sliding a revised Senate Bill 5352 out of committee tomorrow without allowing any changes, and without restoring the original provision allowing police to pursue suspected car thieves. This is seemingly to allow Senator Manka Dhingra to save face, since she continues to make up faulty figures to try and support her pro-criminal perspective which helped push through the bad law in the first place. (Project 42, Center Square).

Olympia Democrats are preparing to shatter state spending records this session, with the Democrat House today joining the State Senate and Governor Jay Inslee in proposing their own two-year operating budget of $70 billion. All those budgets are more than 20% higher than the last state budget, which shows you just how restrained the liberals are being with your tax dollars. As Crosscut put it, “perhaps the most notable focus of the proposed two-year operating budgets released by House and Senate leaders in recent days: They put billions into raises for state employees and provide more money to pay workers like home-care providers and employees of assisted living facilities, adult-family homes and care facilities.”

That’s what Democrats call a virtuous circle – the state collects tax money from you, the Democrats give it to their campaign donors, and the donors give money to Democrats to send them back to Olympia. Even worse, the State House broke ranks with the Senate, and gave a glimmer of hope to Gov. Inslee’s $4 billion homeless bond scheme, so watch out for that in the coming weeks before the session ends. (Crosscut)

It was nice to see the (Everett) Herald share its editorial page with a dissenting view over the weekend, allowing a pro-hydroelectric power advocate to remind readers that “As we embark on a Great Electrification to decarbonize our economy, consider the first one 80 years ago. Campaigning in Portland, then-presidential candidate Franklin Roosevelt pushed for Northwest hydroelectricity: ‘This vast water power can be of incalculable value to this whole section of the country.’ Today, the Pacific Northwest enjoys the lowest energy burden and the most reliable, least carbon intensive grid in the nation.”

Perhaps that’s why Washington’s two Republican members of Congress have introduced a bill to protect those power-producing dams. The question remains whether Democrats will try to destroy that advantage by tearing out dams on the Columbia and Snake rivers. (Herald, Capital Press)

If you have driven through the downtown of Seattle (or several other WA cities) lately you probably don’t need this reminder, but according to statistics from the federal government, “Washington’s homeless population is on the rise … and it’s largely driven by Seattle and King County.” Of course, thanks to liberal policies which have governed our state relatively unchecked for the decades, “Seattle and King County’s homeless population grew by 32%” from 2020-22. Even worse, “local experts, though, say those numbers should be treated with some skepticism because much of its data comes from the annual Point-In-Time count, which is known for being an undercount,” so we actually have higher homeless numbers. Gee, thanks for pointing that out. (Seattle Times)

It’s sad to see legislative Democrats – and State Supreme Court justices — twist themselves into knots trying explain that the new state income tax is actually an excise tax. That’s why it’s refreshing to see one of their main media cheerleaders – the head of the (Tacoma) News Tribune’s editorial board – just ignore the spin and thank the court for ignoring our state’s voters’ long history of opposing income taxes by writing, “(l)egal arguments are fun and all. But if you’re clinging to dusty precedents and semantics in defense” of Washington’s a system then you just need to get out of the way. He seems to think constitutions are for losers, and a state income tax is needed “however it’s achieved.” Ever heard of the ends justifying the means? (News Tribune)

The twisted priorities of some homelessness bureaucrats were on full display after a Spokane judge ordered the state to actually develop a plan for closing its notorious homeless camp in Spokane. Consider that one was jumping for joy that “There is no imminent sweep anyone at the camp needs to be worried about.” Just keep on sleeping outside, even as that same bureaucrat sheepishly told the judge that actually having a plan was “something we had been working on. Once we get the housing stood up for those final folks, we can put a timeline on it.” Some victory, huh? (Spokesman-Review)

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.

Elections Taxes have consequences

So funny: Media joins Democrats in wealth shaming

Much to the far-left’s annoyance.

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