Veterans’ Day 2019 – Thankful to those who served our country.
Shift Articles You May Have Missed
Those of us at ShiftWA have had a busy couple of weeks reporting on major political stories from across the state. To honor today’s holiday, Morning Briefing will step away from its normal format and provide some of the stories covered at www.shiftwa.org during the past couple of weeks.
OLYMPIA:
The City of Olympia flagrantly broke Washington state election laws by mailing campaign materials to 15,000 households. The Washington State Public Disclosure Commission needs to make an example of the City of Olympia for its flagrant violation of state election laws and impose a harsh enough penalty that other government bodies won’t repeat this illegal act in the future. (The City of Olympia should also punish those who coordinated these illegal activities, but unfortunately few believe that will take place.)
SPOKANE:
ShiftWA was the first to break the story last Monday that the Spokane City Council awarded a $740,000 contract to a non-profit to run a “warming center” who’s treasurer was recently convicted of embezzling a half million dollars. Our report on Jewels Helping Hands quickly became the top story in Spokane. With new allegations surfacing against other leaders of Jewels Helping Hands, the city has asked the organization to vacate the facility, yet they are refusing to leave.
SEATTLE:
Seattle City Council candidate (and fellow Socialist of Kshama Sawant) Shaun Scott has abused the city’s election voucher system in his recent losing campaign. Scott’s campaign obtained over $120,000 in taxpayer money (via the voucher program) and spent much of it on haircuts, movies, coffees, food, Wi-Fi, Lyft Rides, photo shoots, and bounced checks. One thing Scott’s campaign did not spend enough money on was federal payroll taxes. While the campaign spent of $66,000 on salary, it only spent $1,300 on taxes.
CENTRALIA:
By spending $40 a vote, it appears the Washington Education Association (and other public employee unions) have been successful using thug tactics in a Centralia School Board race. Jami Lund received contributions from over 225 supporters and his opponent had received only one. The WEA conducted a $90,000 independent expenditure and bought the election as an act of revenge against Lund.
OLYMPIA:
Jay Inslee’s ego has reached an all-time high. Despite his many failures, Inslee and his spin team want you to believe he is the “Founding Father of Climate Change” as they have him standing next to George Washington while crossing the Delaware. It is bad enough that our governor’s ego has led him to believe he ranks up with George Washington, but just as the country is to celebrate Veteran’s Day, Inslee believes his actions rank with those who sacrificed their lives for our freedom. This is an insult to our many veterans
REDMOND:
Varisha Khan’s campaign for Redmond City Council represents the expansion of Seattle politics and the support of hate-filled, anti-Semitic views and rhetoric – mostly financed by out of district money. (Nearly 70% of Khan’s donations come from people who do not reside in Redmond!) These are things that even moderate Democrats have called too extreme. Khan’s self-proclaimed hero has been denounced by the Democrat National Committee and the Southern Poverty Law Center.
SPOKANE
Following ShiftWA’s call for Spokane television stations to remove ads that failed to adhere to state disclosure laws, campaign spots were pulled from the airwaves. On Tuesday, Citizens for Liberty and Labor were informed that its ads attacking mayoral candidate Nadine Woodward (and supporting Ben Stuckart) failed to follow Public Disclosure Commission rules governing the disclosure of contributors. The group (financed by wealthy liberal Seattle groups and government employee unions) was forced to take down the ad and re-produce new spots to meet state campaign laws.
Overheard on Social Media
While the new moderate/conservative Spokane Mayor-elect (@nadine4mayor) tweets it’s an “honor to SERVE you,” the liberal/progressive Seattle Mayor (@mayorjenny) tweets “I will SUE you.” While one believes government should serve the needs of the people, the other believes the people should serve the needs of the government.
WA Superintendent of Public Instruction Chris Reykdal deleted his vindictive tweet from election night. In the tweet Reykdal wanted legislative Dems to punish voters who supported I-976. Luckily, we kept a screen grab of Reykdal’s belief that taxpayers must bow to the needs of government.
Seen on Facebook after Friday’s vote totals in Seattle:
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