September 1, 2020

Even the most liberal daily newspaper editorial board in Washington State believes Governor Inslee and the Democrat legislative leadership are wrong to not call for an immediate special session of the legislature to repair the state budget.  The Everett Herald, which has been untethered from reality and moving steadily Left over the last few years, has joined nearly all other Washington State newspapers to support the rational demand for an immediate special session so legislators can repair a budget that has been negatively impacted by a projected $8.8 billion shortfall in projected tax revenues. The Herald does mention that Democrats do not want to a special session prior to the election, since as Shift has pointed out their (unpopular) preference is to raise taxes on Washington citizens who have already suffered financially from the coronavirus outbreak.  The Herald correctly states out that by not making small cuts today, much more drastic cuts will need to be made later.  The newspaper’s editors are also concerned that this do-nothing approach will severely hurt higher educational opportunities for Black, Latino, and Native American students. (Everett Herald)

In an interesting development in the race to become Washington’s next Lieutenant Governor, former gubernatorial candidate Joshua Freed has announced that he is running as a write-in candidate for the position.  In a crowded primary field (that included four Republicans splitting the vote),  liberal Congressman Denny Heck and very liberal state Senator Marco Liias were the two candidates who made it past the top-two primary.  This will be interesting to watch as the two Democrats split the shrinking Democrat vote, which could allow Freed to be one step away from the Governor’s mansion should he consolidate all non-liberal support.  This outcome could eliminate the very slight possibility of Governor Inslee becoming a member of a possible Biden Administration, since he would not want to turn the mansion over to a Republican, even until a special session. (Q13’s The Divide)

Governor Inslee is so desperate to impose new taxes on Washington citizens that he has endorsed a far-Left challenger to a sitting Democrat Senator, only because the incumbent  does not rubberstamp liberal tax measures like the income tax Inslee is desparate for.  On Monday, Governor Inslee (most likely following the marching orders of his major campaign contributors at the Washington Education Association) endorsed “progressive” (i.e. someone who wants to raise your taxes) challenger Ingrid Anderson over two-term incumbent Democrat Senator Mark Mullet in the 5^th Legislative District. Both Democrats made it through the top-two primary election, which was among the most expensive in the state.  Mullet, who is a business owner and employer, has not always supported the many tax increases proposed by Governor Inslee and the teachers unions.  Even though Inslee attempted to use environmental issues as his excuse for breaking the tradition of supporting incumbents, Mullet has a strong record on supporting environmental issues.  It will be interesting to see if this is another political strategy employed by the Democrats that could backfire in November, and could lead to Senator Mullet working even more with those who agree with him on fiscal issues in the Republican caucus next January. (AP/MSN)