Those Sneaky Democrats - The "Unwashed Masses" Will Never Know

Source:  ShiftWA.org

Washington Policy Center’s Jason Mercier noticed that Governor Jay Inslee’s Washington State Department of Commerce (DOC) has removed from its webpage the fact that Washington does not have a state income tax, and that not having such a tax is a competitive advantage for why businesses should locate in our state.  Shift had reported previously that the DOC’s “Choose Washington” site stated, “We offer businesses some competitive advantages found in few other states.  This includes no personal or corporate income tax.”  Many found this sales pitch ironic (if true), since the governor at the same time was attempting to eliminate this advantage for our state by promoting an unconstitutional state income tax.  The DOC was asked by Mercier why they have removed this line and who approved this change.  The department failed to provide specific responses to Mercier’s questions, and provided this incredibly evasive response: “The specific change you reference was made earlier this month and is consistent with updates we’ve made to other materials over the past several months.” Then the DOC spokesperson stated the department wanted their material to “reflect” the same advantages as national publications do.  Somehow we believe the real reason for the change is that the Inslee Administration finally realized that while pushing for an illegal state income tax it appears very hypocritical to be promoting the lack of that very income tax as a selling point to bring companies to the state.  There will likely be more on this story in the coming days.  (Choose Washington website)

Senators Perry Dozier (R – Walla Walla) and Ron Muzzall (R – Whidbey Island) described in (virtual) speeches the heartbreaking experiences their family members are having operating restaurants during Governor Jay Inslee’s repeated shutdowns of their businesses.  Senator Dozier spoke of his sister and brother-in-law, who have had to close one of their two establishments and how the anxiety caused serious health problems for his sister.  Senator Muzzall, a farmer who provides items to local restaurants, spoke about two of his nieces who operate multiple establishments and how they have “reached the end of their ability to see hope.” (Senate Republican Caucus podcast)

The Seattle Times was strongly critical of the Inslee Administration’s failure to protect Washington citizens by efficiently administering COVID-19 vaccines once they arrived last month..  As Shift has reported previously, this is the latest of many serious failures of the Inslee Administration during the COVID pandemic, most of which have gone little reported because of Inslee’s total control of the information flow about the state’s pandemic response.  The Times points out that the state had over six months to prepare for the vaccines arrival, and that the technical and administrative problems which have plagued the state’s immunization efforts should never have occurred.  The Inslee team appears to be more concerned with blaming its problems on the federal government (which other states have been able to overcome), instead of correcting its mistakes.  The University of Washington’s Dr. Ali Mokdad is quoted as saying, “We had six months to prepare for it. We didn’t do it. So let’s not blame anybody, but let’s face it.” (Seattle Times and Shift)

Governor Inslee continues to insist that his proposed income tax (starting on capital gains) will aid small businesses which have been devasted by his random shutdowns of the economy during the pandemic.  Yet, since it is well known that the first collection of this tax will not occur for another 27 months (in April of 2023), claiming that this illegal income tax is part of a COVID-19 response is obviously a false statement.  It is true only if the Inslee Administration is planning to make small business owners and workers suffer another 2-and-a-half years under his COVID-19 mismanagement before any relief is delivered. (KING5 News and Legislative Staff SB 5096 Report)

Representative Andrew Barkis (R – Olympia) pleaded, “Governor Inslee open up this State!!!!!” in a Facebook post Thursday evening.  Rep. Barkis said he just watched yet another news story about the suffering being experienced by a restaurant owner.  Barkis stated that employers have repeatedly shown that they can adapt to the state’s random regulations and still operate safely. Barkis concluded, “Time to end the emergency and work with the legislature to safely open our state back up.” (Representative Barkis Facebook)

Governor Inslee’s dysfunctional Employment Security Department (ESD) paid benefits on 10 fraudulent claims that were made in the name of ESD employees who were still working at the ESD.  KING5 News uncovered this latest display of government incompetence in documents received from a public records request (which took ESD bureaucrats over seven months to respond to).  Foreign criminals attempted to use the identification of 59 different ESD employees to claim benefits and, due to basic security measures which were relaxed by ESD leaders, 10 of the claims were paid out, and were not identified as fraudulent until after the money had been deposited in the criminals’ bank accounts. (KING5 News)

Under Governor Inslee’s “Healthy Washington” plan, the state will announce each Friday if any of the eight regions of the state will be allowed to move forward in resuming activities the following Monday.  As expected, the state announced today that Jay Inslee will not allow any part of the state to escape his most severe economic restrictions and open much of its non-government employee workforce next week. (YakTriNews)