Low Lights of last week brought to you by Shift

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Team — Did you survive last week? Thanks to our friends at WSDOT, traffic in Seattle came to a grinding halt while they narrowed I-90 to one lane. Naturally, they refused to reduce tolls on SR-520 to encourage some drivers to reroute. Check out some of the scenarios that could have alleviated the gridlock without causing the state to fail to cover their weekly debt payment for the 520 expansion. To make matters worse, in the middle of the week President Obama decided to make an afternoon "ATM stop" with events in Seattle AND Medina. He was on the ground for just a few hours, but was able to further snarl traffic with an afternoon closure of 520 so he could get between events. He was raising money for the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and the Senate Majority PAC, one super-PAC that President Obama is apparently okay with. One can only presume Air Force One flew over the massive wildfire raging in Central Washington. After it landed, President Obama took Governor Inslee in his motorcade to the fundraisers, where Inslee was able to convince Obama to push his extreme climate change message. Obama claimed that the fires were caused by drought and precipitation patterns that resulted from climate change. No doubt, this fear-mongering was to appease California billionaire Tom Steyer, a mega-donor who has put millions into Washington state elections and will possibly do it again. The other big news of the week is that four-term state representative Roger Goodman (D-45) has issues with viewing pornography on his government-issued computer and doesn't pay his court-ordered child support. This comes on top of the allegations of his then-wife that Goodman - an outspoken marijuana proponent - drove his children while under the influence. We found it particularly unnerving that Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) named Goodman one of their "Legislative Champions" despite the allegations of impaired driving. One lesson is this: If you're going to look at porn on your government computer, drive your kids stoned and refuse to pay child support... perhaps you shouldn't be in a position writing our laws. We'll leave that up to the good voters of the 45th District to decide. We covered a lot more stories this week and you can read some of the more popular stories from last week below. If you appreciate the work we do at SHIFT, please consider making an end-of-month contribution to help us cover our various expenses - paying our researchers, writers, website costs and online advertising. Please give $5, $25, $50 or more to help ensure we can keep covering the stories that the mainstream media won't. Best, Matthew, Josh, Alyssa and the rest of the Shift WA team     Sawant's lapse in socialist judgment   Seattle's socialist city councilmember Kshama Sawant failed to win the support of the King County Labor Council (KCLC) for her employee head and parking tax proposal. Sawant-along with colleague Nick Licata-sought to implement an employee head tax of up to $18 per year and increase the existing 12.5 percent parking tax rise to 17.5 percent in replacement of a sales tax hike provision in Mayor Ed Murray's latest funding package for Metro service in Seattle. [read more]

Union threatens lives, Inslee takes its side   Washington state grain inspectors face threats of death - according to the head of the State Department of Agriculture - if they dare cross the International Longshore and Warehouse Union's picket lines at the Port of Vancouver. Unfortunately for these state employees, and an important Washington State industry, Jay Inslee is choosing to side with the union against our economy. [read more]

Damn the voters, Democrats want an income tax now   Washington State voters defeated I-1098-a state-wide initiative that would have implemented a state income tax- in 2010 by a 28% margin. Unfortunately, as SHIFT reported in the past, 64% of Washingtonians voting against a state income tax is not enough to fend off Democrats. In its latest party platform, the Washington State Democratic Party described a state income tax as a "guiding principle," a goal for the future of Washington State. [read more]

Centralia School District commits fraud, faces no real consequences   The Centralia School District (CSD) recently agreed to pay the Washington Health Care Authority a settlement sum totaling $372,000. Why is CSD forking over the six figure settlement? Because the district fraudulently managed Medicaid Administrative Match, a state program that "reimburses schools for time spent for referring eligible students and their families to Medicaid." [read more]