Merry Christmas! I hope you’re all having a wonderful weekend (and that you managed to survive the ice storm). Take a minute to [un]wind with our Sunday newsletter. Grab a cup of coffee and catch up on what you may have missed from [un]Divided this week.
Let’s Go Washington!
This week on “Fridays with Friends.” I was joined by Brian Heywood, who discussed his 11-initiative effort to turn Washington state around. Let’s Go Washington gives voters an opportunity to change misguided laws around public safety, taxes, and good governance.
You can watch our interview here at the 19:10 mark.
You can read each initiative here.
You can find a location to sign the initiatives here. After my interview with Heywood on Friday, I stopped by Wade’s Eastside Guns in Bellevue to sign all 11 initiatives.
As Heywood and I discussed, the initiatives present an opportunity to turn frustration around these issues into action. Mad about the police pursuit law? There’s an initiative for that. Upset by de facto decriminalization of personal possession of drugs? There’s an initiative for that. Baffled that the state didn’t give us a break on the gas tax this year? There’s an initiative for that!
Heywood said they must get enough signatures to qualify the initiatives by the end of the year. If they’re successful, the legislature will be forced to consider them. Should lawmakers reject them, or fail to act on them, the initiatives will go to the people.
My only regret is not having Heywood on the show sooner.
Emergency power reform
The list of things that need to be fixed this legislative session is long, but chief among them is the stunning lack of checks and balances in a time of emergency.
Since early in the pandemic, I've advocated for emergency power reform. My opinion on the issue is based on three things:
- Cooperation yields better results: I would much rather have the collective minds of our directly elected representatives brainstorming solutions than rely on the brain power of a single person.
- Involvement of all areas of the state: Including the legislature in emergency decision making ensures that the needs of all areas of our state are taken into consideration - not just Seattle.
- Check on power-hungry governors: The current system gives the legislature no ability to reign in a governor who is truly abusing his/her power. Think about that for a second. Is that the kind of system you'd want if a governor of the other party was in power?
Blinded by partisan considerations, Democrats in Olympia have failed to act on emergency power reform the past two legislative sessions. I’m hoping this year will be different, especially considering the pandemic is behind us.
I was pleased to see a bipartisan bill pre-filed this past week that would add meaningful, and reasonable, checks and balances in a time of emergency. The bill is co-sponsored by Senator Mark Mullet, a Democrat, and Senator Lynda Wilson, a Republican.
You can read Senate Bill 5063 here.
It would make two primary changes to existing law:
- A state of emergency can be terminated via the passage of a concurrent resolution if the legislature is in session.
- If the legislature is out of session, a state of emergency may be terminated in writing by all four members of leadership of the House and Senate if the state of emergency has already been in place for more than 90 days.
Both of those changes are incredibly reasonable and would require bipartisan agreement in order to terminate a state of emergency. That is a high bar, as it should be, but it at least provides a tool to use in extreme cases.
Kellyanna Brooking
If you watch one thing from [un]Divided this week, make sure it’s Wednesday’s episode with 14-year-old conservative commentator Kellyanna Brooking.
Motivated by the 2020 riots and pandemic-era school mandates, Kellyanna has become an outspoken advocate for conservative principles. She now hosts her own digital show, advises a gubernatorial candidate, and serves as an ambassador for Turning Point USA.
As I told Kellyanna during the segment, I long hesitated having her on the podcast because of her age. Kellyanna started speaking out at 12 years old, which made me wonder how much the adults in her life were influencing her advocacy.
A couple years later, I’m so impressed by her knowledge on the issues and think you’ll find her to be incredibly independent minded.
Housekeeping
Not sure I would call this housekeeping, but please keep the family of KIRO Radio reporter Darren Dedo in your prayers this holiday, especially his four kids. I've had the privilege of getting to know Darren while filling in here and there on The Dori Monson Show. This past week, the newsroom was informed that Darren was in the hospital fighting for his life. The news was very unexpected. On a GoFundMe page set up by his family, we learned a little more about what he's facing:
"A few nights ago, he was hospitalized with what the doctors believed to be common pneumonia. Overnight, his oxygen levels dropped, and he was placed on a ventilator. The doctors have now determined that he has bilateral pneumonia. He was transferred to another ICU unit, where they discovered that his lungs have hardened. Through ECMO, his body is being kept alive to allow his lungs to heal."
Sending lots of love to the Dedo family and praying for a full recovery.
A few other things:
Mark your calendars: Our December LIVE Q&A will be this Tuesday, Dec. 27 at 8pm PT. Watch out for a link.
Also:
Rejoice! Our ongoing issues with Apple Podcasts have been resolved. If you listen to the podcast on Apple, you should now see all the episodes missing since December 5 have populated. Please send me a message if that's not the case.
Again, Merry Christmas and thank you for your commitment to giving common sense a comeback! Have a great week.
