May 28, 2020

Source: ShiftWA.org

Governor Jay Inslee has once again insulted the intelligence of Washington citizens and demonstrated he is unsympathetic to the pain his administration continues to needlessly cause. Finally reemerging in public – a week after he forced an appointee to publicly confirm that the Inslee administration was responsible for one of the greatest losses of public funds in American history – the governor was asked if he stood behind his embattled Employment Security Department (ESD) Commissioner Suzi LeVine (whose primary qualification for the job was she had been quite a Democrat fundraiser).  The governor thought he was clever when he avoided the serious question by giving this obviously well-rehearsed response, “What I stand against is the moral outrage of this international conspiracy that turned the virus of COVID into the virus of crime.” Thus, Inslee chose to be flippant and take absolutely no responsibility for the failure of his administration to protect tax dollars meant to assist people who suddenly lost their wages. Governor Inslee appears most concerned about his political standing, even while thousands of Washington residents are avoiding phone calls from creditors as they stand in line at food banks, and is hoping people ignore that his ESD failed to deliver promised financial relief.  As Brandi Kruse tweeted, “This is where the ability to ask a follow up would have been handy.” (Jim Brunner Twitter)

The lack of real “science” in Governor Inslee’s decisions is the focus of a Wall Street Journal article. Utilizing the rhetorical clichés he has used to promote his failed environmental agenda for the last decade, the governor says he bases his coronavirus decisions on “science”.  But, of course, he fails to provide the actual scientific data behind his choices – most likely because there is no science behind his partisan decisions. The article accurately points out that the infamous dashboard dials Inslee produced provide “no indication of how each is calculated or where the dials need to be to begin the various phases of reopening.” (Wall Street Journal)

The Washington State Department of Labor and Industry announced it will fine businesses and employers more than $10,000 if they defy Governor Inslee’s orders.   While the state is doing absolutely nothing to force tribal casinos to stop defying Inslee’s orders allowing thousands to gather and gamble, the state is applying different standards to non-tribal small businesses who want to safely open their business to far fewer customers.  Consider that Jay Inslee and Democrat legislators recently gave the state’s tribes the monopoly on the extremely profitable sports gambling business, while forbidding non-tribal businesses to participate.  And consider that Inslee has already accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars from tribal governments for his campaigns.  Thus, instead of condemning the opening of the casinos while neighboring non-tribal businesses are laying off employees and facing bankruptcy, the governor reacted to the opening of casinos by stating, “I hope that they are very, very successful.” (News Tribune, Public Disclosure Commission, and Seattle Times)