How Can It Possibly Get Worse?



Governor Jay Inslee’s administration has stopped publishing the state’s General Fund cash balance forecast, so he can hide the fact that he is not following state law requiring him to call a special session (or make across-the-board cuts) whenever a state fund shows a deficit. Inslee’s Office of Fiscal Management (OFM) responded to inquiries about stopping publication of the forecast by stating, “We don’t see a need to update it at this time, primarily due to the state’s improved revenue forecast and a variety of anticipated savings in the current budget.” Yeah, right. Apparently, Inslee’s OFM just wants to hide from the public the “state’s improved revenue forecast.” Or, the bureaucrats want to hide from the public the “Jay Inslee deficit” the state is illegally running right now, because he has a campaign going on. The absence of media attention to this lack of transparency from Governor Inslee’s team is yet another example of the local media’s refusal to inform the public of Inslee’s obvious failures and the length he will go to not call the legally mandated special session of the legislature before the November elections. Kind of makes you wonder how reporters might treat a Republican who refused to follow the law or release budget information. (WPC Center for Government Reform Facebook post and Shift Article)

Governor Inslee has extended the state’s eviction moratorium until the end of the year because that might help him get some votes, while landlords say they are tired of bearing the financial burden imposed on them by a governor without a clue about the economic hardship his random orders are causing.   Many landlords only own one or two properties, and the lack of rent payments is forcing them to consider some painful decisions, like selling their property.  One landlord spoke about a state worker who was still receiving a paycheck, yet used the moratorium as an excuse to not pay his rent.. (Q13 News)

Twitter has agreed to pay $100,000 to Washington State for failing to keep records on political advertising on its site.  This follows Google and Facebook paying $200,000 each for also failing to keep records of political spending on Washington State candidates and issues. Of course, candidates and campaigns are required to report the spending anyway, and the state never tried to claim it didn’t have the information it wanted, so with no harm to the people of Washington State this amounts to nothing more than a shakedown by Attorney General Bob Ferguson. If he really cared about government transparency, perhaps he could tell OFM to issue its report on whether the state was running an illegal “Jay Inslee deficit” right now. (News Tribune)

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