Governor Zero Relents to Debating Challenger Culp

 

Source: ShiftWA.org

Governor Inslee will make a rare “public” appearance on Wednesday evening, as he participates in the only debate he would agree to with his Republican challenger, Police Chief Loren Culp.  It should be noted that non-arrogant gubernatorial candidates participate in at least three or four debates around the state, but Inslee’s team needs to reduce the number of false (or just plain nonsensical) statements he makes, so he limited debates to just this one. The governor has avoided any public discussions with Republican legislators during his six months of “emergency orders”, and has only taken a few questions from the media (pre-selected by his staff) during his state-sponsored campaign press conferences.  The Governor is not exactly a shining beacon of democracy with his extended one-man rule and refusal to talk with the public or allowing members of the opposition party have input during a special legislative session. (Seattle Times)

The cost to taxpayers to buy union support for Jay Inslee’s gubernatorial contest just came in: the collective bargaining agreements (CBAs) for the state’s unionized workforce will increase spending for the 2021-2023 biannual budget by $356.4 million.  The CBAs are the result of the secret negotiations between the state employee unions and Governor Inslee (who the unions have supported with millions of dollars in direct contributions and independent expenditures) and were submitted to the Office of Financial Management on October 1^st. Currently, there are no pay raises (since state workers received two pay increases in the previous 15 months) and the state will continue to pay 85% of the workers’ health insurance costs. (Washington Research Council)

Republican legislators claim that Governor Inslee and Democrat legislative “leaders” are ignoring the needs of at-risk students by not calling the legislature back into special session to address issues surrounding students returning to the classroom.  One of the significant factors school districts must consider is the state’s liability laws, which former Attorney General Rob McKenna contends could be very costly for school districts.  The liability laws are also a primary reason why Fall prep sports are not allowed to take place. State Republican Senators believe that if the legislature restructured the liability laws, districts would be able to return students to the classroom.  It should trouble Democrats that reports from around the state indicate that a significant number of students (often around 10%) are not participating in online instruction.  Often these are students from low-income households who do not have a suitable computer or internet access.  Thus, by not allowing students to return to in-person instruction, the education gap is widening for at-risk students.  Yet Governor Inslee, the Democrat legislative leaders, and their bosses in the state employee unions are politically motivated to resist holding a special session before the November elections, because they know their remedy for the state’s revenue shortfall (to raise taxes) is not popular with the state’s voters. (KEPR TV and Peninsula Daily News)

Q13’s Brandi Kruse criticized Governor Inslee’s reaction to Boeing’s announcement of moving 787 Dreamliner jobs to South Carolina.  Kruse refuted Inslee’s claims that that the airline manufacturer was attempting to “bully” Washington, by stating the company never demanded Washington State do anything to keep the 787 jobs in Everett.  Kruse said Boeing “made a simple decision. Is it better for our business to do this work in the Seattle area or in South Carolina? And they decided on South Carolina.” Kruse said it is actually Inslee who is attempting to bully Boeing by saying he intends to “review” the company’s state tax obligations.  Kruse warned that we can look at Amazon and see successful businesses rarely succumb to bullying by politicians. Kruse concluded, “There are plenty of places that want our high paying jobs if we are not doing enough to keep them. So sure, you can talk tough and make threats, but remember, you can’t bully a business that is no longer here.” (Q13’s The Divide)

Senator Doug Ericksen (R-Whatcom County), who was formerly on the task force assigned to developed strategies to keep Boeing jobs in Washington State, believes Governor Inslee’s past actions led the company to think it was not appreciated.  He said that while he was on the task force “one of the constant themes that we got from the Boeing Corporation was every other state they went to, people would roll out the red carpet. And in Washington State, they felt like the governor was just trying to show them the door.” Governor Inslee certainly did not make Boeing feel appreciated when he went on national TV in 2019, and called the company “muggers” and “blackmailers” while attempting to appeal to his fellow anti-business Democrats during his failed presidential campaign.  (MyNorthwest and Shift)

“It is no wonder Boeing has decided to continue its exit from Washington State. Just as Seattle Councilmember Kshama Sawant’s political grandstanding attacks on businesses are forcing Amazon to seek new locations for its employees outside of Seattle, Governor Inslee’s insulting comments about Boeing will lead the airplane manufacturer to find a more welcoming environment for its jobs.” (Shift)

“Apparently, Inslee doesn’t want a special session because he knew that those evil state legislators in the Democrat-controlled House and Senate were going to cut benefits for working people, cut mental health spending, cut health care benefits and cut aid to the homeless. The ‘Inslee-Fib-O-Meter’ must have hit 100% even with his financial donors – no legislators, either Democrat or Republican, stated any of those things.” (Shift)