Will Wonders Ever Cease!

Source:  ShiftWA.org As if the Democrats haven’t made being unemployed in Washington State tough enough, it was revealed today that Democrat State Auditor Pat McCarthy’s investigation into problems at Democrat Governor Jay Inslee’s Employment Security Department (ESD) has led to a security breach of financial information for more than 1.4 million Washington state residents.  The latest Democrat administrative failure has allowed Social Security numbers and banking information to be hacked and available for a future criminal use.  As Auditor McCarthy stated, her office’s failure has added, “one more worry for Washingtonians who have already faced unemployment in a year scarred by both job loss and a pandemic.”  So, first Democrat Governor Inslee placed well over a million Washington residents out of work with extreme shutdowns. Then the political fundraiser hand-picked by Inslee to run ESD eliminated security procedures to protect personal financial information, which allowed hundreds of millions of dollars to be stolen from taxpayers and then forced tens of thousands of Washington residents to wait months for much-needed benefits.  Then, just as Democrat Inslee once again unnecessarily threw hundreds of thousands out of work over the holidays, the Democrat State Auditor was allowing their financial information to be hacked (again!).  Can we all find the common factor in all these devastating actions? (Seattle Times) Even some Democrat legislators are upset with Governor Jay Inslee for not including their counties to move forward into Phase 2, and the “unscientific” decision due to the “arbitrarily drawn” regions in the governor’s much criticized “Roadmap to Recovery” plan.  While an overwhelming majority of urban Democrat legislators have had businesses in their districts reopened by the governor’s announcement last week, a few Democrats were not as fortunate.  Senator Kevin Van De Wege (D-Sequim), Representative Steve Tharinger (D-Port Townsend) and Representative Mike Chapman (D-Port Angeles) are upset that since two of the Olympic Peninsula counties they represent (Clallam and Jefferson) are randomly lumped together with Kitsap County in the governor’s recovery plan, they are not allowed to reopen despite those two counties having infection rate figures which should allow them to reopen.  In a joint statement, the 24th Legislative District lawmakers said that Governor Inslee’s unscientific method “has left Clallam and Jefferson counties at a standstill for no good reason.”  The trio also repeated the complaint heard across Washington State about Governor Inslee’s approach that “takes away local input and decisions and ignores local health officer’s science-based knowledge.”  The Democrat legislators stated, “we have lost faith that the governor is on a course to safely open Washington and beat COVID-19.” (Washington State Senate Democrats Media Release) It is two weeks before the deadline for having legislation pass out of committee, and neither the Democrat-controlled Senate, nor the Democrat controlled-House has scheduled a public hearing (let alone a vote) on the bi-partisan bills to limit governor’s emergency powers going forward.  The Democrats in charge in Olympia clearly don’t have much respect for the people of the state when they devote time to testimony on naming the state dinosaur, but not on whether legislators should have any input during a future crisis.  While one bill could return thousands back to work and save thousands of small business owners from facing bankruptcy, the Democrats have determined they would rather spend precious time recognizing a creature that has been extinct for 65 million years. (Jason Mercier email and Washington Policy Center report) A respected local journalist criticizes the Biden Administration for hiring embattled Washington State Employment Security Department (ESD) Commissioner Suzi LeVine despite the many investigations into the severe problems that occurred under her leadership.  The Democrat fundraiser was appointed to lead the ESD by Governor Inslee, and was in charge when security decisions were made that allowed foreign criminals to commit one of the largest thefts in American history. The department then forced tens of thousands of Washington residents to wait months for promised unemployment benefits, as the ESD attempted to clean up the mess it had created. Mike Flynn, former publisher of the Puget Sound Business Journal, wrote that the ESD’s poor response to both an official State Auditor investigation into the department and to reporters’ public records requests provide the appearance that LeVine was responsible for many of the severe problems that occurred at ESD and this could be a problem for LeVine (and the Biden Administration) if she is forced to go before the Senate to be confirmed for her federal position (which she seemingly helped to secure by contributing $400,000, along with her husband, to the Biden campaign and other liberal campaign efforts last year).  (Flynn’s Harp)