Jay Inslee appears, deep down, to be rather frightened of the 2014 election results. Though he continues to insist that the outcome of the recent election maintained the status quo, a recent fundraising letter suggests he really believes otherwise.
In his letter, Inslee desperately attempts to convince his supporters of the status quo narrative. Yet, he tells supporters that “there’s already talk” concerning who will run against him in 2016 and warns that he must “start preparing” now. Of course, for Inslee, preparing doesn’t mean listening to voters’ message (a rejection of his political agenda). It means fundraising.
Inslee’s desperate plea for money comes right before the fundraising freeze placed on lawmakers during the 2015 legislative session. According to his email, Inslee wants to prove that he is still strong via the size of his war chest by the first end-of-month reporting deadline of the next election cycle this Sunday. Inslee’s fundraising email reads,
Your contribution — right now — will go farther than almost any contribution down the line because it will show the opposition that if they decide to take us on, they’ll be in for a much bigger fight than they imagined.
If only our green governor thought more about benefitting Washingtonians as he does himself, he wouldn’t have to show his strength with campaign funds. His record would stand on its own, a testament to his commitment to benefitting Washington. But, of course, it doesn’t.
As if to convince supporters that his unpopular agenda is alive and well, Inslee reverts back to his flawed analysis of the 2014 election results, calling it a status quo election. He refuses to acknowledge that the election which saw Republicans gain an outright majority in the state Senate for the first time in 10 years and weaken Democrats’ majority in the state House by flipping four seats as a referendum on his plans for a fuel mandate. Maintaining that another explanation for the election results but his own is political spin, Inslee continues to obstinately ignore reality: he placed his extreme political agenda on the ballot in 2014 and voters said “NO.”
Rather than take responsibility and listen to voters, Inslee blames Republicans for “making wild accusations about me to drive a wedge between voters.” The “wild accusations” Inslee is undoubtedly referring to are his plans to force a fuel mandate via executive order and the resulting $1 plus gas tax. Of course, these are not accusations at all, but facts confirmed by Inslee and his own consultants.
Inslee ends his fundraising appeal with, “I need your help to show that I still have your support and to make Republicans think twice about running against me when they see this month’s fundraising report.” This sentence proves that Inslee learned absolutely nothing from the 2014 election.
You see, if the 2014 midterm elections proved anything, it is that an irresponsible politician can out raise his/her opponent but it won’t make a difference—the American people are not stupid. They see through a candidate who refuses to listen to them. Clearly, Inslee has not learned that lesson from the millions his billionaire buddy Tom Steyer poured into handing the state Senate back to Democrats.
Inslee will hold a fundraising dinner with former Vice President and green hypocrite Al Gore as the headliner this week, press is not allowed to attend. But, no matter how much Inslee can raise he will face opposition because, simply put, he is an ineffective governor who refuses to listen to the will of the people.
