Jay Inslee recently took his extreme partisanship a step too far, following the ousting of his transportation secretary by the State Senate. As you can see, Inslee used Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) Deputy Secretary Roger Millar – whom he has since appoiinted as acting Secretary – to send out an email to all agency staff on behalf of Inslee. Via NW News Network,
“The subject line read ‘This afternoon’s legislative Senate floor debate and next steps.’
“The email opened, ‘Today’s vote by Senate Republicans to reject Secretary Peterson’s confirmation is a blatant misuse of the confirmation process for political purposes, and their disparaging remarks about her character are absolutely unfitting of the office they hold.’”
The opening paragraph is on shaky ground, especially considering it takes on a partisan tone using government resources. However, the rest of the email takes Inslee’s hyper-partisanship to another level. Via NW News Network,
“It went on to accuse Republicans of a ‘shameful act’ and then highlighted the praise Democratic state senators offered in their floor speeches for the work of WSDOT employees.
“The email concluded, ‘let’s not allow the Senate Republicans to distract us.”
The fact that a government agency would send out an email to all employees that blatantly attacks one party’s lawmakers is entirely inappropriate. As Republican House Minority Leader Dan Kristiansen points out, “The language used was unnecessarily political in nature and a questionable use of state resources.”
State law prohibits the use of state resources for political campaign purposes. The law states, “No state officer or state employee may use … facilities of an agency, directly or indirectly, for the purposes of assisting a campaign for election of a person to an office.”
Clearly Inslee is trying to hype his sagging re-election campaign by whipping his base – like public employees. The e-mail was clearly intended to provide Inslee with a partisan opportunity to communicate, which is what his campaigns are all about.
In the end, it’s just another example of Inslee’s weak and hyper-partisan “leadership.”