A new study ranked Washington State as one of the most polarized state legislatures since the mid-1990s, ranking fifth place in 2015.
What has our state so polarized? Well, if recent events are any indication, it’s our green, green governor.
As Shift reported, Inslee has proven to be an ineffective, highly partisan governor. Inslee’s record—and the records of those he appoints to serve in his administration—point to a simple reality that our green governor does not have the skills a good leader requires. Inslee was and remains a petty partisan.
Here are three ways Inslee has pumped unnecessarily, vitriolic partisanship into the state Legislature this session alone:
- By reverting to the attack-dog ways he honed in his 15-year congressional career and launching into a hyper-partisan diatribe against state Senate Republicans during a press conference. Specifically, Inslee called out GOP state Senator Andy Hill (using spiteful terms) for not opening a “dialogue” with his fired transportation secretary before the state Senate fired her. Embarrassingly enough, our green governor had to walk back the attacks after he realized public opinion was not on his side.
- Inslee took his extreme partisanship a step too far when he sent out an email to all WSDOT employees blatantly attacked Senate Republicans. In other words, the supposed “leader” of our state used state resources to launch a highly partisan attack on one party’s lawmakers.
- By refusing to take an outright position on public charter schools, our green governor is creating an unnecessary rift among legislators. Despite Inslee’s noncommittal position, certain lawmakers (mostly Republicans) are moving to address the problem of public charter schools. A bill to save charter schools has passed the state Senate. The state House has yet to act, and our green governor is not helping the tension by helping to coalesce support for the bill.
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