The Inslee Administration continues to fail to provide the basic, necessary coronavirus-related data needed to make important decisions. Jay Inslee has been in the governor’s mansion since 2013. He has led a massive increase in the size, power, and cost of state government (20% alone in the past two years), yet the Inslee Administration cannot deliver on even basic tasks, like counting.  The Seattle Times reports that simple data troubles have delayed the state’s reporting of COVID-19 test rates for 10 days.  Earlier this week it was revealed that the Inslee Administration has signed lucrative no-bid contracts with outside consulting firms to perform many of the tasks state government has been assigned to handle during the crisis.  Just consider the various ways that Jay Inslee has demonstrated the incompetence of his leadership: the Employment Security Department scandal; the embarrassing failures of Inslee’s (now defunct) “dials”; failure to follow health guidelines at state-run facilities (leading to the release of 1,200 inmates and the deaths of inmates, patients, and staffers); making many decisions based on self-serving partisan needs rather than being inclusive in making decisions; handing out pay raises to state employees while many taxpayers are suffering financially; and constantly having difficulties in providing accurate data. The coronavirus outbreak has clearly shown the limitations and faults of the liberal utopia of large, powerful, and expensive state government. (Seattle Times and Northwest News Network)

Governor Inslee continues to focus on national partisan issues which will not impact Washington residents, while saying absolutely nothing about the divisive actions of his fellow Democrats which will impact the personal security of hundreds of thousands of Washington residents.  Inslee is constantly seeking microphones to promote the national Democrats selfish and reckless desire to force 3,000 American counties to drastically change their election systems over the next three months (read here why this would cause election mayhem when our country desperately needs reliability in election results), yet this does not impact at all the election system for Washington State voters. But Inslee has said nothing about the recent unpopular actions of his fellow Democrats on the Seattle City Council to defund the police.  Despite many Black activists (including Black Lives Matter leaders and Rev. Al Sharpton) calling the city council racists for their actions which led the city’s first Black female police chief to resign, Inslee has said nothing.  He has failed to stand by Mayor Jenny Durkan as she has resisted caving into the unreasonable demands of rioters and violence.  It was clear during Inslee’s failed presidential campaign, when he forced Washington taxpayers to pay for his campaign’s security, and it has become even more clear today that Gov. Inslee’s primary goal in life is not to serve and lead the citizens of Washington, but to use the resources of the state to promote his own selfish desire for a job in Washington, D.C.  This is the very sad reality. (News Tribune and Shift)

Small gym owners believe Governor Inslee’s latest set of guidelines make it even more difficult for some businesses to stay afloat.  Owners state that the mandates do not differentiate between different sizes and types of gyms.  Small gym owner Ginny Pietila says, ““The bigger picture really is we, the small fitness studio owners, just simply don’t feel that it’s just and equitable to label all gyms under the same heading. We’re appointment based only, there is absolutely no open gym. Nobody comes in that is not supervised, that does not have an appointment.”  The gym owners have thus far collected 16,000 signatures asking the governor to revisit his latest mandates and separate the different types of fitness facilities. (MyNorthwest)

Jon Talton writes that the damage caused by the coronavirus pandemic has been made worse by the actions of Seattle City Hall.  Talton states, “Activists running the council seem not to understand important connections” that their actions to defund police will have on tourism, the arts, retail, and entertainment-related businesses.  The looting, vandalism, and arson will impact retail businesses as much of downtown is still boarded up.  The drive to impose needless tax on big businesses will impact others for “big business feeds small businesses.” The council fails to understand that tax revenue from all these sources pays for the liberal social program playground the members desire,  and the council actions are killing its golden goose.  Talton concludes that unfortunately this November’s election will not allow us to rid city hall of the architects of these recent policy errors, and we must continue to deal with the “destructive political leadership in Seattle, heedless of the economic consequences of their policies.” (Seattle Times)

Amazon is offering its Seattle employees the opportunity to relocate to other offices outside of the city.  In an email titled “office workplace options,” company executives asked their associates which communities they would prefer, listing Redmond and Tacoma, among the options.  This action by the retail giant was predicted by many and is the logical response to the vindictive and greedy measures of the Seattle City Council in imposing its “JumpStart” tax on employers.  Amazon is not alone in seeking non-Seattle options for its employees.  It will be interesting to analyze in the coming years the impact of the silly JumpStart tax effort, and if it results in less gross revenue for the city as companies move their employees elsewhere and no longer employ as many people (or spend as much money supporting a headquarters) in Seattle.  (Bloomberg via the Seattle Times)

The Port of Everett is predicting a downturn in cargo shipments even worse than what it faced after the 9/11 attacks.  The port’s largest customer is the Boeing Company, and after the 2001 terror attacks the airline industry experienced a significant decline in business.  This obviously impacted Boeing and the Port of Everett’s cargo shipments (which consist mostly of moving equipment and parts to the airline manufacturer).  The Port of Everett’s CEO Lisa Lefeber states the coronavirus outbreak will be even more damaging to the airline industry, and predicts the port will experience a 25%-30% decline in cargo in 2021. (Everett Herald)

The 7-day average of new COVID-19 cases in Yakima County is currently at 48, which is a significant drop from the June peak of 150 daily cases.  Also, while the virus accounted for 60 patients staying in hospitals in June, there are currently around 20.  Even though county health officials acknowledge ongoing problems in obtaining accurate numbers from the state, they are confident the trend is moving in the right direction.  Yakima County, which represents 3.2% of the state’s population, has suffered 17% of the state’s coronavirus cases. (Yakima Herald)

The Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) announced that it will be culling two more wolves due to attacks on livestock in Stevens County. The WDFW said they will be lethally removing one wolf each from the Leadpoint and Wedge packs, which have been terrorizing cattle in Northeast Washington. (Capital Press)

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