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 24^th 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)

A survey commissioned by the Washington Hospitality Association (WHA) shows that 76% of the state residents support reopening restaurants to 50% capacity.  Despite the governor allowing restaurants in seven Western Washington counties to resume operation at 25% capacity, an overwhelming majority of Washington citizens believe this is not enough. While Governor Inslee’s makes unsubstantiated and unscientific claims that his actions saved “7,000 or 8,000” lives, many people believe his lockdown orders over the holidays may have unnecessarily spread COVID-19.  As Anthony Anton, the WHA  President said, “We saw what happens when you get locked in your home for two months and you don’t have a safe social outlet. We saw the largest spike in cases when people get together in their private homes.” (Washington Hospitality Association survey and Q13’s The Divide on Facebook)

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)

Because Democrat politicians refuse to condemn violent behavior by their liberal supporters, aggressive and forceful actions continue to increase from progressive activists.  The latest example occurred in Olympia over the weekend, when an armed group physically attempted to take over the Downtown Red Lion Hotel to give the building to those who are homeless. Some 45 thugs armed with knives, hatchets, batons and gasmasks attempted to take over the historic hotel, while guests were forced to stay locked in their rooms.  Despite the violent actions taking place within blocks of Capitol Campus, Governor Inslee and Attorney General Bob Ferguson have yet to condemn the latest violence from liberal activists. (Q13 News)

Interim Seattle Police Chief Adrian Diaz insists that recent actions by the Seattle City Attorney proves that his previous comments regarding prosecuting criminal behavior conducted by violent protestors were correct.  Diaz had previously stated that the Seattle Police would arrest protestors who committed crimes and that Seattle City Attorney Pete Holmes had agreed to prosecute them even if the crimes were misdemeanors.  Holmes acted surprised by Diaz’s original comments and said no prosecutor would agree to prosecute a crime even before it occurred.  Diaz said that, since Holmes’ office has already pursued misdemeanor charges against an individual involved in the Inauguration night riots, this demonstrates his original comments were correct. (The Divide)

Representative Jeff Holy (R – Cheney) is an attorney and retired police officer and he states that current legislation to reform police agencies may be well-intended, but it misses the mark and could deny local residents the ability to define and oversee their police department.  The bill (SB 5051) would put many investigative and oversite powers into the hands of the Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission, which was originally organized to oversee law enforcement training and policy.  Holy states, “As a move is made toward statewide control of police departments, local input and decision-making as to what type of a police department a community desires may well be lost. Passing Senate Bill 5051 is that first step in losing control of our local police agencies. This bill concerns me and should concern people throughout Washington.” (Tri-City Herald)

The principal of Odessa High School (about 50 miles West  of Spokane) spoke for many small-town residents in Washington when she expressed outrage to Governor Inslee for allowing high school sports to resume along the I-5 corridor, but preventing them from occurring in smaller communities where there are very few (if any) COVID-19 cases.  In a letter to Governor Inslee, Principal Jamie Nelson wrote. “Please explain to me how you believe the students along the I-5 corridor should be allowed more rights than my students? COVID case rates in our county, are FAR below those of school districts along the I-5 corridor.”  Nelson said she was stunned by the governor’s “hypocrisy,” and “There is no rationale for your decision, according to equity.” Unfortunately, as the governor and his staff has previously shown numerous times when local community leaders have sent him letters with their concerns, his office does not believe they need to respond to the “little people”.  (KXLY)

Last Friday’s Newsmaker Interview was with Mariya Frost, the Director of the Coles Center for Transportation at the Washington Policy Center.  Ms. Frost provided timely insight on Governor Jay Inslee holding previously approved transportation projects hostage to try to get his fellow Democrats to approve funding for his pet “green” projects, the gas tax (will Washington have the highest gas tax in the country?), Sound Transit’s massive cost overruns, the “Road Usage Charge,” and how the COVID-19 pandemic will impact our transportation needs.  We also asked Frost, whose family fled a socialist country, her perspective on the disturbingly blasé attitude regarding socialism in the U.S. today.  (Click to read full Newsmaker Interview)

Governor Jay Inslee has a “road rage” issue.  One of the governor’s first acts of the 2021 legislative session was to announce that he was “pausing” construction projects (that were negotiated and approved in the 2015 Connecting Washington package) in order to obtain funding for his own favorite projects.  This helps put the governor’s priorities into perspective. He wants to spend 100 times more on helping salmon go upstream (through his fish culverts) than he is on helping Washington residents who have faced severe financial hardship due his random (and unscientific) actions that have devastated many small businesses during the pandemic. (Click to read full Shift Article)

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