After Washington State businesses and non-profits have faced massive job losses for nearly three months, Governor Jay Inslee has finally placed a hiring freeze (with multiple exceptions) on state government employees and personal service contracts. While more than 800,000 Washington workers, mostly from the private and charitable sectors, have filed unemployment claims, and the state revenue shortfall is expected to reach more than $7 billion due to the COVID-19 outbreak, nearly all state employees have continued drawing paychecks. (All that money government employee unions have spent supporting Inslee’s campaigns seems to have paid off.)   Inslee issued his freeze order today, but it does not go into effect until next Monday. We can expect many department heads will be devoting considerable time in the next five days hiring new employees and signing friends to consultant contracts. (Governor Inslee Directive, Idaho Statesmen, and Everett Herald)

Governor Inslee, whose last job in the private sector was as a trial attorney, refused the request of 40 different Washington State medical organizations for liability waivers for medical professionals who are working under unusual circumstances and under state-imposed rules.  For example, under state rules, surgeons have had to determine whether it is an emergency to remove a cancerous growth. If the surgery is postponed, the doctor could be held liable if problems arise.  This is yet another example of Governor Inslee favoring his political contributors (trial lawyers) over the needs of the public. (Governor Inslee’s letter to medical professionals – page 1 and page 2)

State government employees received a 3% pay raise last July, and they are scheduled to receive another 3% salary increase this July, despite the state now facing a  $7 billion revenue shortfall – should Gov. Inslee suspend that increase?  There is a call for Inslee to re-open the contracts and cancel the pay raise before it takes effect.  State laws allows for contracts to be renegotiated if a “significant revenue shortfall occurs resulting in reduced appropriations,” which allowed then-Gov. Christine Gregoire to impose employee furloughs on state employees during the Great Recession.  (Washington Policy Center)

Many people have already raised concerns about Gov. Inslee’s requirement that restaurants must collect contact data of all customers to re-open their business.   Because Inslee has placed his partisan political needs above the well-being of Washington citizens, many people do not trust the state with this information.  The state has not provided guidelines for how officials will use the data and many people are concerned that their name and contact information will be made public (like Inslee’s “snitch list” was made public).  Many have already said they will use fake names and contact information.  Restaurant owners have expressed concerns that they are being forced to develop a safe method to collect and store this information – and you can bet that Inslee’s trial lawyer buddies will love filing lawsuits against owners whenever they can. (MyNorthwest, KING5 News, and Shift)

Representative Jim Walsh (R-Aberdeen) writes about the “paradigm shift” that will take place as the result of the financial realities of the coronavirus outbreak.  Previously, the Democrats would count on the increased revenues from the improved national economy, and a few new tax increases every legislative session, to pay for their constant demand for increasing government spending.  Recently, many Democrat politicians and special interest groups have called for large tax increases to offset and tax revenue reductions caused by COVID-19.  Yet the public cannot afford this liberal extravagance as financial insecurity has hit nearly everyone. Walsh believes the “new normal doesn’t mean more financial suffering for working Washingtonians. It will mean a major fiscal reckoning of the state government’s budgets. (House Republican Caucus)

A petition has begun to encourage Governor Inslee to re-open the remaining drive-in movie theaters in Washington.  While many other states, including those in the (Democrat) Western States Pact, have either kept their drive-ins open or have already allowed them to re-open, Governor Inslee has yet to announce when Washington drive-ins will be allowed to resume business. (Maybe they should have contributed to Inslee’s campaigns in order to obtain the Governor’s attention.)  Thus far, more than 58,000 people have signed the change.org petition. (Seattle Times and Change.org)

Sea-Tac Airport failed to implement health/safety measures long after many other airports had incorporated protective measures.  Sea-Tac has experienced a 95% drop in passengers (from 55,000 a day to 4,000 a day) since the coronavirus outbreak.  Yet the airport was slow to install protective shields and require social distance procedures to protect travelers and airport personnel. (Seattle Times)

A GoFundMe fundraising effort has already raised more than $350,000 for the legal defense of Port of Seattle Police Officer Greg Anderson, who is currently on paid administrative leave for comments he made regarding Governor Inslee’s stay-at-home orders.  In a video Anderson made while in his Port of Seattle uniform and vehicle, Officer Anderson was critical of law enforcement being tasked with enforcing parts of the governor’s orders.  Anderson’s conduct is currently under investigation and he could face termination. The GoFundMe account was originally hoping to raise $50,000 for Officer Anderson’s legal fees and “to help cover any costs that the unforeseen future brings.” (KING5 News and GoFundMe.com)

Pierce County Transit will be furloughing nearly 90 employees due to a $47 million reduction in revenues.   Similar to King County Metro and Snohomish Community Transit, Pierce County Transit has experienced an historic drop in ridership.  Currently the public transportation agency has seen a 66% drop in weekday ridership. (News Tribune)

Despite nearly full employment of state workers, it took Gov. Inslee’s office more than two weeks to respond to a request from the Spokane School District to hold outdoor graduations at Joe Albi Stadium. The governor’s office finally told Superintendent Shelley Redinger to scrap her plans to honor graduates at the 30,000-seat outdoor stadium. Apparently smaller schools will be allowed to have outdoor ceremonies, but not the larger schools.  (Spokesman-Review)

While much of Washington State will still be in lockdown, the Silverwood Theme Park in Idaho (10 miles from the Spokane County border) will re-open on May 30^th. The park will be instituting social distancing practices, handing out complimentary face masks, and wiping down rides between cycles. So, Spokane students cannot attend a graduation in a large outdoor stadium in Washington, but they can cross the state border and ride on roller coasters and play in a water park. (YakTriNews)

The Washington State Democrat Party has called the United States Postal Service “one of the most beloved agencies.”  Leave it to the Democrats to love government agencies.  Yes, in comparison to other government departments, like the Internal Revenue Service, maybe there is less disdain for the Post Office.  But only the Democrats, who desire bigger and more powerful government, would call the Postal Service “beloved.”  It is interesting that Tina Podlodowski would send out this “survey” via email, instead of using her “beloved” Post Office.  Like Kshama Sawant’s campaign buying office supplies from Amazon, hypocrisy often occurs when political dogma clashes with reality. (Washington State Democrat Party email and Shift)

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