Governor Jay Inslee continues to receive criticism for not communicating with anyone who is not a political supporter.  While Inslee speaks with his fellow liberal governors in the (Democrat) Western States Pact and fills his economic recovery advisory groups with campaign supporters (while disbanding the bi-partisan Economic Recovery Legislative Task Force), he is refusing to return calls and letters from Republican legislators and non-partisan mayors.  Gig Harbor Mayor Kit Kuhn says he has repeatedly attempted to call the governor, but he has yet to hear from Inslee. The mayor, who is in constant contact with frustrated business owners, workers, and first responders, is concerned that because his city lies within Pierce County, it is not allowed to safely resume activities.  Yet his neighbors on the Kitsap Peninsula – in Mason and Kitsap counties – can apply to re-open.  The mayor is justifiably worried about the loss of business and tax revenue this will cause his constituents and his city. Inslee keeps claiming “we are in this together,” yet the “we” he is referring to seems to be a small cadre of political supporters.  (News Tribune)

Former Democrat State Legislator condemns the membership of Governor Inslee’s “Safe Work and Economic Recovery Leaders Group”.  In an op-ed, former State Senator Rodney Tom ridicules Inslee’s decision to have the group’s top business executive be the communications director for a winery. This is especially shocking when Washington State has so many Fortune 500 companies.  Tom is critical that much of the group is made up of state employees and they are not the ones who should be making the recovery decisions.  He writes, “They’re still getting a full paycheck, and their defined-benefit pension plan won’t be jeopardized if the economy is cut in half. They won’t lose the business they spent a lifetime building. They don’t have to worry about missing next month’s mortgage payment because their small business is still closed.” (Seattle Times)

The Washington Research Council released a report on initial Washington State unemployment claims by sector during the coronavirus outbreak and government workers continue to do far better than those in the private sector.  Employees in the hospitality, health services, retail, and construction industries continue to lead the list of those who have applied for unemployment benefits.  The government employee sector continues to experience extremely little job loss during the past couple of months.  This fiscally irresponsible combination of out-of-control government spending and lost tax revenues will soon lead to a financial crisis at all levels of state and local government, while liberal politicians will demand both a federal bailout and higher taxes to maintain their spending habits. (Washington Research Council)

A corrections officer at the Monroe Corrections Complex has died from the coronavirus.  Berisford Morse last worked at the state prison on April 24^th.  Failure of the Washington State Department of Corrections to follow health guidelines led to a spread of the COVID-19 among the inmates and staff and led Governor Inslee to release 1200 state prisoners on April 13^th.  It is ironic – and very sad – that more corrections officers have died doing their job during the Inslee administration than convicted murderers have died on death row. (Everett Herald and Governor Inslee’s Press Release)

Liberal homelessness policies, which have done extraordinarily little to lift individuals on the streets out of their cruel and sad existence, have caused expensive problems for Sound Transit during the COVID-19 outbreak.  With libraries, malls, and other warm and dry locations closed, homeless individuals have used free public transportation as a place to seek shelter.  This has led to a significant increase in “biohazard incidents” (1700% per passenger increase) and “graffiti/vandalism incidents” (1400% per passenger increase).  Sound Transit stated removing “destinationless riders” as one of the primary reasons why it will re-instate fares on June 1^st. (C is for Crank blog)

The Seattle School District stated it will be offering online summer classes to students.  The district, which was one of the most ill-prepared major school districts in the country to switch to remote learning, handed out straight “A’s” to students who simply logged onto the district’s websites after in-person teaching was halted.  No word on whether all summer school students will also automatically receive straight “A’s.” (Seattle Times)

The most liberal members of the Seattle City Council believe the city’s failed homeless policies are not liberal enough to ensure future failure.  Councilmembers Tammy Morales, Teresa Mosqueda, and Kshama Sawant are “battling” with Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan (who prides herself on being one of the most liberal mayors in the country) and have proposed legislation to further restrict the city’s ability to remove and clean up homeless encampments.  The mayor’s office said the proposal would hamper the city’s “Navigation Teams” from helping people find shelter, and hurt police efforts to remove camps from private property or even to address criminal activity within camps. (MyNorthwest)

Whitman County Commissioners are concerned that the annual Palouse Empire Fair cannot be held this year due to state restrictions. The annual September event is threatened by Washington’s Secretary of Health John Wiesman’s statement that gatherings of more than 50 people will likely be banned for the remainder of the year.  If county commissioners want to proceed with the event, maybe they should consider temporarily handing management over to a local tribal government.  As Governor Inslee has demonstrated with the opening of tribal casinos to thousands of daily patrons, he does nothing to stop their efforts to draw crowds, in fact Inslee says, “I hope that they are very, very successful.”  (Note: across the border in Moscow, Idaho, the Latah County Fair is still planning to be held September 17^th – 20^th.) (Pullman Radio, Seattle Times and the Latah County Fair website)

We could fill the Briefing every day with stories about long-time small independent businesses which are closing due to the economic disaster caused by the lack of a clear economic recovery plan from state officials after the COVID-19 shutdown.  The latest announced local favorite closing is the Bookworm in Kennewick.  The 46-year-old bookstore announced it will close its doors on July 1^st.  (KEPR-TV)

As Spokane officials continue to wait on Governor Inslee to determine whether the county can begin to re-open, a food giveaway program ran out of food.  For a couple of weeks, county and city officials have had a plan to safely reopen many businesses and have been seeking approval from Inslee’s office.  Meanwhile, the Salvation Army provided food to thousands of hungry individuals, but ran out of food in just four hours.  A Salvation Army spokesman said, “I’m not surprised that people need assistance right now. Everybody I’ve talked to is not working or a senior.” (Spokesman-Review)

The Washington State Democrats are attempting to prop up “non-partisan” Superintendent of Public Instruction Chris Reykdal after he received legitimate criticism for our education system being unprepared for online learning when the state closed the schools.  Reykdal’s is running scared from his 2020 campaign opponent, Maia Espinoza, who called the SPI’s emergency preparedness “an embarrassment for our state.”  In a recent email, the state party quotes Reykdal saying the state needs to “sow the seeds of complete innovation in connectivity for families. It is the way we will learn. It is the way of the future.”  This is odd because before the COVID-19 outbreak, Reykdal took his marching orders from the union bosses at the Washington Education Association (WEA) and hampered opportunities to expand online capabilities for students and their families (because the WEA despises educational options that could lead to reduce union dues). Further evidence of Reykdal’s aversion to innovation is that his 123-member “Re-opening of Washington Schools” committee contains absolutely no one from online education community, though it does contain many WEA members and politicians who have been financially supported by the innovation deniers at the WEA.  BTW, why is the Washington State Democrat Party spending its resources defending the ineptness of Superintendent Reykdal?  We thought the Superintendent of Public Instruction was supposed to be non-partisan.  Maybe because the teachers’ union contributes so much money to the Democrats and Democrat candidates that the state party decided to help protect the WEA’s favorite lapdog. (Washington State Democrat Party email, Shift, and SPI’s list of Re-opening of Washington Schools committee membership)

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