Governor Inslee’s announcement of his “Pay to Play” advisory groups demonstrates again that he chooses partisan politics over bringing our state together during a time of crisis.  Nearly every member of Inslee’s Safe Start advisory groups is a campaign contributor, from a liberal special interest group, or a government employee.  By choosing to ignore the concerns and ideas of those who are not supporters of his campaigns, or who work in the private sector, Inslee has missed a great opportunity to bring our state together. Inslee has not done what true leaders do, instead he does what self-serving politicians do.  (Shift)

Fellow “Western States Pact” member Colorado has begun to safely re-open its businesses because residents, “simply can’t pay their rent or buy food if they’re not working.”  Democrat Governor Jared Polis is not letting his membership in the partisan five-state club stop him from re-opening his state. Polis elaborated that “Barring a vaccine or a cure, coronavirus will be around for the foreseeable future.  It will not be much safer to open businesses in the fall than it is now. The virus is out there; it is still going to be out there.  It’s about figuring out how to do the things that we need to do in our lives.” (Colorado Public Radio)

Instead of providing the actual “data” and “science” for his decisions, Inslee chooses to be divisive and attack those who ask questions about his actions.  Inslee has attempted to sway public opinion by repeating over and over the words “data” and “science” – just like he used to talk about “secret sauce” when he was running for governor – without ever providing to the public the actual statistics and metrics he is using to keep Washington closed.  Thus, many people are questioning the governor’s actions, and asking what has to happen for the state to re-open.  When he is questioned about these criticisms, Inslee has chosen not to respond with actual data, instead he has chosen to be divisive and label opponents as being uncaring and wanting to cause harm. Just a tad thin-skinned it appears.  (MyNorthwest)

Despite full employment of state workers, the State of Washington has yet to issue necessary guidelines to allow businesses to safely re-open.  These delays are causing financially strapped businesses to lose even more revenue while waiting on the state.  One of the businesses impacted by the state’s failures is Brown Bear Car Wash, which has already gone through the expense of training its 300 employees how to perform “contact-free” service to its customers. Perhaps if Inslee had included small business owners on a Safe Start advisory group he would have been aware of this problem and could have taken steps to prevent businesses from losing even more money. But evidently none of them gave Inslee enough campaign money to have their opinion valued now. (KIRO)

Since the next round of contract negotiations with state employee unions are scheduled to be conducted virtually, this would be an excellent opportunity for Governor Inslee to practice transparency.  TVW could easily tap into the negotiating feed to allow citizens to learn how Jay Inslee wants to spend their tax money.  We fully realize this is a pipe dream, for there is no chance that Inslee would want to make public his process of giving away taxpayer money to labor groups that have spent millions helping him get elected. (Washington Policy Center)

Governor Inslee’s office has released its guidelines for religious services.   Only drive-up services in cars are allowed, all people must arrive and stay inside enclosed vehicles (even when it hits 80 degrees this Sunday), and people can only attend with those from the same household in their car. One outcome is that those who have been convinced by Inslee’s push for regional transportation policies that do not require a vehicle will be discriminated against, and not allowed to practice their faith. (Governor Inslee’s Religious and Faith-based Guidance)

For those of you seeking a laugh, we encourage you to read this five-post Twitter set from Todd Myers.  As an amateur beekeeper, Myers has previously released information on the recent threat of “Murder Hornets.”  In his tweets, Myers details how our governor would react if he treated the hornets the same as he has handled the coronavirus. (Twitter and Washington Policy Center)

Despite being in a county (Snohomish) with one of the state’s highest infection rates, the Stillaguamish tribal leaders running the Angel of the Winds casino are planning to re-open next week.  Tribal governments are not subject to Governor Inslee’s orders, which are keeping non-tribal establishments from opening. Thus far we have not seen Inslee lash out at the tribes as he has with others who have not followed his guidelines. Instead, the governor’s spokesperson said, Inslee “wants to be respectful of those relationships.”  We are confident Inslee would be less “respectful” if the tribes’ “relationships” didn’t involve huge sums of campaign money for Inslee and his fellow Democrats.  (Everett Herald)

Whatcom County received $1.34 million from the federal government to fund an isolation facility which only one patient has thus far used.  The former hotel is for coronavirus patients who do not have access to a location where they can isolate.  County health officials claim there will likely be more patients once people return to work. If not, the county might be running  the most expensive hotel in the state. (Bellingham Herald)

A Washington State Auditor’s report reveals that Housing Kitsap continues to have serious financial problems, but that the situation is slightly improving.  Last year the Auditor’s office said the county’s housing agency, which manages approximately 900 low-income housing units, was nearly out of money.  Since then, austerity measures have been put into place to improve the agency’s financial outlook. (Kitsap Sun)

Gov. Inslee failed to accurately communicate his criteria for larger counties to re-open their businesses, in a conference call with Spokane area officials.  The participants on the call understood him to say that Spokane County (population 525,000) needed to have zero new cases of the coronavirus for three weeks before the county could move to “Phase II” in its economic recovery.  After Spokane Mayor Nadine Woodward went public with Inslee’s comments, the governor’s office issued a statement blaming others on the call for the misunderstanding, and claimed that the “zero new cases” benchmark only applies to counties with populations smaller than 75,000.  It is interesting to note that, according to the story,  Inslee’s office has yet to develop criteria for counties larger than 75,000, even though more than 90% of the state’s residents reside in the 20 counties that meet this standard. (Spokesman-Review)

Whitman County has gone two weeks without a new coronavirus case and a Pullman City Councilmember there suggested that people not get tested so the county can meet the Governor’s criteria (three weeks without a new case) for businesses to re-open. Councilmember Al Sorenson said, “If you don’t feel comfortable going out, then stay home. But let our businesses, who are being killed by this stuff from the governor, let us get back open in some way.” (KXLY)

Walla Walla health officials are now admitting that their previous claims of “coronavirus parties” were not accurate.  National media outlet picked up on the officials’ assertions that such parties were held to purposely infect attendees with the virus so they would develop immunity.  Late Wednesday, the Walla Walla County Health Department informed the media they were “recalling” their previous statements and that “we have discovered that there were not intentional covid parties.  Just innocent endeavors.”  So, never mind. It will be interesting to see if the employee responsible for this serious gaff is allowed to keep his/her job. (KREM-TV)

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