It was said that James Brown was “the hardest working man in show business.” If so, he might have met his opposite match… if he ever met Jay Inslee.
You see, our green governor isn’t exactly a prime example of a hard-driving public servant. As Shift has reported, in the last couple of months he has jetted off to Paris to attend a climate change conference he was not really invited to, missed four out of the five “five-corners” meetings – which he called – to find a solution for fully funding K-12 education (in fact, one time he chose to take a nap instead of going to the meeting), and, during one week in December, Inslee spent a whopping 36.5 hours desperately fundraising.
Not to mention that—through it all—Inslee has had time to schedule dinners with Service Employee International Union (SEIU) boss David Rolf and liberal billionaire and Democrat financier Nick Hanauer. And, if his schedule so far this month is any indication, Inslee is not ready to change his time-wasting, hyper political-focused ways.
So, while the legislature is closing in on the two-thirds mark of this short 60-day session, here are four rather shocking ways that Inslee decided to spend his time when governing might have been on his To Do list:
- Inslee’s habit of starting his days at or after 8 a.m. and finishing his day by 4:30 p.m. We can’t be sure how many governors (or executives of any type for that matter) have the luxury of starting their work day after 8 a.m. and going home by 4:30 p.m., but we are willing to bet Inslee just might be the only one. Inslee’s easy work schedule reveals just how out-of-touch he is with the average taxpaying Washingtonian who work long hours only to be stuck in the traffic (made worse by his incompetent cabinet members) on the commute going to and back home.
- Speaking of starting work late and leaving work early, Inslee’s schedule includes productive activities like playing basketball with his friends in the state Legislature and attending Husky basketball games. But, playing and/or watching games are not the only ways Inslee uses the people’s time. Believe it or not, our green governor takes time to exercise (and get haircuts) during prime work hours (8 a.m. to 10 a.m.). Since Inslee wants to make time to exercise, perhaps he should consider doing what people with real jobs do, like getting out of bed a bit earlier, and hitting the gym before work. His actions show an unbelievable disrespect for state taxpayers.
- Inslee’s schedule is also filled with fundraising (and preparing for fundraising after the current legislative freeze) for his re-election campaign. Whether its scheduling “personal time” (a.k.a. campaign time) to meet with labor union leaders or meeting with his campaign manager in the taxpayer-provided Governor’s mansion, Inslee (time and time again) has proved he is more concerned with his re-election chances than with, well, doing his job. Simply put, Inslee’s campaigning desperation is a disgrace.
- Inslee’s decision to use what time he does spend actually working in a highly partisan manner. On February 2nd, Inslee held a “Three Corners Meeting” with legislative leaders. Under previous governors such meetings consisted of “Five Corners”, meaning the governor and the leaders of each of the four legislative caucuses (two in the House, two in the Senate) would meet. The problem is, Inslee is a hyper partisan, so he sees little need to include Republicans in his meetings. As he has proven in the past (and most recently by canceling regular meetings with GOP Senate Majority Leader Mark Schoesler, Inslee is more concerned with his extreme agenda than with acting like a leader.
Stay tuned for future looks at Inslee’s schedule, as Shift shines on spotlight on whether the taxpayers are getting their money for the salary that Inslee – the anti-James Brown – draws.
