Jay Inslee has been on a fundraising spree since the 2016 legislative session adjourned. Of course, that means a lot of (to put it lightly) misrepresentations merged with desperate attempts to scare money out of supporters.
A common theme has emerged from all Inslee’s fundraising pleas. It appears his campaign handlers are attempting to change his public image into him being a bi-partisan dealmaker who gets the job done– which, of course, is laughable to anyone paying attention over the past four years of Inslee’s mismanagement (as was shown in this recent survey of those who pay the most attention in Olympia).
Take, as an example, an excerpt from an email entitled, “Here’s what we did”:
“I spent a lot of time poring over our budget. I spent a lot of time talking to lawmakers, and I spent a lot of time putting in the due diligence needed to find the common ground to pass legislation and achieve progress for Washington.”
Or, an email with the subject line, “What’s next”:
“We did important work last legislative session, but I’m not satisfied… I took a stand when the legislature failed to end session with a budget and called a special session.”
And, finally, an email entitled, “D.C. to WA” (sent by Inslee’s campaign fundraiser, Tracy Newman):
“Washington state Republicans are taking their lead from Washington, D.C… If we don’t meet this goal, I shudder to think of how quickly groups like the Republican Governors Association could turn the tide of this race.”
For Inslee to claim that he “spent a lot of time” doing his job and other “important work” is a gross misrepresentation of reality. For Inslee’s campaign to suggest that Republicans are the ones bringing hyper-partisan D.C.-style politics to our state is the height of hypocrisy.
Here are three reasons why:
- As we have thoroughly established, our green governor doesn’t take a lot of time out of his daily work schedule to actually do the work of governing – even during the 2016 legislative session. How much time could he have really spent doing “important work” when he putting in less than 40 hour work weeks, with many hours of that limited time spent meeting with special interest campaign donors and/or his campaign staff?
- Inslee states that he “took a stand” when lawmakers failed to end the regular session on time. But, our green governor fails to mention that (1) his “stand” of vetoing bills failed; and (2) that the special session would not have been needed had Inslee just given up his demands for tax increases earlier in the session. Inslee’s threat not sign any more bills until lawmakers agreed to a supplemental budget was roundly ignored and criticized. And, when he realized no one paid any attention to his ridiculous ultimatum, and he was forced to veto an unprecedented amount of bills, it just made lawmakers take extra time out of the special session to clean up Inslee’s mess by overriding his vetoes. So much for Inslee “taking a stand.”
- Finally, if anyone is bringing D.C. to Washington State, it is our hyper-partisan green governor. During the 2016 legislative session, Inslee engaged in blatantly partisan D.C.-style politics that he, undoubtedly, learned during his 15-year congressional career. He went so far as to publicly attack individual Republican lawmakers during a press conference. He followed up his attack by canceling meetings with Senate Majority Leader Mark Schoesler (something he was later forced to backtrack on). Inslee injected his attack-heavy, D.C.-style into every opportunity, making an already tense political environment worse.
Inslee realizes that to make his first (and hopefully only) term look like it was worth anything, he has to pretend he’s done something worthwhile. In reality, he hasn’t accomplished much. In fact, his unimpressive leadership has only resulted in damage to our state’s economic wellbeing.
But you wouldn’t know that from his fundraising emails.
I asked for factual information on what the $15 minimum wage would do to retired persons and have not received any answer. If you are currently working, your salary should increase. When you are retired, the only increase you may receive is through S.S. and the increase in medicare takes up a good portion of the cost of living adjustment. There are a lot of retired persons living on S.S., interest income, and savings. These persons do not have a large company retirement program.