Wednesday, March 26, 2014 • Whidbey News-Times
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Time will tell on Gov. Inslee’s next political moves
THE PETRI DISH
By JERRY CORNFIELD No one could be happier to see state lawmakers wrap up and head home than Gov. Jay Inslee. They departed and won’t return until January, 2015. That gives the rookie Democratic governor nine-plus months to get some work done without interruption or interference from those who’ve foiled him repeatedly since he arrived in Olympia. Inslee is still getting the hang of the give-and-take of the legislative process after two sessions. And it’s a challenge no amount of travel on the Olympia learning curve may help him overcome.
Democrats and Republicans in the House and Senate are beginning to accept the congressman-turnedgovernor is a product of his past political life in Washington, D.C. They’ve come to expect he’ll rail on Republicans when he considers them obstructing his path and cast no unkind words at Democrats when they thwart his wishes. As a result, his influence this session seemed muted on the most talked-about policy disputes like transportation, medical marijuana and revising the teacher evaluation system to secure a federal education waiver. Several lawmakers wrangling on the waiver matter shrugged at learning two days before the end of the legislative session, Inslee traveled to Snohomish County to conduct his own closed-door talks on education — with second-graders. They didn’t know he wasn’t in town and didn’t seem to think it would have made a difference.
Such an attitude underscores why Inslee is looking forward to not having lawmakers around for a few months. Ditto for his advisers, who hope to capitalize on this opportunity to advance a mostly-stalled political agenda and leave his imprint on the state. To accomplish this, there is an expectation Inslee will rely on every available instrument of power and exercise every available ounce of authority allotted governors through the state constitution. He demonstrated a willingness to push the bounds in February when he declared a moratorium on use of the death penalty in Washington, putting an end to executions for at least as long as he holds office. In the coming months, it is anticipated he will issue a variety of executive orders to undertake new policies, practices and initiatives outside the reach of legislators. Already this year he’s signed noncontroversial ones, creating a task
force to boost the outdoor recreation industry and increasing the number of state employees working flexible hours and telecommuting. The third, signed March 13 without notice, establishes the 23-member Interagency Coordinating Council for Infants and Toddlers with Disabilities and Their Families. Inslee will appoint all the members, who in turn will advise the Department of Early Learning in developing early intervention services statewide. His critics are nervous the governor might use the powers of his office to do something on much bigger issues, like raise the minimum wage for workers paid under state contracts or require state agencies to only purchase fuel with less carbon in it. Whether Inslee could make such moves or do anything close isn’t clear. He’s got nine-and-a-half months to explore the possibilities and many of his political opponents couldn’t be less happy about it.
EstatE Planning
MORE LETTER TO THE EDITOR CONTINUED FROM A6 visibility to the small businesses. These businesses are visible while the trees are bare; however, the busy tourist and visitor season is over. The sincere effort, time and money spent to encourage tourism, more visitor spending and local shopping is crippled by the “beautification program” that results in obscuring visibility of businesses that hope to benefit from these efforts. Rather than continue the replacement policy with irregular varieties and sizes of trees, consider transplanting all the trees north of the Oak Harbor Chamber of Commerce office to a location by the school and/or residential areas. Mary Wuertz Oak Harbor
OLF
Don’t listen to claims of the anti-OLF group Editor, The so-called Citizens of Ebey Reserve, or COER, has been trying to drum up support in Port Townsend, Langley and the San Juan Islands in their scheme to close Whidbey Island Naval Air Station and eliminate more than 50 percent of the county’s jobs, businesses, property value and tax revenue. Washington state places this economic value at 88 percent of the entire county, according to the Office of Financial Management for the state. Now, they recently announced a trip to Washington, D.C., where they will try to meet with Congressional and Pentagon leaders with their “close the base” message. We have more than 10,000 pro-jobs, pro-Navy signatures on a hard copy petition and Facebook — they have less than 100. Their leadership is comprised of
rich, retired, recent transplants — they have no regard for your job, business or home value. It is time for all of us to weigh in with our city, county, Navy and Congressional leaders with this simple message — COER is a fringe group, Team Whidbey stands fully behind NAS Whidbey and the aviators that go into harm’s way for us. Don’t listen to COER. Scott Gray Smith Oak Harbor
Bailey
Sen. should be honest about ALEC affiliation Editor, Sen. Barbara Bailey finally admitted what has been suspected for years — she is a member of the American Legislative Exchange Council. This past weekend, during two of the town hall meetings sponsored by the three state legislators from our district, Bailey first admitted that she is a member of ALEC at the Mount Vernon meeting. After realizing what she had admitted, decided to be less than candid during the afternoon Oak Harbor meeting, during which she said that she “doesn’t know if she is still a member of ALEC or not.” Yeah right, and I have some swamp land to sell you, too. And while you are at it, do you know if you are still a member of ALEC’s powerful Health and Human Services Task Force, or have you decided that you don’t remember your intimate involvement in that task force too? A number of the corporate members of that same task force, mostly corporations from the pharmaceutical and health insurance industries, have contributed heavily to Bailey’s campaigns over the years. Now her voting record
in favor of pharmaceutical and health insurance companies, against the interests of patients and consumers, makes sense. We also now know where much of the legislation she sponsors comes from. For years, Bailey was sponsoring and co-sponsoring ALEC “model” legislation in furtherance of the extreme corporatist agenda of the Koch Brothers and other corporate sponsors of ALEC. She sponsored House Bill 1774, the ALEC “model” voter suppression bill in 2007 and also Senate Bill 5851, the “model” legislation being pushed by ALEC-affiliated legislators around the country in order to phase-out public employees’ retirement security. Another goal is to repeal the voter-approved $15 minimum wage in SeaTac and city council-approved paid sick leave ordinance in Seattle, as well as block any local jurisdictions from creating any similar standards in the future. These bills are a few of the many ALEC-sponsored bills that Bailey has sponsored, co-sponsored and otherwise supported over her years in the state legislature. With friends like her, the workers of the 10th District definitely do not need any more enemies. Does anyone still believe that Barbara Bailey “doesn’t know if she is still a member of ALEC or not?” Her actions certainly do speak louder than her hollow words. Come on, Sen. Bailey, level with the hard-working men and women of the 10th District. Come clean once and for all and tell them that you are part of the reason that their wages have been stagnant for many years and that fulltime jobs with truly valuable benefits are becoming a thing of the past thanks to ALEC and its affiliated legislators like you. Pam Fick Oak Harbor
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