Dori: Does anyone trust Inslee’s reopening plan?

Are you ready to give your name, phone number, and e-mail address in order to dine out in our state? That is one of the many requirements Governor Jay Inslee has unveiled as the next phase in his “plan” to reopen Washington’s economy.

Which leads to the question many of us are asking: Can the state and our politicians be trusted? It was Lord Acton who first said, “power tends to corrupt — and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” We live in a one-party state. And there simply is no system in place to restrain the constitutionally questionable actions of Gov. Inslee and his party during this health crisis.

This week, Port of Seattle police officer Greg Anderson recorded a video saying that cops are being asked to carry out orders that he believes are unconstitutional. He has been placed on administrative leave and fully expects he will be fired.

That is not a First Amendment violation — most of us would be fired if we posted a video criticizing our employer. And Officer Anderson was in uniform and in his police car when he recorded the video. Big mistakes on his part.

But what is frightening is that Officer Anderson claims his superiors were fine with the video and congratulated him on what he said. Then, three hours later, he says the highest powers in state government got involved and demanded he take down the video. He refused. And now he is almost certainly out of a job.

Inslee and the Seattle City Council have ordered eviction moratoriums on landlords — a taking of private property for public use — which violates the 5th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. The politicians argue that it’s unfair in this sinking economy to kick someone of their housing for not paying rent. The cost of this moratorium falls entirely upon the private property owners.

But have they called for a moratorium on paying our car tabs, after voters overwhelmingly passed the $30 tabs initiative in November? Of course not. That would cost the government money. They only want the private sector to take a financial hit.

At his Tuesday press conference, Gov. Inslee was asked what will happen to private businesses that violate his order to stay closed. He said he talked with Attorney General Bob Ferguson about that, and they will be looking at “civil or criminal court.”

Criminal court for business owners? Jail time? In our state we have criminals with dozens of felonies walking the streets. Inslee just released 1,000 felons from our state prisons, hundreds with multiple gun felonies. And we’re going to lock up Bob the Barber in Snohomish?

And then we have the new restaurant rules. You must give your name and contact information to be allowed to dine out. Gov. Inslee stressed that data will remain private, but can Bob Ferguson and his cronies be trusted as the government tracks our movement?

Our AG has shown that he will spend millions in tax dollars to financially destroy a florist who believed she should follow her faith. Our politicized State Supreme Court of course walked in lockstep with the party that got the justices elected.

Meanwhile, that same AG tortured the English language so the state could continue illegal tolling on I-405. He has enabled Sound Transit to steal billions of dollars from taxpayers on their empire built on lies.

Bob Ferguson’s AG office is an attack dog against his political foes, and a protection racket for his political allies. So much for justice being blind. Can the people of this state trust this government to track our evening dining?

And by the way, those restaurant experiences sure sound like they will be nice and relaxing. The waiter will have a mask, gloves, and must stand six feet away. It’s already embarrassing enough that I only like girlie drinks. Now the whole restaurant will have to hear when I scream out my order for a “VODKA-CRAN WITH A SPLASH OF PINEAPPLE!” How humiliating.

You’ll have to pull up your face mask when you get up to go to the bathroom. The condiments on the table will have to be wiped down after every customer or be single-serve. Yeah, nothing says fine dining like ripping open a bunch of ketchup packets. And all menus will be thrown out after every use.

And can someone explain to me the sense of limiting the dining to groups of five or fewer? So my wife and I can’t go out to dinner with our three daughters and son-in-law. Five is safe, but six contributes to a pandemic? I simply do not believe there is any science to support these ridiculous rules.

Their arbitrary rules do not make any sense, and I don’t want politicians who I consider very untrustworthy to track my whereabouts. But I would love to know: Does all of this make sense to you?

Listen to the Dori Monson Show weekday afternoons from noon – 3 p.m. on KIRO Radio, 97.3 FM. Subscribe to the podcast here.

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