WA Rep: State of emergency will remain with no way to ‘corral’ Gov. Inslee

Washington now has a vaccine lottery, which is offering vaccinated residents the chance to win money or prizes. State Representative Jesse Young, a Republican from the 26th legislative district, says this lottery is a distraction from ongoing health care problems. He also expressed concern that the emergency proclamation from Gov. Inslee does not lift once the state reopens.

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“This is a promotion that Inslee has given himself,” Young told Jason Rantz on KTTH about the lottery. “He’s basically elevated himself from King to now Caesar … to distract him from the serious health care problems that we have right now by trying to promote a lottery with taxpayer funded dollars. I think it is a waste.”

Young suggests that if Gov. Inslee truly wants to improve the vaccination rates, “he would try to unite the state around science.”

“He would try to unite the state around addressing any concerns that people have instead of trying to distract them like Caesars of old,” he added. “… The notion that he would try to distract with a lottery instead of educate and promote science is really very, very concerning from top-down leadership.”

The governor has also made it clear that the state will fully reopen if 70% of those aged 16 or older have at least initiated vaccination, or on June 30, whichever comes first. But why the 70% figure?

“This is exactly the problem,” Young told Jason. “The fact that you, as a reporter, someone who’s in the know, cannot specify based off of statistical data that either the health community has put out there or the governor himself has put out there as a measured threshold to pass, and thus the reason for the marker in the first place, underlies the basic problem here.”

“And what the problem is that the governor is making these decisions based off of polling data that he thinks will keep him from going further into the negative with the opinions of the people of Washington,” Young said. “That’s what really is the story here. And the governor is just unwilling to address the fact that people are frustrated that he’s thrown away science as of last November. And is basically shooting from the hip with his polling stats on how to manage this crisis.”

Jason pointed out that even when the state reopens by the end of the month, Gov. Inslee has made it clear that the emergency proclamation will remain in place.

“Apparently, the majority party either didn’t think about that or they’re OK with it because … within the first week of session in January, they took away all the final strings that we had in the Legislature to kind of corral this beast that Governor Inslee is turning into,” Young replied. “And to be honest, I am very concerned about that.”

“What kind of definition is he really going to give in terms of this being over? What actual statement does he have to make? What phraseology does he have to put on paper that says it’s ended? And short of him doing that, is he going to continue to lead with mandates? It’s very, very concerning,” he said. “And the bigger problem here is that the rights of the people are getting trampled.”

Listen to the Jason Rantz Show weekday afternoons from 3 – 6 p.m. on KTTH 770 AM (or HD Radio 97.3 FM HD-Channel 3). Subscribe to the podcast here.