WA GOP Chair: Democrats are silent on defund police movement

The Seattle City Council is seeking to defund the police by 50% and holds veto-proof support of it. Since Seattle policies sometimes have the tendency to spread, what exactly is being done at the state level on the Republican side in opposition? Washington GOP chairman Caleb Heimlich joined the Jason Rantz Show to share what the party is doing to help back police.

“We’ve first and foremost launched a website that people can go to wsrp.org/defendthepolice — that’s defend with an ‘E,’ not defund with the ‘U.’ What we’re trying to do is organize people to really speak out, on that note, … people need to get engaged on this issue. Democrats have been silent,” he said.

“Jay Inslee, Kim Schrier, Democrat legislators have been silent, as the Seattle progressives, with seven of the nine City Council members saying, ‘We’re going to vote to cut the police budget by 50%,’ to defund half of the police department, to lay off pretty much half of the officers, and the negative impact that’s going to have on the Seattle community. But then the surrounding region as this policy is exported. Yes, there’s room for reform, absolutely. But we … have to start by keeping our communities safe.”

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As Jason noted, while there may be a silent majority opposed to defunding the police, they would need to be more vocal to affect policy change. Does Heimlich feel the party is doing everything that they can in order to push back against this and be vocal?

“When it comes to any bills happening in Olympia, having that majority is so critical. In every issue that we talk about, it’s tough to do some of these things from the minority,” he said.

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“Certainly, the party, and our apparatus, and organization, and activists are being very outspoken in saying enough is enough, this is crazy. We can’t be pushing this radical agenda into our community … These men and women are heroes, putting their safety, security on the line to protect and defend our community. And so I think we owe it to society to be active, to be speaking out.”

Heimlich says the ballot box in a few months is going to be a crucial way to prevent such policies from spreading throughout the state.

“Ultimately, this is going to be an important issue at the ballot box. You have the radical left that is pushing an extreme agenda, supporting people like Jay Inslee, like Democrats in the Legislature. And they’re going to continue to push this policy across the state, and the only way to stop it is to get involved and vote, and then beyond that, to raise your voice.”

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