Rantz: Gov. Inslee is all bark, no bite on coronavirus stay-at-home order

Voices critical of Governor Jay Inslee’s coronavirus stay-at-home order are growing louder and louder.

Sheriffs refuse to enforce, Republican lawmakers are getting tired of being left in the dark, and every day Washingtonians wonder if Inslee even understands their hardships.

All of this could have been avoided if Inslee was a competent, consistent leader. But Inslee’s coronavirus leadership is playing out like his presidential campaign. It started with signs of promise, but only 17 seconds after it started we realize he doesn’t quite understand what he’s doing.

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All bark, no bite

When Snohomish County Sheriff Adam Fortney posted a long condemnation of Inslee to his Facebook page, it went viral almost instantly. Why? Because he voiced what many Washingtonians — from Sultan to Sequim and Everett to Eatonville — are all feeling.

“I just watched the Governor’s speech to Washingtonian’s regarding our approach to getting Washington back in business and I am left to wonder if he even has a plan?” Fortney wrote. “To be quite honest I wasn’t even sure what he was trying to say half of the time. He has no plan. He has no details. This simply is not good enough in times when we have taken such drastic measures as the suspension of constitutional rights.”

Except this doesn’t really mean anything. He can threaten to put Attorney General Bob Ferguson on the case if he’d like, but the truth is, Inslee hasn’t even ordered law enforcement agencies to enforce his orders.

Fortney, weeks ago, said he wouldn’t enforce the stay-at-home order. So, too, did King County Sheriff Mitzi Johanknecht on the Jason Rantz Show insisting she’d only get involved in limited circumstances if Public Health made a legitimate ask. In Bellevue, even though they have an app to report instances of people not abiding by the coronavirus stay-at-home order, the police department acknowledges they don’t hand out tickets or make arrests.

What’s more, thousands of protesters took to Olympia, in violation of his order. Were they arrested, fined, or even asked to leave? When boaters fished in Richland, in violation of the order, what were the consequences? None.

Inslee isn’t enforcing his own coronavirus stay-at-home order, and I suspect he knows there are portions to it that are legally untenable.

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Inconsistencies

Under the coronavirus stay-at-home order, you can get an elective abortion, but not buy a gun at a gun shop. You can buy weed to unwind from coronavirus stresses, but you can’t fish alone in a boat to de-stress. You can work a construction job on a publicly funded project, but a privately funded one? You’re out of luck.

These inconsistencies, motivated more by politics than public safety, likely plays a role in why Inslee won’t enforce his order. How can you legally argue closing down a private construction site of a handful of people will imminently spread the coronavirus, but a large publicly funded construction project doesn’t? You can’t. He doesn’t want to make that argument in front of a court, even in progressive-friendly Washington state.

And people are noticing. It’s why some folks are openly defying his orders. It’s why some gun shops aren’t closing down and why groups are playing soccer in parks. Inslee is being exposed at the worst possible time: people are hurting, needing to go back to work, and they’re growing more listless.

Lack of leadership

Inslee is a leader without a compass.

He has a map, drawn with a thick crayon on the back of a kid’s menu, but no compass to get him where he needs to go. He knows we need to re-open the economy, but he doesn’t quite know how and fails to clearly articulate how we’ll get there.

The Tuesday night speech, touted as a glimpse at his plan, was vague and meandering; words put together to form sentences that really didn’t tell us anything.

Cowardice?

So why, at the end of April, is King County (with 5,427 cases and 379 deaths) treated the same as Columbia, Garfield, Ferry, Lincoln, Pacific, Pend Oreille, and Wahkiakum counties (with a combined 13 cases and 0 deaths)? There’s no reasonable and safe plan to let a resident get a haircut in Grays Harbor (12 cases, 0 deaths)?

A clearly defined plan that helps some people get back to work would go a long way.

But I suspect Inslee doesn’t want to be among the first states to open back up. There’s political risk in that decision. It’s also why he wasn’t quick to shutdown, despite being among the first hot spots in the country. He keeps waiting for other states to go first, so he has some political cover, all while buying time with meaningless speeches and tough talk against his critics.

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