Rantz: Gov. Jay Inslee created slush fund to bribe voters into saving his gas hike and combat I-2117
Jul 31, 2024, 5:55 PM
Gov. Jay Inslee held a press conference on Monday. Jason Rantz writes, Inslee created a fund to bribe people into saving his gas hike. (Photo via TVW)
(Photo via TVW)
Governor Jay Inslee and his Democrat cronies concocted a taxpayer-funded $150 million slush fund to bribe Washingtonians into voting against I-2117. He is using the very Washingtonians he financially crippled as political pawns in his desperate bid to save face.
I-2117 seeks to repeal Inslee’s disastrous Climate Commitment Act (CCA). This atrocious policy forces energy producers to either cut emissions or buy carbon allowances. Predictably, producers opted to buy allowances and passed the costs directly to consumers at the pump.
During the debate, Inslee shamelessly lied, claiming the CCA would only add pennies to gas prices. At one point, he even absurdly suggested it might make gas cheaper. But Inslee’s own economist contradicted him, warning it would be costly. And guess what? The economist was right and said he was later forced to retire for his unwillingness to lie to help Inslee.
The CCA has jacked up gas prices by about $0.50 per gallon, often making Washington the most expensive state for gas. In response, Let’s Go Washington and conservative activist Brian Heywood launched a campaign to repeal this cash-grab masquerading as environmental policy. The CCA hasn’t even lowered carbon emissions. It just made Washingtonians poorer.
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How is Jay Inslee trying to bribe voters with taxpayer dollars?
Panicking at the thought of another signature legislative failure, Inslee and the Democrats schemed to create a $150 million fund to bribe low- and moderate-income residents with one-time $200 rebates. This cynical move is nothing more than a desperate attempt to buy support and distract from the financial havoc they’ve wreaked on hardworking Washingtonians. It should be called what it is: the Jay Inslee bribe fund. Bob Ferguson tried a similar bribe.
The rebate’s funding was tied to the CCA, passed in 2021. The rebate program was conveniently created after I-2117 was announced. The budget language explicitly states that rebates will be withheld from low-income families if I-2117 passes — a despicable ploy to bribe them into voting against the initiative. It was a calculated move to give Inslee a talking point, which he gleefully used.
“They’re trying to take away $200 from these families,” Inslee told KOMO News, awkwardly adding “weird” to tie himself to the Democrats’ national talking point against Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance. “Who wants to take away $200 credit from a family to help them with their costs of these low-income folks? That’s reprehensible. You know what else? It’s weird.”
Inslee doesn’t care about the families who need that $200. The rebate would only cover the month’s worth of fees those families paid at the pump because of his CCA. He’s exploiting the desperation of low-income families, using their financial struggles as leverage to keep his disastrous policy in place.
Inslee’s willingness to lie and manipulate the system for political gain knows no bounds. But this stunt? It’s especially vile. He’s not just playing politics; he’s playing with people’s lives and livelihoods, showing just how far he’ll go to cling to his failed policies that he thinks will help him when he leaves the Governor’s mansion for environmental work in the private sector.
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