Rep. Jim Walsh: Gov. Inslee ‘reaching new lows’ with tax push

Rep. Jim Walsh (R-Aberdeen) of Washington’s 19th Legislative District found Gov. Inslee’s use of a homeless man’s death nothing short of appalling.

The man died amid the recent Seattle snowstorm, and Inslee used it as evidence for why a capital gains tax is needed in Washington.

“The governor is reaching new heights — or lows,” Walsh told KIRO Radio’s Dori Monson. “It’s just shocking, some of the things he’s saying and doing.”

Walsh believes that every action the governor takes is based on politics, rather than good conscience — especially as Gov. Inslee prepares for a 2020 presidential run. The governor opposed big projects like Millenium Bulk Terminals’ proposed coal export terminal in Longview, and then afterwards admitted to his supporters that the decision was “a political calculation,” Walsh said.

RELATED: Dori | Jay Inslee uses homeless person’s death to push state income tax

“The fact is, it’s politics — this is all politics,” Walsh said. “The Millenium Terminal project is politics. The homeless housing projects are politics. This is not good policy that this governor is putting forward. It’s a cynical political calculation.”

The Aberdeen representative believes that the green energy movement, both in this state and nationwide, is not really about a commitment to saving the planet, but rather is all about gaining and holding onto political power.

“They want non-carbon energy sources — okay, fine. But they don’t like hydro, which is non-carbon, and they don’t like nuclear, which is non-carbon,” he said. “So it’s really not about non-carbon energy sources … it’s about control.”

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s (D-NY) Green New Deal, which Inslee has signed onto as a co-sponsor, is an example of these policies, Walsh said. The plan, which sets the goal of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions within the next 10 years, would debase U.S. currency by printing money to pay for projects, leading to hyper-inflation, he said.

“I don’t believe that the people of this state want any part of that … I don’t think they want hyper-inflation, I don’t think they want to run Amazon out of Seattle,” Walsh said.

Whether the people of Washington state are liberal or conservative, he said, Gov. Inslee’s constituents don’t want extremes.

“I’m really worried that the governor, in his ambition to get [a] national reputation, is falling in with some of the goofballs,” Walsh said.

He sees politics as a pendulum that have swung all the way to one side, and must inevitably be on the downswing. And nowhere, Walsh said, is this more evident than in Gov. Inslee’s push for a capital gains tax — which, according to the IRS, is an income tax. A state income tax violates the state constitution.

“We can have a debate over slightly conservative or slightly liberal points of public policy — how do we pay for homeless housing? That’s a legitimate conversation,” Walsh said. “But this stuff — justifying an unconstitutional income tax because of a tragedy on the streets of Seattle — this is cynicism, this is emotionalism, this is not good public policy.”