Gov. Inslee’s New Years Quote? “Big Things Take Time…” Chilling?
Maybe we're being too conspiratorial here, but Inslee's assessment of his rough first year in office is a little cryptic.
After what many are calling, including The Olympian Newspaper, a "rough" first year, Gov. Inslee appears to be unfazed. Many critics are calling it worse than that, ineffective. However, Inslee appears to be as driven towards his goals as when he first took office.
Many have found his self-assessment statement to be a little too close to his almost mirror image in D.C., as Inslee said "Big Things Take Time." All he had to do was add the word "change."
Yes, he was faced with the issues of Boeing, and Inslee does deserve credit for making sincere attempts to keep the 777x and other projects here. But the following events during his first tenure in office make his year-end statement chilling:
- Inslee sided with House Democrats during the marathon budget battle, supporting a plan that would have ended over 100 tax breaks for businesses from A to Z across the state. He refused initially to acknowledge they (had they passed) would actually be tax increases, despite dozens of temporary Gregoire-era taxes that were supposed to expire at the end of June. The Coalition in the Senate (23 GOP and 2 Democrats) were able to shoot down those plans. He called them "loopholes."
- Inslee signed a controversial climate change pact with the governors of CA, OR and the Premiere of British Columbia, Canada that could result in numerous economically-damaging climate change policies in the future.
- Inslee has repeated pushed for a huge gas-tax increase to fund his transportation plan. Initially starting at well over $.20 cents a gallon, he whittled it down to $.11 cents, but the year ended without any such deal or plan.
- Inslee has strongly hinted he wants a carbon tax for Washington businesses, failing to see how cap-and-trade completely collapsed and failed in Europe. This plan would force businesses to pay excessive fees based upon how much they allegedly pollute the environment.
Going into the near year, given this report card from his first term in office, hearing the words "Big Things Take Time" could leave one to believe he will not let up until he achieves his controversial (and possibly economically damaging) policies - regardless of the cost to the state.