Washington State Governor Inslee has approached his virus lockdown policies with a plethora of formal emergency proclamations (see all of them here). Some make sense like suspending abusive regulatory processes that provide little value and increase the cost to provide Washingtonians the goods and services they need – perhaps we can keep those suspended indefinitely. However some of these are just bizarre and should be rejected by everyone. Here is just one example of a proclamation which Inslee should rescind. (Note: *update to article below)
On March 26, 2020 Inslee made emergency proclamation #20-31 (see copy here). As you can read for yourself, this suspends background checks for childcare workers hired to watch the children of “essential workers.” Ostensibly, the excuse is that the people who conduct the background checks won’t be in their offices to conduct the checks. This is just stupid policy, and it should be rejected and rescinded by the Governor’s office.
Seriously, every time I volunteer to chaperone a field trip for my kids at school, I am required to allow the school to conduct a background check (and any parent who has volunteered has the same experience in our state). Plenty of civic groups who focus on working with kids including large organizations like the Boy Scouts have to conduct background checks on all adult leaders who could come into contact with children. Since most of the background check work is done via computer today, is the state seriously claiming they can’t get a state worker (who is being paid whether they are sheltering in place at home or not), to complete this task?
In a time of crisis it is almost certain that bad actors, like child molesters, would take advantage of the situation to harm children. That is what they do. Of all things, why would Governor Inslee pick THIS ONE to waive? Particularly while he is at the same time unleashing a tsunami of early-release criminals, including sexual predators? (see article here, and article here). In Maple Valley, a worker assigned to watch children of first responders is now under investigation for multiple counts of molesting children just a few days ago (see here). It isn’t clear yet that he would have been prevented from being in this position by this proclamation, but it should be a wakeup call to rescind this misguided proclamation policy. These predators are out there. Broadcasting the fact that you won’t be doing background checks on childcare workers is probably not optimal policy, and it certainly isn’t making the world safer “for the children.”
*Update – After I posted this article, multiple Republican legislators contacted me to tell me in their caucus call this morning, they expressed a consensus that this was one of the proclamations they would not support. Keep in mind, Inslee is proceeding as though he doesn’t need their support on these actions anyway.
OUR CONSTITUTION BEGINS WITH THE PHRASE “WE THE PEOPLE.” IT WAS THE FOUNDER’S INTENT THAT GOVERNMENT BE CREATED BY THE PEOPLE, TO SERVE THE PEOPLE. IT WASN’T THEIR INTENTION FOR THE PEOPLE TO SERVE THE GOVERNMENT. IT WAS ALWAYS INTENDED THAT GOVERNMENT WHICH FAILED TO SERVE THE PEOPLE SHOULD BE “ALTERED OR ABOLISHED.” UNTIL WE RETURN TO THE FOUNDER’S INTENT, WE REMAIN WE THE GOVERNED…
Background articles and documents:
Complete list of Governor Jay Inslee’s emergency proclamations – official website
Proclamation #20-31 “suspend background checks for childcare workers”
Rantz: Governor Inslee releasing sex offender, gang members from jail over Coronavirus
Tahoma schools childcare worker faces multiple molestation accusations
Do these politicians and bureaucrats even care? Washington State rebellion grows
A good day for a little rebellion against Governor Inslee
Federal Lawsuit filed by Josh Freed against Governor Inslee April 21, 2020
Herman: Inslee reverses course, now against sanctuary counties
Dori: The wussification of our kids continues in Seattle schools
MyNorthwest: Washington Ferry Ridership Craters
Washington State Governor Inslee turned us all into armed homeschooling preppers
The top 6 Games Government bureaucrats play when faced with budget cuts – the video
The Top 6 Games Government bureaucrats play when faced with budget cuts
Herman: “Shared sacrifice” is the biggest lie Jay Inslee has ever told”
State Budget Cuts are Coming – the Video
Time to Downsize State Government
Many Counties delay property tax due date. This is only the beginning
Evergreen State College – the next Corona Virus Quarantine Facility?
City of Olympia Proudly Showcases beautiful addict/homeless camps – now THIS is real progress
>Inslee suspends background checks for childcare workers…
Really makes one wonder. . Plus he fancies himself POTUS… What’s worse, he’s a father.
I wish a YT chan w/ 1M subs would out Inslee for even THINKING about allowing convicted CHILD MOLESTERS< RAPISTS, possibly even MURDERERS hire as Childcare providers for the State Of Washington.
1000 thanks for sounding the alarm .
It appears that now that this article was written, and more importantly, the Republican Caucus in the House (and I believe, but haven’t confirmed, in the Senate) said they would not support it, the Governor appears to have dropped the proclamation, although, nobody has yet verified that they are actually going back to complying with the law…
>Governor appears to have dropped the proclamation.<
That's great. You rock! Thanks for the reply =)
I noticed Inslee was a former trial lawyer and prosecutor.
Damage (to his reputation) resulting from Potential Litigation might've caught his attention.. . .. .If WA State sanctioned Childcare Providers were convicted of molesting children because of a loophole Inslee created for hiring Pedophiles…tsk tsk
In all seriousness, someone would benefit from running background checks on state workers in general. I’m not sure this is done, or if so, it is done haphazardly. I found a disbarred attorney (26 counts of fraud) from Colorado once, which DSHS hired as a level 3 adjudicator for some of the most vulnerable people in the state. DSHS refused to sanction or even look into him. They promoted him instead.
Your sleuthing skills are remarkable. I bet you know of worse, if you were able to discover that.
If you look at WA State’s employment application, Background Checks are required.. Part of the pre screening process. One can only speculate about DSHS’ disturbing lack of integrity.
> DSHS refused to sanction or even look into him They promoted him instead <
Probably with an Internal Agency Job Listing. Usually created to provide an "opportunity" for a specific person.
I worked for Wsdot for a few years and noticed promotional opportunities were also created to transfer "problems" out of an office. Least messy way to get rid of the headache.
The interesting thing is that background checks for DSHS employees is a fairly recent phenomenon (2009, if I remember correctly). Once they implemented those, they never went back and screened the existing employees. When I confronted them about the disbarred attorney, they indicated that their background check wouldn’t pick that up anyway, so he would have been hired today. It also appears that they do not go back and regularly screen employees with background checks. The other point, which was made clear to me by private investigators, is the fact the “background checks” conducted by the state are not very comprehensive and would miss a lot of problems. The depressing conclusion is that government is a great place to hide out as an employee if you have a shady past, and nobody will do anything about it, unless you really go off the reservation and become Republican or something radical like that…
2009?!!
> unless you really go off the reservation and become Republican …
~ and ~
admit that you hate Costco Hot dogs and Pizza at the office Xmas party,
Good one…
Well, they do already have us masked, making our protests sound like muffled incomprehensible utterings – laughable in the face of these tyrants and dare I say worse. What motivates the removal of background checks to our children? They want our kids harmed. Thats all I can think of. This makes no sense. None. In my community, there are people standing up with petition signing to at least stop the “Comprehensive” sex education for kids in kindergarten. My brain recalled the news clips of the strip show the Seattle City council had to raise $ for the homeless. I could not sign up fast enough.
Thank you for staying engaged and involved despite the efforts they make to increase the difficulty of activism. The future belongs to those who show up
vote him out in November!
Everyone gets that opportunity in this state – three or four times if you live in King County…
Is Washington State a failed state? Apparently our constitution and laws cannot prevent tyranny. When a governor is able to inflict any amount of harm and economic devastation without any check on his power, that means the system of governance is defective. Perhaps it is time to dissolve Washington State and create new governing entities with more robust checks and balances.
That is probably more radical an approach to fixing this than necessary. A tweak to the State Constitution would be sufficient, and some serious changes to a few RCWs would prevent this. We’d still have to elect a few people who don’t have spaghetti spines, but that would be true no matter what….
I agree with your suggestions. I haven’t had much luck convincing anyone that laws involving state of emergencies have to be changed. I’m dealing with people who have no concept that the next governor could be much worse than Inslee.
Yeah, but it shouldn’t matter who the governor is. There is always the possibility in the future someone worse can get into office. The point of the Constitution, to a lesser extent our laws, and theoretically the legislature, is that they all hold a bad guy in check and ensure the people’s rights are at least marginally protected. Human nature is fairly predictable. Given a chance, bad guys will do bad things, and the quest for power is absolute and unchanging in men seeking political office. Particularly if they realize they can run roughshod over their enemies and reward their friends. In the end, we the people do need to ensure this accountability is made to work…
THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE!!!!!
Nobody disagrees…
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