August 18, 2016

Blaming Inslee for Washington's Early Prisoner Release Is Unconscionable

For a guy who keeps trying to convince me he's better than Jay Inslee, Bill Bryant seems determined to ensure I never vote for him in any election, ever.

As The Seattle Times so eloquently explains, the software bug leading to the early release of prisoners dates back to 2002, and wasn't discovered by the DOC until 2012, a year before Inslee took office! Even then, Inslee didn't learn of the problem until December 16th, after which he promptly held a news conference less than a week later. He fired multiple state workers and immediately instituted a rigorous double-checking procedure at the DOC to ensure prisoners were being released on time. Given Jay Inslee's position, I simply cannot imagine a better way to handle this, short of Jay Inslee miraculously developing mind reading powers that told him to audit the DOC for no apparent reason.

The fact that Bryant is blaming Inslee simply because Inslee was the one who discovered the problem is absolutely disgusting. I hear people learning about officials covering up mistakes all the time, and people always ask why they didn't just come forward about the problem and try to fix it. Well, that's exactly what Inslee did, and now Bryant is dragging him through the mud for it. I guess Bill Bryant is determined to make sure no good deed goes unpunished.

What kind of depraved human being would crucify Inslee for something that isn't his fault? An even better question is why they think I would vote for them. There are plenty of other real issues facing Jay Inslee that would be entirely valid criticisms of his administration, but I honestly don't care about them anymore. The only thing I know is that I don't want Bill Bryant elected to any position in any public office, ever, until he publicly apologizes for his morally reprehensible behavior towards Jay Inslee. Washington state does not need a leader that attacks people for doing the right thing just so they can get a few votes. No state in the entire country deserves a leader like that.

It's clear to me that Bill Bryant, and anyone who supports his shameless mudslinging, is the reason we can't have nice things.