Last week, in his January 6th address, Governor Jay Inslee stated: “Soon, legislation will be introduced in the state House and Senate that would make it a gross misdemeanor for candidates and elected officials to knowingly lie about elections.” Inslee wants to criminalize what he deems as “lies” about election results.
As of now, there is no bill in the legislature, no sponsor of such bill that would criminalize “election lies”. Surely one of his cronies will be happy to comply. It’s no surprise that Jay Inslee wants another unconstitutional power grab and I’m sure he could find someone on the left to sponsor this bill. Inslee is going to use the January 6th “Insurrection” to put as many laws and rules in place as he can to control his opposition.
Constitutional Law expert, Jonathan Turley wrote: Inslee insisted that there would have to be “knowledge that there’s potential to create violence” for it to be considered a gross misdemeanor. What does that even mean? Any prosecutor could allege that a claim of election fraud was inviting another “Jan. 6th insurrection.” The claim itself would be treated as incitement. Indeed, this seems like an effort to evade the constitutional limits placed on incitement crimes by the courts.
Inslee has also targeted three Republican state representatives who attended Mike Lindell’s cyber-symposium on election fraud: Representatives Brad Klippert, Vicki Kraft and Robert Sutherland. Election integrity has been a long-time issue in Washington state and these elected leaders are working hard to bring truth to our election process. Inslee criticized the use of taxpayer dollars for these trips; however, I have been told directly from these representatives that these expenses were cleared through the administrative process beforehand. Not to mention, Democrats spend taxpayer dollars on things all the time that I don’t agree with.
Representative Brad Klippert, who is running for US Congress in Washington’s 4th district told Action News in Tri-Cities: “I don’t get it with this guy [Inslee], has he not read the Constitution, has he not read that we in the United States of America and we in Washington state have freedom of speech,” said Klippert. “So, if he wants to take on the U.S. and the Washington state constitutions and the fact that the citizens of Washington state and the United States of America want free, fair, just and truthful elections, bring it. I’m ready to have that argument because I think citizens should be able to cast their votes and know that their votes are true and that they’re counted correctly and honestly and that there is not excessive fraudulent activity taking place in our elections.”
He’s right. Citizens have a right to know that our vote was counted honestly and correctly and that voters who shouldn’t be voting (you know, like dead people) aren’t getting counted.
I don’t know if we will see this bill come to fruition, but nothing that happens in this state surprises me anymore. This is just another one of hundreds of power grabs Inslee and the Washington Democrats are working towards in the 2022 legislative session. It’s a short session, but they’ve already made it clear they will push their agenda hard and fast. Buckle up, Washington…or better yet, high tail it out of here.
*By Julie Barrett, Founder, Conservative Ladies of Washington
