Inslee refuses to uphold the law

We hired him.

We expect our governor to be selfless in the performance of his duties, yet he has placed his own sense of “self: above his duty to the people of this state. He has stated his refusal to perform a task of law of this state which he swore to uphold, and of which he alone has the ultimate power to execute.

Governor Inslee was hired by the people to do a job. As part of that job to make a decision, if and when required, that no other person in this state has the power and authority to make. He apparently now has decided he wants no part in the process of determining the final punishment for the ultimate crime in our state. He, in fact, ensures that no other person can make that decision. A decision that can provide justice for the offended or leniency for offender; a law that, as a deterrent, offers some protection for the people who dedicate themselves to protect the public. Must we now live with the possibility that the crime of murder may be committed without the threat of that final penalty? Our governor complains there are too many flaws in the death penalty law. On that basis he now wishes to abdicate that requirement of his sworn duty. Will he in the future use his evaluation of “self” to excuse running away from duty?

We hired him! Now we must wait too long before we can fire him.

Tommy L. VanGelder

Monroe

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FILE — In this Sept. 17, 2020 file photo, provided by the Idaho Department of Fish and Game, Chelbee Rosenkrance, of the Idaho Department of Fish and Game, holds a male sockeye salmon at the Eagle Fish Hatchery in Eagle, Idaho. Wildlife officials said Tuesday, Aug. 10, 2021, that an emergency trap-and-truck operation of Idaho-bound endangered sockeye salmon, due to high water temperatures in the Snake and Salomon rivers, netted enough fish at the Granite Dam in eastern Washington, last month, to sustain an elaborate hatchery program. (Travis Brown/Idaho Department of Fish and Game via AP, File)
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