Inslee doesn’t deserve all the accolades in vetoing Public Records exemption bill

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Commentary

Gov. Jay Inslee did the right thing in vetoing SB6617, which exempts the Legislature from

Jay Inslee. Photo via Google images.

the Public Records Act.

But, as it turns out, he doesn’t deserve all the accolades he’s receiving. In fact, he was complicit.

In his own press statement issued last night announcing the veto was this sentence:

“Though I expressed concerns about the outline of the bill, I did tell legislators I would let the bill become law if they delivered it with enough votes to override a veto.” (Emphasis added.)

So much for the principal that Legislators should be open and transparent about public records.

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Why I support the Town Center

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By Jason Ritchie

Member, Sammamish City Council

Guest Contributor

By Jason Ritchie

I stand by my words in the email quoted in the Sammamish Comment. I’m a strong supporter of the Town Center development plan. But that’s not the whole story. So let’s get specific.

Hold developers accountable

The Town Center plan is simply a plan. It has a lot of details that need to be negotiated. Implementing any plan is where we will determine our success. It’s up to the citizens of Sammamish, their elected City Council and city staff to hold all developers accountable. I intend to keep doing that.

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Inslee vetoes Public Records exemption bill, litigants stand down for new negotiations

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Gov. Inslee today vetoed SB6617, the legislation that exempts legislators from the Public Records Act.

Inslee’s press release may be found here

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Gov. “can’t” or “won’t” veto legislators’ self-exemption from Public Records Act?

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Gov. Jay Inslee says he “can’t” veto SB6617, the bill the Legislature passed to exempt itself from the Washington Public Records Act, because it was approved by super-majorities that can override a veto.

Gov. Jay Inslee stood up to President Trump. Will he stand up to the Washington State Legislature? Photo via Google images.

Or is it more like Inslee “won’t” veto it, using the veto-proof majorities as cover so he can pursue his own political goals, such as a carbon tax? Can he afford to piss off legislators with a veto to the possible detriment of his own agenda?

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Council quietly killed STCA plans out of public view last year

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Sammamish City Council members quietly and out of the public view closed down efforts by developer STCA to dramatically upzone the Town Center.

The effort by STCA and the Council’s action never emerged into the public domain, it was revealed at the Save Sammamish meeting last night.

The revelation came after Sammamish Comment revealed the plans in a post Monday morning. The issue quickly became a hot topic on Facebook in various activist pages.

Council member Ramiro Valderrama, in a posting on The Comment, responded that, “I know of no current discussions for upcoming the Town Center.” But he did not reveal the Council had shut the effort down last fall, at a time when the City was preparing to accept “Docket Requests” to the Comprehensive Plan.

One Valderrama critic noted the parsing of words: there are no “current” discussions.

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