Is Gov. Inslee Buying Votes?

(While Washington's Families Foot the Bill)

By Chelsea Martin

Picture this: It’s a perfect July afternoon, and a tall gentleman with black-framed glasses and a charming smile appears on your doorstep with a proposal so captivating it might just reshape your outlook — regarding your finances, government’s big promises, and perhaps even how you’ll cast your vote this November.

He’s certain his offer is so compelling, you can’t refuse. Here’s how it works …

The man will add about 50 cents to the cost of every gallon of gas you purchase for your vehicles. You and your spouse drive to work every day, so that’s nearly $80 a month.

Under his plan, the price of your groceries, clothing and electronics will also increase, but he’s not quite sure by how much. Still, you’ll feel the squeeze when those prices rise faster than your paycheck can keep up. And you’ll probably start to notice businesses struggling, especially those dependent on fuel-intensive operations like construction and manufacturing.

As for your gas and electric bills? He’ll increase those by several dollars each month.

“So what do I get for this $100+ in additional expenses every month?” you ask the gentleman.

Oh, that’s the good part.

“I’ll give you electric buses that your kids can ride for free,” he promises, with a smile beaming across his face.

Puzzled, you respond: “But my family doesn’t ride public transit buses. In fact, nobody I know does.”

Just then, you remember the news report you read about Chicago’s many challenges with electric buses, especially during cold winters. When cold weather sets in, the lithium-ion batteries that power the buses become less efficient, lose range and drain energy up to 40% faster. You’ve heard that each of those buses costs about $1.1 million, which is more than double the cost of your city’s diesel-powered buses.

“No thank you,” you say. “We don’t need your fancy $1.1 million electric buses with free rides for the kids. My car works just fine, and we carpool with other families. Besides, I can’t afford to pay you $100+ a month.”

That’s when the man with a nice smile tries another approach.

“OK, you like low-cost, clean energy,” he says. “What if I put a solar-powered lighting system in your local elementary school?”

You remember your electric utility, Modern Electric Water Company, provides some of the cheapest and cleanest renewable energy — hydropower and nuclear energy — in America.

“I’m an avid supporter of renewable energy sources,” you say, “but I’m not certain a solar-powered lighting system will make a meaningful difference in my community, especially not for the high cost to my family.

“Besides,” you ask, “how will you measure whether those solar panels are displacing electricity from fossil fuels or from the clean and green energy sources we already use, like hydropower and nuclear power?”

Yikes, the stranger on your doorstep hadn’t thought of that! Time to pivot …

“But WAIT!” the man insists. “Then I will give you electric vehicle chargers — 37 of them in your town. I’ll give you electric ferries, too!”

You scratch your head, questioning his reasoning and wondering why he’s so dead set on selling you expensive schemes that you neither need nor can afford.

“I don’t have $60,000 for an electric vehicle in addition to the $100 each month you are requesting from my family’s budget,” you explain. “My household barely makes $60,000 in a year. And what would I do with 37 electric vehicle chargers?”

That’s when you remember this Wall Street Journal news report about public charging networks experiencing outages and technical problems. The story revealed major compatibility issues, since not all EVs use the same charging connectors or standards, causing inconsistencies and big trouble for EV drivers.

Never mind the massive strain EVs and their chargers are putting on the electrical grid. After all, you and your neighbors do like having electricity to your homes.

“But … the electric ferries!” he exclaims.

“This is Spokane Valley, not Seattle,” you reply in disbelief. “Ferries don’t take us to work here. Where are you from anyway, Olympia?”

You’ve clearly made the stranger uneasy with that comment. He wonders what tipped you off.

The gentleman is also growing increasingly frustrated that you don’t recognize the brilliance of his elaborate plan. So, he pulls out all the stops to show you just how ingenious it truly is.

“OK, OK,” he says. “I don’t do this for everyone, but, for that extra $100+ a month, I will monitor your air quality.”

“You’ll fix my air quality?” you ask, excitedly.

Suddenly, this man has captured your attention. You’ve been dealing with relentless wildfires in your region, and the thick smoke won’t let up. It’s not only creating an unhealthy environment for everyone but also raising your fears about your daughter’s asthma potentially getting worse.

“No, no,” he says, correcting your faulty assumption that he would make the pollution go away. (That’ll probably require a whole other program at an additional cost to you.)

“I said I will monitor your air quality, as long as you live in one of 16 communities I have handpicked across the state.”

You’re growing increasingly frustrated and bewildered. You wonder, who is this guy?

“I have a free app on my cell phone that tells me the air quality index,” you tell him. “My family doesn’t need to pay you $100+ a month so you can tell us how dirty our air is.”

Now the man is clearly flustered. He feels you’ve insulted him and diminished his extravagant plan to make your life better.

Why don’t you get it? He’s here to help you.

“Little do you know, I already passed my big idea into law in 2021 and named it the Climate Commitment Act, or CCA,” the stranger explains. “You already give me that money whether you like it or not. In fact, that $100+ a month is built into the costs of your household budget — gas, groceries, most of the goods you buy. You pay me at least $1,200 a year, possibly more, depending on your purchasing habits.”

Then comes his final attempt to convince you that his CCA plan is brilliant.

“Since I care deeply about you, and you must give me $1,200+ a year, I’ll offer you a one-time $200 rebate on your electric bill,” he says, confident this sweet kickback will win your support. “To get the $150 million in funding for this rebate, I’ll take the cash from the paychecks of all the other folks paying the price of CCA. And I’ll expect your utility to promote CCA — telling everyone it reduces pollution, creates jobs and improves our health — and I’ll have them turn over your data to a third-party contractor I hired.”

But there is one other catch, he adds.

“I’ll give you the $200 rebate just a few weeks before the November election,” he explains with a sly grin and a twinkle in his eye. “And I know I can count on you to vote against the plan to repeal my CCA program. After all, you’ll lose all these fancy projects if CCA goes away.”

That’s when it hits you …

You know exactly what you’re going to do this November.

“But if CCA goes away,” you reply, “I’ll have $1,200 more a year to pay for gas and groceries. …

“And that’s worth more to my family than all your fancy, out-of-touch promises.”