Loren Culp -- Jay Inslee Debate Highlights Culp's Libertarian Ethos on COVID-19

Loren Culp campaigning for Governor of Washington State

  

Loren Culp's candidacy for governor gets a lot of traction here in Eastern Washington, where the libertarian ethos is as strong as cheat grass, and potentially as volatile.

Culp wants "the people" to be free to decide for themselves whether and how to deal with the deadliest pandemic in modern U.S. history. Researchers found the relative increase in mortality during the early period of the COVID-19 epidemic was "substantially greater" than the peak of the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic.

Culp mirrors the approach Donald Trump has taken to controlling COVID-19. Under the Presidents chaotic mismanagement the US continues to regularly report more than 1,000 new coronavirus deaths a day, which is one of the highest daily death rates per capita in the world. Over 212,000 of "the people" have died so far, and cases across the U.S. are once again surging as restrictions are eased.

Washington State has one of the lowest per capita rates of COVID-19 in the U.S., and according to a report from Oxfam America, no state has a better safety net for people impacted by COVID-19. But as restrictions have been eased, cases are again increasing. It's way too soon to ease restrictions, or to get complacent.

Loren Culp will continue to beat the "give me liberty or give me death drum" -- we can only hope that he's not going to lead too many of his followers to the latter outcome, and that those that do follow his lead, stay the heck away from the rest of us.

Getting to Know Rob McKenna

Rob McKenna seems to have been running for political office right out of the crib. He has an impressive resume; two bachelor’s degrees, law degree, high school and college student body president, Eagle Scout, county council member at age 33, and most recently, Attorney General for the State of Washington. According to the Seattle Times, McKenna’s high school friends joked about him being president of the United States someday.

It certainly wouldn’t surprise people who know McKenna. He is nothing if not ambitious. President may be in his long-term plans, but right now he has his aim on the State House. Being the Governor of Washington might well be McKenna’s idea of a stepping stone to a presidential run.

McKenna is a politician’s politician. On the one hand, when speaking to union employees, he states that collective bargaining is a recognized right. When speaking to Republican supporters he says that collective bargaining is merely a “statutory right,” and characterizes public employee unions as “dangerous.” The Seattle Times reported that the head of the Republican Governors Association told Washington’s delegates to the Republican National Convention that McKenna would be a leader similar to Scott Walker, the pugnacious, anti-union governor of Wisconsin.

Despite portraying himself as a moderate Republican, McKenna’s actions speak louder than words. McKenna is consistently anti tax and told a Tea Party rally, “I represent you.” The Tea Party is as strongly behind McKenna as they are their favorite, Clint Didier, who claims global warming is a hoax perpetrated to pave the way for a UN takeover of US sovereignty

In the face of increasing evidence of habitat destruction and declining biodiversity, McKenna parrots the Republican lament about burdensome environmental regulations, and he has implied that home buyers, rather than shady mortgage companies, are to blame for the foreclosure crisis.

But what really elevated McKenna to the national stage and got him noticed by Republican Party functionaries was being one of the first state attorneys general to join a multi-state law suit against the Affordable Care Act. Here again, McKenna, the adroit politician, tried to have it both ways, arguing that he was “only” against the insurance mandate. But King County Superior Court Judge Sharon Armstrong said that McKenna’s “consistent legal position” has been to repeal the entire health reform law and that his campaign talk of maintaining its popular provisions were merely “political statements.”

McKenna’s stance on health care reform and his tactical “political statements” have vaulted him into the conservative limelight and generated millions of dollars in campaign contributions from special interests, including many from out of state. He currently holds a half million dollar lead over his main rival, Jay Inslee. With less than 70 days until the election, that represents a significant advantage.