For the federation’s announcement that compares the positions of Inslee and leading Republican candidate Rob McKenna on a few issues, go here.
Brad Shannon:
The Politics Blog
Brad Shannon maintains this blog. He is political editor at The Olympian and can be reached at 360-753-1688 or bshannon@theolympian.com.
Federation endorses Jay Inslee for governor
Brad Shannon | The Olympian
The Washington Federation of State Employees has done what labor unions do in governor’s races: endorse the Democrat - in this case, Jay Inslee. The Olympia-based union announced the decision by its executive board earlier in the day, saying it was done in order to give WFSE a position before next Thursday’s Washington State Labor Council endorsement convention .
Inslee similarly captured the Washington Education Association’s endorsement and is expected to announce Monday his “First Steps to Building A New Economy” plan for the state. Inslee long has advocated for a national push to develop more alternative or so-called clean-energy technologies as a way to create jobs and reduce U.S. reliance on imported oil.
The Washington State Republican Party spokesman Josh Amato put out a news release Friday taking shots at the Inslee campaign’s slowness in laying out his positions and chiding him for not taking a position on Gov. Chris Gregoire’s proposed half-cent sales tax. It says: “A scant 222 days have passed since Congressman Jay Inslee declared his intention to run for governor, and it appears Monday he may be ready to articulate some of his policy proposals at an event in Seattle …”
