The announcements from both parties were politically predictable in the wake of Jay Inslee’s decision to quit being a member of Congress for the rest of the year.
“It’s shameful of Congressman Inslee to lie to his constituents and the people of Washington about his intentions,” said WSRP Chairman Kirby Wilbur.
“It was a difficult decision, but what I need to do right now is focus all my attention on talking to people about what’s really important – creating jobs and growing our economy,” said Inslee.
The reaction from traditional allies on the left, however, has not been kind. Joel Connelly at seattlepi.com and Nina Shapiro at SeattleWeekly.com compared his decision to Sarah Palin’s resignation as Alaska governor. There is other precedent for it being a successful move. Neil Abercrombie left Congress to run for governor of Hawaii.
For locals the bigger impact is half of Kitsap County will not have a member of Congress to vote for them for the rest of the year and a few days into 2013. His staff will continue to work to help constituents. I don’t know how much heft is loss when those staff members don’t have a member of Congress.
Some members of the First District will have a member of Congress for the month between election certification and inauguration. Whoever wins the First District race in November will begin serving the district as soon as the election is certified. That new member of Congress however, will be serving in the new boundaries drawn up as part of redistricting. That means about half of all Kitsap residents will still have to wait until Jan. 3, 2013 when the new Sixth District member of Congress is sworn in.
Because of redistricting, it also means that some Washington residents will have two members of Congress, wherever the new First and the old districts overlap. Lucky them, I guess.
Since Mr. Inslee barely deigns to represent Kitsap County, his quitting is no major loss to me.
I live in Seabeck and have called his office a few times with concerns and received little or no response. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.
Good bye, Inslee. You will not be missed. I witnessed you holding court on the ferry, in front of your rapt fanclub, on multiple occasions. You never gave a damn about your constituents; you just wanted a stepping stone to more political power. It never was about finding out what your constituents wanted, nor of making compromises for the better good of your district; it was all about advancing your far-Left agenda. You completely ignored everybody who was not an extremist
You got away with it for too long. I just hope that your successor will be a moderate that cares more about the needs of the district rather than an extreme ideology.
The only good thing about his resignation is he can now do less damage. Besides who ever expects a democrat elected offical in Kitsap to serve out a whole term. Dicks seems to be the exception to the rule
Sarah Palin kept her job as Governor while she was running for Vice President and only resigned some time later under a cloud of ethics allegations. There really is no comparison.
It’s certainly reasonable to complain about Inslee resigning, but it’s also reasonable to complain about McKenna not resigning even though he will be less effective as Attorney General through the election.
Jay Inslee is going to make a great Governor of Washington in any case.
Be glad he’s gone. Now he has the chance to really work his campaign. He can go to the mafia. Chicago thugs, a few more corrupt ex congressmen and have fund raisers.