‘I was pretty mad’: Tacoma’s Jinkins stunned by COVID phase pause, says plan must evolve
Jay Inslee can’t duck the eruption of Pierce County displeasure crashing down on him right now any more than legendary backwoods lodge owner Harry R. Truman could escape the eruption of Mount St. Helens in 1980.
The angst may have peaked last week when Washington’s governor paused rollbacks under his COVID-19 Roadmap to Recovery. That meant King, Snohomish and other counties were spared having to revert to Phase 2, just a few weeks after Pierce, Cowlitz and Whitman counties weren’t given the same slack.
A letter signed by a dozen Pierce County legislators, taking the governor to task for inconsistent application of his virus metrics, seemed to signify a tipping point. Eight of the 12 co-signers were Inslee’s fellow Democrats.
Notably missing, however, was the Tacoma Democrat with the most political muscle and direct conduit to Inslee: House Speaker Laurie Jinkins.
Well, guess what? Jinkins isn’t swallowing her whistle and refusing to cry foul like some folks assume.
“I, too, was very frustrated with how the rollback and delay went,” Jinkins told our Editorial Board Monday, adding: “I was pretty mad when I heard” that our northern neighbors were given a reprieve to demonstrate extenuating circumstances and progress in turning the corner on the virus.
It didn’t help that she was notified about the pause less than an hour before Inslee announced it.
Jinkins said her frustration softened on deeper reflection, after realizing the pause prevented Pierce County from slipping to Phase 1. She also hasn’t lost sight of the fact that countless Washingtonians are still alive thanks to the pandemic response led by Inslee, ranked among the nation’s strongest.
Still, she said the recovery plan should be revamped to fit the evolving pandemic, and that she’s talking to Inslee about it.
What she described as a “Goldilocks” style of managing COVID-19 — a county-by-county assessment, followed by a regional analysis, then back to a county-based assessment applied unevenly — has stopped making sense. If anything, it’s exacerbating fatigue and non-compliance with the governor’s orders.
Trying to find a just-right solution may be a fairy tale. But the governor ought to adjust his plan to emphasize more timely metrics, such as vaccination and death rates.
Jinkins told us she typically doesn’t sign grievance letters since becoming speaker because it feels like signing a letter to herself. That feeling is compounded in this situation, since the signers said they may ask legislative leaders to call a special session If Inslee doesn’t get his act together. And they all know who occupies one of the top two leadership chairs.
Like Jinkins, we have no quarrel with the letter. It’s not about being denied feelings of schadenfreude; nobody should wish other counties to suffer the rollback misfortune we have. It’s about providing a measure of predictability and not squandering the confidence of Washington’s second-most populous county.
“The Pierce County community has sacrificed in the past year to save lives and keep businesses open,” the letter concludes. “They deserve to be treated fairly during the Roadmap to Recovery reopening.”
The bipartisan letter was sent to Inslee May 6, signed by a hodgepodge of eight local Democrats: Sen. T’wina Nobles and Reps. Mari Leavitt and Dan Bronoske of the 28th Legislative District; Sen. Steve Conway and Reps. Steve Kirby and Melanie Morgan of the 29th District; Sen. Emily Randall of the 26th and Sen. Claire Wilson of the 30th.
The four Republicans who signed were even more of a mixed bag: Sen. Jim McCune of the 2nd District, Rep. Cyndy Jacobsen of the 25th, Rep. Michelle Caldier of the 26th and Rep. Eric Robertson of the 31st.
Among the non-signers was GOP House Minority Leader JT Wilcox of the 2nd District, who said the letter was mostly about words, not action. Democrats missed a chance to limit the governor’s emergency powers as recently as last month, during the session, Wilcox told us Monday. That said, “I’m glad they did it, and I hope it works.”
As for Jinkins, she doesn’t support a special session at this time.
It’s helpful to remember she wears three professional hats, all of which inform her thoughts on COVID-19 somewhat differently. She’s a second-year House speaker, six-term representative for Tacoma’s 27th District and a veteran manager at the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department.
Jinkins is now back to work as a senior adviser at TPCHD. Overcoming vaccine hesitancy is a focus; she’d like to see more “micro-targeting” of vaccine messaging through organizations like Safe Streets and largely white, evangelical churches.
“I think we should start little fires everywhere,” she said.
Her Pierce County colleagues may have started a little fire of their own last week. We hope Jinkins will use her influence to keep the governor feeling some heat.
News Tribune editorials reflect the views of our Editorial Board and are written by opinion editor Matt Misterek. Other board members are: Stephanie Pedersen, News Tribune president and editor; Matt Driscoll, local columnist; and Jim Walton, community representative. The Editorial Board operates independently from the newsroom and does not influence the work of news reporting and editing staffs. For questions about the board or our editorials, email matt.misterek@thenewstribune.com
This story was originally published May 11, 2021 at 8:00 AM.