{"id":2236269,"date":"2024-05-03T08:11:03","date_gmt":"2024-05-03T12:11:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/troubled-washington-ferry-system-becomes-an-issue-in-the-governors-race\/"},"modified":"2024-05-03T08:16:22","modified_gmt":"2024-05-03T12:16:22","slug":"troubled-washington-ferry-system-becomes-an-issue-in-the-governors-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/troubled-washington-ferry-system-becomes-an-issue-in-the-governors-race\/","title":{"rendered":"Washington ferry system issues impact governor&#8217;s race"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">14<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Ftroubled-washington-ferry-system-becomes-an-issue-in-the-governors-race%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2236269&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Washington Republican candidate for governor, Dave Reichert, is \u200ccriticizing\u2062 Governor Jay Inslee for the ongoing issues \u2063affecting Washington State Ferries. About\u2064 40% of the\u2062 fleet\u2064 is currently inactive,\u2064 prompting Reichert to urge immediate action from Inslee. Reichert proposes a shift\u200b to clean-burning\u2063 diesel ferries to swiftly restore\u200d the ferry system&#8217;s health and reliability, emphasizing the importance of rehiring workers laid \u2062off during the pandemic.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>(The Center Square)\u00a0\u2013 Washington Republican candidate for governor Dave Reichert is blasting Gov. Jay Inslee over ongoing issues plaguing Washington State Ferries. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cWith nearly 40% of the vessels in the Washington State Ferries fleet out of service, I\u2019m calling on Inslee to take immediate action on the mismanaged nightmare that happened on your watch,\u201d a news release from Reichert\u2019s campaign said.<\/p>\n<p>The news release went on to say, \u201cThe current administration has decided to just let the ferry system deteriorate purposefully because they have planned to transfer to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/washington-state-plans-to-outlaw-most-new-gas-cars\/\" title=\"Washington State Plans To Outlaw Most New Gas Cars\">electric ferries<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Reichert elaborated in speaking with The Center Square on Thursday. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe push to electric ferries puts us out now so many years and people on the islands can\u2019t wait that long,\u201d he said of the ferry-dependent San Juan Islands. <\/p>\n<p>He went on to observe, \u201cWe can put clean-burning diesel ferries and build those out and get them on the route and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/speaker-pelosis-new-house-rules-package-silences-the-voice-of-republican-minority\/\" title=\"Speaker Pelosi\u2019s new House rules package silences the voice of Republican minority\">bring back<\/a> the ferry system to full health as quickly as we can, and we can pretty easily transition those clean-burning diesel ferries to electric, if that\u2019s the direction we decide to go in a few years, but of course there could be even cleaner energies in a few years, too.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Reichert pointed to the shortage of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/dozens-of-unvaccinated-wash-state-ferry-workers-set-to-be-fired\/\" title=\"Dozens of unvaccinated Wash. State ferry workers set to be fired\">ferry workers<\/a> at the heart of the agency\u2019s struggle with reliability. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe employees who were fired during the pandemic is a big part of that, and we need to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/majority-of-people-who-quit-their-job-during-the-great-resignation-regret-it\/\" title=\"Majority of People Who Quit Their Job During the \"Great Resignation\" Regret It\">rehire workers<\/a> who would like their jobs back,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n<p>In October 2021, more than 400 Washington State Department of Transportation employees were fired for not complying with Inslee\u2019s COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The largest loss was within Washington State Ferries, which <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/washington-state-ferries-wont-rehire-unvaxxed-workers-amid-worker-shortages\/\" title=\"Washington State Ferries Won't Rehire Unvaxxed Workers Amid Worker Shortages\">lost 132 employees \u2013 121<\/a> of those as separations and 11 as retirements.<\/p>\n<p>Reichert recalled speaking with a former employee who considered going back to her position after Washington State Ferries offered to rehire workers who lost their jobs for refusing to get vaccinated. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cOne ferry worker on the San Juan Island run told me she was offered her job back, but at a lower paid position,\u201d he said, adding she informed the agency she wanted to come back to her previous position with the same pay as when she left.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe was refused that, and she shared with me she knows this happened with other ferry employees also,\u201d Reichert said. \u201cThe job they had, they deserve to have it back.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He concluded, \u201cWe\u2019re almost like a third world country with people standing around waiting for the ferries.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Attorney General Bob Ferguson, the frontrunning Democratic candidate for governor, has recently said he, too, supports the construction of at least two diesel powered ferries to remedy the immediate crisis, adding that doesn\u2019t mean he\u2019s opposed to the Inslee administration when it comes to the ferry system.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe end goal is to electrify the fleet but what\u2019s become clear is we\u2019ve got a crisis,\u201d Ferguson told <a href=\"https:\/\/www.seattletimes.com\/seattle-news\/politics\/struggling-state-ferry-system-finds-its-way-into-wa-governors-race\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>The Seattle Times<\/strong><\/a>. \u201cWe\u2019ve got to treat it like a crisis. Half measures won\u2019t cut it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He denied his stance signals a retreat from his party\u2019s aggressive agenda on climate change.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s recognition that different actions are needed for the sake of those living on islands who are reliant on ferries,\u201d Ferguson said.<\/p>\n<p>Washington State Ferries is the largest ferry system in the the U.S.<\/p>\n<p>The Center Square reached out to Inslee\u2019s office and the Ferguson campaign for comment but did not receive a response.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Washington gubernatorial candidate Dave Reichert criticizes Gov. Inslee for problems with Washington State Ferries. Reichert urges immediate action on the fleet&#8217;s major issues under Inslee&#8217;s leadership, as 40% of vessels are currently not in service<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2236270,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/wex-s3.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/AP24014160623172-1024x683.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2236269","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/wex-s3.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/AP24014160623172-1024x683.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2236269","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2236269"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2236269\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2236270"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2236269"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2236269"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2236269"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}