Olympia rally calls for immediate reopening of state

OLYMPIA, Wash. — A message of defiance, as more than 1,000 people rallied outside the state Capitol. They say the state should re-open completely now.

They filled the state Capitol lawn for the Open for Business Rally, angry over the continuation of Gov. Jay Inslee’s Stay Home, Stay Healthy order.

They believe the order should be lifted.

It was a message delivered on the ground and from the air. It was directed squarely at the state’s Democratic governor.

“All power is derived by the consent of the governed,” one speaker told the crowd. “And Jay Inslee, look around. We do not consent. We are not your subjects.”

Opposition has been growing in the nearly two months since the governor imposed his Stay Home, Stay Healthy initiative to fight the deadly coronavirus. Those here say it has gone on for too long.

“God gave us certain inalienable rights,” said Joseph Figueroa of Kirkland. “And what is happening right now is that the governor has overstepped his authority on multiple fronts.”

“I understand there needs to be a process,” said Ron Lalime, who drove to Olympia from Covington. “But again, you look around the country,; there are states opening up all over the country. And they’re doing it smartly. And they’re doing it successfully.”

This is how Republican Tim Eyman, the sponsor of Saturday’s Open for Business rally, spent part of Friday, announcing the filing of a lawsuit to force the governor to reopen schools.

On Saturday, Eyman openly defied the governor’s order to socially distance.

“You know what this is?” said Eyman to a supporter, as he leaned in to hug her. “This is Republican social distancing. Isn’t it though?”

He made the case again for why he should replace Inslee.

“Oak Harbor, Richland, Spokane,” he said, “I went all over the state during this time because I think what’s more dangerous than COVID is one person making all decisions for everybody without any accountability.”

The promise that is being delivered here today is that this is just the beginning. The people who came to Olympia will not rest until there is a change in the person running the state’s government.

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