(The Center Square) – A Washington lawmaker says a legal complaint over officials allegedly telling a state economist to lie about his math regarding the state’s carbon auction could prove revealing.
Rep. Andrew Barkis, R-Olympia, is the ranking minority member on the House Transportation Committee. He told The Center Square that he’s less surprised that people within state government didn’t see the effect of Washington’s Climate Commitment Act but more so over allegations of censorship.
“I actually wasn’t really that shocked,” he said. “Knowing these numbers, it’s not a surprise that it was discovered. It’s disconcerting that an employee who was trying to do his job was told not to.”
At issue is Tumwater resident Michael Smith. The 64-year-old worked as an economist with the Department of Transportation. When Smith calculated a 40 to 50-cent-per-gallon increase in gas due to the carbon auction, he alleges in his complaint that state workers pressured him to keep that to himself or lie about it.
“On January 18, 2023, at around 10:10 a.m., my client met with Mr. Nguyen Dang (a temporary supervisor) who informed him that management ‘would prefer’ that he not include the cap-and-trade surcharges in his quarterly fuel price forecast,” Attorney Jackson Maynard wrote on behalf of Smith. “By ‘management,’ my client understood that Mr. Nguyen was referring to Ms. Amber Coulson, WSDOT’s Financial and Planning Manager, and Mr. Eric Hansen of the Governor’s Office of Financial...
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