WA taxpayers should not have to pay for State Rep. Klippert’s voter fraud fantasy

If attending a symposium on election fraud conspiracy theories had brought State Rep. Brad Klippert to his senses, it would have been money well spent.

But that’s not what happened.

If anything, the Kennewick Republican appears more entrenched in his outrageous beliefs than ever before. What’s worse, he still has no regrets about asking taxpayers to pay for his fraud-fantasy junket.

His mind-set is ridiculous, and potentially dangerous.

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee is proposing legislation that would make it unlawful for elected officials and candidates to spread lies about election results if their speech leads to violence.

Klippert needs to be more careful. He also should apologize to taxpayers and pay back the money he spent to attend the three-day “Cyber Symposium” in South Dakota last August.

The event was sponsored by MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, who said he had proof that hackers helped President Joe Biden steal the 2020 election from Donald Trump. As it turned out, no such proof emerged, and some of Lindell’s own experts admitted that Lindell’s data doesn’t support his claims.

And yet Klippert is glad he made the trip. He even made a speech there.

He told the Tri-City Herald that he went in service of the voters and that he was on a fact-finding mission. “I am doing everything I can because I don’t have the resources myself as a part-time state level legislator … to do the study myself,” he said.

Klippert attended the gathering along with two other Washington state legislators — Reps. Robert Sutherland, R-Granite Falls, and Vicki Kraft, R-Vancouver. All three lawmakers asked the state to reimburse them for their flights and hotel stays, which totaled $4,361.

Sutherland and Kraft also should pay their share of the taxpayer-funded trip. While it isn’t an exorbitant amount, public money should not be spent perpetuating a false narrative — especially one that sabotages our democratic system.

Details of their voter-fraud visit made headlines during the same week the country is acknowledging last year’s assault on the U.S. Capitol. This makes Klippert’s unfounded convictions seem even more alarming.

In one of the most horrific moments in American history, Trump supporters disrupted the peaceful transition of our nation’s power with an attack on the Capitol building on Jan. 6, 2021.

Lawmakers had to go into hiding. Rioters bent on keeping Trump in office succeeded for hours in thwarting the certification process that would confirm Biden’s presidency.

But in the end, democracy succeeded. President Joe Biden defeated Donald Trump 306-232 in the Electoral College, and by 7 million popular votes.

Still, Klippert and others refuse to accept it. He told the Herald he believes the 2020 presidential election was stolen and plans to file legislation calling for a full forensic audit in Washington state.

He also said he believes that voting systems are still vulnerable.

While election security is a critical concern, what’s ironic about Klippert’s claims is that Washington state had the most respected state election official in the country overseeing our voting process during the 2020 election.

Former Washington Secretary of State Kim Wyman, a Republican, is considered an expert in her field, and was sought out by The Washington Post, CBC, CNN and other media outlets for her expert advice on election fraud.

She was so good at her job that last fall the Biden administration asked her to be the senior election security lead at the federal level.

Wyman left her state position in November to take on her new role overseeing all U.S. elections. She repeatedly said Washington state’s election was secure in 2020, and local officials have agreed.

If Klippert had any questions about it, he should have talked with Wyman. There was no need to take a trip to South Dakota to listen to a lot of bunk when the country’s most highly respected elections officer was in our own state.

Wyman has been vocal about the danger of questioning our election process. In a telling interview with the Seattle Times shortly after the November 2020 election, she said that Russia, China, North Korea and Iran want Americans to lose confidence in our democratic institutions.

“They want the discord, because when people lose faith in our elections, they don’t believe that the elected leaders are legitimate. And that undermines democracy at its core foundation,” she said.

Klippert should consider her warning carefully, and stop undermining our election process by promoting voter fraud conspiracy theories. He thinks he is helping his country, when in fact he is harming it.