Washington governor rebuts Nick Rolovich claim that Washington State football coach was target of vaccine mandate

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PULLMAN, Wash. — Washington Gov. Jay Inslee is disputing Nick Rolovich’s statements that the Democrat targeted the previous Washington Point out College soccer coach with his statewide COVID-19 vaccine mandate for all community workforce.

Inslee spokesperson Mike Faulk reported of the mentor: “He is just mistaken,” The Spokesman Assessment documented.

That is in response to Rolovich’s 34-page enchantment letter to the university filed this 7 days that argues athletic director Pat Chun declared in an Aug. 19 conversation that the governor “did this [mandate] just to come just after Coach Rolovich and WSU.”

The coach was fired in October for not complying with the governor’s order that all state employees be vaccinated towards the coronavirus.

Rolovich, 42, was the maximum-paid out condition employee with an yearly wage of additional than $3 million in a agreement that operates through 2025. Due to the fact he was fired for induce, the mentor will not be compensated the stability of his contract.

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Rolovich was denied his request for a religious exemption final month, which he mentioned he sought based on his Catholic beliefs.

The Catholic Church has not prohibited vaccinations towards COVID-19, while some Catholics even now oppose vaccination. Pope Francis and the U.S. Meeting of Catholic Bishops have mentioned that all COVID-19 vaccines are morally appropriate and that Catholics have a duty, duty or obligation to be vaccinated.

The attraction letter also says Chun overturned a decision by the university’s Human Resource Companies to grant Rolovich a spiritual exemption to the vaccination mandate.

“Dependent on the context of Mr. Chun’s statement, Mentor Rolovich recognized ‘did this’ to mean that Governor Inslee was hoping to drive Mentor Rolovich’s hand with his new mandate,” the enchantment said, “due to the fact he was indignant that the best paid out and 1 of the maximum profile point out staff experienced asserted personal or spiritual objections to his vaccine mandate.”

Faulk stated the state’s target is “to increase vaccinations to save as many lives as probable, all correct in just the boundaries of the law.”

“It is not abnormal to disallow a personal exemption as it relates to vaccines for deadly and highly transmissible viruses. For instance, in K-12 a individual or philosophical exemption is not authorized (by statute) for mumps, measles, and rubella vaccines,” Faulk mentioned by way of email.

A college spokesperson reported the school would have no remark on the attractiveness letter.