Evergreen Reporter

State Rep. Matt Boehnke (R-Kennewick) said the software company that makes the program used by the State Auditor’s Office isn’t completely to blame for the recent data breach, it’s also the fault of Democratic leadership.

"We need to stop the failure now with true leadership," Boehnke said, Q13 Fox reported.

Boehnke, who works in cybersecurity, said the software company does not deserve all of the blame.

"It’s also the wherewithal from leadership to make sure we’re accountable or transparent in our actions, that we can be trusted with the people’s work and the people’s data," Boehnke said, the news media reported.

With many partly blaming Gov. Jay Inslee's office, he responded through a spokesperson.

"The governor and our staff have spoken to the auditor several times and expressed his deep concern about the data that was exposed by their third party vendor. Pat McCarthy is a separately elected statewide official, and we understand that they are taking responsibility for this and doing everything they can to address it," he said, as reported by Q13 Fox.

Almost 1.5 million people who filed for unemployment benefits in Washington may be affected by the breach.

"It’s egregious. Somebody should be held accountable," said construction worker Jesse Shepard, Q13 Fox reported. "This is a critical failure at the bureaucratic level of our state."

The tragedy is double for Shepard and many others. First, the delay in unemployment checks and now fears that their personal information, including bank account numbers, may have been stolen. 

State Auditor Pat McCarthy, a Democrat, announced that people’s Social Security numbers and banking information, among other details, were exposed. The breach happened while there was an investigation into $600 million in fraudulent unemployment claims.