Bob Williams has been reading the state budget for decades. He says Gregoire's proposed budget (released Monday) is "the worst he's ever seen."
Maybe it's because she wants to increase funding for her own office, Commissions on Horse Racing, African-American Affairs, Hispanic Affairs, Asian-American Affairs, and Minority and Women's Business, and decrease funding for the state auditor's office.
Or maybe it's because she wants to ignore voter-approved spending limits and raise taxes.
Get the details here.
Posted by Marsha Michaelis at March 23, 2005 10:30 PM | Email Thisnice touch, Gregoire.......very demorcat of you.....
Posted by: lee on March 23, 2005 10:37 PMIncreases for the Horse Racing Commission by 82 percent? What pray tell does the HRC do that is so wonderful and deserving a increase of 82 percent?
Way to make sure that there is no funding for performance audits, CG. Can't have those rascially State Auditors telling you what a crappy job you are doing.
Posted by: KLRMNKY on March 23, 2005 11:56 PMGee I recall her website during the election, listing the taxes that Rossi had voted for, but that she had never ever raised taxes. Well that is no longer true my dear, you are now raising taxes and spending money like no one I have seen. Stealing more rights and killing more business than this state can stand. You and your fellow democraps will be reminded of every tax increase you do. I have never seen so much BS coming out of this session, more tax happy people then the dems in this legislature. Keep it up, you'll all be out of office next election! Go Rossi!
Posted by: GS on March 24, 2005 12:11 AMGREGOIRE: THE GRAY DAVIS OF WASHINGTON. SPECIAL INTERESTS ARE HER INTEREST.
Posted by: Michele on March 24, 2005 12:12 AMIt's deja vu all over again!!
Posted by: swatter on March 24, 2005 07:31 AMYou have the whole thing in a nutshell --
Posted by: Bill on March 24, 2005 07:34 AM"Bob Williams, failed canidate for Govenor and head of the Evergreeen Freedom Foundation, a group so right wing that the GOP won't even follow their recomendations, has called Govenor Gregoire's budget the worse he has ever seen and unsustainable, the same thing he has said about every Democratic Budget in the nearly two decades he has been out of power. Mr. Williams was last seen muttering 'Dirty Commies, the will all see that it is they who are mad, not I.., dirty commies...' in the padded cell that the EFF keeps for all their management. Because of his constant string of failures, he is a frequent guess on right wing radio."
Posted by: JDB on March 24, 2005 08:59 AMspend, spend, spend.......like they do in d.c.
Posted by: dinesh on March 24, 2005 09:51 AMCommission on Asian Pacific American Affairs: 50.4%
Commission on Hispanic Affairs: 46.2%
Governor's Office on Indian Affairs: 45.9%
African-American Affairs Commission: 48.3%
Office of Minority and Women's Business Enterprises: 53.2% (Not General Fund money.)
The base budgets for the minority and ethnic commissions are all very small. For the Commission on Asian Pacific American Affairs, for example, it is $393,000, supporting 1.8 full-time equivalent employees, in the current biennium. The reason for the extraordinary rates of increase for each of these agencies in her budget is a "performance change" item in each called "Address Disparity Issues." For the Comm. on Asian Pacific American Affairs, to continue with that as an example, "Address Disparity Issues" is $141,000 and 1.2 FTE staff. Here is the description of the item: "The Commission on Asian Pacific American Affairs is responsible for articulating the unique health, educational, social and economic issues of the Asian and Pacific American communities and making recommendatons to the Governor, Legislature, and state agencies with respect to these issues. In 2005-07, a policy analyst will seek to improve the economic vitality of the Asian Pacific American community by increasing participation in state contracting opportunities and the state certification program for minority and women-owned businesses. This work will be done in collaboration with other ethnic commissions, the Office of the Governor, the Department of Community, Trade and Economic Development, the Office of Minority and Women's Business Enterprises, and local economic vitality programs. In addition, the policy analyst will help coordinate a state convention on health care to address health disparities and will, in collaboration with the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, address some challenges of the Washington Assessment of Student Learning for the Asian Pacific Islander communities and limited English proficient population." (Gregoire Proposed 2005-07 Budget, Recommendation Summaries, p. 25)
Your tax dollars at work, folks.
From the Seattle Times:
"I don't like it," she said. "It's not sustainable. It's what's wrong with the budget in the state of Washington." She said she wants to work with lawmakers this year to work toward a "structurally sound, sustainable budget."
"This is not it."
And then followed up with this beauty:
"I think this is a great budget for Washington state. It is a legacy budget," Gregoire said.
So, there you have it.
In Gregoire's own words - "I don't like my structurally unsound, unsustainable budget. But it's a great budget, and it's my legacy."
I'm sure Karl Rove's behind this somehow.
Posted by: jimg on March 24, 2005 11:37 AMAccording to Dr. Sjoblom “If lawmakers choose to rely on such narrow-based taxes to support the general fund, they will face a continuation of the recent pattern of shortfalls, program cuts and budget legerdemain.”
The WRC/WashACE brief released on March 21, 2005 concluded taxes on cigarettes, liquor, beer, wine, soda, candy, gum and gambling are not a sustainable solution to the state’s structural budget gap and would cost the state on the order of 3,000 jobs by 2010.
The study also finds that “sin” taxes, particularly tobacco and alcohol are regressive – they hit low income earners the hardest. WRC’s numbers show the difference is not insignificant.
Additionally, “sin” tax bases decline as the tax increases. Take tobacco, for example, where health messages and higher costs have led to a steady decrease in smoking. Furthermore, dodge the tax by purchasing at tribal smoke shops, crossing the border to neighboring states, or through Internet or mail order shopping. The higher the tax, the greater the incentive to evade it.
All of these impacts; reduced consumption, diverting purchases elsewhere, and the resulting increase in cost of living in our state – reduce employment.
The unavoidable sin tax paradox – seeking to raise money from behaviors the tax and society discourages – does not produce a sustainable revenue source or a sustainable budget. Just as Bob Williams said.
Remember anything bad that happens to Democrats means that Karl Rove is behind it!
Posted by: KLRMNKY on March 24, 2005 06:48 PM