So I was just thinking about various things our governor has done, and I was looking around for a list of accomplishments. I couldn't find a really good one -- most of it is silliness about giving us a great economy (and if a recession hits WA, how much of the blame will she take?) and "investing" in an educational system that continues to fail -- so I figured I'd throw it out to everybody here.
I'll start it off. Governor Gregoire has increased the size of the budget by one third, making it so that if we don't continue to have surpluses, we will soon be in deficit.
Your turn!
(And feel free to not limit your list to things she's done as governor.)
Posted by pudge at January 27, 2008 07:12 PM | Email ThisNot a good sign.
Posted by: Michele on January 27, 2008 08:28 PMwww.thurstonpundits.blogspot.com/2008/01/hillary-and-christine.html
Posted by: Andy on January 27, 2008 08:52 PMHow quickly we forget her great achievements. Her Highness is enjoying a big GOVT spending boom, with new construction of datacenters and office buildings, http://www.dis.wa.gov/wheelerSM.htm not to mention tearing down the buildings they already have to build show places like this: http://www.theolympian.com/123/story/338279.html
and moving out of others to brand new headquarters in Tumwater before leases are expired like this:
http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-144709128.html
All in all, the Queen has been monarchial model of taxing efficiency and enjoys the abuse she can serve the working man every chance she can.
Easycure: excellent answer. :-)
Posted by: pudge on January 27, 2008 10:25 PMShe took her whole damned family on a "trade mission" that just happened to coincide with one of the kids law school graduation...my, oh my what providence that Paris was available in the spring.... of course she's also traipsed to Australia, New Zealand, China, Korea, Taiwan, Mexico, Japan... she's out and about on four flippin continents but hides in WA... except at Halloween... although given the ugliness of her ascension and the convenient reversal of fortune provided by King County, Strike that. Reverse it. might not have been her best quote.
Posted by: Ragnar Danneskold on January 27, 2008 10:35 PMHey, and I *love* the way you guys slammed Washington State for being voted one of the best business states because we have a D governor. If an R had been in the office, that would be the basis for the re-election! Think about it!
Posted by: Bill Anderson on January 28, 2008 04:47 AMWhy are Washington Republicans so limp wristed?
Posted by: Independent Voter on January 28, 2008 05:13 AMOh...let's not forget her strong-arming the state pharmacy board to wipe out the Constitutional rights of pharmacists to sell or not sell certain drugs.
The Piper
Posted by: Piper Scott on January 28, 2008 08:20 AMReally, Duffer? Name one. Should be a piece of cake for you, right? Seriously... name ONE PROBLEM SHE HAS SOLVED. Outside the problem she had paying off the unions and bending over for the Tribes, I mean.
Is this extraordinary level of delusion you have self-inflicted? Or is it the result of a head injury?
Look, she'll probably get re-elected. But in this state, people like you would vote for a child-molester if they had a "d" after their name. And if SHE is what "exemplifies" anything, it's that she's way over her head and that her massive (and unnecessary) budget increases prove there is no amount of OUR money she won't spend.
Posted by: Hinton on January 28, 2008 08:42 AMThat is because, by definition, it is.
If you don't like the way things are working...CHANGE IT, if you can; otherwise get with it or get out of the way.
Do you say the same thing to antiwar protestors? Those calling for impeachment? Anti-globalization forces? Greenies?
It is extremely un-American to tell people to give up if they cannot change something.
Posted by: pudge on January 28, 2008 09:13 AMI'm still trying to figure out where you say Gregoire increased the size of the budget by 1/3. Here's what I'm looking at:
2003-05 incl. supplemental total spending was $53,999,000.
2007-09 incl. supplemental total spending is $64,763,000.
That's a 20% increase in 4 years. What numbers am I missing?
Posted by: Doug on January 28, 2008 10:35 AMI asked you this:
name ONE PROBLEM SHE HAS SOLVED.
I looked over your response very closely... and I'm STILL hearing the crickets chirp.
You didn't answer. And your failure to answer is acknowledgment that, the entire time she's been in office, she has accomplished nothing and solved NOTHING, yet those such as yourself, blinded by your political biases, will cheerfully vote for her again anyway.
You then, rather ignorantly, ask "'Look, she'll probably get re-elected' WHY?"
Your inability to answer the question, even before posting it here, cements your political and situational awareness into a zone of ignorance beyond all ability for your perspective to add value to this conversation.
"Why?" Because Pierce, King and Snohomish counties are overly populated with leftist lemmings, incapable of forming an original individual political thought. As a result, we're cursed with a huge population of people that determine the outcomes of most statewide elections while proving themselves incapable of holding a democrat accountable for their actions; or in the case of the governor, her multiple inactions and missteps. The result? We wind up with utter political losers such as Chrissy, and Sims, and Nichols holding major positions of authority when in a normal society, they wouldn't have been elected dog catcher.
And the utter fallacy of your position has been neatly illustrated by Pudge (again).
You would apply a standard to me that you would never dare apply to yourself or any other leftist.
"We made a decision to live in this State with the full knowledge of the political leaning and our tax structure." What you mean "we," Duffer? I was born here. And as Pudge so ably pointed out, we could apply such an insane analogy to any and every complaint you fringe left whack jobs have. Let's all play, shall we?
"Duffer, you made a decision to live in this country with the full knowledge of the political leaning and our involvement in Iraq."
"Duffer, you made a decision to live in this country with the full knowledge of the political leaning and who our president happened to be."
"Duffer, you made a decision to live in this country with the full knowledge of the political leaning and that the president would veto SCHIP."
and any number of other issues that drive your lot over the edge.
And that you're incapable of understanding that not one red cent our government spends belongs to them is yet another symptom of the neo-communist hiding under your skin, demanding to be let free.
Your hypocrisy reeks, Duffer. and now it's out here for all to see.
Posted by: Hinton on January 28, 2008 11:10 AMlet's see:
http://leap.leg.wa.gov/leap/budget/lbns/2003toc.asp
will work, say, let me know how to put those fancy links into a comment and I could do this better, without having to put the URL in.
http://www.ofm.wa.gov/budget/highlights/
another one.
Posted by: Doug on January 28, 2008 11:25 AMOkay, now I see, I put up the budget number Gregoire wanted, not the ones the legislature actually passed.
2007-09 would be 71,055,000 for an increase of 32%....
Thanks now I see it.
Posted by: Doug on January 28, 2008 11:31 AMThe other way CG would be toast, at least toast in the sense of another nail biting election, will be if there is low turnout. I don't see Rossi expanding beyond his base of last year's election, even with the mundane job CG has done. The mood nationwide is an overwhelming higher than average Democratic turnout. If Obama is the Democratic candidate, then he will increase turnout. The question is how does Rossi intend to reach this new voter crowd, which is younger and who basically remember two Presidents (Clinton and Bush) and for this state probably only Locke and CG as governor.
I am not saying that CG will run away, but so far I see Rossi playing to his base of the last election. I don't see how that will do it this election. He needs to give the younger voting audience a reason to believe he will be different and not a partisan candidate running because of sour grapes over the last election.
Posted by: tc on January 28, 2008 01:01 PMFunny, people said the same thing about Rossi in 2004. The people don't like Republicans, he has a bad personality, he needs low turnout, he needs a popular Republican Presidential candidate, he needs something more than "Democrats stink."
And yet he came in a statistical tie (a margin of victory much smaller than margin of error).
So why should we believe his chances are slight this time? Young people and Democrats turned out en masse for Kerry in 2004, for the highest turnout in state history. Democrats and Independents vote for Rossi because they wanted fiscal responsibility (and instead we saw a 1/3 increase in the budget).
I just don't see where you're getting this.
Posted by: pudge on January 28, 2008 01:28 PMBottom line: Rossi takes credit for Locke's success -- only changing it to thrwart the will of over 70% of inititiave voters. So...the folks here *LOVE* inititiaves...unless, well, they aren't Eymanized with smaller margins of victory.
Posted by: Bill Anderson on January 28, 2008 01:38 PMCan we all say (in unison, now) BUH-bye, Dino!
Posted by: Duffman on January 28, 2008 01:45 PMThis oughtta be good ...
Posted by: pudge on January 28, 2008 01:54 PMMisrepresentation? No...but apparently the facts must not have much weight with you.
Posted by: Bill Anderson on January 28, 2008 02:14 PMFor example, the obvious falsehood that Locke is primarily to credit with the balanced budget, but that he gets none of the blame for suspending I-728.
Both can't be true, obviously. We're not stupid, but you are if you believe in what you're trying to sell here.
Posted by: pudge on January 28, 2008 02:21 PMThis should be met with outrage here...where the will of the people trumps everything! But...alas...it's not. Because it's not really the will of the people care about here. It's about the will of the readers here....when they aren't in line, well, the whole argument falls down.
So...it's kinda funny that you are accusing me of something that you are doing in huge fashion.
Posted by: BIll Anderson on January 28, 2008 02:24 PMNow, what does that suggest about irony?
Posted by: Bill Anderson on January 28, 2008 02:27 PMNo, I got your point. You want to give Democrats credit for everything you like, and Republicans blame for everything you don't, even when it makes no logical sense to do so.
You've made yourself perfectly clear.
Despite your claim that these are facts, it is obvious that your representation of those facts is intentionally skewed to misrepresent what happened.
And no, I did no such thing. You are being dishonest again.
As to irony, yes, I do find it especially ironic, and sad, when people attempt to deceive others, as you have done, and then complain about "personal attacks."
Posted by: pudge on January 28, 2008 02:33 PMThis is win, win, Democrat style.
Posted by: Paddy on January 28, 2008 02:54 PMThe democrats do the exact same stuff!
It's the arguments made here (and especially yours) are the republicans doing the exact same thing.
Misrepresent. Use selective data. And then use nasty words to describe people who point out what you (and others here) have done.
Look..the first 50 postings here bascially point out the bad stuff Gregoire did without any mention of any good stuff. That's just so one-sided, it's pathetic. And folks (like me) who point it out are shot down with personal attacks -- you didn't just attack my words, you attacked me "dishonest people".
Here's hoping that more reasonable minds (on both sides) will prevail.
Posted by: Bill Anderson on January 28, 2008 03:24 PMYou were the one who was claiming Rossi cannot claim credit for the good things about the budget, but must accept all the blame for the bad things about it. That is unreasonable. It is illogical. It is dishonest. I pointed out.
"Tu quoque" (you do it too!) alone is a logical fallacy. If you have a specific problem with anything I said, then fine, present that problem.
As to Gregoire ... saying things she's done wrong, and ignoring things she's done well, is not illogical or unreasonable. It may be unfair, but that's a different story. And I opened this to the floor: tell me, what has she done that's "good stuff"?
So far I have seen no one offer "good stuff" (Duffman tried, but utterly failed ... come on, working with your own party is an accomplishment?!). You talked about a good business climate, but I am convinced that it is not very good at all (ask Edmonds -- sorry, Shanghai -- Dan), and I have very specific reasons why, as per the discussion when this came up before, which I do not wish to go over again at this time. I'll accept that you think it is good and that she is responsible for it, even though I disagree.
So what else?
Posted by: pudge on January 28, 2008 03:39 PMMost of the posts haven't mentioned the 'good stuff' because it's so hard for us to identify. If you'd like, post something and then we can debate that.
I would have given her credit for passing legislation to cap property taxes, but she (and the legislature) left the giant banked capacity loophole in it, making it mostly meaningless.
Posted by: Palouse on January 28, 2008 03:53 PMOf course, you could put this to bed by simply acknowledging the truth of it; but truth and leftists rarely seem to reside in the same location at th3e same time.
Posted by: Hinton on January 28, 2008 04:16 PM"We're not always ideologically aligned," says DeBolt. "But I think she's a good manager and that she's doing a good job of running the state."
Yes, that's REPUBLICAN House Minority Leader Richard DeBoltn in 2007.
Why would he say that? Perhaps:
* Medical malpractice (bi-partisan) solution
* Columbia River plan
* Gas tax to fund much needed infrstructure needs - transportation plan
* Restored education cuts from Rossi budget
* Balanced budgets - including solving 2.2 billion dollar shortfall
* Expanded health care to 80,000 low income children
* Forbes top 5 state for business (and biggest jump of any state)
What's not to like?
*
there is no response to that.
it's like answering "faith" as to the explanation of million year old fossils in a world created 2000 years ago.
so you have "faith" that any facts that suggest you are incorrect or unbalanced on points comes from a dishonest liar, despite facts (e.g. I-728).
SO, i shall post no more in response to your postings. You choose not to engage in a debate of the facts. You ignore those that you don't like (while engaging in ad hominem attacks on the fact provider)...so, keep living in your "faith-based" world of republicans always right and democrats always wrong and keep calling those who provide data names.
Posted by: Bill Anderson on January 28, 2008 04:41 PMWhy would he say those things?, Because his district needs State funding? probably.
Medical Malpractice Solution? Prove it.
Columbia River Plan. All Plan no action.
Gas Tax to fund much needed infrastructure needs. Do you mean like not building Ferries on Time and Not Repairing or Replacing Critical infrastructure? Is traffic better or worse than when Gregiore took office? I have a 125 Million Dollar Wildlife overpass I would like to sell you on the East-bound I-90 rebuild project ( a pay-off to her Greenie buddies).
Restored Education Cuts from Rossi Budget. Who Signed that Budget Bill? Was Rossi Governor? Or simply the only one who could build the concensus to get a budget passed?
Balanced Budgets including a 2.2 Billion Dollar shortfall. By factoring the recievables from the smoking lawsuit and adopting the Locke/Rossi budget Which is it Bill was it a good thing or a bad thing? While shorting the Pension Fund by 6 Billion Dollars? Not really "Balancing" anything is she.
Expanded healthcare to 80,000 Children, transfering from privately paid plans to public finanaced programs and going broke at it. How many of the these Children and their parents are even legally eligible to recieve these benefits? DSHS has over 1 Billion in questionable payments according to the State Auditors Office.
Forbes top 5 for Business? We will see when the open the new Boeing 787 line starts up in Texas.
Irrelevant.
* Restored education cuts from Rossi budget
* Balanced budgets - including solving 2.2 billion dollar shortfall
* Forbes top 5 state for business (and biggest jump of any state)
Again, you are being dishonest, insisting that Rossi is to blame for everything bad in a bipartisan budget, and still claiming he gets no credit for the good; and on the opposite side, you give Gregoire all the credit for a good economy that existed before she got into office, while giving her no blame for the bad parts of the economy that didn't hit until she came along.
you asked if i had a problem with anything you said...why, i put that in the posts above...but you ignored saying i'm dishonest and misrepresenting
No, you did not. You said things like "It's the arguments made here (and especially yours) are the republicans doing the exact same thing," which doesn't specifically criticize me at all.
so you have "faith" that any facts that suggest you are incorrect or unbalanced on points comes from a dishonest liar, despite facts (e.g. I-728).
You're just lying again. The fact that I-728 was suspended was never in question. Your intent to deceive by giving the blame to Rossi, while giving the credit for balancing the budget to Locke, was in question.
I am not going to argue facts with someone who insists on such dishonesty, even when called out on it, because such a person either does not understand facts, or does not care about them.
I return to where I started: you're not fooling anyone.
Posted by: pudge on January 28, 2008 05:16 PMGovernment does NOT represent the people, but itself. We all want fewer taxes, less government, and less regulation. I think taxpayers need to keep more of their dollars and the government needs over haul.
Enough is enough
Otherwise, it seems to me she's pretty much blown it on every count, unless you are a state employee.