Today's Seattle Times reports that Mrs. Gregoire1 has increased state spending by $8 billion, or 31% since 2004.
Raise your hand if you feel you are receiving 31% more value from state government than you were four years ago.
1 The haughty French-named Massachusetts-style Democrat, who ran for Washington governor in 2004 as a "fiscal conservative", making promises to "blow past the bureaucracy" and "change the culture in Olympia", and who may or may not have won the largest number of legal votes in that election.
Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at July 20, 2008 10:34 AM | Email ThisThank god Washington State's economy is growing, instead of retracting, like almost all of the rest of the country.
We should be thanking our leadership!
Posted by: All Facts Support My Positions on July 20, 2008 10:42 AMI haven't seen ANY proposals by Rossi to reduce any current state programs. Rossi proposes to pay for all of his new and expanded programs by cutting state taxes -- a method which has worked well for George W. (for "whopping deficit") Bush at the federal level.
Also, Rossi claims to have superior management skills (apparently from prior history of supervising one employee in a janitorial position), which will somehow allow him to run existing state government programs more efficiently. Again, this worked for GW Bush also -- his skills at running oil exploration companies (into the grounds) have paid off handsomely at the federal level.
Posted by: Richard Pope on July 20, 2008 11:07 AMThe State of Washington received:
$34 billion in 2000;
$37 billion in 2001;
$40 billion in 2002;
$43 billion in 2003;
$45 billion in 2004;
$46 billion in 2005
Here's the source for the data.
So much for the cuts in the first two years of Fraudoire.
How does an ever-increasing share of revenue from the Federal Government - AND an ever increasing tax base in the state - require a 31% increase in spending? Has the cost of living in Washington increased by 10% annually for the last 4 years (which is the actual increase between Fraudoire and the Federal increases)?
No reason to thank the leadership, they just put this state into a massive deficit situation, and are driving businesses out from the State at a record rate.
Posted by: Shanghai Dan on July 20, 2008 11:18 AMPlease find me any of Dino Rossi's budgets that did the same. Thanks.
Posted by: jimg on July 20, 2008 11:32 AMDon't you have another election to lose?
Posted by: jimg on July 20, 2008 11:33 AMTHIS coming from the liberal lemming (are baby lemmings called KIDS? or just baby goats?...I'm just askin') that call himself DEMO(rat)
Puhlease.
Posted by: Ragnar Danneskjold on July 20, 2008 11:35 AMMark Roth of Hollywood FL is one recipient of that command took exception:
Open Letter to the Democratic National Committee:
Gentlemen:"Well, this peasant is revolting."Today I read the letter from Don Fowler and Alice Germond telling us to "get in line" behind the "party" candidate. Well, I have a few thoughts to share with you about that.
From the beginning of this presidential election cycle up to, and including the present letter, you have behaved more like a soviet politburo that an American national political party.
You began by stealing my vote, telling me that my vote and the votes of my fellow citizens in Florida and Michigan would not count because you said so. (Note to leadership: this is still the United States. Get this straight...I have a vote--the right to vote--(and it counts in full-- as in "one man, one vote"). Then you give me super delegates whose votes in the aggregate far outweigh those of the average citizen like me. Now you treat me like a revolting peasant and demand that I get in line with the party plan for me. I tell you now that I am not only a Democrat, but also a democrat. My vote counts! And it counts each and every time I exercise it.
Let me explain a few things about myself. I have voted Democrat since I was allowed to vote. That's quite a few years ago. I think for myself. You don't tell me how to think. You inform me of the facts and I, I alone, make the decision of how to vote.
Let me explain a few more things to you. Barack Obama is not yet the candidate of the Democrats. That will probably happen at the convention. I am no fool. But I have informed myself, in the absence of Senator Obama's efforts to do so, about his qualifications. Let me share them with you although they are probably well known to you.
Obama is vitually without a record in the Illinois Senate where he served for one term. He claims that his records were destroyed. Well, I'll be! Just look at that. The only thing that is really clear is that he voted "present" more than 100 times. Is this the record of a man without opinions or is this the record of a man concealing his opinions--leaving no tracks. Its not for me to say which, but only for me to observe that he has no record. So let's look at the US Senate. He has a shockingly thin record of achievement in the US Senate. He has never even held a sub-committee meeting of the committee he chairs, the Senate committee on Afghanistan. I need not point out that we are participating in a shooting war in Afghanistan. I think that fact alone would call for some kind of meeting of the concerned committee. Apparently Senator Obama does not share my concern.
Obama's autobiographical books, particularly the partially fictional "Dreams of My Father", shows clearly his affinity for socialism and Marxism. Given that self-proclaimed pre-disposition it is instructive to see who he has sought out as associates. Bill Ayers, a radical far leftist who bombed the Pentagon and got away without even a trial; his wife Bernadine Dohrn, with a similar record, who thougt it was "cool" that Charles Manson's followers had stuck a fork in their dead victim's abdomen while sharing a meal over her corpse. His wife, Michelle Obama, who was never proud of the US before this. There are many more.
Let me address one other thing. If Obama's very autobiography is "partially" fictionalized (that means he made it up) then why should I believe anything that he says. There is a legal expression I once learned which in English means "false in one, false in all". Why I should believe anything about his history when it comes from him and when he admits that he made up parts of his biography.
Obama's arrogance is only exceeded by your own demand that we, the Democrats toe the line and straighten up.
Well, this peasant is revolting. You don't tell me how to vote. You ask for my vote. You provide me with facts proving that you are entitled to my vote. You prove that you have the best candidate. If you don't do that I don't vote your way. You, so far, have failed to show me why I should vote for Obama. Who are you to tell me that I must vote for him? Who the Hell do you think you are? How dare you?
Obama may have socialist inclinations, I don't know. But I do know this--this is not the old Soviet Union. The Democrat Party is one of choice--not obligation. It is one of my choice--not yours. You don't ever, let me repeat, you don't ever, tell me how to vote or demand that I get in line behind a candidate. It may have escaped your notice, but when Tammany Hall bought (yes, it's true) my father's vote during the Depression, they did not buy the votes of his children. The Democrats didn't buy me along with my father. I chose to be a Democrat and find that I am a democrat. But I make that choice--not you. I, and I alone, decide for whom I will vote. The Democrat Party is not the politburo--not yet, at least--and never, if I have any voice in the matter.
Please govern yourselves accordingly.
Very truly yours,
Mark Roth
Hollywood, Florida
My, my, my! Some of the lemmings appear to be VERY unhappy with the path to the cliff!
Posted by: Ragnar Danneskjold on July 20, 2008 11:50 AMWhat would he have done?
Where would he have spent less?
What taxes would he have rolled back?
Knowing how he would have lead the state budgetwise in the last four years would give us a good handle on how he would behave in the next four years. Has he said?
Posted by: BA on July 20, 2008 11:52 AMHaving underspent for many years, thanks in part to the simplistic I-601 approach, we now need to make large, sustained increases just to catch up. (The obsolete SR-520 bridge is falling apart, within sight of the overstressed main campus of the UW system, to give just two examples.)
We subtracted the illegal votes from the totals of the candidates who were proven, in court, to have received them. While I'm sure the Democrats would prefer for us to keep discussing how the felons preferred the G.O.P. Party candidate, we should concentrate on the record of Governor Gregoire, and the stated plans of her opponent. The latter has had five years to prepare, so his results should be great. (Um, what are they again? So far, all I've seen is the WSDOT wish list for more projects.)
Posted by: tensor on July 20, 2008 11:58 AMFrom his website:
In this leadership position, Dino worked across party lines to balance the state budget without raising taxes, while still protecting the most vulnerable.
Dino received the first-ever “Defender of Liberty Award” from the Evergreen Freedom Foundation for being the architect of the most fiscally conservative budget ever written in the state.
Posted by: Jonathan Gardner on July 20, 2008 12:03 PMI'm happy to note how he worked with Gov. Locke to write a budget. That was five years ago; conditions have changed. What will he do now? He has proposed building the wish list of WSDOT bureaucrats, but he has not said how he will pay for it. THAT is the job of a true leader. Let's see his proposal for doing this while addressing that huge deficit I've heard so much about.
Posted by: tensor on July 20, 2008 12:12 PMHave we heard from the current gov what she is gonna do about this huge deficit she created?
that to me is a true test of a leader!
Posted by: Chris on July 20, 2008 12:23 PM"Second to none"? Let's see, Ragnar cut-and-pasted a long tract about Obama not having experience, but the Republicans are lining up behind Rossi because he had a hand in one budget. And not even the only hand.
Posted by: demo kid on July 20, 2008 12:24 PMConstitutionally we must have a balanced budget, Dino helped write one, Gregoire did too...I'm after what he would have done different. His experience as a politician is not arguably "second to none" and even if so, is being the best politician what we're after now? I don't think California's current governor had ANY state experience before he was elected.
But, right now we have a state budget that has increased significantly, is headed toward deficit, and if elected Dino will be trying get his own stamp on the budget.
So, what would he have done had he been in the governor's office this past term?
Posted by: BA on July 20, 2008 12:26 PMDino would NOT have given million dollar grants to tribal casinos like the one that Gregoire gave to the Clearwater Casino to build a monument among other things.
Dino would have ensured the state got a portion of the gambling revenue unlike Gregoire who ensured the state gets NOTHING from the tribes. Could the fact that the tribes contribute to her campaign have ANYTHING to do with that??
Dino would have vetoed the money that the Gregoire regime put in for PET MASSAGES.
The Port Angeles graving project that cost the state millions of dollars would have been better managed if Dino had been in instead of Gregoire.
Those are just for starters.
Posted by: pbj on July 20, 2008 12:41 PMDemolemming... er kid... you didn't read it, did you? Because B-HO was certainly not the point, sweetcheeks.
Posted by: Ragnar Danneskjold on July 20, 2008 01:28 PMReally. For what reason, exactly? Would he have violated laws specifically protecting archaeological finds, for the sake of expediency?
@22: Demolemming... er kid... you didn't read it, did you? Because B-HO was certainly not the point, sweetcheeks.
Wow... do you read the things you cut and paste yourself, or do you copy them wholesale because you can't actually read? Obama was precisely the point of that ranting letter! Didn't quite see any other candidate mentioned, did you?
Posted by: demo kid on July 20, 2008 01:37 PMWell, this peasant is revolting. You don't tell me how to vote. You ask for my vote. You provide me with facts proving that you are entitled to my vote. You prove that you have the best candidate. If you don't do that I don't vote your way. You, so far, have failed to show me why I should vote for Obama. Who are you to tell me that I must vote for him? Who the Hell do you think you are? How dare you?
Did you get that demolemming? He's tired of the self-annointed commandants issuing orders and demanding obedience.
"Who the Hell do you think you are? How dare you?"
Posted by: Ragnar Danneskjold on July 20, 2008 01:48 PMWe have her previous budget proposals, and actual budgets, to consider. What is Mr. Rossi's plan? Does he even have one, after five years of saying how he'll do better? As noted here, his entire budgetary experience consists of co-authoring one budget, five years ago.
Posted by: tensor on July 20, 2008 01:56 PMGovernor Gregoire inherited the third-largest surplus in state history and, after four years and 24 percent more state revenue per year than when she started, she now has the largest deficit in state history.
National democrats are right. If you turn record surpluses into record deficits, you deserve to be turned out of office.
Posted by: Paul G on July 20, 2008 02:03 PMI'm reminded of that great line from Body Heat when Matty Walker (Kathleen Turner) said to Ned Racine (William Hurt), "You aren't too smart." I'll bet you get that a lot.
Posted by: Obi-Wan on July 20, 2008 02:04 PMAlright, I know that this is a little hard for you, and whether that's the result of some traumatic brain injury, or just natural senility, I don't know.
But the point of the article that you posted was that the writer did not support Obama, and that he didn't want to hear calls for party unity when his candidate lost. There are quotes in there specifically about how he doesn't like or support Obama, and how he does not want to support the candidate that his party will be electing at the convention.
So you tell me... is this a discussion about attempts to stand behind one candidate as a unified party? Or is it your feeble attempt to try to tear down a Democratic candidate that will easily serve your party's ass up on a platter in November?
@27: In 2003, Senator Rossi inherited what was then the largest deficit in state history.
He inherited it AS WHAT? He was one senator working on the bill, and you're using that one joint effort as proof that he is your messiah. Pretty frickin' pathetic, if you ask me.
Tell me, when you go to a used car dealer, do you really get taken for a ride? Or are you just blindly naive in politics?
@29: @23, you probably don't score very high on reading comprehension tests, do you.
Since none of the mentally challenge members of the brain trust here answered the other part of my question, I'm guessing that the "fail" pile is probably pretty large.
@31: Wow... a way of jumping topics! Keep your eyes on the ball, dude.
Posted by: demo kid on July 20, 2008 03:03 PMSticking to the issues, though, you ask "he inherited it AS WHAT?" (yelling, I assume). He inherited it as the chairmen of the Senate Ways and Means Committee. In that role, and because it was the Senate's turn to write the initial budget, he inherited as the one person in the state most responsible for writing the state budget. I hope this answers your question.
Posted by: Paul G on July 20, 2008 03:11 PM"Really. For what reason, exactly? Would he have violated laws specifically protecting archaeological finds, for the sake of expediency?"
#1 He would have hired competent people, not career government bureaucrats who wouldn't know how to be accountable if you kicked them in the butt. He would have ensured there was due diligence before proceeding. Clearly the archaeological study that was supposedly done was not thorough enough.
#2 He wouldn't have let the tribe boondoggle the state by promising to let them continue for a million dollar payment, then the tribe says they changed their minds AFTER they took the money and the state let that happen.
Posted by: pbj on July 20, 2008 04:29 PM@34: Woulda, coulda, shoulda. Armchair quarterbacking isn't the same as being in the hotseat, and I'm not seeing anything specifically about Rossi's experience that would lead me to believe that he would have done remarkably better with many of these issues.
Posted by: demo kid on July 20, 2008 05:02 PMOh and it gets much, much worse. Over $37 BILLION of Retirement Fund assets are in Equity Markets. What happened to Equity Markets between 6/30/07 and 6/30/08?? THEY PLUMMETTED!
Gregoire is the worst fiscal manager ever...but a shrewd politician. Gregoire knows you get zero credit politically for funding existing obligations adequately. So she goes on a spending spree!
Then she mystically creates a Rainy Day Fund?? What a joke. That money should have gone to fund the Retirement Fund. So she cooks up this cockamamy scheme to look like a fiscal HERO...when she is really a fiscal ZERO.
I can guarantee you we will not get even the vaguest idea of how underfunded the retirement fund is @ 6/30/08. They will bury those numbers, for sure, until after the election. My guess is it's probably closer to $7 BILLION Underfunded now.
Underfunding is the sneaky way of BORROWING & DEFICIT SPENDING.
Gregoire created that Rainy Day Fund to justify payoffs to the Union Loyals who pull her string.
Rossi is 100% right in focusing on the Budget. It's one of the main things a Governor is responsible for.
While Washingtonians are cutting back on spending, she gives raises which result in higher pensions....
Just like you would expect from a 39 year Government Bureaucrat.
GREGOIRE has created a disaster scenario for Washington State thru HER ACTIONS....and predictably, can only try to blame Bush.
I still think your argument misses the point. Of course the speaker (more specifically, the chairwoman of the house appropriations committee) and the governor had hands in the budget. But the 2003-05 budget is generally considered the Rossi budget, and for good reason. Senator Rossi put the budget together and, despite a counter-budget from the house of representatives, it was senator Rossi's that passed largely in its presented form. And it, indeed, closed the then-largest deficit in history ($2.3bn on a then-$23bn a year budget) without raising taxes or cutting funds for the mentally challenged and elderly.
And for the last two biennia, because she has had democratic majorities in both houses, it has been governor Gregoire's budgets that have passed, largely in the form in which the governor presented them. And, again, she inherited the third-largest surplus in state history and now (according to the non-partisan state budget keeper) we face a $2.7bn shortfall, a state record. And, again, it is not for want of state revenues. Tax receipts have increased over 8 percent each year the governor has been in office. It has been due to a 33 percent increase in spending, when inflation for the four years has been around 15 percent.
And I am unsure what you mean by a "Dino Rossi goes to Washington moment." "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" centers on an indealistic scout leader who gets tapped to be a US senator, runs into a nefarious plot to enrich a powerful businessman with taxpayer money, gets framed when he tries to expose it, and then wins over the Senate with a stirring filibuster. Senator Rossi ran (in this order) a successful janitor business in college, a successful house-selling business, a successful real-estate development business, a successful bank, a successful state Senate run, a successful budget session in trying times, (if you believe Stefan's arguments) a successful governor run, a successful baseball team, and wrote a successful book. It might not be Frank Capra and Jimmy Stewart, but it sure sounds like a model for a good governor to me.
Posted by: Paul G on July 20, 2008 05:22 PMAfter all, if he's gonna apply the "empty suit" argument to Rossi (Who I must admit *I* will NOT be voting for) then he obviously opposes Oliar, the emptiest suited waste of skin to ever be nominated by any group of morons anywhere; and he'll be out campaigning for McCain like a demon!
What's that? He's a hypocritical leftist?
Oh. My bad.
Never mind.
Posted by: hinton on July 20, 2008 05:30 PMCompletely during his term if he's elected? Or maybe a plan to correct it within two terms? Sounds like the hole is getting deeper now too.
I'd be interested to hear a solution, in the context of reigning in the too high rate of growth of the state budget, a downturn in the economy, and fixing the impending state deficit.
Sounds like there needs to be a dramatic change in where and how much the State spends money. I'm not yet hearing it in this campaign from Dino, nor the party - lots of rhetoric, little detail.
With the comments today, not much light is shining here either.
Posted by: BA on July 20, 2008 05:30 PMUntil Gregoire explains her plan for addressing the $2.7 BILLION Deficit SHE created (and blames Bush for!)...
We must all presume she intends to RAISE TAXES!
Because there are none.
Posted by: Yaddacubed on July 21, 2008 04:05 PMWhy should Dino be any different than Gregoire was? Why should he commit to a course of action until he has control? Most intelligent people do not commit to actions in advance of having their own team in place to review the facts to make the adjustments necessary. You can certainly express guiding principles, but absolute specifics should come after you are in position and have reviewed all of the options and potential impacts.
Posted by: Smokie on July 21, 2008 08:43 PMHe didn't let that stop him with the WSDOT wish list -- er, his pavement program. (He did stop short of telling us how he'd pay for it, however.)
If this is all he's got, after five years of campaigning, then we voters really don't have much of a choice, do we?
Posted by: tensor on July 21, 2008 10:51 PMAt least Rossi is "half way" there with a plan of what needs to happen, even if you can't understand his financing.
The Queen? We still don't know what she wants to do, even though she's heavily raised taxes and spending.
I'll take a plan on what to do with a commitment to figure out financing over the unparalleled theft from our pockets and wanton wasting of the fat Government rolls any day.
Posted by: Shanghai Dan on July 23, 2008 03:43 PMThen you'll just have to explain it to me. Which programs will he cut, which taxes will he increase? Please cite Mr. Rossi's own detailed statements as you go.
By this 'standard', every child who wishes upon a star is 'half way' to getting what he wants.
Posted by: tensor on July 24, 2008 01:22 AM