The traditional tax lexicon
It is easy to sit on the sidelines and throw stones at the struggles of state government, but the citizens do deserve clearer messages than the fuzzy conflicting reports coming out of the Capitol. Last week was full of pre-session wonder-speeches: “We will work together…they must pull together… we’re $2 billion short…we over spent….fix the roads…kids come first.”
What is a citizen to think when they hear Governor-Elect Jay Inslee strongly reiterate his pledge of no new taxes, and then hear reports from the AP sponsored pre-session press meeting that he is OK with a gas tax increase and repealing tax loopholes. Sure, some of those loopholes are outdated, but nonetheless, a repeal is a tax increase for the repeal-ee (I know, it isn’t a word, but neither is budget-shortfall). What are we to believe?
Kids are more important than cars (ask the Supreme Court)
Representative Ross Hunter was right to remind the AP group that whether we like it or not, the Constitution does trump local politics. The Supreme Court (again) has told the Legislature they are not meeting their paramount duty to fund education. Needed are some good reforms and some cash (see “no new taxes” above). In the same breath Ross framed the gas tax when he added that kids are more important than roads. Go Ross!
Unproductive whining about the coalition
Some democratic activists are having difficultly coming to terms with the fact that even though they have a numerical majority, their dog won’t hunt. With memories of last years whining when the D’s lost control of the Senate and a “coalition” budget came forth, we are seeing the D’s in the Senate trumpeted by Publicola: http://www.seattlemet.com/news-and-profiles/publicola/articles/one-question-for-republican-state-sen-randi-becker
The proof will be in the legislative pudding. Either the product of this session’s senate chamber will be coalitionish (sic), or it will not. Running around pointing to old votes taken by certain legislators, on hand picked issues does not help frame the future. Sorry. Get over it. Let the session begin.
Initiatives don’t count, public vote be damned
A letter from Representative Chris Hurst shows he is not totally trying to shut down the implementation of I-502, the legalized personal use of cannabis. But he fired one across the bow that makes common voters wonder if he heard them. There was a lot more “stop and go slow” than “let’s reason together.” From 2/3’s tax votes, to classroom teacher ratios, training of home healthcare providers, construction of baseball parks, and now decriminalization of cannabis for personal use, our state electeds have a habit of telling us citizens to go pound sand. The state’s cannabis community is nervous enough about conflicts with federal law without having three big hitter committee chairs throw cold water on their lighter.
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