It’s kind of strange that the State Senate GOP (er, Majority Coalition (er, GOP)) are talking about how awesome things have been under their leadership.
From an unprecedented boost in support for K-12 education and the first college-tuition freeze in nearly three decades to a sustainable new state budget that was balanced without general tax increases, the Senate Majority Coalition Caucus racked up a remarkable list of achievements in its first year.
Your Caucus was pushing for differential tuition and you totally would have spent the money we’re getting from having a somewhat improved economy on tax cuts instead of education. Also much of that “boost” to K-12 education comes from teacher pay, and that’s not really a boost so much as moving money around within education.
But it’s that “remarkable list of achievements” that caught my eye, since they didn’t even propose a transit package: They killed the Columbia River Crossing and didn’t replace it with anything. In the wake of the I-5 bridge collapse they decided low taxes was the priority. They heard King County ask to tax itself and they’ve pissed away any time to make it happen.
More importantly, the only reason there was the K-12 increase at all was because the Washington State Supreme Court ordered them to, after finding that the legislature – thanks largely to the Republicans, with a big assist from Tim Eyman – had so stripped education spending that the legislature was badly failing its constitutional obligation to adequately fund it.
In other words, they’re taking credit for complying (sort of) with a state supreme court order to stop violating their oaths of office. I guess when you’re a Republican, “remarkable achievement” is a low bar.
What do you expect from a Minority Party + 2 Turncoats? Remember, the majority of voters rejected their agenda, and this bunch is a “majority” only because of rightwing trickery.
@2 Well, maybe…but since then the voters in Rodney Tom’s district seem to have decided they like him about as much as a de facto Republican as they did when he was a nominal Democrat, and the good people of Gig Harbor drank a nice cup of tea and gave the “coalition” one more seat occupied by a bona fide member of the GOP. it seems “kicking the can down the road” is becoming increasingly popular, as long as the kickers are convinced it’s their own road, and someone else’s can.
Fk sociopath Republicans