Gov. Chris Gregoire stopped by the Big Tent in Denver on Wednesday to check out the “organized chaos” and take substantive questions from the bloggers. Well, not from me of course, because I lack the credibility to talk substantively, but the other bloggers, they got the Governor into some pretty good conversations. Check it out.
And be sure to check out Daily Kos, where Joan has posted her own conversation with the Governor.
$8 Billion of increased spending.
She created a $2.9 Billion Deficit for the upcoming biennium
She has no plan on how to fix it.
Sarah Palin showed what a leader can do in Alaska and makes Gregoire look pathetic.
State Workers ==Gregoire’s Base
Small Business (job creating & tax-paying)==Rossi’s Base.
She is in trouble…it shows on her face.
Cynical… do you and your BIAW buddies really want a third world economy? Because that’s what it seems you are shooting for.
State and local government in WA has shrunk over the past decade from 11.2% of personal income to 10.3%… and falling… ranking us 34th out of the 50 states. You can put whatever number you want on budge growth under Gregoire, but as a percentage of the economy it has been flat. That’s a fact.
Meanwhile Alaska’s economy is a fantasy land propped up entirely on oil and natural gas revenues. Not too hard to make those tough budget decisions when the choice every year is how much you’re going to pay each resident, rather than how much you’re going to tax them.
But I guess you BIAWers would love Palin and the entire corrupt Alaska political system, because you’ve never really been fans of the rule of law, have you?
Goldy–
You sound kind of desperate and angry.
Take a chill-pill.
You somehow want us to believe $8 BILLION of increased spending is not an increase…that it is “flat”???
That’s pretty humorous.
Try telling that to folks who have lost their jobs, seen their businesses become much less profitable while Gregoire increases her Governor’s Budget monsterously.
PS–Did you know Gregoire has 41 staffers paid over $100K on her Budget PLUS huge benefit packages while Gary Locke had 6.
Make us feel good about that Goldy.
@2 Wake up, Goldy. What they want is a totalitarian state. A commie-fascist ideology will do just fine, just so long as they get to watch the world burn.
Cynical… uh huh. One tax was raised during Gregoire’s four years… the gas tax. And that was approved by large majorities in both Houses and a landslide majority of voters at the polls.
I know accusing Gregoire of raising taxes works well in your focus groups, but it isn’t true, and you know it.
Massive police raids on suspected protestors in Minneapolis
Protesters here in Minneapolis have been targeted by a series of highly intimidating, sweeping police raids across the city, involving teams of 25-30 officers in riot gear, with sub-machine guns drawn, entering homes of those suspected of planning protests, handcuffing and forcing them to lay on the floor, while law enforcement officers searched the homes, seizing computers, journals, and political pamphlets. Last night, members of the St. Paul police department and the Ramsey County sheriff’s department handcuffed, photographed and detained dozens of people meeting at a public venue to plan a demonstration, charging them with no crime other than “fire code violations,” and early this morning, the Sheriff’s department sent teams of officers into at least four Minneapolis area homes where suspected protesters were staying.
Read more and video at:
http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/index.html
@3 Desperate? Goldy is simply stating the facts. To hear you, Rossi, and your BIAW buddies talk about it anyone would think Gregoire is taking money from citizens and putting it in her own pocket.
That money was spent on education, expanding prisons, building roads for the cars you wingers like to drive so much, and other public services our citizens need and want. Which of those services are you willing to give up?*
This state doesn’t want Republicans’ fucked-up priorities. That’s why Washington hasn’t elected a Republican governor since 1980. Oh, and by the way, the 9 1/2 cent gas tax was approved by a substantial majority of the state’s voters.
If you want to live in a Republican paradise, move to Alaska.
* The correct answer is: Public school education for children of families who can’t afford private schools.
So Goldy…riddle me this:
How is Gregoire going to balance the Budget next biennium?
Precisely what expenses will she cut?
What taxes will she raise?
I have been waiting for a smidgeon of leadership from her. Instead, all we get is Gregoire blaming others and in denial that miraculously this upcoming Budget Deficit will go away.
I’m waiting and waiting and waiting…but no answers.
Silence will be construed as TAX INCREASE…unless she has concrete proposal that she promises to keep to the contrary on the spending side.
When I heard her say that the massive spending increase, I gagged because it was salary increases and more bureaucracy.
Gregoire constantly mistakes motion for action.
Palin is a prime example of action.
Rossi will be like Palin.
Goldy, you know damn well Olympia is a good old boy/girl/other network.
The number of public servants who have taken advantage of taxpayers by getting those key appointments at the end of their career to dramatically increase pensions is incredible.
Goldy, how can a 39-year Government Bureaucrat with a 28-year reign by Dems in the Governor’s Mansion talk about “change” with a straight-face??? But the hardcore Leftists and entrenched bureaucrats manage to lap it up from Gregoire.
Good luck selling folks on higher taxes Goldy and friends.
this is good news for mcpain. it always is.
Let’s do away with the prisons for non-violent offenders. Let’s do away with crimes that were put into place to pacify so-called “conservatives.” Let’s force those in eastern Washington into paying their fair share of taxes to support their infrastructure. Let’s do away with tax breaks for religious organizations and churches. We could give free health care to every Washington citizen AND balance the budget this way.
But right wing turds like CynCyn aren’t REALLY interested in solutions. They’re interested in lies – which is why they support proven liar Dino Rossi.
And as soon as we see these same so-called fiscal conservatives attacking the Bush regime for creating the largest budget deficit in US history, we can start to think they MIGHT have a SHRED of intellectual honesty. Don’t hold your breath.
Rossi will be like Palin.
LMAO!!!
PALIN DOUBLED TAXES ON THE OIL AND GAS INDUSTRY.
AND HANDED OUT CHECKS!!!
Gustav Strengthens Into Cat 5 Storm
Three-fourths of Gulf oil production has been shut down and oil platforms are being evacuated as Category 5 Hurricane Gustav slams into Cuba.
@3 We live in a more populous state, Cynical. There’s also inflation. Sure, you can keep the state budget at 1890 levels — if you want dirt roads, 1-room schools, and a prison population of 10 (with the rest of them running loose on the streets).
Gregoire has added significant spending to the state budget in only 3 areas:
1) Funding the deferred education initiatives passed by overwhelming voter majorities several years ago;
2) Repairing our rotting highways and bridges; and
3) Restoring the cruel children’s health care cuts that stood as Dino Rossi’s sole legislative legacy.
Rossi is the man who promises voters he can build an 8-lane 520 bridge for $1 billion less than a 6-lane bridge costs. Anyone who falls for this blowhard deserves what he gets. But the rest of us don’t; and, unfortunately, Rossi voters will take all of us down with them. Anyone who hates Washington enough to vote for Dino Rossi should move to the Republican paradise of Alaska.
@8 (continued) Why shouldn’t state employees get inflation adjustments like everyone else? Their raises are insigificant compared to the 3-digit raises CEOs have been pulling down.
Ideologues detached from reality. That’s today’s Republican Party. They’ll march you straight into quicksand. From, of course, their safe perch on a hill.
Democrats need to run on the economy and national security. Under Republican rule, we are neither prosperous nor safe. Republicans don’t deliver on their promises. That’s the leading issue of 2008 and beyond. We can do better — much better. That’s what we should be talking to voters about.
I have a respectful question for Gov. Gregoire.
It’s the late 60’s, and I’m a black female student attending the U of W. Can I please join your sorority which you are the president of? And if the answer is no, why can’t I?