Gov. Gregoire's disappearing act
The Governor, who once talked about using crises to implement big changes, has gone low-key. Lately, however, she's hinted at a possible change on her stand on taxes.
State of Washington
What is Gov. Chris Gregoire’s role this legislative session? She took a no-new-taxes oath during her re-election campaign and then wrote an all-cuts budget proposal in December. But that was back when the projected budget shortfall was under $6 billion. Now it’s nearing $9 billion.
Last week, I asked Gregoire if she had any plans to roll out an amended budget to provide additional guidance to the Legislature. Apparently this would not be unprecedented. Her response: "I’m not going to do that. I don’t have the resources to do that and to do everything else that I’ve got going right now. Right now rather than I come out with another budget, the House comes out with a budget, and the Senate comes out with a budget — I’m trying to work with the Senate and the House to see if we can’t get to closure on a budget so we can get out of here on time."
In other words, the Governor is working behind-the-scenes with lawmakers. Gregoire meets regularly in private with fellow Democrats Speaker Frank Chopp and Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown. But other than pushing her cap-and-trade proposal and floating a trio of trial balloons at recent news conferences — the idea of a bond measure for education construction, a tuition surcharge for higher education, and the early release of some women prison inmates — Gregoire has adopted a relatively low-key public role this legislative session. She risks seeming irrelevant.
In her second inaugural address in January, Gregoire talked about using this crisis as an opportunity to put sacred cows out to pasture and to reform government. She has proposed to eliminate some boards and commissions, create a Department of Commerce, and combine the Health Care Authority and Department of Retirement Systems. But beyond that we really haven’t seen any big, bold proposals. Some examples of what she might be proposing: instituting a new higher education tuition scheme, closing tax loopholes, reforming the tax system, consolidating or eliminating agencies, or privatizing some of the services state government provides.
Nor does it appear Gregoire has started building an ark in advance of the budget flood that’s about to come. One might think she would have called a summit of faith-based groups or even the health insurance industry to figure out ways to catch some of the thousands who will doubtless be dropped from the social safety net due to budget cuts. Perhaps that will come later?
Some Olympia observers have suggested that Gregoire painted herself into irrelevance with her no-new-taxes pledge. Lawmakers don’t need her signature to send a tax measure to voters, though Democrats will resent having to take all the risk without a Governor there by their sides. Others suggest her approach is strategic — that she’s serving as a counterweight to her own party's free-spending ways, and that’s giving legislative Democrats the political cover to make painful cuts.
Lately, however, there are signs the Governor is softening her stance on taxes. She offered hints at her news conference last week that she’s won't rule out playing a role in selling a tax package to the public. In response to a question about what happens once there's a final budget, Gregoire said: "I’ll be engaged with the public. I’ll be informing them about exactly what the budget cuts mean in real human terms and jobs and so on — that’s my job in my opinion. And so I’ll be out there and engaged with the public. As to whether I support whatever revenue package is being considered, I don’t know what it is."
Gregoire added: "I support [the Legislature's] looking at any and every option to get us out of this terrible deficit. Now in the end if it’s a tax package, whether I’ll support it is an open question."
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Comments:
Posted Mon, Mar 30, 7:25 a.m. Inappropriate
A Democrat may flip-flop and raise our taxes. No surprise there.
Posted Mon, Mar 30, 9:54 a.m. Inappropriate
Would anybody be surprised if she broke her pledge and supported new taxes? I sure wouldn't.
Here would be some bravery on her part --- freeze spending at the levels of the current fiscal year. Or zero-based budgeting like Gov Locke did during his last term. That's right --- keep spending in line with existing revenue projections. What a strange world where that is considered difficult.
Posted Mon, Mar 30, 10:05 a.m. Inappropriate
a very smart piece. i side with those who believe Gregoire is being strategic, not disengaged. in an ironic way, i think gregoire is enjoying being governor more than ever.
Posted Mon, Mar 30, 3:25 p.m. Inappropriate
If there was ever a time to be bold, it seems like now is that time. Leaders sometimes have to take a step in front of the rest of us in order give a sense of hope during a dark time. To me, the focus on either raising or not raising taxes seems misplaced. These are times when focusing on the polls will not just damage the politician but hurt the citizens as a whole. Unfortunately, some people will stubbornly insist that pledges like "no new taxes" are relevevant all the time, without regard to circumstances. Leaders however, have to step outside the worn paradigms and act in the best interests of the majority.
Posted Mon, Mar 30, 4:31 p.m. Inappropriate
The hue and cry for more money is like crying both "The sky is falling," and "Wolf!" at the same time. There is no shortage of revenue in Olympia. But there is an over abundance of wasteful and profligate spending ($150,000 to commemorate the 1909 Alaska-Pacific-Yukon Exposition). Look at the numbers...
Projected revenue for the 2009 - 2011 biennium is $27.945 billion. For the 2007 - 2009 biennium it was $27.891 billion. And that is a difference of but 0.2 percent
The deficit comes from spending projections by the Legislature that boost it by some $22.5 percent over current levels. Current spending is $29.258 billion, while it’s projected for the next biennium to be $35.9 billion, plus $1 billion in reserves, hence the $9 billion deficit.
If spending for the next biennium was frozen at current levels - that’s FROZEN, not cut - the budget deficit for the next 27 months would be $2.35 billion.
Instead of rushing to filch from everyone’s pocket, how about urging some restraint on the part of the Legislature?
Not all items purchased by government are of equal priority. If Olympia used Priorities of Government buy list analytical tool to target spending on what’s important, not what’s fluff and folly, then it could actually get something done. But that would require making decisions, something the HA Happy Hooligan auxiliary a/k/a the Washington State Legislature is incapable of doing.
I could say Olympia spends like drunken sailors, but that would be defamatory to drunken sailors.
The Piper
Posted Mon, Mar 30, 7:20 p.m. Inappropriate
Hey! that's no act, she really has disappeared, Joe Biden says, "Hey, want to see a neat trick I learned from the last Vice President", how was Joe to know that Dick used to wear a top hat and wave a magic want when ordering somebody of to a secret prison.
Freaky, I know. I can't wait for the Congressional hearings so I can get a look at the nutty getup.
Posted Mon, Mar 30, 8:23 p.m. Inappropriate
The comments of "EJS" lead this observer to speculate that the contributor is suggesting that raising taxes would be a brave, bold initiative in these tough economic times. To those who have a surplus of money, I would suggest that they are free to donate as much as they wish to our government at all levels. However, many of us out here in the real world are suffering through this economic downturn. We don't have extra cash to spend on vanities, hobbies or casual indulgances of our own choosing, let alone those vanities that government foists upon us literally at the point of the tax collector's gun. Our federal and state governments have constitutions instituted precisely in order to protect us from the tyranny of the majority. As we all must reign in our wasteful spending, so must our public servants. Here's a clue to potential leaders in government: "Know Your Role". True leaders are not, in tough times, parasites.
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