Hold Onto Your Assets

January 10, 2011 by Alex
Filed under: Elected Officials & Candidates, Legislation, News

It’s Monday, January 10th, do you know where your wallet is?

You’d better get a tight grip on it. Today was the first day of the Washington State legislative session.

Gregoire Ignoring the Will of the People?

Last week, our fearless Governor proclaimed,“I’m not gonna let 1053 stand in the way of me moving forward for what I think is right.”

Do you, like me, wonder what she means by that?

Initiative I-1053 was, as you recall, the reinstatement of the thrice-ignored voter-approved measure which states “legislative actions raising taxes must be approved by two-thirds legislative majorities or receive voter approval, and that new or increased fees require majority legislative approval.”

It appears Governor Gregoire wants to shove another bloated budget down the throats of the taxpayer, washed down with a healthy dose of bureaucratic fees – regardless of the overwhelming message sent by the voters!

Will Our Representatives Go Along With This?

Will they have the backbone to represent the over-taxed and over-regulated citizens of Washington State?

Did you know, according to a state legislative office, our current state budget spends almost $1300.00 more per person than the State of California? That’s absolutely unsustainable!

Our legislators are facing billions (yes, that’s billions with a big “B”) in revenue shortfalls. And, of course, we know that “revenue” is the polite political term for your hard earned tax dollars.

Even worse, those billions in shortfalls are completely separate from the billions of unfunded liabilities our representatives in the legislature have passed down over the years!

Brace Yourself for the Scare Tactics

What’s a politician to do? Make as many painful cuts in the budget as they can in an attempt to scare you, the taxpayer, into letting them off the hook with higher taxes and fees.

Here’s an example from the Office of Financial Management, on the Governor’s 2011-2013 proposed budget:

“Deep cuts are made across all areas of state government. The most significant of these include:

Elimination of the Basic Health Plan, which now offers subsidized health insurance to 66,000 low-income individuals. This saves $230 million in state funds and $117 million in federal funds.

Elimination of the Disability Lifeline grant for the temporarily unemployable, which serves 28,000 individuals each month, and the Disability Lifeline Medical Program, which serves 21,000 clients each year who have a temporary disability and are unable to work. This saves $327 million.

Suspension of the Student Achievement Program under Initiative 728, which provides smaller class sizes, extended learning time for students and professional development for teachers. This saves $860 million.

Suspension of employee salary increases under Initiative 732 for K-12 and higher education teachers and other employees. This saves $280 million.

Elimination of K-4 class-size reduction funds provided to school districts that exceed the state’s basic education allocation. This saves $216 million.

Reduction of 3 percent in compensation for state employees. This saves $176 million in state funds and $269 million in all funds.

Elimination of state general fund dollars for State Parks. This saves $47 million.

Closing McNeil Island Corrections Center by April 2011. This saves $17.6 million.”

Tune Up Your Political Polygraph

We will surely hear more in the coming weeks and months about how all of the stuff that’s easy to cut has already been pared out of the budget and now we’re “down to the tough choices”.

It’s true, for the political class, the budget binge that bought ballots in prior years, bringing us to this uncomfortable reality was surely much more pleasurable than the inevitable budget purge they face today.

It’s up to liberty activists like you to see through the ploys that legislators may use. We must recondition our legislators to understand that they can’t buy votes with a bloated budget, but they sure can spend their way out of widespread support.

Gear Up For Focused Action!

As the legislative season unfolds, we’ll be tracking some critical bills. From time to time, we may be able to stop a bad bill by contacting individual legislators . It’s interesting how differently legislators can act when they know the folks in their district are “playing along at home.”
Now’s the time to help make sure we can get critical information to you. Are you willing to:

Use this form today to raise your hand so we can let you know when your strategically timed phone call, letter, or email to your representative could help us win victories for liberty!