Last year several House Democrats joined the Washington Education Association (WEA) and the League of Education Voters to file a lawsuit to overturn the four-time voter approved 2/3 vote requirement for tax increases. Today Governor Gregoire filed a legal brief urging the Court to rule on this issue. From her brief (in-part) “Governor Christine Gregoire asks this Court to decide

Whatever else stepping down as governor will cost Christine Gregoire, she doesn’t figure to suffer financially. In fact, her state pension currently projects to be $3,000 a year more than she’s earning as Washington’s chief executive. According to documents obtained in a public disclosure request by the Freedom Foundation, Gregoire’s pension was calculated last July by the Washington State Department

On January 9, the Washington State Legislature will come back to session. On their busy agenda is rectifying the horrendous $2 billion budget deficit that they delayed reforming in the last legislative session. While our budget crisis may seem like the fault of an ineffective legislature, the fault lies in the hands of Governor Gregoire. To understand why Gov. Gregoire

When legislators return to Olympia — only several weeks after a failing to deal with all of the state’s $2 billion budget gap in a special session — will gay marriage be a distraction or just another bill on the calendar? The answer lies in the fact that Gregoire — like so many of her predecessors — is a two-term

With the Legislature consistently showing itself willing to wait to the last moment to bring the state’s budget into balance, Washington Policy Center has proposed changing the Governor’s current across-the-board authority to respond to a deficit to discretionary authority to make surgical reductions to enact timely savings. One potential way this new discretionary budget cutting authority could be structured could

Tomorrow Governor Gregoire will be holding a press conference outlining her recommendations to address the state’s budget deficit. Today her budget director Marty Brown sent a letter to state unions informing them that the Governor was re-opening the 2011-13 health care benefits agreement “in order to negotiate a reduction in the employer premium contribution.” Here is a copy of the

[Update: Comments from WSRP Chairman Kirby Wilbur added at bottom.] On Thursday’s announcement by Gov. Christine Gregoire of a late November special legislative session to resolve the state’s $1.5 billion budget woes, Republicans and Democrats in the Legislature traded opening statements in the press, and the candidates for governor added their own comments. Congressman and Democratic candidate for governor Jay

Governor Gregoire announced this morning she is calling a special session to start November 28 to address the state’s $1 billion plus budget deficit. Here are my notes from her press conference: Need budget to be done in one special session – she won’t call another. The total budget reductions needed are in the range of $2 billion to provide

[Update: Comment from Gov. Gregoire's spokeswoman added shortly after initial publication.] Washington State Gov. Christine Gregoire issued a statement Wednesday demanding that the parties involved in Tacoma’s five-day-old teacher strike come to Olympia if the day’s efforts by the teacher’s union and school administration to reach an agreement was unsuccessful. In a tone not unlike a principal speaking to unruly

After news of the revenue forecast’s $1.4 billion drop in revenue for the 2011-13 budget and the now $1.3 billion budget hole confronting the state—assuming use of every last red cent of reserves—Gov. Christine Gregoire promptly issued a press release where she stated that waiting until the regular legislative session in January to address the problem is not an option:

In 2006, Governor Christine Gregoire negotiated an agreement with Washington State Indian tribes that exempts tribally owned fuel stations from paying 75% of state gas taxes. This year the state will give Indian tribes approximately $22 million in state fuel tax revenue. And the amount will certainly grow as tribes continue to add more fuel stations. Taxpayers will pay approximately

On Wednesday, the Freedom Foundation filed an appeal with Washington State’s Supreme Court challenging a lower court ruling in its case against the governor for her withholding of some documents requested under the Washington State’s Public Records Act. Though Gov. Christine Gregoire won an initial victory in her fight to establish executive privilege as a legal reason for withholding information,

On Monday morning, standing in front of the Washington State Governor’s Mansion in Olympia, two-term incumbent Democrat Gov. Christine Gregoire told reporters that she would not seek a third term in office. Though Gregoire acknowledged that “serving in public office can be very lonely,” she said she “never felt lonely,” giving credit to her staff and supporters. As for her

Associated Press and Politico.com are reporting Monday morning that sources close to Washington State Gov. Christine Gregoire are saying that she will announce this morning that she will not seek a third term. The office of Washington state Gov. Christine Gregoire sent out a notice earlier today for a 10:00 a.m. news conference in which she will announce her “future

State Auditor Brian Sonntag sent Governor Gregoire a letter last week asking her to veto an $8 million raid of the voter approved dedicated performance audit account. From Sonntag’s letter requesting the veto: “Diverting performance audit funding to support unrelated, specific activities at other agencies is wrong. It sets a precedent for future use of this money that is not