While not on the order of the love note Washington State Democrats delivered Monday to liberal activists, Republicans in Olympia today are taking credit for a gift of deceptive importance to the objective of righting the state’s fiscal ship. House Bill 2607—a proposal spearheaded by House Republicans that would require the Office of Financial Management to publish a six-year budget

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

It’s hard to tell from reading the articles, but state employee compensation has risen 17.3 percent over the last ten years. Both the Olympian and the News Tribune recently ran the same story about state employee salaries and compensation. According to the stories, salary and benefits have decreased as a share of general-fund spending over the course of the last

On the news that Gov. Christine Gregoire is finally calling the State Legislature back into session to tackle budget woes in the form of a $1.5 billion deficit, Republican candidate for governor Rob McKenna issued a statement, praising the incumbent Governor for taking action and suggesting that a quick and bipartisan process is what Washington needs: “No one can be

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

It may have been by design, though perhaps it was simply fortuitous, that the Economic and Revenue Forecast Council voted to extend the contract for the state’s current Chief Economist Arun Raha another year before they heard what he had to say today. The embattled chief economist delivered a quarterly revenue projection that was unambiguously depressing. According to the forecast,

Washington State is faring better than Washington D.C. when it comes to governmental credit rating. While national credit rating firms have put the U.S. on their “watch” list for possible downgrade, Washington State has been given a “stable” rating for its response to balancing the state’s budget. That said, clouds remain on the horizon that could impact our future credit

Even after over 200 years, our Constitution is still a thing of wondrous beauty. The proof of the Constitution’s success is, like those truths in the Declaration of Independence, self-evident: America is the wealthiest, most powerful nation on the face of the Earth. Our Founding Fathers constructed a marvelous governing machine, complete with checks and balances, firm prescribed limits, and

That didn’t take long. The 2009-11 supplemental budget (rolled into the 2011-13 budget) Governor Gregoire signed yesterday is already projected to end in an $84 million deficit thanks to today’s revenue forecast. According to the state’s budget director Marty Brown, the ending fund balance for 2009-11 is projected to be minus $84 million and plus $163 million for 11-13. That

It is an honor to have my op-ed published in the Wall Street Journal. It is also true that editors 3,000 miles away have the power to edit my words with abandon and select a title that frankly isn’t what I would have chosen.  They are intent on selling papers; I worry about frustrating any effort to reward our politicians