Seattle Times editorial writer Kate Riley penned a scathing critique today of the Senate’s gutting of Initiative 960 earlier this week.  

Among other complaints, Riley asserts Senate Democrats should have exhausted every avenue before thwarting the will of voters by eliminating the thrice approved provision requiring a 2/3 majority vote for tax hikes.  Echoing what The Hammer and various other newspaper editorials have been saying for weeks, self-proclaimed “cranky taxpayer” Riley says: “Reopening state union contracts to eliminate all state employee raises and bringing health-care benefits more in line with the private sector ought to be a starting point before the state taxes Washington's legions of the laid-off, furloughed and/or nervous.” 

Of course this isn’t going to happen.  Governor Gregoire has already said so.  And the state worker labor union has made it clear they aren’t willing to consider even reasonable changes to the cushy contracts they negotiated for state workers with Gregoire.  So not only will state worker salaries and benefits not be trimmed, but over 20,000 state workers will actually be receiving a 5% pay increase this year.  How many people do you know (not employed by the state) who will be receiving a 5% raise this year, or any raise, for that matter? 

No wonder that, like a voracious little PacMan, paying the generous salaries and extravagant benefit packages of state workers gobbles up a staggering 60% of the state’s budget.  

As you try to wrap your mind around that shocking little factoid, unburdened by the restrictions of I-960, tax and spend Democrat legislators are chomping at the bit to unleash a slew of tax increases worth $1.5 billion so they can keep state workers in the green.  Among the great ideas being proposed—increasing the state sales tax (gee, that’s a great way to encourage consumer spending and stimulate the economy), increasing taxes on business (another gem of an idea, because 10% unemployment isn’t high enough) and making us all pay more at the gas pump. 

There are about to be a whole lot more cranky taxpayers.