Can Governor Gregoire Create A Budget We Can Believe?

Remember last June when Governor was so upset working on the budget? She said she was cutting/slashing and she did not like what she was having to do at all. She said they worked with extremely low budgets and stream lined everything they did with no frills. Well you already know that is a crock of baloney, when you look at the salaries they pay the top managers, superintendents or whatever they are called. There are many stories in this Emerald City Journal about the superintendent of the school, the president of the University of Washington etc so wont list numbers here but since they are paid by “we the taxpayers” its should be a crime. The June budget she signed made massive cuts to education, including the reduction of teachers salaries of 1.9%. She said she did not like the budget but the state just has no money and there will be another larger cut across the board. BUT, the day after she gave that speech about the budget she left on a trade trip. She didn’t mention that in her speech. Why didn’t she say,” I am going on a very expensive trip, tomorrow with a huge delegation at taxpayer expense”? Before she headed out on her European trade trip with her delegation she said it would cost less than $40,000. But the actual cost(that we know about) is more than double that. Her hotel room in Paris was $500 a night. She had not included the cost of her security, which cost more than her estimate of $40,000. She had not included the wages of the people she took along on this vacation. They all got paid the same as if they were home working on whatever they are supposed to be doing plus per diem’s, $100 dinners , $56.00 lunches. They took in the Paris Air Show and as far as I know A GOOD TIME WAS HAD BY ALL. We paid for it. Things have gotten worse and she is going to call a special session to deal with the shortfall, and call for an additional 10% across the board cut. Why would anyone believe a thing she says about spending after that slap in the face with that expensive trip? What plans does she have now that she is a lame duck Governor? She better take all the taxpayer paid trips she can before she quits. For sure we the people should not get hit for a tax, fee, or anything else. Government(all of it) has to stop the spending. Look at Congress doing nothing but fighting with each other and cobbling agreements to keep the government from shutting down all the while spend, spend spend. President Obama has been doing nothing but campaigning since before he was elected. He travels all over in his little Air Force One and costs city’s fortunes by coming to visit, but when he arrived at Boeing field last month Governor Gregoire was right there giving him the thumbs up. She is not capable of creating a budget. She(and most of the politicians) do not have a clue what the word means. For sure it means you cant spend more than you have on hand. A fifth grader would know that. I hope someone really questions her budget numbers because she has proved she has no interest in keeping expenses down. She only wants them to figure out how to suck more money out of us people who are already hurting. I had to really talk to myself when I spent over ten bucks on fish and chips at Ivar.s the other day because it was from my social security check and believe me I know what cut and slash expenses mean. The governor obviously does not. It should be a crime to waste our money the way she did on her trip. She had to know she could not do it on $40,000 and even that was way to much in these hard times. Don’t believe the phony numbers she uses or the crap she says when she says how it hurts her to make these cuts.