In Our View: The Thrill is Gone

When 49 state senators and 98 state representatives report for duty in Olympia on Monday, the most appropriate banner for posting at the Legislative Building would not be “Welcome Back, Legislators!” No, we envision something more foreboding: “Welcome to the Poor House!”

Giddy though they might be about representing their constituents back home, the lawmakers know their task this year is grim. In a Columbian story today by Howard Buck, state Rep. Jim Jacks, D-Vancouver, said the choices “are between catastrophic, and merely horrible.” Last month, Gov. Chris Gregoire, in describing her own budget, used language politicians ordinarily reserve for proposals from their worst enemies: “I hate it because in some places, I don’t even think it’s moral.”

What has our state politicians so depressed? A $1.1 billion deficit that must be resolved through June 30, and then a $4.6 billion deficit through mid-2013. Unlike previous legislative sessions, all of the elected officials, regardless of political party, are thrown into the same boat: an all-cuts budget, without new revenue.

Previously, only Republicans occupied that boat. But voters in November erased any possibility of increased revenue by repealing new taxes, rejecting a state income tax and requiring a two-thirds legislative approval for tax increases. So now, as state Sen. Joe Zarelli, R-Ridgefield, warns all of the hat-in-hand agency advocates, “Keep your ‘ask’ to yourself this year and help us manage what we have to do, rather than what we’d like to do.”

We’d like to see more attention paid to one solution that the governor and majority Democrats conveniently and continually dismiss: how the state’s taxpayers pay their hired hands. Due to the power of unions, state workers have suffered nowhere near the sacrifices that private-sector workers have been forced to make in recent years. To that complaint, state workers and union officials will respond with two examples: The governor extracted a 3 percent pay cut for 90 percent of state employees, and they’re now paying 33 percent more for health care premiums.

But look at the details and do the math. The “pay cut” is no reduction in hourly pay, but through unpaid furloughs. That’s a Band-Aid for major fiscal trauma. And the increase for health care premiums is only from 12 percent to 15 percent, still almost half the individual contribution that is common in the private sector. These “sacrifices” look tame when the governor talks about removing 66,000 poor people from the Basic Health Program or eliminating the Children’s Health Program for uninsured kids.

As for the Southwest Washington delegation’s participation in this year’s session, three locals are established in impressive leadership positions. In the Senate, Democrat Craig Pridemore of Vancouver is chairman of the Government Operations, Tribal Relations & Elections Committee. Zarelli is ranking Republican on the powerful Ways & Means Committee. In the House, Democrat Jim Moeller of Vancouver has been named House Speaker Pro Tempore. Other promotions include Jacks’ role as vice chairman of Technology, Energy & Communications Committee; and Democrat Tim Probst is vice chairman of Education Appropriations & Oversight.

Bad as the deficit dilemma is, it could be worse. Paul Krugman, columnist for The New York Times, reported last week that Texas faces a two-year deficit of up to $25 billion, and “the Texas budget gap is worse than New York’s, about as bad as California’s, but not quite up to New Jersey levels.”

Every January we wish our local legislators all the best. This year we issue the same message. But somehow, being a state legislator doesn’t seem to be the great, glorious gig that it used to be.