Imagine a corporate takeover of the Evergreen State by the likes of Dino Rossi, Don Benton, and Rob McKenna. What you are seeing in Ohio, New Jersey and Wisconsin would have been the agenda here in Washington, except for the fact that Democrats and independents voted in large numbers in the last two elections. Instead of the negotiated contribution from the state’s public labor unions in our budget solutions, we would have union-fighting Republicans kicking protestors out of the capitol rotunda in Olympia, laying off our teachers, and rejecting federal funds for the Columbia River Crossing and high-speed rail.
That didn’t happen here — yet — because we turned out to vote, and returned many Democratic legislators to office this last November. We are working out our financial woes, doing it with respect for state workers, respect for Washington taxpayers, and without sacrifice of their fundamental rights to collective bargaining.
I’m proud to be a Washingtonian.
Jim Ebacher
Camas
