Locke must state unpopular truth

Washington state is about to experience a moment of truth. Our elected leaders have played partisan "gotcha" games that made their rivals, and themselves, look foolish. Our voters have demanded free- lunch budgeting - higher spending, lower taxes. Our bureaucracies have clubbed business with regulations, driving entrepreneurs to friendlier states.

This winter, an economic slowdown may scatter this house of cards all over the floor.

There's nothing like a full-blown crisis, however, to pull folks together and bring them to their senses.

So let us hope for the best - starting with strong leadership from our governor and the Legislature.

Many of us have admired Gov. Gary Locke for spotlighting education by traveling around the state and reading storybooks to schoolchildren. But what the public interest requires now is a leader who will set fables aside and tell us, boldly, the unpopular truth about our state's condition and the popular but foolish habits that created it.

Last spring, after months of wrangling, the Legislature failed to adopt a transportation investment package and adopted a tenuously balanced state budget. Republicans warned the budget wouldn't survive a recession. But the GOP also had backed initiatives that cut tax revenue on which the budget, and essential services, depend.

Then, the Sept. 11 terrorist attack injured an already precarious economy, hurting revenues and triggering layoffs at Boeing, which had been signaling its dissatisfaction with Washington state's hostile business climate.

Now, state budget experts are waiting for revenue data to reveal how much damage has been done. The $22.8 billion two-year budget may now be as much as $1 billion in the red. Roughly two-thirds of that budget, devoted to education and certain social programs, may be immune from cuts. Bringing the budget into balance would require severe cuts in unprotected services.

Such as? Public safety employees, for starters. You know, the firefighters and police officers whose noble service has inspired so much tearful, flag-waving admiration lately.

After Initiative 695 eliminated revenue that cities and counties were spending to beef up public safety, the Legislature provided "bailout" funds to keep those services going. Now, those funds are in jeopardy. In addition, initiative author Tim Eyman this year is piloting his ironically named I-747, which aims for further reductions in property tax revenue on which city and county law enforcement services depend. A majority of city and county budgets, in fact, pay for public safety services.

So it is time for a frank conversation about what kind of state we want to live in.

Do the people of Washington really want to keep treating government, and/or taxpaying businesses, as the enemy? That's what we've done in recent years, to our detriment.

Now, we have a choice, and we need forceful leadership to help us make it: civic responsibility, or civic disintegration?

Copyright 2001 Cowles Publishing Company
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