Gregoire has spent her way to big deficit

So Gov. Chris Gregoire has decided to cut state expenses. Wow! What a concept! She has hired 6,600 new state employees since taking office and now 20 percent of the workforce of our state has a government job. She has taken our state from a comfortable financial position to a $2.7 billion deficit and now she has decided to make a token reduction in expenses at a time when state revenues are way down from expectations. Are we impressed? She has managed to fill the wallets of every person (read that: voter) who has had a hand out for money. When that happens in a Third World country, we ridicule their corrupt government, but in Olympia it has simply been business as usual for this administration.

Yes, Dino Rossi voted not to approve raises for teachers. That was done at the request of Gov. Gary Locke and was also approved by most Democrats. Locke loved to spend money but even he realized that the state must follow a budget. As for blaming Rossi for crowded school classes and higher gas taxes, he wasn’t even in the Legislature during the past four years.

I wonder if Gov. Gregoire’s limo will be included in the expense cut.

Mary Ann Monty

Arlington