On Jan. 11, the Herald ran a letter from Tobin Darrow titled “Eyman keeps mum on balancing budget.” He stated that Tim Eyman, “who consistently dodges all questions about how the budget should be balanced after passage of his initiatives … at a minimum owes voters an explanation of how the budget should be balanced once his initiatives become law.”
In response to a similar question from a state senator, Eyman said, “I can tell you why I don’t suggest where to cut the fat. There are top-notch, incredibly well funded government-spending watchdog groups … that consistently offer reform suggestions. And you and your colleagues consistently ignore them.”
Darrow and interested Herald readers could learn a lot by looking into recommendations made by the Evergreen Freedom Foundation, the Washington Research Council and the Washington Policy Center. For instance, they point out the foolishness of failing to require independent performance audits to be conducted by the state auditor. They suggest contracting out government projects so the private sector can compete with government agencies. A common sense policy change that has been repeatedly blocked. They have consistently pointed out useless government bureaucracies that could be eliminated and the Legislature just ignores their suggestions.
Since long before Eyman appeared on the scene, the Evergreen Freedom Foundation has regularly published well-researched suggestions on balancing the budget, which are ignored by our politicians. Recently, The Herald ran an article by Bob Williams, EEF’s president, in which he contradicted with facts Sen. Mary Margaret Haugan’s article whitewashing ferry-system problems. He suggested practical ways to improve this badly-run system, with no response from Olympia. Williams has been invited to address Legislatures of other states, such as Missouri with fat-cutting suggestions and they listened. Washington’s legislators do not.
Mr. Darrow should get his facts straight.
Camano Island
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