Our news media, among other things, is supposed to be our government watchdog. Currently, though, they, including The Herald, seem to be parroting “Olympia Speak.” In not so polite company “Olympia Speak” is called Male Bovine Excrement. In the May 1 Herald article on new taxes (my emphasis), Jerry Cornfield wrote: “To blot out the rest of the red ink, majority Democrats pare spending…” Webster defines “pare” as “to trim or cut…” The budget just approved by majority Democrats spends more than the previous budget. Only in the political arena is that considered a “cut.”
In the last five years, with one party in control of the executive and legislative branches of our state government, the size of said government has grown well over 33 percent. During most of those years, our Legislature has been faced with multi-billion dollar surpluses, and they spent it all, building new government programs. Now, faced with a serious budget shortfall and in the midst of a serious economic recession, their answer is to spend more and raise taxes, while we all must deal with real budget cuts.
Fred C. Howard
Snohomish
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