We need officials with business backgrounds

DAVE COOK; Olympia • Published October 15, 2011 Modified October 15, 2011

0 comments

After reading the first three pages of a recent Sunday Olympian it’s easy to see why the state is in such a mess.

Page One: State spends $255 million on a new building to save $9 million per year. That will take 28 years to recover the cost, assuming the state actually saves that much. Based on how the governor estimates things, that new building will probably cost more.

Page three: Gov. Chris Gregoire’s Paris trip costs $98,000, almost two-and-a-half times her estimate, and her hotel room was $500 per night.

You can get a 4-star hotel room in Paris for under $150 per night. Just check the Internet.

Gregoire then has the nerve to criticize the state lottery office for buying a van that they planned to paint as an advertising gimmick. This is an agency that actually makes money for the state, unlike Gregoire who has lost billions.

No business person would ever make such foolish decisions. We need to clean out the bureaucrats and elect only candidates who have business backgrounds. Otherwise the state of Washington will continue heading on the path to bankruptcy.

Similar stories:

Your 'per diem' questions answered here

Your 'per diem' questions answered here

Today marks the 11th day of a special session that has seen no real floor work. Mostly we’ve seen House and Senate caucus leaders and their budget writers meeting in Olympia for negotiations with Gov. Chris Gregoire. That hasn’t stopped members of the Senate from claiming expenses – some of them for the first seven days of a session that began March 12 and could run 30 days.

The House pushes through its expenses paperwork every other week so expense claims for the first two weeks of session won’t be tallied until Monday. That said, so-called “subsistence” costs – the Senate’s term for the $90 per day expense payment – are not running very high. My tally is $12,690 for the 29 Senate members (of 49 in the body) that claimed first-week expenses.
Governor: Oil refinery fee would aid state roads, ferries

Governor: Oil refinery fee would aid state roads, ferries

Gov. Chris Gregoire asked state lawmakers Tuesday to tap the oil industry for the money to keep ferries running and roads in good repair.
UPDATE 2 - Gregoire wants $1.50-per-barrel oil fee for transpo

UPDATE 2 - Gregoire wants $1.50-per-barrel oil fee for transpo

Gov. Chris Gregoire is beginning her state-of-the-state speech to a full state House and Senate audience this morning. The full prepared text is here, and it restates her call for the Legislature to send voters a tax referendum that raises the sales tax by a half-penny per dollar purchase to pay for schools and health care programs.

But the big news item is the 10-year transportation plan she says will create 5,500 jobs a year.
Benchmarks indicate state doing OK, but not all that great

Benchmarks indicate state doing OK, but not all that great

Benchmarks can be useful tools for measuring how this state matches up with other states on a whole host of indicators, everything from high school graduation rates to the number of families living in poverty.
Political climate different for this special session

Political climate different for this special session

Sullen state lawmakers return to the Capitol on Monday to face another $2 billion budget problem – and a political climate that’s changed since their last special session in May.