There have been numerous attempts in this forum to CON the people here,and the general public, about the certainty of loss of essential services because of 695.

To get us to swallow this tripe,we are expected to presume that the remaining 98 percent is all spent on CRUCIAL SERVICES that CANNOT be cut without causing a catastrophy.Knowing of the honesty and integrity of the anti-taxpayer crowd, I expected that a casual and very cursory look at the state budget would prove them to be truthful.

I spent about 15 minutes looking at a VERY SMALL portion of the budget and found a few of these absolutely crucial programs/budget items that absolutely CANNOT be cut to pay for services like police,fire and transit.

120,000--Wa. quality awards council

20,000---task force archaeology& historic preservation

430,000--Comm. on asian-american affairs

520,000--Office of indian affairs

1,000,000--rural tourism development

100,000-- farmworker housing

970,000--GRANT to Wa. council on international trade

total--3,310,000 for these CRUCIAL needs

I think that rational people would agree that any legislator that would fund stuff like this(and the dozens of other items like them)over essential services should resign.

Now I am sure that some folks would say that what is essential is a subjective matter and that people might disagree. We have seen that stated repeatedly in this forum.

My response is that that disagreement can be settled by the vote. Wouldn't you all like to have the opportunity to vote on tax and fee increases to fund things like the above?

I,m looking forward to it.

Liberal motto: "I've got mine,now here's how we'll distribute everybody elses."

Ricardo

-- Ricardo (ricardoxxx@home.com), October 26, 1999

Answers

Ricardo.... Is there a link or site where one can view the budget from which the above items were pulled? I'd be interested in seeing what other "essential services" we are all paying for. It would just be more garbage to throw back at our pols when THEIR sky starts falling...

-- just a guy (torijosh@yahoo.com), October 26, 1999.

Just a guy

All I did was plug "Washington state" into a search engine(Alta vista) and when you get to the state site go to governor-budget.

Have a good time and don't get sick at the garbage you see.

"Liberals raise taxes in order to enable government to do for the people things they could better do for themselves if only they had the money they paid in taxes."

Ricardo

-- Ricardo (ricardoxxx@home.com), October 26, 1999.

OOPS

forgot to include 150,000--comm. on salaries for elected officials.

Ricardo

-- Ricardo (ricardoxxx@home.com), October 26, 1999.

Thats how to do it. Write an initiative that cuts programs, so we can debate the value of the program vs. cost. Untargeted budget cuts do nothing to change government priorities and programs. They will still need to debate how important these are, as opposed to anything else funded by the state. If that is what you found to cut, you are a billion or so short of covering the MVET loss, and someone will argue with you about each of the items you proposed to be eliminated.

-- dbvz (dbvz@wa.freei.net), October 26, 1999.

"I've got mine. Screw everybody else."

-Ricardo

Seriously, "folks", when is the last time you communicated to your legislator about any one of these "unnecessary" programs? Or looked into your legislator's voting record when it cam time to elect him/her? The fact is you haven't, and you won't. Representative democracy is under attack here, using an electorate stirred up by creative propaganda techniques and unchallelnged lies to institute mob rule.

-- Keith Maw (mapworks@connectexpress.com), October 29, 1999.

"Representative democracy is under attack here, using an electorate stirred up by creative propaganda techniques and unchallelnged lies to institute mob rule. " No hyperbole here, is there? Pro- MVET people getting desperate here.

-- zowie (zowie@hotmail.com), October 29, 1999.

you all are a bunch of whiners who want good roads to drive your SUVs on and don't want to pay for it. I say No tax money for raods but a per mile user fee. you drive, you pay. period i don't want to pay for everyone elses'driving. Also strang how all you kvi-type angry white males werte so silent on the HUGE TAX GIVEAWAY that the sports stadiums represent

-- (asbestos@rocketmail.com), October 30, 1999.