STATE GOVERNMENT
D.C.-style dysfunction has state at fiscal cliff
OLYMPIA (June 27, 2013) — “Governing from the middle, governing from the center, that’s what the citizens in this state expect,” erstwhile Democratic Sen. Rodney Tom said last December, announcing the new “Majority Coalition Caucus” that he and Sen. Tim Sheldon had just crossed party lines to form with the 23 Senate Republicans.
Amid all this, budget negotiations between Tom’s Republican-controlled Senate and the Democratic-controlled House are so dysfunctional that on Wednesday Tom’s “coalition” didn’t appear to know whether they had a budget agreement or not.
TAKE A STAND! — Call the toll-free Legislative Hotline at 1-800-562-6000. Leave a message for all of your state legislators: “It’s past time for the Senate Majority Coalition Caucus to stop messing around with divisive policy bills — like eliminating health care for part-time state employees. Pass the operating budget, a robust capital budget that puts Washington to work, and the transportation package.”
Stay tuned as this completely unnecessary and harmful drama continues.