OHH!

The Seattle Times reports:

The bottom just fell out of the state budget.

A new state forecast released this morning estimates tax revenues will drop an additional $1.9 billion below projections.

If that number holds true, state lawmakers could face about a $5 billion shortfall when they meet in January to put together a new two-year budget. That's up from a $3.2 billion gap projected in September.

"This is as bad as I've ever seen it," said Victor Moore, the governor's budget director.

Spending over the last four years increased by 33% or more than $8 billion under the Democrat controlled legislature and Governor. Democrats will try to blame the economy for the deficit but this mess is on them. The Democrats' runaway spending now leaves the state with two options: cut services or raise taxes.

Gov. Gregoire promised not to raise taxes during her re-election campaign. We'll see if that holds true.

Democrats in the legislature have their own ideas, including Sen. Rodney Tom's proposal to tax people based on the size of the engine in their car. Others have speculated about higher business taxes or an income tax.

From Gov. Gregoire’s January 2008 “State of the State” address:

“Media across the state have called my budget frugal. It is. Just like families, we are making wise investments for the future and saving for less prosperous times.

“For too long, state government spent in the good times, and then made painful cuts when the economy slowed. We are getting off that roller coaster, and we’re making progress!”

Oh, sort of like how you increased state spending by a full third during our good times, and are now that the economy has slowed we need to make painful cuts?

And then there’s this gem:

“Just three years ago, when I came to office, Washington was struggling with $2.2 billion shortfall that threatened to halt any progress on needs from education to health care.

“Those were tough times, indeed. But we have met the challenges head on, made the tough decisions, and adopted fiscally prudent and economically sound policies for our families, our communities, and our future.

“Today, I am proud to stand before you and report that we have turned things around and made real progress.”

Keep in mind that just one month after Gregoire delivered this speech Washington had a $2.7 billion shortfall. This week the budget hole topped $5 billion. So much for having “turned things around.”

And then there’s this…

“Here in Washington, I’m proud to say our state has taken steps to equip our economy to face whatever the future holds.

The collapse of the housing market in other states is affecting the market here too. But I’d say to those folks wanting to buy a house -- our economy is strong.”

Hey, wait a minute…isn’t that exactly what McCain said, and he was hammered for it?

And to top it all off:

“I’ll say it again. Our families have a tough job, and I am proud of the fact that we have forced government to behave just as families must do to manage their households.”

Yea…when was the last time your household got a pay raise of 6 percent but went out and spent 16 percent more – and you didn’t end up upside down? Reading the rest of the speech, which includes a laundry list of how she spent 33 percent more of our hard-earned money over four years, it isn’t hard to figure out how we got here.

Lately we've been hearing all the happy talk from Gov. Gregoire about how she promises not to raise taxes. Just because she broke that promise after the last election doesn't mean she'll do it again, right?

Wrong. Here's the catch (and with this administration there is always a catch): the Legislature can still raise taxes without her so much as having her fingerprints on it. Why? Because under the provisions of Initiative 960, passed by voters in 2007, here is what happens if the Legislature wants to raise taxes:

• It can do so with a 50-percent-plus vote of the Senate and House, and then of the people; or

• Two-thirds of the Senate and House members vote to raise taxes and the public can repeal them by referendum; or

• Two-thirds of the Senate and House members vote to raise taxes and declare it a public emergency, which takes away the people's right of referendum. At the next general election the public can vote on the idea via a nonbinding advisory ballot.

Here's the kicker: under these scenarios, guess who does not have to sign these tax increases? You guessed it - the governor!. She's off the hook. Thus, her ability to say she won't raise taxes. It'll just be the Legislature that does it.

It's things like this that illustrate so perfectly why one-party rule is inherently dangerous. What the public thinks it's seeing isn't really what's happening at all. It's all been decided behind closed doors who will be the good cop and who will be the bad cop, and then it's marketed to the public in an orchestrated way. Here's a look behind the scenes on how this happens.

Sorry, folks. This is already a done deal. Tax increases are on their way, and when they happen the governor will say they weren't her fault because she didn't have to sign them into law. What could be more perfect?

Welcome to the wonderful world of Olympia!