Politics rather than state obligations more important to many in the Washington state legislature

Recent headlines in the local newspapers seem to tell a different story but in fact are merely two sides of the same coin. The Tacoma News-Tribune announced that the state Supreme Court found the legislature negligent in abiding by its own directives in properly funding public education, and demanded that it do so forthwith. Of course, Washington already ranks near the bottom in the country in funding higher education—so much so that the University of Washington actively recruits international students and their high tuition requirements while subtly discouraging in-state applicants. Ironically, the anti-affirmative action I-200 was supposed to “solve” this “problem” for white American applicants—except that the “problem” was never the handful of American racial minorities that UW enrolled. That was just more right-wing hate propaganda.

The next day The Seattle Times was reporting that the state legislature was battling over transportation spending and funding responsibilities for the debacles that have been the 520 bridge and the tunnel project in Seattle. Of course, if there were not two turncoat Democrats who decided to caucus with the Republicans in the state Senate, there might be more progress in the matter; but the “point” of this “bi-partisan” move was strictly local politics and not for the good of the state. As usual, irony and hypocrisy abounds. People outside the western side of the state—largely Republican-leaning—balk at the idea of paying for things they claim they do not use way “over there.” The problem is that these people living in remote, largely rural areas are even more dependent on a functional transportation system “over there,” since the products and services they need largely go through Western Washington.

One wonders why an allegedly “blue” state like Washington has such problems coming to terms with its responsibilities to its residents. California Governor Jerry Brown stumped all over his state trying to convince voters of the need for a tax increase on the wealthiest residents, and he succeeded  in persuading enough for the need for it to fund the state’s responsibilities. The state of Washington had a similar measure defeated, with the help of opposition from none other than the hapless Seattle Times’ editorial board.  For all the talk about people who pay or don’t pay taxes, the reality is that the wealthiest residents in the state pay less than 3 percent of their income in state taxes (that includes property taxes on those mansions), while the poorest wage-earners pay more than 17 percent of their income in state taxes. The state’s sales, gas and “sin” taxes are particularly regressive in this regard.

If the state legislature wanted to, it could effectively deal with its problems in a way that is sensible and productive. But as usual, politics is the most important thought on the side whose party name begins with the letter “R.”