Gregoire backs gas tax, blasts price increases

Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire defended the state’s new gas tax Thursday as the way to shore up unsafe roads and bridges, and a small amount compared to the profits oil companies are making from rising fuel prices.

Speaking to the state’s AFL-CIO Convention in Spokane, Gregoire praised the Legislature for having the political courage to increase the gas tax, which went up 3 cents on July 1 and will rise a total of 9.5 cents by 2008.

But only if the state’s voters don’t throw it out at the ballot box on Nov. 8.

Gas tax opponents collected some 420,000 signatures in less than two months, more than twice the number needed to win a spot on the state’s general election ballot.

Road projects from the $8.5 billion the tax is supposed to generate will create good, paying jobs, she told labor delegates.

“People say ‘Now’s not the right time.’ Well when is the right time? When we have a bridge fall down?” she said.

Critics of the tax increase have cited rising gasoline prices as a reason for voters to repeal it. The jump in prices is “out and out robbery,” Gregoire said, but not a reason to repeal the tax.

“Somebody’s getting rich, and it’s not you and I,” she said. “We’re paying for our lack of leadership in Washington, D.C.”

Gregoire didn’t mention Initiative 912 and said later that while she’s concerned about having the tax issue on the ballot, she wasn’t specifically campaigning against it. Instead, she insisted, she was merely trying to tell the public of the need for major transportation repairs.

Initiative supporters are criticizing the plans for spending the money – much of it will go to shore up or replace major projects like the Alaska Way Viaduct and the 520 Bridge across Lake Washington. Critics say it would be better to spend it on easing congestion. Gregoire said Thursday the state has to make up for years of neglecting some vital roads.

“One small earthquake and that Viaduct goes down,” she told delegates.

The governor also urged labor leaders to work for a partnership with the state and local schools on expanded apprentice programs for their trades and crafts. The state needs a program for high school students headed for building and industrial jobs similar to the Running Start program for students headed for colleges and universities, she said.

“We need to make sure that students who might drop out can find themselves,” whether it’s in college or apprenticeships, she said.

She also told union leaders she hoped Washington state, which has a long history of strong labor unions, could avoid some of the internal strife that split organized labor nationally. Some of the largest unions, including the Teamsters and the Service Employees International Union, pulled out of the AFL-CIO last month at the national convention.

“I don’t want to get into the fray, as you may well imagine,” she said.