Spokane7
65°
October 14, 2010 in City
Driscoll, Ahern outline differences
Democrat balances budget with cuts, Republican by privatizing
State Rep. John Driscoll and former state Rep. John Ahern are overshadowed in their election rematch by the intense battle for state Senate in the same district.
Debates between Chris Marr and Michael Baumgartner, who are running for Senate in the 6th District, have been heated.
But when Driscoll and Ahern squared off Wednesday in front of the Spokane Building Owners and Managers Association, the two offered at least a little praise of each other’s record.
Driscoll, a Democrat, said Ahern had done an “incredible job” when he was in the Legislature. Ahern, a Republican, said Driscoll had “done a pretty good job when it comes to health care,” though he added: “there’s a lot more in life than health care.”
Pleasantries aside, the two offered criticism and plenty of distinctions.
After Ahern noted that two of his bills became law, including one to make some drunken driving offense felonies, Driscoll said he’s already pushed more bills through in his first term.
“In those eight years he passed two bills,” said Driscoll, who says he was the main sponsor on 10 bills that became law. “I’ve been in office two years. In those two years I’ve passed some significant legislation related to things that are important here in Spokane.”
Among those, Driscoll said, was a bill to prohibit insurance companies from denying coverage for people needing life-saving organ transplants.
After Driscoll repeated his opposition to new taxes, Ahern noted that Democrats didn’t need Driscoll’s vote to raise taxes.
“I guarantee you, if it were down to the wire and (Democrats) only had a one or two majority in the house, he would be voting for taxes,” Ahern said.
Driscoll said he would balance the budget by cutting and consolidating programs.
“I’m real firm on ‘no new taxes,’ ” Driscoll said. “I think we can ultimately get through and produce a balanced budget next time, and I will work hard to make sure taxes are not part of the package.”
Ahern, who also opposes new taxes, said he would balance the budget by turning over some government work, such as printing, liquor sales and ferry service, to businesses.
“There are three ways we can do it: Privatize, privatize, and the third way, guess what, privatize,” Ahern said.
Ahern said he expects big savings by getting the state out of the liquor business and that it’s time to follow the lead of British Columbia, which privatized much of its ferry system.
After the debate, Driscoll said he’s open to privatizing but opposes proposed liquor privatization plans because of public safety concerns. He said privatizing the ferry system likely would result in selling off a few profitable routes, leaving the state in a hole.
MAC faces angry crowd 
hawken on October 14 at 8:34 a.m.
“Ahern, who also opposes new taxes, said he would balance the budget by turning over some government work, such as printing, liquor sales and ferry service, to businesses.
“There are three ways we can do it: Privatize, privatize, and the third way, guess what, privatize,” Ahern said.
Ahern said he expects big savings by getting the state out of the liquor business and that it’s time to follow the lead of British Columbia, which privatized much of its ferry system.
After the debate, Driscoll said he’s open to privatizing but opposes proposed liquor privatization plans because of public safety concerns.
Vote Ahern
MrNatural on October 14 at 9:35 a.m.
…I don’t trust anyone who always wears white pants with a white belt and white shoes
Vote Driscoll
TheRain on October 14 at 12:08 p.m.
Privatizing the ferries sounds interesting enough, but that would kill the Keller route—most people would just head up to Gifford instead.
ZagChuck on October 14 at 3:34 p.m.
John Driscoll is not a typical “Tax and Spend Liberal.” Instead he belongs to a club of Over-Tax and Over-Spend Liberals, and he and his party are perfect examples of what is wrong with our state.
Why did we (the taxpayers) spend $22,000 a day for extra session work? It was because John Driscoll and his Democrat Party refused to attempt to balance the budget properly during the regular session. Then, after a few weeks at $22k per day, they raised our taxes by nearly $1 billion dollars, and they still didn’t balance the budget. Why? Because they are incompetent at their duties.
In short, we had to pay them extra so they could balance the budget. Instead, they overcharged us, over taxed us, and still over spent the tax increases so much that we still don’t have a balanced budget. Some people support John Driscoll and think that’s good enough, but I know we deserve better!
Some people say Driscoll is not responsible for the tax hikes, the over-spending, and the over-growth of government. I say the proof is there for all to see. Drsicoll is as liberal as they come, despite his protests and advertizing claims of independence. His tacit approval of his Democrat Party strategies and tactics are visible for every voter in the 6th district. He’s as far to left as Lisa Brown, Gregoire, Murray and Cantwell. Sure, he’s had a few votes that his party was able to cover for him, but the people are smarter than he and the far left credit them
The record is there for all to see, but it doesn’t stop with the voting record.
In the last two years we’ve experienced record unemployment, record tax increases, a record budget deficit, yet still managed record growth in the size of government and record pay increases for government employees. The Democrat Party, who have held majorities in both houses of congress at both the state and federal level for at least the last 6 years are responsible for these records. Budgets always begin in the House. It’s just that simple.
It’s time to replace John Driscoll with a true representative of the people. Let’s replace him with a veteran, one who is an owner/operator of his own small business and understands and supports the principles of a limited government with a reduced budget.
That Man would be John Ahern. Let’s return Ahern, and return some fiscal sanity to Olympia