Hold your wallet tightly

Contrary to what Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown says (guest opinion, Feb. 21), the state budget is a money document. The average Washingtonian will find it morally neutral, but revealing about the will to power and incompetence of politicians. Having adroitly transformed a surplus of over $2 billion into a deficit approaching $3 billion, Brown & Co. use the emollient language of “values” while extending their prehensile fingers deeper into our pockets.

Common-sensical taxpayers know they haven’t received value for money from the Olympia kleptocrats in the past, so when they read, “now more than ever, we need our public systems to respond,” they reflexively brace themselves for redistribution of their incomes to those whom our rulers consider more deserving.

If we really wish to “pave the way for a robust recovery,” it can only be done by ridding ourselves of the compulsive spenders who seek to avoid responsibility for the mess they have created and electing representatives who have demonstrated success in competing for the dollars of consumers in an arena in which they have many alternatives. Such entrepreneurs are results oriented and, unlike Lisa Brown, Ph.D., know the meaning of accountability.

Robin Corkery

Spokane