Hey Guv, There's a Negative Sign before That Number

Bellevue, WA... Christine Gregoire continues as Governor of the State of Denial this week when, according to the Oregonian, she told a group of firefighters that Washington was "sitting on a surplus." Her comment came four days after the Economic Review and Revenue Forecast Council predicted a $158 million dive in economic revenue during the next biennium.

Despite the non-partisan Senate Ways & Means Committee staff predicting a $2.5 billion deficit, Gregoire has been defiantly touting her imaginary "surplus" for months. Never mind last week's ominous downturn in state revenue, which ratcheted the projected deficit even higher. The cause of the deficit is Gregoire's reckless three-year spending spree, where she's increased spending of tax dollars by more than 33%. 

When asked about her deficit in March of this year, Gregoire told Oregon Public Broadcasting that she was putting off any precautionary planning for a deficit, despite projections of a $2 billion deficit at the time:

"We have three budget forecasts before that, so it's a guess. So to say today, ‘What are you gonna do about it?' Well I don't know what it's going to look like virtually one year from now...So again, premature, good news in Washington state right now..."

Fast forward to earlier this week; one budget forecast down, two to go, and it's not looking good. But Gregoire was talking about "good news" in Washington, right? Steve Lerch, the state's interim chief economist said of the housing industry: "It's the worst downturn we've seen in the last 25 years."

Gregoire will continue to tout her invisible "surplus" until it's too late and the only option will be tax increases. We wish that one of her trusted budget advisors would point out the negative sign in front of the billions of dollars on the state's balance sheet. For failing to acknowledge Washington's dire budget realities, we give Gregoire an "F" followed by a negative sign.

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