Madame Governor: Allow the people to make THEIR case

One year ago, while on the campaign trail and right after her reelection, Christine Gregoire repeatedly said "now is not the time to raise taxes". She said no one would consider raising taxes in an economy as bad as we were suffering a year ago.

Here's what she told me at the Democratic Convention in August of '08:

Here's what she told Channel-4's Dan Lewis is September of last year:

And here's what she told our Jane Shannon in February of this year:

What has changed since then? We'll our economy has gotten dramatically worse... and Gregoire has decided that NOW is the time to talk about raising your taxes.

Of course, this is the governor who last year famously told me, "Dori, there is no budget deficit" - just months before a $9-billion budget deficit was announced.

Now she says the state is facing another $1-billion deficit (I think it will be closer to $3-4-billion). And according to the Seattle Times, "The governor said she's told legislative leaders to make their case for taxes."

You know what that means: the lawmakers will work feverishly to get more of your money for the unions... the lobbyists... the special interests that have an insatiable appetite for taxpayer dollars.

But the people don't have any more to give. The real unemployment rate is near 18%. Many of those still working have taken pay cuts. Businesses are teetering on the brink. Who is "making the case" for them?

And that's where we come in. Now is the time to let the governor know if this is NOT the time for your family - or your business - to have your taxes raised. Unlike the unions, we don't have any lawmakers in our pocket - but we do have the strength of numbers. Leave a comment with your brief statement making your case. You can also send an e- mail to makemycase@mynort hwest.com with your statement.

Or you can just cut and paste this statement in the comments or to the e-mail address:

Governor Gregoire - I am making my case as a citizen of Washington: now is NOT the time to be talking about raising taxes.

We will print out all of your comments - all of your e- mails - and deliver them to the governor. If the response is great enough, I will take my show to Olympia and attempt the deliver them to the governor in person. It's time for the people to make their case.

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