This quote from Jim’s live blog gives you a great view of the sort of legislators we have locally. See if you can find the coastal caucus Dem, the suburban Dem, the rural Republican and the leadership Dem.
Kathy Haigh: “I think it’s going to be short.” “Another $2 billion down, and no significant funding coming from the feds…. It’s going to be significant cuts…. We should all be keeping a close eye on [the] health care issue.” If the feds stepped in to fund our “Apple” health care for kids, that’d help. ECAP is the “absolute wrong place” to cut from. I-728, 732 are (still) at risk. Levy equalization funds won’t be touched. Higher Ed–expect another tuition increase, even letting schools set their own tuition rates.
Brendan Williams: “At the risk of sounding like a liberal Democrat…” The legislature could have raised taxes, but “the votes were bought to keep that from occurring.” “I did not vote for [728 and 732] to be suspended.” Cutting programs from K-12 education is “the pricetag for political careerism.” “It’s time to meaningfully distinguish ourselves, with all due respect, from the opposition.”
Gary Alexander: “Unlike my friend to the left, I think our first challenge is to see what we can do to reduce the budget. Government will not pull us out of the recession.” “We can’t continue to cut around the edges… We have to go back and talk about what our priorities are: public health, public safety, and public education…. This may mean the elimination of entire services… that can be replaced by the private sector.” “We have to basically produce results that will be sustainable on a long-term basis.” I’m not going to vote for a policy that doesn’t have any funding.”
Sam Hunt: For years this state has kept the crazy old aunt in the closet… our broken tax system…. We have a “crazy tax system.” “The sales go down and the caseloads go up every damn time you look at it… We’ve cut all the edges, we’ve cut all the low-hanging fruit.” “I have some hope that the feds will help with Title I, and health care.”
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