The state: not exactly stacking paper

ironic

Governor Gregoire must not have heard about the whole panhandling thing, because she’s hitting us up for ideas. I mean money. I mean both. I mean Leo’s dreams because they’re worth money.

Uh… yeah. Basically, our Governator wants people to submit their budget-balancing ideas so that she doesn’t have to come up with them or raise taxes can fill the multibillion dollar donut that is our state budget, because she wants to turn it into a maple bar.

Here’s the ideas the Bus is going to submit:

• Sell lemonade.
• Derivative credit swaps.
• Sell naming rights for the Capitol.
• Sell sponsorship rights for Mt. Rainier.
• Sell sponsorship rights for Christine Gregoire’s forehead.
• Operate a state-controlled monopoly on liquor distribution.
• Auction off Monopoly dates with Sam Reed

Senators and paper tigers?

Balling.

You probably remember Dino Rossi from the two races he ran against Governor Christine Gregoire for the governorship. This year he’s challenging for Senator Patty Murry’s US Senate seat. Senator Murray might be an even more formidable candidate than the Governor was for a number of reasons; two prominent ones include her long incumbency and her position as an integral member of the Senate Democratic leadership. There’s also Senator Murray’s track record: unlike the Governor, the last time the Senator faced a significant challenger with statewide name recognition, she ran up a very convincing 55%-to-43%-of-the-vote victory.

But all this is qualification and equivocation for the fact that Rossi is, in fact, a very compelling candidate for the Washington GOP, and not only because he’s one of few prominent statewide Republicans. He campaigns well-nearly defeating the Governor in heavily-Democratic Washington twice- and is pretty damn good at raising money.

On top of all this, Rossi has a certain personal pressure beyond carrying a large part of the national hopes of his party- if Rossi can’t win this race, he’s probably done as a viable statewide candidate.

Still, Rossi will have a task in unseating Murray, even if he is neck and neck with her in current polls. He faces a more conservative challenger with big time momentum and press appeal in Clint Didier, who has seized on the Tea Party narrative with aplomb. Regardless of who becomes the Republican candidate (and Rossi is a very strong favorite), whoever makes it out what might turn out to be a bruising primary race will doubtless have to equivocate on positions that sound good to conservative Republican primary voters but would probably put off most progressive/liberal Washingtonians, who make up a very substantial portion of the electorate.

Things are starting to get hot- we’ll let you know when things start to sizzle.

—————

*Though I’m sure we can all agree that Dre should place himself behind the boards, not the mic.

BUDGETPOCALYPSE is coming…

its coming...

RUN! RUN FOR THE HILLS! HELP! AAAAUGH! WE’RE NOT GOING TO ESCAPE! WE NEED WHEELS!

Relax, folks! The Bus is here to bring you sweet, sweet deliverance from BUDGETPOCALYPSE 2010. Turns out the Mayans were right a bout the end… of Washington’s fiscal solvency… coming this year. I give ’em credit- who woulda thunk they’d know Washington is such a big deal? I mean, you’d think they’d predict the end of the world before the falling revenues of a political entity they couldn’t possibly have conceived with universal premodern perceptions of the nature and purpose of government- especially as the provider of social services like education or healthcare, which wasn’t even a figment of the wildest-thinking astronomer/political theorist’s imaginat…

…um, anyway, the state needs some money and the catepillars can’t give it all, know what I’m sayin? BUDGETPOCALYPSE is going to be the big theme of this year’s legislative session and the Bus is here to bring you updates and a chance to make an impact.

Here’s the skinny: the state is out $1.6 BILLION in revenues against its total expenditures  for this budget alone. That comes on top of the incredibly painful $3.5 BILLION we had to cut last time around, and that tab we ditched on Barack. Governor Gregoire has proposed her own plan that will boost revenues and trim fat but there are likely more proposals coming.

We’ll let you know when that proposal comes around. In the meantime, keep reading Hella Bus… we’ll show you where the bunker is.

BUDGETPOCALYPSE: paying for college pt 1

if you go to college you might be as cool as these people

College is pretty cool in any and all flavors… two year, two + two years, four years, after-work classes. The two year school flavor is pretty delicious as many of y’all Bus riders know. You can take all kindsa classes pretty much any hour of the day or night and you can do all the other stuff you got/want to do… work, do art, volunteer for the Bus… right? The four year school flavor involves partying all the time. Like this Bus conductor shouts at prospective students: “No more parents! Pizza every night!” Well, not really. It’s not like Asher Roth (ugh) would have you believe… really it’s about the classes. Really, both are ultimately about expanding your knowlege and skills while learning how to think and communicate. And if you manage to pick up some mentors and good friends on the way that’s gravy.

more below the break

whatchamacallit?

Here at the Bus we’re all about educating. And we know that lots of people are kinda fuzzy about the whole Legislature thing. After all, that’s part of why we’re here, right, to tell you good people what’s going on down thurr in Oly… or up if you’re from Vancouver… or over if you’re from Walla Walla or Aberdeen…

Um, anyhow, part of making sense of anything is knowing what to call it. We’d write a glossary up ourselves but we’re too busy to be bothered, durn it. Instead we’d like to point you towards this useful, informative piece from our friends at the Tacoma News Tribune:

more below the jump

Hella News

Doesn't this guy ever get tired?

This news is fresh like rainwater, rainwater, rainwater.

Punched in the gut: Those freaking budget cuts and their impact on higher education… I’m telling you, it’s no bueno. Ed Lazowska, a prof over at the UW, crunched the numbers and it is, shall we say, not so hot. The big picture? The cuts being handed down by the state legislature are the fourth deepest in the nation, meaning our public universities are getting creamed, and the only funding solution that’s being offered is tuition increases. Ouch. Not that it’s that simple, but it’s definitely the effect.

Bigger is better: Who likes a new congressperson? You? Okay then, today’s your lucky day, because it looks like our fair state is in line to receive the 435th, and final, congressional seat. Is that tight? Yes, that is tight. Thanks to continuing population growth, Washington appears to be on track to increase our toehold inside the beltway. Pretty cool, eh? Any guesses where the new district might end up?

Neutral does not equal passive-aggressive: Governor Gregoire was in Copenhagen last week (something or other about a climate conference…) and announced that Washington will work towards achieving carbon neutrality by 2020. Not a small goal, that’s for sure, and it will be interesting to see how (and if) it plays out in influencing legislative decisions. Good on ya, Gov!

Hella News Flash

Doesn't this guy ever get tired?

This news is fresh like rain water.

• Check your ed: Dammit. The Gov’s first run at the 2010 budget estimates is, shall we say, craptastic for higher education. General funding? Down by $89.5 million. State funding for need-based scholarships? Cut by fifty percent. Overall crappiness? Up by approximately 300% (there’s no link for that, it’s just a fact of life). Thoughts, students?
• Another one bites the dust: Representative Brian Baird, repping (aha!) the 3rd Congressional District down Vancouver way, isn’t running for re-election. The immediate result? A spate of declarations for his seat, growing seemingly every day. The latest from State Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown (D-Spokane)? “Enough friends and colleagues considering 3rd district Congressional seat to field a softball team.” Thank you Twitter, for bringing us such nuggets.
• We’re not gonna take it: Or are we? What’s a state to do when times are tough and programs are getting cut left and right? Well, for the first time in YEARS, there’s actually talk of bringing in new funding. This would be, as the kids are saying, a “game-changer”.