Jay Inslee’s liberal friends and mega-donors could not be happier with his $39 billion budget proposal last week, which includes a 15.4% raise in state spending and over $1.5 billion in new taxes. After all, they knew he was lying (as the Seattle Times’ Danny Westneat pointed out over the weekend) when he promised as a candidate not to raise taxes, and now they are coordinating with Inslee on a tax-raising campaign.
It was clear from the clutter in email in-boxes across the state that some of Jay’s favorite lefty groups – the teachers union, state labor council, environmental organizations, etc. – had been given advance notice of his budget-busting intentions, as they were quick to last out emails supporting his plan for growing the size and influence of the state bureaucracy. It all smacked of the type of coordinated campaign the Democrats run in partisan races.
Fuse—the far left’s secretly-funded “grassroots” organization—sent out an email lauding Inslee’s budget plans the day after it was announced. In reference to Inslee’s plan for a capital gains tax, Fuse wrote its supporters: “What if we could fund education with a progressive tax on the wealthiest 1 percent? That’s exactly what Gov. Jay Inslee proposed yesterday.”
The fact that Washington voters have consistently rejected the kind of taxes on income that the liberals want is conveniently ignored by Fuse, and Inslee. Instead, it asks supporters to send a pre-written letter urging legislators to support Inslee’s $39 billion, tax-raising budget.
And while Fuse is busy drumming up support for Inslee’s budget based on the promise of a capital gains tax, the Environmental Priorities Coalition (EPC) is working to gain support for his cap-and-tax bureaucratic boondoggle and fuel mandate scheme. Of course, for the various members of the EPC, the obstacle to be overcome on the road toward seeing Inslee’s extreme green agenda come to fruition is not the fact that his plan, are “risky” (as pointed out in the Seattle Times) but rather the big bad “oil industry and their allies.” As did Fuse, EPC asks its supporters to contact legislators and urge them to support Inslee’s $39 billion, tax-raising budget. A recent email from Environmental Priorities Coalition reads,
Governor Inslee has been building towards this moment for years … Today, he announced a detailed plan for how to enforce the limits on climate pollution already on the books… We’ve come so far – we can’t stop now. The next step is the state legislature. So please contact your legislators and tell them to support Governor Inslee’s proposal.
The Washington State Democrat Party joined in on efforts to gather support for Inslee’s $1.5 billion in new taxes. Calling Inslee’s plan a “bold new budget” – although once could ask how is it “bold” for a Democrat to propose new taxes, given that support for a state income tax is in the party’s platform – that “makes sure everybody chips in to move our state forward,” the Democrats ask email recipients to “add your name and support [Inslee’s] budget today.”
Another email from State Democrats urges support for Inslee’s budget by claiming education spending is its centerpiece – although it’s clearly not his first priority, since he wants to raise taxes to pay for it. The Democrats write,
New revenue is essential to funding education. Last year, Republicans in the legislature failed to do what was necessary to fully fund education…
We need to stand with our governor. Will you sign our petition thanking Governor Inslee for his bold vision for education?
It is the height of hypocrisy for the Democrats, who have controlled Olympia for a generation, with a Democrat governor signing every budget for the last 30 years, to try and deflect blame for their own failures on to Republicans. Democrats’ attempt to pass on the blame is still more unbelievable when one considers that it is entirely due to Republican leadership in the State Senate that last year’s budget re-prioritized education spending at a 4:1 ratio over other state spending, a complete reversal from the Democrats’ demonstrated spending ratio of two dollars to state government for every one dollar of new education over the last 30 years.
The Democrats’ email claiming education as the “centerpiece” of Inslee’s $1.5 billion in new taxes sounds an awful lot like an email Inslee sent out to his supporters following his budget announcement. In an email titled “Do it for the kids,” Inslee asks recipients to sign their names to show support for his budget plan. The email reads,
But with a plan this ambitious, you can bet there will be naysayers — opponents who will claim that it costs too much, that it can’t be done, or that it’s just not a priority for Washington voters.
I need you to help me prove them wrong, and show we have the momentum to pass this plan.
Yet another email from Inslee wraps the three objectives of his coordinated tax-raising campaign — demonize opponents of his capital gains tax plan, extol the virtues of his fuel mandate/cap-and-tax boondoggle, all while claiming that a bigger and more controlling state government bureaucracy is all for the kids— in a nice, neat bundle. Inslee’s email reads,
Help me pass a budget that reinvests in the future of Washington. Click here to declare your support.
This is bigger than just one year’s budget. This is about moving our state in a new direction, and I need your help to get there.
Inslee is right in pointing out that this budget is “bigger than just one year’s budget”—a rather rare phenomenon for him amid last week’s propaganda effort. Inslee’s $1.5 billion in tax hikes and unprecedented spending proposals (15.4% more state spending than in the last budget) are a whole lot bigger than anything ever proposed. And, Inslee’s budget will move our state in a new direction… just not a good new direction.
