From the Jan 20 – Jan 26, 2005 issue

News

CounterIntel

You Made Your Bed

by Josh Feit

Tricia Sima, town clerk for a tiny burg in Central Washington called Mansfield, tried to pull my heartstrings by telling me that her city's revenues dropped at least 76 percent in the last few years. The culprit was Tim Eyman's tax-slashing I-695, the anti-car-tab initiative.

I was on the phone with Sima because I'd seen her quoted in one of the recent, sympathetic news stories about small towns like Mansfield getting slammed by the results of anti-tax initiatives such as I-695 and tax cap I-747, and I had a question for her.

The January 17 Seattle Times wire story "Rural Town Feeling the Pinch" reported that Sima--thanks to severe budget cuts--had taken up the city's custodial duties, including cleaning the bathroom. The article also reported that towns like Mansfield and its Douglas County neighbor Bridgeport had to collectively cut snow-plow service, scale back county sheriff services, leave a leaking city sewage lagoon in disrepair, abolish a municipal court, lose a fire truck, and shut down the city pool. Do I feel sorry for Sima and beleaguered Douglas County? Nope.

After I established that Sima was a Republican ("I'm a bit conservative," she chimed proudly) I asked her my question: Had the harsh reality of budget cuts made her reevaluate her conservative convictions about taxes? "No," she told me emphatically. "I believe we can cut other programs that would not hurt the small rural areas." (How's that for traditional values? Greed and selfishness.)

The truth of the matter is that urban areas like King County kick in 110 percent per capita more than Douglas County in state sales tax, while we get back just 21 percent per capita more than Douglas County. Meanwhile, King County generates 41 percent of state sales tax revenues while Douglas County actually gets nearly $300,000 in special local government assistance. Despite their disproportionate role in the equation, Republicans like Sima think services for the rural areas should take priority when taxes are cut. To that I say, I hope Mansfield's leaky sewage lagoon is somewhere near Sima's home.

I've got no sympathy for Douglas County. It voted 70.3 percent in favor of I-695 and 69.9 percent for I-747. The county went 66 percent for Bush, who has cut taxes by $1.9 trillion helping create a $412 billion deficit. The next time the mainstream media runs a sob story about Douglas County, it should also tell readers about the county's hypocritical votes and, on an inextricably linked note, its hypocritical values.