Maybe we should have a vote of the People on the ever growing Boeing and Microsoft tax subsidies then ... With a 2/3 majority vote requirement to continue them.

Isn't Rob a state worker? What about his Assistant Attorney
Generals? Last time I checked they were all state workers, and their offices have been facing layoffs, increased caseloads and now a 3% pay cut.

@2:

Correct. Mayhaps McKenna will make good on his promise - starting with putting himself out of a job.

Maybe we should TAX THE FUCKING RICH ALREADY?!?! Or cut thier throats.

Robby may also be forgetting that those state workers VOTE -- and at a higher percentage than the general populace. That's an awful lot of voters to piss off.

Today's Olympian features an editorial asking community members to volunteer at food banks, local hospitals and other charities because of the local impact of state employee layoffs and wage-and-benefit cuts, and the resulting "gaping holes in the state's safety net." http://tinyurl.com/5tlf3g5

Meanwhile, elsewhere in that same newspaper, McKenna is urging more state employee layoffs -- "Fewer people doing more work - it's that simple" -- and cut their health benefits even further, as if state services (schools, courts, roads, prisons, hospitals, etc.) won't suffer from bigger class sizes/caseloads/prison-to-officer and patient-to-nurse ratios. Just work harder, he says!

This is a moderate Republican? The latest Great White Hope for the GOP?! Sounds like just another teabagger to me.

how come when Christine "I'm a whore for Big Business" Gregoire attacks state workers, Goldy turns a blind eye, but when McKenna does it, he finds a voice?

Hey, Will, how about getting your fucking party to give Ed Murray, Jamie Pederson, Gregoire, Chopp and the other neoliberal Democrats the boot? Their constituencies are overwhelmingly to the left of those right wing pro-corporate politicians. Right now, the gayest neighborhood in Seattle is represented by right wingers.

It's important that a candidate promises something for nothing. That way voters don't have to think or care when they cast their votes.

@10 - Fuck you, I'm overpaid. I'm 30-years-old, have a 4-year college degree and a good deal of technical savvy. I'm overworked and overqualified, and last year I pulled in an outstanding 28k. And that's AFTER taxes. Jesus, I'm fucking rich!

Go suck a bag of dicks, Ken.

You know, I really don't know when government employees stopped being considered "public servants" and became leeches sucking the hard-earned money out of the pockets of Real 'Mericans.

I'm a county employee, not state, so I can't speak to exactly what sort of plight the state employees are facing. What I can say is that at the county level, we've faced unpaid furloughs, Cost of Living Adjustments have been frozen the last 3 years, vacated positions go unfilled and even more positions are eliminated.

As a result of the State budget that goes into effect July 1, the juvenile court will be eliminating the Sex Offender Unit. So, now the little rapists and rapists-in-training can be monitored by the regular pool of probation counselors, rather than those with specialized training. I don't see how that could possibly go wrong.

The prosecutor's office lost 33 positions this year, on top of 27 lost 2 years ago. But that's okay, because the police agencies have had to make deep cuts as well, so there's less officers to submit reports in the first place. Again, no chance of a backfire there.

Yep, county employees are entitled to "guaranteed" raises. An annual cost of living adjustment which typically comes out to between 2 and 3 percent. Additionally, salaries are calculated on a 10 "step" scale...each year of satisfactory job performance, and you move one step up. Work here for 8.5 years, and you're out of steps. At that point, your wage merely hangs out with the national inflation rate...forever.

I've been here 4 years, and as I said, made 28k last year. If I stick it out, I might make 30...maybe even 31 a year before I plateau!

I don't deny that there are some perks to government work. For one, in good economic times, job stability is fairly certain. But these aren't good times, and the last thing we need is McKenna making things even worse for us.

You couldn't make me trade my job for the life of a 2-job single parent grinding out minimum wage. I won't pretend that I'm that hard off. But I will say that only the fact that I genuinely love the work my program does keeps me from leaping onto the better paycheck I'd see in private-sector work.

So, he's talking about raising state spending by EIGHTEEN PERCENT there, by his numbers. He's going to take that out of state employees? How? That doesn't mean cutting employee pay by 18%, now, because not all or even most of state spending is wages. So he's going to cut state wages by what, 40%? That doesn't make even a glimmer of sense.

He's not serious. Where have all the serious people gone?

We need to look more closely and intellectually at what he is saying... The fact is that we are ALL in a major recession. Within the last year two families on my street have lost their homes to foreclosure, three different people have been laid off, and then there are a bunch of us at home because we can't find employment or we are under employed. Our kids are out of daycare and home with us because we can't afford it. Meanwhile, teachers act like they live in a plastic bubble. RIGHT NOW teachers are bargaining for contracts and to them it is absolutely unacceptable to take a 3% cut!!!! Most of their kids families have taken far greater.

I do hope that when Rob talks about increased funding for education that is about improving the system overall and for all kids. In every other industry you have to work hard to keep your job and you are rewarded for success. AND you know that sometimes you have to work harder and take less to get from point A to point B. EVERYTHING and EVERYONE needs to buck up during these times - teachers, state workers, my neighbor, me.

If you don't believe this check out the current blog by the Northshore Teachers Association: http://northshoreea.blogspot.com/

Is anyone surprised a GOP gubernatorial candidate is going after state workers? Is the trend not completely obvious by now, no matter WHICH state it's in? And does he think BEING a state worker give him some kind of credence?

Quite predictable divide and conquer tactics of the right wing (pitting families against public employees). The Dem candidate better be clearly anti-austerity or there will be trouble.

Yup 10 and 14. It's my fault that I work full time but cant afford my own place. It's all my fault.

@14 Don't worry- the kind of "support" for public schools that McKenna is advertising is sure to align with Obama's neoliberal "school reform" that blames, punishes and destroys teachers and their schools until the voting public is conveniently primed for the showstopper of a solution: privatizing education. Everyone from Bill Gates to Mark Zuckerberg to Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey is sweating dollar signs in anticipation, and they thank you for your support.

And I have nothing to say to your assertion that public school teachers are not sacrificing enough. You must have us confused with the multimillionaires and CEOs that, despite record profits, have no disposable income or jobs to spare, or the voters who couldn't pay a few extra pennies for candy and junk food, or every corporation that spends more money finding ways out of paying their taxes then will ever be saved from the tax increase teachers will see next year.

14, if you and your neighbors can't afford to live here, you should move before you become more of a drain on society. Colorado Springs, or any of the southern states would be more appropriate location, given your neurotic temperament and apparent lack of earning potential.