Rep. Ericks nominated for U.S. Marshal position

Rep. Mark Ericks’ (Snohomish) law enforcement career spanned over thirty years before he came to the Washington State House of Representatives in 2005. But a return to law enforcement appears imminent now that President Barack Obama has nominated Rep. Ericks to be a U.S. Marshal for Western Washington. The nomination was announced yesterday. He will now have to be confirmed to the post by the U.S. Senate.

A life-long Washingtonian, Rep. Ericks is a graduate of the FBI National Academy in Quantico, Virginia, and a former Bothell Chief of Police. Some of the highlights of his law enforcement career include arresting Carl Harp – the notorious “Bellevue Sniper” – in 1973, which was the first freeway sniper case in the U.S. The story was turned into a made-for-TV movie. He also led a team that solved the “George Russell” serial murder case in 1990, which ended up being the subject of a Discovery Channel special.

Here in the House, Rep. Ericks is known as the vice-chair of the Ways & Means Committee, and an often outspoken champion of working families and small businesses. His colleagues honored him with a floor resolution as the 2010 Session was drawing to a close, as he is one of several retiring House members.

With a Senate confirmation in his future, we bet Rep. Ericks retirement will be anything but dull. Although he will be missed here in the House, Washington will be fortunate to have someone with his experience as the U.S. Marshal for our region.

GOP = Grand Ol’ Pessimism

The GOP attitude towards solving the budget deficit reminds us of a scene from the classic Canadian comedy, Strange Brew. When the brakes fail, sending Bob & Doug McKenzie’s van careening towards the water, Doug folds his arms, proclaiming “No point in steering now...”

A lot of help that attitude is.

The House Democrats have presented a package of cuts, which outweigh new revenue by a ratio of more than $4 to $1. The new tax revenue raised will come mostly from closing loopholes and “collecting more money from smokers, bankers, lawyers and accountants” as the AP reported.

What’s been the GOP response to the economic recession affecting our state budget? Defeatism. The Olympian reports on it permeating the GOP leadership:

Republicans in the Washington Legislature have united around a clear message that taxes are not needed to bridge a $2.8 billion state budget gap this year. But the minority party is refusing to show exactly how it could get to a budget balanced without new revenue… Top GOP budget writers said in interviews this week that it’s just not worth spelling out details for the public – or for majority Democrats, whom they blame for the state’s financial mess.

Says Rep. Gary Alexander, the Minority Leader on House Ways & Means: "I could get to $2.8 billion if I was given the authority to do it. The point is, why would you come up with ideas when they (Democrats) have no intention to do anything with these proposals?”

Firstly, calling them GOP budget “writers” is a bit of a misnomer; one can only be called a budget writer when one actually writes a budget. Once upon a time, the Minority did write an alternate budget. Now, not so much.

Secondly, what ideas they have shared have been shown to do little to balance the budget, but a lot to harm working families, seniors, college students, and those who rely on state-funded medical assistance.

Nope. Apparently, their idea of responsible budgeting is saving up a few ideas for surprise amendments the morning of the final House Floor debate. Rep. Mark Ericks said it well: “Is that the way they want to offer suggestions? To wait to the last minute and offer amendments? If you were complaining about us not taking any ideas, wouldn’t you at least provide the list?”

Oh, Strange Brew...

Rolling out the budgets

Budget day in the House started off with a 12:15 press conference on the 2010 supplemental operating budget.

In dealing with a $2.7 billion budget gap for the remaining half of the 2009-2011 biennium, the House proposal outlines $465 million in fund transfers including use of the Rainy Day Fund, $1.25 billion in reductions, and $857 million in anticipated new revenue.

Additional details can be found here, here and here.

A revenue package is expected to come out later this week.

Coming up later: the proposed supplemental Capital and Transportation budgets. Stay tuned...!

House budget proposal balanced, but cuts deep

As she released her 2009-2011 Operating Budget proposal today, House Ways and Means Chair Kelli Linville said her committee members “rose to the challenge presented by this global recession.”

“This is not the budget we’d all hoped to offer today,” said Linville. “However it reflects the reality of the economic situation we’re in today.”

“We worked to cushion the blow to our families and businesses,” she said. “We fully-fund Apple Health for kids, protect the safety net for our most vulnerable citizens, and prioritize basic education.”




“We have a great partner in the White House,” said Rep. Mark Ericks, vice-chair of Ways and Means. “The federal recovery dollars sent by President Obama allowed us to protect investments in education and health care we wouldn’t have been able to otherwise. Yes, they are one-time dollars, but they allowed us to buy some time for the kids in our state while our economy recovers.”

For the full story, click here. Additional info here and here.