The Northwest Progressive Institute has an in-depth report on King County Executive candidate Susan Hutchison’s position on Tim Eyman’s I-1033, an initiative that would cap the state budget at current levels, adjusted for inflation (and mandate that any revenues that exceed current spending needs would go to reduce property taxes).
Here’s what former KIRO-TV anchor Hutchison (who has a track record of supporting the GOP, but claims to be nonpartisan) said at a candidate forum in Tukwila last night:
At a dinner hosted by the Suburban Cites Association in Tukwila, Hutchison responded to a question about Initiative 1033 by immediately declaring, “I think if it passes it would be a disaster,” adding that it “goes too far.”
What anchored Hutchison’s somewhat surprising declaration to her conservative politics was her caveat that she wasn’t against limiting government growth, but that she thought surpluses should go into a rainy day fund. She said:
“I think we could agree that we need to have revenue caps to an extent that do take into account reasonable inflation and employee compensation and health care … But instead of refunding surpluses .. we… need to protect all of our services that we provide when the economy takes a downturn, by being able to use those surpluses to fill up our rainy day funds.”
Her opponent, Democratic King County Council Member Dow Constantine, did not have any caveats about rainy-day funds. You can read his whole statement here, but here’s the crux:
“It’s the kind of legislation that would preclude policymakers from providing the high level of service that their citizens demand.”
