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Why does Washington state have such a ‘results problem’?
Apr 19, 2018, 3:20 PM | Updated: 4:21 pm
I absolutely love the State of Washington. I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else. But we have a “results problem.”
Let me explain.
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I’m a pragmatist when it comes to problem solving. I just want to see results. As long as you’re not doing anything immoral or illegal to get there, just show me the results. The State of Washington, on the other hand, seems to not care about results. It seems that they care about most about generating income through fees and taxes.
Let’s do a little experiment. I’m going to give you a category that we spend a lot of money on, and you give me a thumbs up or thumbs down on the results that you see. Not the rhetoric or politics, but actual real world results.
- Affordable housing
- Homelessness
- The opioid crisis
- Transportation
- Education
So far, not so good?
Add to this list: Tobacco addiction.
In a great piece of reporting by Rachel Alexander from Spokane’s The Spokesman-Review, she follows the money that we were told is set aside to combat smoking:
Nearly 8,300 Washingtonians die from tobacco-related illness each year: more than car crashes, suicide, opioid overdoses and alcohol combined. And smoking costs Washington an estimated $2.8 billion per year in direct medical costs … Yet, with nearly 900,000 smokers in the state and $622 million in tobacco-related revenue, Washington spends almost no money on programs to help people quit.
Less than 10 percent of the money set aside to combat smoking is actually spent on the intended purpose. Care to take a guess where the rest of the $622 million dollars goes? Our elected officials dump it back in the general fund to gobble up while complaining that they just don’t have enough money to do a good job.
RELATED: King County bans pro-players from using any tobacco during games
This one example perfectly illustrates my skepticism. Especially when we are asked to pony up for another worthy cause. It would be awesome if Washington could just show me that it’s capable of getting a good result. That would be great.
So before you ask for more money to send kids to community college, more money to time the traffic lights, or more money for affordable housing, show me results.
Is it too much to ask for you to do your job?
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