SEATTLE NEWS ARCHIVES & FEATURES

Dori: We can’t afford snowplows, but can afford pay raises for politicians

Feb 6, 2019, 6:14 AM | Updated: 11:32 am

Gov. Inslee, pay raises...

Washington Governor Jay Inslee, left, and Attorney General Bob Ferguson, right. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)

(AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)

So many of the roads in this region are still covered in ice, and the state’s response is that it doesn’t have enough money to buy enough snowplows to take care of all of these secondary roads.

The Washington State Department of Transportation told KIRO Radio that resources are tapped out during a major snow event like we saw this week. In total, the state has approximately 100 snowplows responsible for 5,000 miles of roads and freeways, mainly focusing on I-5, I-90, 405, and on-ramps.

It’s all about priorities. We don’t have the money to de-ice and plow all our roads, but we do have the money to give big pay raises to the governor, to state judges, and to other lawmakers.

RELATED: Inslee wants $7.3K from each of you in new budget

A salary commission has just approved big pay raises to our lawmakers here in Washington, claiming that we need to stay competitive with pay in other states, according to the Tacoma News-Tribune.

The governor was at $173,000 two years ago and is going beyond $180,000 with this raise.

State Attorney General Bob Ferguson, who uses his office as a weapon, has gone from $159,000 in 2017 to over $170,000 with this new raise.

The lieutenant governor, Cyrus Habib, who refused to do his job of attending the State of the State, and made fun of hairdressers worried for their jobs, has gone from $105,000 to $110,000. And he already gets a lot of money because whenever the governor is out, he gets a 70 percent salary bonus that day for presiding over the state while Inslee is gone. He’s getting that a lot now because the governor is traipsing all over the country running for president. As the 2020 campaigns really get started, Habib will make even more money.

We can’t snowplow every street, but we can plow our way into your family’s bank account to give big pay raises to the governor and other public officials. It’s all rigged to just take care of their own.

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Dori: We can’t afford snowplows, but can afford pay raises for politicians