SEATTLE NEWS ARCHIVES & FEATURES
Gregoire fails in report grading governors
Oct 9, 2012, 7:16 PM | Updated: Oct 10, 2012, 6:20 am
A Libertarian think tank doesn't like Washington's Governor.
A Libertarian think tank doesn’t like Washington’s Governor.
In a ranking of state governors, in terms of how well they’ve dealt with a tough economy, Chris Gregoire gets an F.
It’s actually an F+, almost a D- according to the Cato Institute, and four other governors had lower scores than she did.
The five “worst” governors were Pat Quinn of Illinois, Dan Malloy of Connecticut, Mark Dayton of Minnesota, Neil Abercrombie of Hawaii, and Chris Gregoire of Washington.
They say, here’s why they say she earned a “well-deserved” failing grade.
“There has been a never-ending stream of tax-increase proposals coming from this governor since 2005.
In her first year, she raised taxes on cigarettes, gasoline, liquor, and vehicles. She also re-established an estate tax after a previous version had been struck down by the courts.
In 2009 she signed into law increases in business taxes, sales taxes, cigarette taxes, beer taxes, soda taxes, and candy taxes.
In 2010 she approved a large increase in the cigarette tax, a huge hospital tax, and increases in business taxes and beer taxes.
In 2011 she proposed a half cent increase in the sales tax rate, but that was rejected by the legislature.
In 2012 Gregoire proposed a new tax on crude oil to raise $275 million a year.”
The governors awarded top grades in their report were Sam Brownback of Kansas, Rick Scott of Florida, Paul LePage of Maine, and Tom Corbett of Pennsylvania.
By LINDA THOMAS, KIRO Radio’s Dori Monson will like this report.
AP file photo
