State Sen. Rodney Tom Breaks from Democrats, Joins GOP Budget Coup

Bellevue State Sen. Rodney Tom (D-48) and two other Democrats joined Republicans in a budget coup early Saturday, according to reports including one in The Olympian and another story in Publicola.

GOP state senators used rare procedural moves that wrest control of the senate beginning Friday and resulted in the minority party passing its own budget with three democrats joining the vote, according to Publicola.

Democratic Sens. Rodney Tom (D-48, Bellevue) and Jim Kastama (D-25, Puyallup), both members of the ad hoc, swing-vote conservative Democratic caucus known as the Roadkill caucus, along with Sen. Tim Sheldon (D-35, Potlatch), gave Republican budget leader Sen. Joe Zarelli (R-18, Ridgefield) Zarelli the votes the GOP needed for the coup.

Tom issued the following statement on his website:

"Today I stood with a bipartisan group of legislators to support an operating budget and a series of government reforms that will put our state on a strong fiscal footing.

“Since before this legislative session began, the message from my constituents has been loud and clear. Another budget that is unsustainable, relies upon accounting gimmicks and sets our state up for a perennial deficit is simply unacceptable.

“If we ever want to get ahead of our budget crises, our state needs wholesale government reform and a budget that reflects our commitment to sustainable governing.

“This year, I introduced several reform proposals aimed at bending our state’s cost curve, including efforts to shore up our state’s pension system. I also made my support clear regarding proposals to lower our state debt limit and require that our state balance our budgets with long-term sustainability in mind. Each of these proposals represent critical tools in achieving a sustainable budget that will restore the public’s confidence in our state’s fiscal outlook.

“Unfortunately, with one week left in the regular session, it became clear that a true commitment to a sustainable budget and wholesale government reform had failed to emerge in the Legislature.

“My commitment to my constituents and to sound policy will always override my commitment to the party hierarchy. I am proud of the work we have done today on behalf of the citizens of Washington. It is my hope that today’s actions will show the public that the will within the Legislature to budget sustainably does indeed exist.”

By Saturday afternoon the new budget was blasted by King County Executive Dow Constantine.

Rather than save money, Constantine said the Republican budget will cost the county money by killing proposed measure HB 2748.

Constantine said in a prepared statement:

“Here in King County we have spent the past two years enacting methodical, thoughtful reform of local government across party lines. What happened this morning in the state Senate is the opposite of government reform. It is a political stunt that has already wasted millions of taxpayer dollars.

“The Republican-led Senate vote in the wee hours of the morning robbed residents of an opportunity to see, much less comment on, a state budget that would have devastating impacts upon them. This proposed budget would:

• Create more homeless and hungry families by eliminating food support for 12,000 families per month, cutting $202 million in Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, and reducing the time they can get benefits;
• Take away child care assistance from as many as 4,000 working, single mothers and their children, senselessly denying moms the opportunity to work and support their families;
• Eliminate treatment programs for 15,000 chemically-dependent residents, putting more addicts on the streets and, at great cost, putting more people in local jails who should be getting treatment.
• Close the door on the future for up to 5,500 students in higher education and community and technical colleges through $30 million in cuts to tuition waivers and other support;
• Slash public health grants by half, including cuts to defenses against epidemics and a very pointed attack on family-planning programs; and
• Divert funds from local infrastructure, leading to further deterioration of local roads and utility systems and higher rates for publicly-owned utilities, such as sewer and water systems.

“The vote to further slash access to colleges like the UW and WSU is an attack on our economic recovery and the prospects of the next generation.

-- Additional reporting by Venice Buhain