If you ask a Democratic insider in Olympia (off the record, of
course)
how influential Gov. Jay Inslee is in his party's legislative caucuses,
you're bound to learn a lot. Legislators just concluded a bruising
budget
negotiation, but "the fingerprints of Inslee's December budget proposal
are scarcely to be found" in the final product, I point out on the SmarterGovernmentWashington website.
His fingerprints are smeared all over a very public veto
he made yesterday of a bipartisan agreement to extend the B&O tax
rates that Boeing receives to other
manufacturers. These lower rates were "paid for" by ending other tax
incentives, and are key to the final budget deal. Inslee vetoed the
provision
anyway, then gave a needlessly inartful, lecturing answer about it at a press conference.
What if legislators are upset about his veto, he was asked. "I can't
control their tender feelings," he retorted. There were plenty of other
such
lines, but his fit of pique mostly revealed the weak hand he plays from
in the state capitol (he is, he has insisted, "a player on the
field").
Sen. Michael Baumgartner (R-Spokane) tweeted out, "There will 100% NOT be a Capital budget unless House helps overide Veto. Deal is a deal. 88 yes votes."
Rep. Drew
Stokesbary (R-Auburn) wrote,
"Reneging on difficult deal in which all sides gave up something is
going to have profound consequences on future #waleg budgets
negotiations." Turns
out the other players on the field have moves to make, too.
-Rob McKenna