The new 2007-09 state operating budget adopted by lawmakers April 22 will again, just like 2005’s, make pay raises for non-union employees effective September 1, two months after raises for their unionized counterparts take effect.

A story in today’s edition of The Olympian quotes Gov. Gregoire as saying she was “run over” by Democratic legislators regarding the split pay raise, and describes Rep. Lynn Kessler as being opposed to the move.

But Rep Ericksen mentions that the Gov. included the split raise in her own budget proposal, so saying that she was “run over by the Democratic leadership” seems like a bit of a dodge. Here are links to the PDFs he used to support his claim. Gov. Gregoire budget proposal and her letter to budget writers.

Even pro-union people like myself wonder if whole thing amounts to a payoff to the unions for services rendered to the Democrats that has the added bonus of reinforcing an already ridiculous caste system.

After all, shouldn’t All Washington State Workers deserve to be treated equally, even if they don’t have a union behind them giving campaign contributions?

Rep. Ericksen Press Release in PDF Format

Technorati Tags: Democrats, Republican, Washington State, Union, Doug Ericksen, Lynn Kessler, Helen Sommers, Chris Gregoire,

Again Newt Gingrich, Former Speaker of the US House of Representatives and possible candidate for President will be keynoting the event. The conference will be September 13 - 14, 2007 at the Davenport Hotel in downtown Spokane, WA.

Inland Northwest Health Services. invited Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton to attend and speak, as well. So far she has not accepted her invite.

Technorati Tags: Newt Gingrich, Hillary Clinton, Davenport Hotel, Spokane, Inland Northwest Health Services, Northwest Medical Informatics Symposium, Health Care

Speaker O’Brien died Sunday at age 95. He once held the record as the nation’s longest-serving legislator,

John L. O’Brien was appointed to the House after the death of Representative Harry Austin in 1939 and went on to serve an unprecedented 26 terms. O’Brien was elected as the Speaker of the House in 1955 and held that position until the 1963 session.

In 1992 he lost his final election campaign, when redistricting matched him in a race against another sitting House member.

Technorati Tags: John L. O’Brien, Washington State House

A few minutes ago on TVW, Rep. Mike Armstrong (R, 12LD-Wenatchee) pointed out the Democrats opted to make sure union and nonunion workers receive pay raises on different dates. A 2 month difference on when they get their raises.

This continues a two-month delay in raises for nonunion workers that began in 2005. Please note many of the state workers don’t have the choice to join a union, like the ones who work on the house floor per Rep. Armatrong. Plus there are state workers who wish not to join a union.

They didn’t have to do this. The Senate wrote a budget without the delay for nonunion raises. By not keeping them synchronized, the Democrats can say they save the $15 million . But they also open themselves open to the attack they owned or are owned by the Washington Federation of State Employees.

Technorati Tags: Rep. Mike Armstrong, Washington State GOP, Washington State Democrats, Washington Federation of State Employees,

Sine Die Ceremony is now going, so this 105 day session is now over.

The spea… will be in the house.