A spendy Legislature

Legislators who spoke at the Associated Press forum Wednesday in Olympia gave lip service to spending restraint, and not one of them was serious about it. The state treasury is bulging with money, and they are going to spend it.

Oh, they may save a bit, but it will be less than one-tenth the surplus now in hand. The "rainy day fund" will be a small purse with a very large sign: "Frugality Here." Most of this new spending is on education, which we favor. Rep. Helen Sommers, D-Seattle, talked about preschool and early learning. So did Sen. Lisa Brown, D-Spokane. Rep. Frank Chopp talked about all-day kindergarten and health insurance for kids.

All these things are good, but the gain in total spending should be closer to the projected increase in revenues. If the budget is to avoid a crisis two or four years out, the rate of increase in spending has to be scaled back. No one listed anything to take away.

Sen. Mike Hewitt, R-Walla Walla, did say the budget was too large.

He immediately added that the state should spend more on education and state employee pension contributions than the governor proposes, that it should fully fund the employee union contract and clear up the backlog of maintenance at state parks, and that the business-and-occupation tax could be reduced.

"What would you cut?" a reporter asked. The Republicans' spokesman gave a long answer about tough choices and zero-based budgeting, but could find none of the governor's proposals to take away.

This is not a tough year. The Legislature could do better than this.