Gregoire, Rossi must provide details about no-tax pledges

GOV. Christine Gregoire and Republican challenger Dino Rossi said the right things about taxes: They both pledged not to increase them to fill the state's projected $3.2 billion budget hole.

That is the only rational position for a state that cannot abide higher taxes at a time of such economic fragility.

The state's unemployment rate now stands at 6 percent. The federal government seized Washington Mutual last week. The largest bank failure in the nation means bad news for downtown Seattle real estate, state unemployment and Olympia's bottom line.

The next step for Gregoire and Rossi is to tell voters what they would cut to balance the budget. Gregoire doesn't offer her budget recommendations until December, after the election.

She has an obligation, however, to level with citizens and tell them as soon as Wednesday's gubernatorial debate in Yakima what the state can do without.

Similarly, Rossi, a former state senator, often says he made substantial budget cuts before and he can do it again. That's a campaign ad line — not an answer.

Every budget item has a constituency. The governor of tough times has to be forthright and tell voters what spending can continue and what has to go.

PBS affiliates will broadcast Wednesday's 7 p.m. debate. It is one thing for the candidates to take an anti-tax pledge.

Voters need to hear, too, what spending cuts might be on the horizon.