Opinion: Ferguson’s focus is on fixing finances

Elizabeth New (Hovde) discusses Washington Governor Bob Ferguson’s inaugural address, focusing on fiscal responsibility and government spending.

Elizabeth New (Hovde) addresses the governor’s inaugural address

Elizabeth New (Hovde)
Washington Policy Center

Rep. Chris Cory, R-Yakima, said of Gov. Bob Ferguson’s inaugural address on Wednesday, “Republicans stood up and cheered more than Democrats.” In a column headlined, “Ferguson’s conservative-sounding inaugural,” Paul Queary wrote for The Washington Observer that the new governor’s address was far more interesting than expected. “The most interesting part of it was how Republican it sounded,” he wrote.

I’m not a Party girl. I’m an issues girl who sits right of center on the political spectrum and who pushes free-market principles and limited government. To me, Ferguson’s speech most often sounded like the common sense you can find among individuals of all political stripes around dinner tables and at the gym.

I was thrilled to hear Ferguson’s commitment to fiscal discipline on Wednesday. Now I will expect to see action.

Ferguson vowed that new taxes would be a last resort to get out of current budget woes, even though other Democrats in leadership positions think they were given a mandate from voters to tax more because three tax-related initiatives on the November ballot came up short.

The governor said we need to look at state priorities. He promised to veto a budget that requires “unrealistic revenue growth” and any legislation that pushed new spending out more than four years after it was adopted. “These bills violate the spirit of Washington’s requirement that state budgets be balanced over a four-year period,” Ferguson said.

A priority-based, spend-within-our-means budget is sorely needed to get Washington state out of a budget crisis that lawmakers have been building for years and away from irresponsible state spending.

Here are some quotes from the speech:

— “The era of assuming unrealistic growth in revenue is over.”

— “We can all be more efficient and more streamlined, and that’s the type of approach we need to make before we even start having a conversation about any kind of taxes.”

— “We must prioritize. We cannot simply assume that government’s role is to do everything it has always done, while continuing to add new programs and responsibilities every year. That’s not smart, and that’s not sustainable.”

— “We cannot be leisurely when the times call for action.”

— “I’m not here to defend government, I’m here to reform it.”

Near the end of his speech, Ferguson quoted former Washington state Gov. Dan Evans, a Republican governor admired for even-handed governance and bipartisanship: “This administration is not frightened by the word liberal, nor is it ashamed of the word conservative. It does not believe that the words ‘ﬁscal responsibility’ are old fashioned nor will it ever fear to spend money if money needs to be spent.”

I didn’t agree with all of the governor’s ideas about priorities or some of the future spending he hopes to take on, and I was concerned when he said he thinks Washingtonians are open to taxes that are “thoughtful” and “not adversely impacting hard-working, middle-class Washingtonians,” ignoring that several recent taxes do exactly that — impact hard-working, middle-class Washingtonians, taking even wages from low-income workers. But the Ferguson speech was full of practical common sense.

Wednesday’s inaugural address was part Washington state history, part Ferguson family history and part “let’s bring this house to order.” I was a bit of a fan.

Watch Ferguson’s inaugural address here. Read it here.

Elizabeth New (Hovde) is a policy analyst and the director of the Centers for Health Care and Worker Rights at the Washington Policy Center. She is a Clark County resident.