Former Governor Gary Locke Puts Dino Rossi on Blast for Proposing Cuts to 40,000 Kids on Medicaid
For 15 years Dino Rossi, the Republican running against Democrat Kim Schrier in Washington's closest Congressional race, has said the same thing over and over again about his one major accomplishment during his tenure in the Washington state legislature: "I mean, I'm the guy that balanced the biggest deficit in state history without raising taxes and still protected the vulnerable, and I did it with getting the Republicans together, but still bringing some moderate Democrats with me." He just posted the same claim on Facebook this afternoon.
But in a press conference Thursday morning, Gov. Gary Locke, the guy who signed that budget, set the record straight. "For years I’ve simply laughed when Dino Rossi took credit for devising a no-tax-increase budget for the 2003-2005 budget cycle while protecting vulnerable populations," he said. "Well, the truth matters… The truth is he used my budget proposal that I unveiled four months earlier, but he did so with some tweaks."
Locke called those tweaks "draconian," and went on to innumerate Rossi's plans. Specifically, he mentioned Rossi's proposal to remove "some 40,000 children from subsidized health care," to prevent "new families with children from signing up for the basic health plan," and to impose "higher insurance premiums for those with state-subsidized health insurance." He added that Rossi also raised the nursing home tax in a way that "hurt" patients who used private funds to pay, while proposing other cuts for family planning.
When asked what Locke remembers about negotiations regarding programs for developmentally disabled people, the former Governor said he proposed closing down some state institutions and putting more money into community institutions. He remembers Rossi trying to "preserve programs for the developmentally disabled," but said that "neither side" made "any big enhancements" to that end.
"I don’t think anybody liked having to enact that budget," Locke said. "There was a final product that I think both sides felt better about, but clearly we were able to avoid some of the draconian cuts that Dino Rossi proposed."
https://www.thestranger.com/slog/2018/10/25/34490887/former-governor-gary-locke-puts-dino-rossi-on-blast-for-proposing-cuts-to-40000-kids-on-medicaid
= new reply since forum marked as read
