OPINION Port Orchard
Page A6
Budget that prioritizes veterans, students and taxpayers
Question of the week
This week’s online question:
Will you use the foot ferry during extended summer hours this year? Last week: Do you plan to attend any Mariners baseball games this season? Results: Yes: 38%, No: 62%
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Friday, April 11, 2014 • Port Orchard Independent
A
s I reflect on the work we comComments pleted during this year’s legislative session, I can’t help but think back to my first year in the state Legislature in 2009 when we entered the session with a budget deficit of nearly $6 billion hanging over our heads. Surprisingly, we adjourned on time that year, but the budget saddled citizens with 36 new or increased fees, ranging from college-tuition increases to new state-parks fees and document-recording fees. Fast forward to 2014. We recently comSen. Jan Angel pleted our work in Olympia on time, for the first time since 2009, and I’m proud to say that in contrast to my first legislative session, we passed a budget that requires no tax increases. It received unprecedented bipartisan support and preserves the balance in the two-year operating budget adopted in 2013. At a time when Washington is still experiencing a sluggish economy and chronic unemployment, it was important to me that I made decisions in support of small businesses and job seekers. Holding the line against tax increases will allow job creators a better chance to grow, innovate and flourish. At the same time, the revised budget grows our investment in education by devoting an additional $58 million toward the McCleary court ruling for K-12 education, which in turn builds upon last year’s $1-billion McCleary investment. We also allocated about $42 million more to higher education, enough to maintain the freeze on collegetuition rates for 2014-15. The 26th Legislative District is home to thousands of active and retired military members and families, so I was glad to see that despite SEE ANGEL, A7
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Mistake to rely on Russia’s space shuttle
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hen President AWB View Obama permanently grounded America’s space shuttles a couple of years ago, he made a huge mistake. He gave Russia carte blanche over the International Space Station and we now pay $70 million each for our astronauts to hitch a ride. With Vladimir Putin flexing his muscles in the Ukraine and thumbing his nose at the Don Brunell United States and rest of the world, what happens if he gives our astronauts the boot? We’d be up the creek without a paddle. Our shuttles were hauled off to museums. Not only did Obama tube the shuttles, he canceled the Constellation program, the successor to America’s historic space shuttle program. Although the complex pro-
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gram was plagued by delays and cost overruns, taxpayers lost the $11 billion they’d invested when the president shut it down. Obama says he also opposes returning to the moon—another huge blunder. Instead, he plans to send astronauts to asteroids and, eventually, to Mars. To reach Mars from Earth, Obama’s budget funds the design and production of massive new heavy lift rockets. But because gravity on the moon is one-sixth that of the Earth, it would be far easier to launch Mars missions from the moon. China thinks so, as well. In abandoning the lunar program, the president missed the point. It is not about “been there, done that,” it is about having a place from which to launch deep space missions — like his mission to Mars — test new technologies and develop limitless supplies of clean energy. Space physicist David Criswell believes the moon could supply clean renewable energy for our entire
Scouts thankful for donations, support On March 22, Cub Scout Pack 4528 (Mullenix Ridge and OIalla Elementary schools) held a food drive at the Port Orchard Walmart. The Cub Scouts would like to thank everyone who generously donated food and money. Together we were able to raise 1,884 pounds of food and $507 in cash donation for South Kitsap Helpline in Port Orchard. The Pack would also like to thank Walmart for letting us have our food drive at their store.
I would like to personally thank all of the Cub Scouts and their parents who volunteered their time for such a successful community service project.
Joslyn Hovorka | Port Orchard
Liberalism has changed dramatically It was sad to see U.S. Rep. Derek Kilmer coming out against free speech and selectively supporting who and how campaigns are funded. The First Amendment was not written in order to be fair in the eyes of one political party, or was it
even needed if free speech was only what and who used it. The First Amendment was written for people we disagree with, not for those we agree with. Liberalism has changed dramatically from its origin of free and independent thinking that founded this country. The concept of ideas being debated and shared were never considered the threat, the attempt to stop those ideas and concepts were. The concern for money being used in politics is shared by all, as the other avenues are such as the SEE LETTERS, A7
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