What do you call a policy maker who calls for holding a state surplus against future calamity and demands "no new spending?"

10 years ago: A Republican.

Today: A Democratic Governor.

The moral of the story: Democrats need to start standing up for Democratic values. Spend money, ask for public support, demand accountability.

Fact: Washington State is looking at a nearly $1.4 billion surplus.

Fact: According to the Washington State Revenue Council, more than half of the new revenue comes from the crazy-hot real estate market (Real Estate Excise Tax receipts, sales tax on construction and building materials, etc...)

Fact: More than 405,000 Washington low-income households are forced to pay so much of their income for rent that they have to make terrible choices between rent and food or rent and medicine.

Conclusions:

1. Governors need friends. If Gregoire wants to make some friends, she should seize the opportunity of the surplus and invest in the community of housing developers, care centers, crisis managers, case workers, mental health providers, and activists that rely on state finacnial support in order to do their work.

2. The state has a responsibility to invest the surplus in poor people. We only hase this surplus because of the crazy real estate market. The down side of the crazy market is that it jacks up rents, makes homeownership more risky, and keeps providers like the Downtown Emertgency Services Center from building new facilities that can help homeless families and individuals who are living at the edge of desperation.