Washington state used to have a bi-partisan policy to maintain a rainy-day fund to allow us to weather recessions. That policy was eviscerated by anti-tax zealots using the initiative process.

As a result, in the 2009 budget the State made severe cuts in education, public safety and park maintenance. We are now faced with making even deeper cuts, including care for the most vulnerable in our society.

The alternative would be $2.8 billion in pay cuts for state employees. If that is what The Bellevue Reporter advocates in its recent editorial, it should show why it thinks they are overpaid relative to the private sector.

This is another reason why the initiative process is a bad way to govern. How is it that 51 percent of the voters get to mandate a 2/3 majority to increase taxes? Shouldn’t that require 2/3 of the voters?

Dick Hess, Bellevue