I just watched the interview with Rep. Dunshee and his closing statement is chilling. When asked how we will pay for this proposal he said, and I quote, "We'll pay for this the way we pay if we buy a house. If the roof needs fixed we take out a line of credit against the house, fix the roof and pay it back over time." Huh? What? Are you nuts? That is exactly the kind of thinking that has gotten our state and this country into this fiscal nightmare. If you need to spend $5K to fix your roof you save it up and pay cash for it! You don't rob from your kids and take more food out of their mouth by having to make a higher mortgage payment month after month over many years. With all due respect, Rep. Dunshee, you're exactly the problem we have as taxpayers. You aren't the answer. You're the problem. And our kids and their future kids have you to thank.

Sincerely,
James Evanoff

Rep. Dunshee, et al,

How about answering the question..."How are you going to pay for it?" Asked and unanswered twice in this story and countless times through the larger diatribe. Your mortgage analogy doesn't answer how are you going to pay for it. When I pay my mortgage I have to have an income--and when I don't have sufficient income (as is your case today) I can't pay the mortgage. So carrying your analogy out--how are you going to pay for it--in other words, where are you going to get then money to service the debt, when you don't have the money to keep your programs running now? I don't understand WA state legislature economics (or national economics for that matter)...there is clear evidence across the country showing what happens when you get into debt over your head or don't live within you means...that what this whole economic meltdown is centered on--people borrowed money they shouldn't have, under terms they couldn't endure, and they went broke. What makes you think WA state won't do the same thing under your plan? So the questions stands Rep. Dunshee; "How are you going to pay for it? (Where are you going to get the money?) Stop the politico speak and answer the questions straight up--if you want public support its time to stop the language games and rhetoric.

Living in this great society needs personal awareness of the cost and investment necessary to maintain and promote it. Personally, I'm willing to pay higher taxes to support needed services. The government waste argument however will try to derail public funding. The republican platform and philosophy toward privatization of services that allows consumers to choose which services they value also supports a process that neglects public services until the cost to of ignoring them (cutting) finally threatens their own private interests. Lately we've found how detrimental and irresponsible private interests are to the public good of our society.

Dunshee doesn't have a way to pay for this boondoggle. At least twice he was asked how he was going to pay for it and all he said was he was going to borrow the money. Well Dunshee, how the hell are you going to pay that money back? Are you going to raise our taxes?

Another "let's spend now and figure out how to pay for it later" idea from a state representative. Do you wonder why Washington state is in such a fiscal crisis? It is obvious that Mr. Dunshee needs a crash course in finance and economics.

I have worked on indoor air quality problems in schools for 16 years. This is a small step on the way to helping our crumbling schools. Have you known a teacher whose health was so compromised from exposure to mold in her school she had to quit her job. Look at this web site and see the stories of sick teachers and students from Cle Elum. Look at the photos of the cysts. 10 years later and they still have health problems.www.cleelum-cleanairnow.com
How much should we spend to fix our schools? Whatever it takes.

The public needs to be educated on how bad our schools are. Go to the State Board of Health web site.

Dunshee has the right ideas, and I am amazed that people who can read dont understand how bonds are repayed. The negative comments on this thread are a good example of why people need better education in economics and how capital projects are funded. Evidently, the concept of doing preventative maintenance on schools, like you would to preserve your house to keep it liveable, is too much for some people to grasp. I suspect this attitude comes from statewide ignorance about the horrible conditions in many of our schools, many of which I have documented, so it is to be expected. Let us hope the media will do its job and educate the masses better.

Several of the comments do nothing but complain about how we are going to pay for this. I don’t see any of you coming up with solutions. I have an answer for those of you who want to know how and who are going to pay for this. You are right it will be our CHILDREN , they will pay the ultimate price. As they remain in these public school buildings with mold hanging over them, with air that is unhealthy and with water that contains high amounts of lead! This 3 billion dollar bond bill has a double benefit, it will put many people to work and it will clean up our sick buildings. One idea, there will be cost savings converting our schools to energy efficient building those savings can be passed to help pay the bond down.
Our children and the staff who teach them deserve so much more then to spend 6 to 8 hours a day in a building that is unhealthy and unsafe. Please for those of you complaining how to pay for this I would ask you to be a part of the solution.

Several of the comments do nothing but complain about how we are going to pay for this. I don’t see any of you coming up with solutions. I have an answer for those of you who want to know how and who are going to pay for this. You are right it will be our CHILDREN , they will pay the ultimate price. As they remain in these public school buildings with mold hanging over them, with air that is unhealthy and with water that contains high amounts of lead! This 3 billion dollar bond bill has a double benefit, it will put many people to work and it will clean up our sick buildings. One idea, there will be cost savings converting our schools to energy efficient building those savings can be passed to help pay the bond down.
Our children and the staff who teach them deserve so much more then to spend 6 to 8 hours a day in a building that is unhealthy and unsafe. Please for those of you complaining how to pay for this I would ask you to be a part of the solution.

RE: Richard Ellis

The negative comments on this thread are the growing irritation to an irresponsible government that sees us as nothing more than a giant bullseye in the shape of a $$$. They back the truck up with the giant siphon expecting us to be happy about their past irresponsibility with our money, while smiling at them as they take more money to band-aid things instead of fix them. When you own a house, you don't wait until it's falling down around you (you should know, you're a Gig Harbor realtor) to do preventative "maintenance" work. That's called a remodel! Maintenance should be done all along, which is precisely what hasn't been done. And I don't want to hear about the poor teachers. They chose the position and can step down or move to another school when they wish. My concern is only for the kids living in the districts with the poor conditions. The state grossly mis-manages what we entrust to them and then they turn around and try to guilt us into giving more money and pouring down the endless rathole they help perpetuate. Richard, if you ran your business the way the state does, you would have been bankrupt long ago...

Apparently our kids aren't good enough for these negative posters to actually take a loan to improve our crumbling schools. Probably the same people who took a loan on their house to take a vacation and are now scrambling and pointing the finger now that the economy has failed. My kids deserve a nice school and our construction workers deserve to work on quality jobs that will create millions in economic recovery for our region. All the people who said "hey let's just give the people the stimulas money in the form of cash" this is exactly what a project like this does. Puts the money into the hands of the people who actually want to work. If you don't like it than pull your kids from our public schools because I'm sick of paying for your kids to sit in a unhealthy class room like it's some form of free day care.

Apparently our kids aren't good enough for these negative posters to actually take a loan to improve our crumbling schools. Probably the same people who took a loan on their house to take a vacation and are now scrambling and pointing the finger now that the economy has failed. My kids deserve a nice school and our construction workers deserve to work on quality jobs that will create millions in economic recovery for our region. All the people who said "hey let's just give the people the stimulas money in the form of cash" this is exactly what a project like this does. Puts the money into the hands of the people who actually want to work. If you don't like it than pull your kids from our public schools because I'm sick of paying for your kids to sit in a unhealthy class room like it's some form of free day care.

No more debt. No more taxes. Cut all the socialist welfare giveaways and live within your means!