Seattle Times publishes editorial tailor-made for Andy Hill’s campaign to use in a mailer; 45th LD’s state committeeman responds

The following is the text of a letter to the editor submitted by 45th LD State Committeeman Andrew Villeneuve in response to an editorial criticizing Matt Isenhower’s advertising.

Editor, The Times:

Before advising voters to “set aside the spin coming out of your TV and dig into the facts”, the Times ought to get its own facts straight.

Thursday’s anti-Matt Isenhower editorial – which was immediately turned into a mailer by Andy Hill’s campaign – is a fine specimen of revisionist history.

The editorial neglects to mention that we came dangerously close to a government shutdown at the end of June 2013 because Senate Republicans spent months dithering and fighting amongst themselves instead of working cooperatively with the House and Governor Inslee. An eleventh hour compromise was finally worked out, which most lawmakers voted for, because there was no time left to craft a better budget. It put $40 million more towards McCleary than the budget Senate Republicans passed on June 8th on a party-line vote.

Governor Inslee and House Democrats pushed to raise revenue so we could invest more money into our schools, but Senate Republicans refused. Because of their intransigence, we ended up with a budget that our Supreme Court found unacceptable. This is what Matt Isenhower is talking about. The real spin is coming from Hill, who claims McCleary compliance is possible without new revenue. But his argument fails basic arithmetic.