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COMMENTARY
 November 4, 2002 Contact: Jason Mercier, Budget Research Analyst Need a job? Maybe a laptop will help By Jason Mercier, Evergreen Freedom Foundation That's exactly what the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation (DVR) within the Department of Social Health Services (DSHS) has been doing. DVR made headlines earlier this year when a planned $100,000 staff retreat at the Skamania Lodge was exposed by Spokesman-Review reporter Jonathan Martin. Unfortunately, DVR's questionable spending doesn't stop there. In order to plan the retreat, DVR's "Conference Planning Team" made seven trips at an additional expense of $7,260. And of course, the 16 individuals serving on the planning team couldn't work effectively without $880 worth of planning team apparel. But wait, there's more! Since November of last year, DVR has purchased 278 new laptop computers for staff use. Total price: $755,000. On top of this, DVR purchased thirteen 2002 model vehicles for staff use at an expense of $262,981. These were just the staff purchases. DVR also purchased 16 laptops for "client" use at a price tag of $31,338, as well as 32 cars for clients at a total cost of $522,650. Why would DVR do this? Good question. According to the division's website, DVR's 337 full-time equivalent employees "assist people with disabilities to prepare for, obtain and retain employment" in "custom-designed" vocational rehabilitation programs. Individuals who have a physical, mental, or sensory limitation that hinders their ability to prepare for, get, or keep a job that matches their abilities and potential are eligible for DVR services. There are no income eligibility restrictions for services. While the purchases of laptops and cars for clients may be legal, are they justifiable? Should government buy 45 cars, 294 laptop computers, and plan a $100,000 staff retreat while many of the state's taxpaying citizens and businesses are struggling just to stay afloat? State officials seem to forget that every dollar government spends is someone else's dollar—a dollar earned by a hard-working citizen. Milton Friedman, renowned economist, once explained, "When a man spends his own money to buy something for himself, he is very careful . . . [But] when he spends someone else's money on someone else, he doesn't care how much he spends or what he spends it on. And that's government for you." Until state officials scrutinize every tax dollar they spend as if it came out of their own wallets, they shouldn't look to taxpayers to bail them out for their questionable spending. It's time for government to follow the same recessionary rules by which the rest of us are playing. Jason Mercier is a Budget Research Analyst for the Evergreen Freedom Foundation, an Olympia-based policy research organization.
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1 Part Honesty; 2 Parts Arrogance At a March 23, 2005, House Appropriations hearing on a bill to gut the voter-approved I-601 spending limit, Rep. Jim McIntire (D) asked a supporter of I-601’s two-third supermajority requirement for the legislature to raise taxes the following question: "Can you name a time when we [legislators] have actually not just set it [supermajority requirement] aside by majority vote? I mean, this is in many respects a procedural motion that has no bearing. It’s a statutory constraint that cannot constrain any legislature that chooses as a majority to set it aside . . . have we ever used a supermajority [to raise taxes]?" - Rep. Jim McIntire (D - 46) Despite the arrogance of some state officials, Washington's constitution is clear: "All political power is inherent in the people..." |
