Governor Gregoire releases statement on failure of Tim Eyman's Initiative 1033

Governor Chris Gregoire has released a statement (via email to NPI) on the overwhelming defeat of Tim Eyman's most destructive initiative ever:

I am pleased that the voters appear to have rejected Initiative 1033. Voters understood that this misguided proposal would have precluded our ability to recover from these extraordinarily difficult economic circumstances and would have made providing quality health care and education to our citizens virtually impossible.

Although we still face a $1.7 billion shortfall that needs to be addressed in the coming legislative session, passage of this initiative would have made the problem in the short and long term significantly worse.

Good thoughts, governor. Thanks for vocally speaking out against this horribly shortsighted measure and working to ensure its defeat.