Putting Tim Eyeman as a scapegoat shows the ignorance of many of the states voters.

He is actually providing an important service for the taxpayers of the state. The tax and spend attitude of our elected state officials (read that as mainly liberal tax and spend democrats) has to be controlled. It has gotten out of hand. The entitlement payments that are paid out is absurd and a slap in the face to those of us who are paying the bills for such waste.

The problem behind the problems......The state of Washington has a fu***d up tax policy. Some of you may have seen on the news where Mr. Bill Gates Sr. was on a board to recommend overhauls to the state regarding a possible state income tax and other issues regarding the states means for collecting taxes.

The problem with our state is that the source of revenues is so dependent on the economy as a whole, and as we all know, that can fluctuate drastically. Its based on B & O taxes which are paid by all business in the sate based on gross earnings....NOT NET, so even if a company makes no money after expenses, they still pay(slower economy means less revenue for businesses and thus less B&O collected).....also its based on the sales tax we pay on everything.

It doesnt take a rocket scientist to figure out that when companies start getting pinched, they lay off people, those laid off people dont have money to spend and thus the state gets less sales tax collected. Also, those of us fortunate to have jobs, cut back and spend less in tight times so there again, less sales tax collected.

We in Washington are some of the most taxed people in the country, and with all that, the state still needs more money. Greed, Greed, Greed.

What we need is a more stable means of collecting revenue. Abolish the sales tax and lower other taxes, and go to a statewide income tax. Salaries are a more stable source on which to collect taxes.

With a more stable tax source, the state budgeting becomes easier, and we dont have the yo-yo effect thru good and bad times.

I hate to see hatcheries on the chopping block, but with the amount of cuts expected in the new state budget, I'm thankfull that more hatcheries and fish programs were not cut.

Gusty