> Actually, quite the opposite is true. West side
> tax dollars support the east side. The east side
> does not collect near as much taxes for roads as
> is spent there.

Dino Rossi ((who is supposed to be an advocate of Eastern Washington)) is proposing a transportation plan that calls for $15.5 billion to be spent on new highway projects. Just $3 billion of that, around 15%, would be used on Eastern Washington projects. Oh, and by the way, last November when voters from King, Pierce, and Snohomish counties turned down an $18 billion transportation plan that would have been founded by 'local' taxes? Yeap....

If Rossi is elected and his plan goes through, Eastern Washington residents will be paying interest and continued taxes on those largely Western Washington road projects for the next 30 years. Not to say Gregoire hasn't been dipping into the eastside candy jar all this time herself. This is just another example of Eastern Washington being under and non-represented by its state government while paying in the same tax dollars as westside residents. It's kind of like being charged for really expensive satellite HD cable only to get a set of rabbit ear antennas...

And as for splitting Washington and Oregon down the "Cascade Curtain", that will never happen because too many people on the westside depend on the free money, but for residents of both Eastern WA and OR, it would be a very good deal and in time the new state would end up looking very much like Wyoming - Not rich, but not over-taxed and under-represented either.

-Ryan