Jim Moeller
Good old Jim “sue your constituents to invalidate their votes” Moeller (D. Portland/Vancouver), ever the narcissist, is a master at diversion to make others look bad, while minimizing how he and those he aligns himself with may personally benefit off of the public’s money.
Second to none in arrogance, we have seen Jim put off projected in excess of $1 Billion budget gap to push through homosexual marriage, denying he would take advantage of it himself, successfully joined in a lawsuit to invalidate the vote of constituents and others in the state who have 5 times voted in a 2/3 majority requirement for the legislature to increase our taxes, worked diligently to strap Clark County citizens with higher taxes, increased license fees, tolls, increased gas prices and much more to force acceptance of Portland, Oregon’s financially troubled light rail and more, all the while portraying himself as some sort of ‘watchdog’ for the public good.
When it was revealed earlier this year of legislators writing off the expense to dry clean their clothes to taxpayers while in session Moeller was quoted saying, “dry cleaning is similar to other items [I] can expense, such as food or lodging, while the Legislature’s in session,” adding he considers what he wears during session as “his uniform.”
Two things he loves as much as he does himself, taxes and unions, promoting both in any manner he can with no regard for what it may cost a struggling middle class taxpayer or cause jobs to dissipate in the county.
I was kind of curious why, recently, he began acting once again as if the great watchdog for the people when he began pushing for better and more stringent rules for lobbyists filing their reports, primarily focusing on lobbyists buying meals for legislators, Moeller himself receiving in excess of $350 in a free meals during legislative session.
The Lazy C, long a fan of Moeller’s credits Moeller as being “way out in front of the pack on this one” for “championing a bill proposing that lobbyists pay a fee that would go to the maintenance of a searchable electronic database of lobbyist expenses” and crediting him with displaying “Leadership Washingtonians need or deserve.”
While we do deserve to know just what Lobbyists are paying to curry the favor of our legislators, let’s face it, they are spending either their own money or the money of whoever hires them to lobby a specific position. They are not spending our tax dollars.
Where is Jim Moeller’s “Leadership” where our tax dollars concerned? Why doesn’t he display that deep concern when it is our tax dollars being diverted away from what we pay taxes for and into the deep pockets of unions?
A recent report released by the Washington Policy Center, Public Education Dollars Diverted to Pay Union Executive Salaries, is far more troublesome to me than lobbyists paying for legislators lunch.
While we keep hearing from Jim Moeller how we need to step up and better fund education in the state, meaning of course, meet more teachers union demands, we now read, “Each year school districts pay full salaries and benefits of public employees who leave school classrooms for a time to work full-time for private labor unions. While working as union executives the employees perform no teaching or other educational duties for the school district.”
Moeller aligned himself with the unions, especially when they successfully sued to block citizens efforts to make it more difficult for the legislative majority to just raise our taxes as they desire, primarily to go to education demands, and now we read that over $5 Million was diverted last year to go to union executives?
Lobbyists may have spent as much as $65,000 buying lunch for legislators, but union executives suck over $5 Million out of our precious education tax dollars and Jim Moeller, credited with such Leadership in exposing lobbyists, does not bat an eye lid?
Let us not forget, it is these union representatives leading the charge to invalidate voter desire and overturn voter intent in charter schools, tax increases and our efforts to reform education and improve how our children are educated.
Where is Jim Moeller on any of this?
Where is that “Leadership” the Lazy C boasts of?
Isn’t the use, or should I say misuse, of our tax dollars more important than a lobbyist buying someone lunch?
Let us not forget that it was these very teachers unions, back in 2008, that caused the state to lose a $13.2 Million Math & Science Grant over the unions steadfast demand that they administer the grant as they saw fit in accord with union rules and not as the grant providers offered it.
Two of the schools that lost out where right here in Clark County.
Where was Moeller then? Writing his ill-fated and confusing “candy tax” maybe?
No doubt this report from Washington Policy Center took some time to research and compile, most assuredly speaking with a lot of people in Olympia and around the state.
Is too far of a stretch to think maybe, just maybe, Jim Moeller raises such concern over lobbyists to try to divert attention away from light being shined on his pet unions?
