Last winter at the end of the regular legislative session, our 32nd Legislative District senator, Darlene Fairley, and representatives, Maralyn Chase and Ruth Kagi, could not figure out how to balance the state budget. They then went into a special session that lasted for a month and finally arrived at a solution that included raising our taxes!

Unbelievable in this time when businesses are hurting and many are losing their jobs. (I would not have been surprised if they had imposed a business exit tax on those businesses leaving Washington for Idaho.) Darlene Fairley is not running for re-election, but Maralyn Chase and Ruth Kagi are. With all due respect, Maralyn and Ruth need to move on. They either do not know how to balance the state budget without raising taxes or they do not want to. Regardless of the reason, they should not be re-elected.

We are fortunate to have individuals who are running for the three positions in the 32nd that can make the tough decisions to balance the state budget without raising taxes. This is not about voting for Democrats or Republicans; it’s about voting for fiscal responsibility. I urge you to cast your ballot for Dr. Art Coday, David Baker and Gary Gagliardi.

While I am at it, our Congress in Washington DC has an approval rating of under 20 percent…that is pathetic! Our senator, Patty Murray, and representative, Jay Inslee, contribute to this dismal rating, which they should be ashamed of. Their worst shortcoming is that they apparently do not know how to quit spending money we do not have. It is time to replace them by electing Dino Rossi and James Watkins to bring fiscal sanity back to Washington, DC.

Richard Owen, Kenmore