It is astonishing that Washington state unions are suing Governor Gregoire for suspending salary increases while thousands of private sector workers are being laid off, receiving no salary raises and having their 401(k) matches set aside, not to mention a huge impending deficit for the state budget. It seems that unions spend more time ungratefully strangling their employers while attempting to myopically serve their members.

Ironically, four years ago, our governor gave state employees a large salary increase in what appeared to be a quid pro quo.

It is incredulous on how our governor has not yet taken responsibility for swinging us from a surplus to a deficit. Not only has she tried to blame other unrelated parties, but also she is now hat in hand in the other Washington where she bragged about our “surplus” during the election campaign. In my opinion, she is largely responsible for the swing in our state’s financial status, regardless of Washington Mutual and a national recession.

Gregoire seems to have contributed largely to our state’s deficit. As our attorney general, she lost almost $100 million by not tracking pending deadlines involving large sums of money, something we operating execs do with established reporting called key item reports, scorecards or dashboards.

During her first term she immediately dished out billions of dollars to government employees (key voting constituency) and apparently made Washington the first state in the country to give Indian nations a free pass on sharing gambling revenues with the state, an amount estimated to be over $100 million a year. Then she seemed to try to distract us by pointing to a “rainy day fund” of a minimal amount while her actions, or lack thereof, plunged us into an expected budgeted deficit of billions of dollars.

I do not mind that she is more a gifted speech giver than an operating manager, but we sure would appreciate a little responsibility and repentant honesty. It is poetic justice that the very constituency that benefited from her largesse is now suing her for more of a shrinking pie.

Harvey Gillis

Bellevue