I am surprised by the Herald's lack of forthrightness when running budget crisis articles dealing with Washington state's spending problems. Normally, a newspaper delves into a story to report all the facts.

Our current proposed state budget in total dollars is more than the last budget. And it is only $1.5 billion less than the 2007-2009 budget.

The $10.5 billion budget cuts since 2008, bantered about by the governor, consists of items that the state wanted to fund but was unable to. In simple terms, if the governor had the ability to collect more money, the state would have spent $10.5 billion more than it spent in 2008.

This whole budget charade is an effort by the governor to raise taxes. State government needs to be more efficient and implement better processes in order to function within the taxes they collect. When it costs some of the state agencies more than a dollar to deliver a dollar's worth of benefits back to the citizens of the state, something is wrong.

The problem our state government suffers from is not the need for more taxes. The problem is a lack of political leadership.

Len Burton, Pasco