Gov. Chris Gregoire wants to raise taxes for transportation maintenance and upgrades. Last month, she threatened to hold our education system hostage for more sales taxes. Enough is enough. Her pitch for more transportation taxes comes on the heels of an "improve transportation" message from Sen. Maria Cantwell. Coincidence?

The governor says we need more money to maintain our roads, bridges and ferries. Where are the ferry tolls, the new Evergreen Bridge tolls, license fees and gas taxes (among the highest in the nation) going now? Note: I concede our auto license renewal is way too low. But the citizens of our state passed the Tim Eyman initiative to lower renewal fees, thus stating lower fees were preferred to better roads.

Gregiore should listen to Cantwell's message, "Use existing funds to their best advantage." Improving roads for more trade transportation is good, but what the governor should really be pushing are more manufacturing-friendly conditions in our state (e.g. eliminate environmental regulations that burden businesses without adding significant environmental protection). More business equals more jobs and more taxes. We cannot undo electing Christine Gregiore seven years ago. We can learn from it and do better by electing Rob McKenna this fall.

Chris Wollam, Richland