{"id":2603258,"date":"2026-05-15T15:30:01","date_gmt":"2026-05-15T19:30:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/ex-dem-governor-rips-washington-state-leaders-over-out-of-control-economic-policies\/"},"modified":"2026-05-15T15:31:48","modified_gmt":"2026-05-15T19:31:48","slug":"ex-dem-governor-rips-washington-state-leaders-over-out-of-control-economic-policies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/ex-dem-governor-rips-washington-state-leaders-over-out-of-control-economic-policies\/","title":{"rendered":"Ex-Dem Governor Rips Washington State Leaders Over Out-of-Control Economic Policies"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fex-dem-governor-rips-washington-state-leaders-over-out-of-control-economic-policies%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2603258&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Christine Gregoire, a former Democratic governor of washington (2005-2013) and CEO of a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/exclusive-house-judiciary-gop-slams-microsofts-woke-agenda-welcome-hearing-with-ceo\/\" title=\"EXCLUSIVE: House Judiciary GOP Slams Microsoft\u2019s \u2018Woke Agenda,\u2019 Welcome Hearing With ...\">business coalition<\/a>, criticized Democrats in the state legislature for increasing spending and relying increasingly on taxes and regulations. She said Washington\u2019s budget has grown from about $33 billion when she left office too about $80 billion now, yet the state still ends legislative sessions \u201cin the hole\u201d and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/biden-is-about-to-break-his-promise-not-to-raise-taxes-on-most-americans\/\" title=\"Biden Is About To Break His Promise Not To Raise ... On Most Americans\">spending doesn\u2019<\/a>t lead to visible improvements for residents.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking at the Association of Washington Business 2026 Summit, Gregoire argued that higher taxes are driving people and businesses out of the state, reducing tax revenue and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/propublica-donors-absent-from-bombshell-report-on-billionaire-tax-dodgers\/\" title=\"ProPublica Donors Absent From Bombshell Report on Billionaire ... Dodgers\">philanthropic giving<\/a>. She also said lawmakers don\u2019t understand how <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/oversight-chair-cash-strapped-biden-sold-access-for-decades-says-clues-point-to-alleged-corruption\/\" title=\"Oversight Chair alleges Biden&#039;s long history of selling access, hints at alleged corruption.\">business operates<\/a> and highlighted concerns about measures like the estate tax and the lack of policy predictability for companies. Gregoire said Democrats need \u201ceducation from the outside in,\u201d including explaining how tax changes-such as sales tax on services-affect both small businesses and consumers.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><br \/>\n<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\"><br \/>\n<?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><html><body><\/p>\n<section> \t\t\t\t<script>console.log(\"ad slot (AC1)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC1)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC2)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC3)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC4)\")<\/script><\/p>\n<p>A former Democratic Washington state governor said Democrats steering the state are spending too much.<\/p>\n<p>Christine Gregoire, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nga.org\/governor\/chris-gregoire\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">state\u2019s governor<\/a> from 2005 to 2013 and now the CEO of Challenge Seattle, a coalition of business leaders, said what legislators are doing is harming the state, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kxly.com\/news\/former-washington-governor-christine-gregoire-criticizes-state-spending-at-business-summit\/article_149a04c6-b742-4fe3-b704-8b47bdf2a435.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">KXLY-TV<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The state\u2019s spending has more than doubled in the 13 years since she\u2019s left office, Gregoire said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI left office with a budget of $33 billion, and the budget today is $80 billion. I think that\u2019s a little bit too much of a growth,\u201d she said at the Association of Washington Business 2026 Summit.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd yet how we find ourselves at the end of every legislative session now is in the hole and projected to be in the hole,\u201d Gregoire said.<\/p>\n<p>The former governor said spending does not produce outcomes that state residents can see.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAll too often, what we\u2019re finding is, we\u2019re paying the tax and things are getting worse. So how do we answer to that?\u201d she said, according to KXLY.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Wow, listen to former Democrat Gov. Christine Gregoire calling out our <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >absurdly high taxes<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI left office with a budget of 33 billion. And the budget today is 80 billion\u2026I would suggest to you we don\u2019t really have an income problem, we have a spending problem.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>EXACTLY!! \ud83d\udc4f\ud83c\udffc <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/crWrr9ER1a\">https:\/\/t.co\/crWrr9ER1a<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Kristen Mag (@kristenmag) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/kristenmag\/status\/2055031081175568458?\">May 14, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>\u201cDo you think our legislature understands the impact of the policy environment as it relates to the economy?\u201d the summit\u2019s moderator asked, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/mynorthwest.com\/kiro-opinion\/former-governor-wa-spending\/4238459\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">KIRO-FM<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo,\u201d Gregoire replied.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI really don\u2019t, as evidenced by your mentioning of the estate tax. I argued with some folks about the estate tax. We were the highest in the country, tied with Hawaii at 20 percent. We went to 35 percent. We\u2019re not just the highest. We\u2019re beyond the highest,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>As noted by <a href=\"https:\/\/seattlered.com\/economy\/gregoire-washington-democrats-economy-spending-problem\/4118540\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Seattle Red<\/a>, Gregoire warned that higher taxes are pushing people out of the state.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen they leave, they stop paying cap gains. When they leave, they stop giving significantly to philanthropy, which would otherwise be necessary by government. So do you understand? Do you see the consequences of what you\u2019re doing?\u201d Gregoire said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI would suggest to you we don\u2019t really have an income problem. We have a spending problem, and we\u2019re answering it by stacking one more tax, one more rule, one more regulation,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd the one thing that the business community doesn\u2019t need is that lack of predictability,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>Gregoire said legislators do not understand how business works.<\/p>\n<p>Both the House and the Senate <a href=\"https:\/\/ballotpedia.org\/Washington_House_of_Representatives\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">are controlled<\/a> by the Democratic Party \u2014 as is the governor\u2019s office.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHow many people in either of the Democratic caucuses have come from a business past?\u201d Gregoire asked. \u201cOK, so if you haven\u2019t come from it, you don\u2019t know it, you don\u2019t understand it.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd therefore, to me, we all, collectively\u2026 have to educate from the outside in,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have to explain things like sales tax on services you thought was a nice attack on big business. And here are the small businesses that have been tremendously adversely impacted, as well as the customers.\u201d<\/p>\n<div style=\"background-color: #f7f7f7; color: #171717; display: flex;font-size: 16px;font-weight: 600;line-height: 1.5;margin: 24px 0;padding: 18px 20px 18px 30px;text-align: left;\">\n<div style=\"align-self: stretch;border-left: 3px solid #171717;flex-shrink: 0;padding-left: 20px;\"><\/div>\n<p><a style=\"text-decoration: none;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/\">Choose The Western Journal as your preferred source on Google and never miss reporting that defends truth, protects freedom, and advances Western civilization<\/a><\/div>\n<p style=\"border: 1px solid #f5f5f5; padding: 16px;\">Advertise with The Western Journal and reach millions of highly engaged readers, while supporting our work. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/advertise-us\/?wj_source=article\">Advertise Today<\/a>.<\/p>\n<div class=\"entry-submit-correction inner-content\">\n<div class=\"correction-form\">\n<form style=\"display: none;\">\n<div class=\"sc-name-field\"> \t\t\t\t\t\t<label>* Name<\/label> \t\t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"text\" name=\"name\" required> \t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<div class=\"sc--field\"> \t\t\t\t\t\t<label>* <\/label> \t\t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"text\" name=\"\" required> \t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p> \t\t\t\t\t<label>* Message<\/label> \t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t<textarea name=\"message\" required><\/textarea> \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"required-message\" style=\"display: none; padding-bottom: 15px;\">* All fields are required.<\/div>\n<p> \t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"submit\" value=\"Submit\" onclick=\"event.preventDefault(); firefly_sc();\"> \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"firefly-sc-confirm\" style=\"display: none;\">Success!<\/div>\n<\/p><\/form>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p> \t\t<script> \t\t\tfunction firefly_sc() { \t\t\t\tif( typeof window.captchaPublicKey == typeof undefined ){ \t\t\t\t\tconsole.error('window.captchaPublicKey is not defined'); \t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\tgrecaptcha.execute( window.captchaPublicKey, { action: 'submit_correction' } ).then( function( token ) { \t\t\t\t\tvar opts = { \t\t\t\t\t\taction:    'firefly_sc_submit', \t\t\t\t\t\tname:      document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"name\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\t:     document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\tmessage:   document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"message\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\tpost_id:   firefly_post_id, \t\t\t\t\t\tcap_token: token \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\tvar inputs = [ 'name', '', 'message' ];  \t\t\t\t\tfor( var i = 0; i < inputs.length; i++ ) if( ! 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Gregoire: Democrats overspend, harming WA<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2603259,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/christine-gregoire-fror-may-15-2026.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[46247,7375,34402,32171,32667],"class_list":["post-2603258","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-budget-reform","tag-criticism","tag-economic-policy","tag-political-commentary","tag-washington-state"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/christine-gregoire-fror-may-15-2026.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2603258","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2603258"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2603258\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2603262,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2603258\/revisions\/2603262"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2603259"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2603258"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2603258"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2603258"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}