In the voter’s pamphlet, Democrat Matt Isenhower makes some claims that are opposite of reality: he criticizes “a State Senate mired in partisan gridlock…”; “I’ll be a passionate voice for… no more excuses and budget gimmicks.”; “And I will fight to restore fiscal responsibility in state budgets, putting the people’s will ahead of political party.”

But it is his Democrats who have created partisan gridlock and Republicans like Andy Hill who broke it.

It’s Democrats who have written budgets with fiscally-irresponsible gimmicks such as the “366th day,” basically “we’ll pay off debts on Dec. 32”.

It’s Democrats who have repeatedly defied the people’s will because of political party: initiatives 960, 1053, and 1185 to prohibit tax increases without a 2/3 legislative vote all passed with far more votes than any Republican got, meaning that many Democrats supported them, yet Democrats – “the party of the people” – have voted every time to gut the resulting legislation and have even sued the people over the initiatives.

His campaign material called our senator Andy Hill “hyperpartisan” and proclaimed himself the one to bring bipartisanship to Olympia.

Is he a liar, or did he write his statement on Opposite Day in another world? I doubt this would-be freshman will oppose his party on their key “principles,” common sense says he’ll conform once he’s past Election Day.

Andy Hill has already accomplished everything Isenhower claims he’ll do: Hill broke partisan gridlock by co-leading the Majority Coalition with Democrat Rodney Tom and passing a budget with a unanimous-by-Olympia-standards 89-10 vote, the most bipartisan vote in over 20 years (most recent budgets have been near 50-50 party-line votes).

Hill himself wrote a balanced budget that didn’t use hidden-card tricks.

Hill’s budget also did not increase taxes and he added $1 billion to public school funding. That has earned Andy the endorsements of Stand For Children and the League of Education Voters.

Hill is not hyperpartisan.

Even if Isenhower really intends to defy his party and out-Andy Andy, I doubt this rookie has the credibility and reputation in Olympia to bring diverse factions (mainly his own Democrats) to bipartisan compromise, let alone fiscally-responsible bipartisan compromise. Re-elect our senator who is already fiscally bipartisan: Andy Hill.

K-Y Su, Kirkland