Gary Locke worse governor ever

Gary Locke’s appointment as ambassador to China, may sit well with many people. This son of Chinese immigrants worked his way up the political ladder, first in King County and Seattle, then in the legislature and eventually as governor of Washington State.

But for those of us who keep tabs on these things, Locke’s term as governor was bad for the taxpayers of Washington state and bad for all voters in the state.

It was Locke, who bowed to the government unions and allowed them to have collective bargaining over wages. Supposedly this was tempered with “contracting out” but not one single incident of contracting out government services ever materialized. Instead, government unions gained more power by their ability to influence their own pay and other benefits, while state taxpayers footed the bill.

It was also Locke, who presided over the dismantlement of the state’s open primary system. To pay back the Democratic Party, Locke allowed a new primary bill to be passed, knowing that it wouldn’t stand legal muster and put in a compromise of a closed primary.

This was an effort on his part to give the political parties – -both Democrat and Republican – – more power to influence elections.

Thank goodness voters passed an initiative setting up a Top Two Primary, which was upheld by the United States Supreme Court.

Locke may be good as the American ambassador to China, but he was an absolute horror to taxpayers and voters in Washington State.