THE WEEK

Like so many other Americans, the people of Washington State were stunned last month when their new Democratic Governor unveiled a whopping two billion dollar budget for the next biennium. Like other Americans, they protested massively, showering the Governor’s Mansion and the State Legislature with an estimated 10,000 letters of protest. But with this distinction: Realizing that it was the demand for more public aid that inflated the budget in the first place, thousands of protesting Washingtonians signed statements assuring the Governor that they were content with the present level of government services, thus laying claim to a degree of political maturity highly advanced over that of enraged taxpayers in some other states we could name.

Governor Rockefeller has won a notable political victory, and if his popularity with the people is momentarily lessened, his prestige among the politicians has vastly increased, for he said what he wanted, fought for it, and won. New York is a wonderful state, a Midwest newspaper has commented, surveying recent events: in New York a millionaire can be governor, and nearly everybody else can go on relief. Governor Rockefeller banks on the device of the weekly withholding tax, replacing the annual levy and quarterly payments, to obscure the sharp increase in the annual state income tax. Meanwhile, he will have lots of other people’s money to spend, and many appetites are due to be satisfied. The Democratic Party, moreover, has been thrown into a state of total confusion. ItisasifMr. Eisenhower had come out for a $90 billion budget: even Senator Humphrey would have been made mute. Watch the Governor, ladies and gentlemen, he’s going places.

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Like so many other Americans, the people of Washington State were stunned last month when their new Democratic Governor unveiled a whopping two billion dollar budget for the next biennium. Like other Americans, they protested massively, showering the Governor’s Mansion and the State Legislature with an estimated 10,000 letters of protest. But with this distinction: Realizing that it was the demand for more public aid that inflated the budget in the first place, thousands of protesting Washingtonians signed statements assuring the Governor that they were content with the present level of government services, thus laying claim to a degree of political maturity highly advanced over that of enraged taxpayers in some other states we could name.

Governor Rockefeller has won a notable political victory, and if his popularity with the people is momentarily lessened, his prestige among the politicians has vastly increased, for he said what he wanted, fought for it, and won. New York is a wonderful state, a Midwest newspaper has commented, surveying recent events: in New York a millionaire can be governor, and nearly everybody else can go on relief. Governor Rockefeller banks on the device of the weekly withholding tax, replacing the annual levy and quarterly payments, to obscure the sharp increase in the annual state income tax. Meanwhile, he will have lots of other people’s money to spend, and many appetites are due to be satisfied. The Democratic Party, moreover, has been thrown into a state of total confusion. ItisasifMr. Eisenhower had come out for a $90 billion budget: even Senator Humphrey would have been made mute. Watch the Governor, ladies and gentlemen, he’s going places.