Having just received in the mail Rep. Schual-Berke's (D-Normandy Park) latest promo piece (produced and mailed at my expense), I couldn't help but note the complete disconnect between the information she presents and reality.

Using words like "productive" and "prudence," Schual-Berke completely sidesteps her votes for one of the largest tax increases in state history, including a new tax (the nation's highest state death tax), combined with a 17 percent spending increase, the largest in state history.

This increase not only wipes out the past year's budget surplus, brought about primarily by the building boom, but also sets the stage for long-term record deficits and even higher taxes in the future. Our legislators' "credit card" mentality shows that they have no respect for how much harder we are having to work to pay our taxes, while they take more and more funding away form the cities in which we live.

Please move somewhere else, Shay -- we can't afford you.

John L. Rankin

Normandy Park