F-U to G-A-U

Picture courtesy of Seattle Weekly blog.

I'm dating myself here but there was a joke in the `60's and `70's about the guy who said, ``my friends told me if I voted for Barry Goldwater the Viet Nam War would last another eight years. Sure enough, I voted for Goldwater and the war lasted another eight years.'' The modern joke, at least in Washington state, is about the guy who said, ``my friends told me if I voted for Dino Rossi, GAU would be cut. Sure enough, I voted for Rossi and they're cutting GAU.''
Christine Gregoire, she's the women who looks like she had too much Mexican food in the picture above, handily defeated Rossi for governor in November and in her new budget the kinder, gentler Gregoire announced she was cutting the state's General Assistance program.
GAU's a program for people who can't work because of health problems and they receive a grand total of $339 a month. It costs Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels more to sweep a homeless encampment on Beacon Hill. Someone told me that GAU was $333 a month 12 years ago. That means it's been raised a grand total of $6 in 12 years. People on Social Security got a $40 cost of living raise last month.
A few years ago I went with Real Change vendors and volunteers to the state capitol on Martin Luther King day. I was able to get an interview with Speaker of the House Frank Chopp, who was a bit of a hippie in his younger days. I set Frank off, which isn't the hardest thing to do, when I asked him about the state cutting GAU. Chopp said that was Dino Rossi and the Republicans deal. And they'd have to cut it over his fallen carcas.
I returned to the state capitol on Monday for another MLK Day and another opportunity for a lot of poor folks to meet with their legislators. A pleasant woman in Rep. Zach Hudgkins office told us that a lot of Senators and Representatives were unhappy with the Guv's budget proposal.
Of course, Gregoire may be playing some politics here. By putting GAU on the table she might be hoping that there will be such an outcry about trying to cut it, that the Republicans will never be able to go after it again.
Now some of you may be thinking, ``anybody who's living on $339 a month is probably homeless already and saving GAU isn't going to save the homeless.'' Of course, GAU should be much higher just like the minimum wage. But when I was on GAU I was able to get subsidized housing by putting down $339 a month as my income. Then my rent was fixed accordingly (CPC didn't make a lot of money off me). If GAU gets cut what happens when people put a big 0 next to their income?
Just another obstacle in preventing people from getting a roof over your heads. It's enough to make you feel like the Governor looks. Pass the chilli please.