Don's column in today's Columbian considers how lighter regulation of government finance places taxpayers and investors at risk. Citing a recent speech by Christopher Cox, Don writes:
Christopher Cox, chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, says shaky financial management in the public sector puts investors and taxpayers at risk. He's calling for tougher scrutiny of state and local governments.
To make his case, Cox points to the financial collapse of New York City in the 1970s. A decade later, our state added buckets of red ink to the ledger with the billion-dollar default by the Washington Public Power Supply System.
What's happening here?
Washington performs better than many state and local governments, both in disclosure and performance. Still, we could do better.
Washington owes its public employee pension fund $5.7 billion. ... for the past four years, Washington lawmakers skipped the recommended payments to whittle down that debt.
This year, despite sitting on a $2 billion surplus, state lawmakers decided not to pay those missed payments. And because pension funds are invested, just one missed payment costs taxpayers $564 million in lost investment income.
it's a good column.
