I’ve written before about how I want my state legislators and Gov. Christine Gregoire to use some common sense when it comes to navigating our way out of this economic “Bermuda Triangle.”

But, in charting that course, some state programs inevitably will disappear into the fog. Likely some of those programs were funded with the billions of dollars in new spending in Olympia in the last four years. Were they all worthwhile, or were the Democrats just feeling flush?

Frankly, I am not feeling particularly better off because of that big splurge in spending. Now is the time to stick to the basics.

For sure, now is NOT the time to cut any of the job-training programs at Renton Technical College, which for decades has proven its value to the state’s economy.

The college in the Highlands is facing a 20 percent cut – about $8 million – in the money it receives from the state. Cutting that deeply would likely mean that hundreds would lose access to RTC training.

That’s just not acceptable. We need people working, even if that means finding a new career or learning new skills to keep a current employer happy.

That is exactly what RTC does – and very successfully.

Yes, I know, you’re thinking that something will have to get cut. But what we’re facing is perhaps unprecedented at all levels of government. At RTC, many who take water aerobics are concerned about the closure of the swimming pool in an initial round of budget cutting. But the closure of the pool is not the poster child for the potential devastating cuts to RTC’s budget.

Yes, I know, that none of us is going to feel at all good about the money the state will have to cut. But a paycheck means hope, a chance to weather the storm, a chance for food and shelter and a chance for health care.

Take away the paycheck, and the pressure grows on our already-hemorrhaging social services system.

Keep people working. That’s what they want. That is what’s needed in tough economic times.

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