Today's Oregonian

slams the anti-tax extremists over the surtax. A few paragraphs:

"In talk-show Oregon, there is no greater sin than facing reality. Thus it is that the talk-show wing of the Republican Party has gone to war with the reality wing over the Oregon Legislature's decision to pay for adequate state services without further mortgaging our future.

"State GOP chairman Kevin Mannix took to the Capitol steps last week after the Legislature approved a temporary income-tax surcharge and other tax increases. He said he'll lead an effort to refer the decision to voters."

No doubt taking marching orders from the likes of Dick Armey and other national extremists.

More:

"The Mannix move guarantees that Oregon schools--long the victim of antics such as this--are unlikely to enjoy stability this coming school year. If Mannix gathers enough votes to reach the ballot with his referral, school leaders and other providers of vital state services again won't know their true budgets until next year."

Which is why very few school districts are going to do much hiring--no matter how much it is needed--until this whole thing is resolved.

Then the editorial goes into three beliefs of the anti-tax nutjobs: that all taxes are bad, that there could be some other way other than raising taxes so that the state could live within its means, and that since voters rejected Measure 28, they don't want any more taxes. They bitched and bitched, but they had no realistic alternative:

"But the reality was this: After voters defeated Measure 28, state revenue forecasts dropped by about another $1 billion. Circumstances changed.

"None of this is likely to matter to the folks who want to revive their careers by demagoging another tax revolt. But it ought to matter to Oregonians who are serious about the future of their state.

"After seven and a half months, some of Oregon's most conservative legislators could not come up with a budget that adequately covered Oregon's needs without a tax surcharge. They couldn't because it can't be done..."