This getting up early has some benefits.

I woke, this morning, to a report on KING 5 TV about the cost of asphalt paving. As you probably know, this is the preferred method of paving and repair for roads in our communities.

The former rule of thumb for the cost of paving one mile of roadway was $41,000. That has now risen to $88,000 due to the cost of you know what.

Meanwhile, candidate for Governor Dino Rossi is unveiling his plan to cut transportation budget recenue "needs" by re-routing sales tax from vehicle sales. Of course whenever you take money from one part of the budget to move to another, something gets cut - say social and health services.

We are ready facing a dilemma in our communities to keep roadways safe and in manageable conditions. Can we afford to have someone try to garner favor on the "less transportation taxes" platform, when the cost of doing business has more than doubled?

Our communities can ill afford less funding for social and health needs and our roads must be maintained to handle the ever-increasing traffic as people move to available and affordable housing in rural areas

This is not the time for knee-jerk political moves as an emotional ploy for votes Monday morning quarterbacking of the budget is not sound governing.