Washington, D.C. – Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) and the Washington Policy Center today released the Washington State Piglet Book: Connecting the Dots on How Government Wastes Your Money, the definitive guide for reducing waste, abuse, and mismanagement in the state government. 

State spending in Washington has grown by 33 percent over four years, and as budget deficits loom on the horizon, Washingtonians will be threatened with immense tax increases while the waste and misuse of tax dollars runs rampant.  From $2.5 million to benefit the owners of a wealthy tribal casino to $142,000 for licensing animal massage practitioners, the Washington State Piglet Book gives enough examples to make any Washington taxpayer cringe.  Stories include:

• The amount spent on one pork project, the Zero Energy House, is enough to pay all the monthly electric bills of 163 families in the Puget Sound area for a year.

• Can’t take it with you?  The state paid $44,687 in Medicaid checks for services to dead people.

• Have you seen my laptop?  The Department of Labor and Industries lost $180,000 worth of cameras, laptops and other equipment.  The Department’s control system consisted of asking fellow employees if they knew where missing equipment was.

The Washington State Piglet Book combines Washington Policy Center’s knowledge of the Washington state budget with two perennial CAGW publications, the Congressional Pig Book and Prime Cuts.  The report exposes areas in the state budget where wasteful spending can be eliminated, providing a valuable resource to legislators and taxpayers.

The report is available online at www.cagw.org and www.washingtonpolicy.org.  For answers to further questions, to schedule an interview, or to request a hard copy, please contact Alexa Moutevelis (amoutevelis@cagw.org, 202-467-5318) or John Barnes (jbarnes@washingtonpolicy.org, 206-937-9691).

Citizens Against Government Waste is a non-partisan organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in government.  Washington Policy Center is a non-partisan public policy research organization in Seattle and Olympia, Washington, that publishes studies, sponsors events and conferences, and educates citizens on public policy issues facing Washington state.