Enough is enough is enough. Yet Gov. Chris Gregoire keeps giving us more - more taxes, more spending, more government. And more failure with public safety, especially protecting those least able to care for themselves.

The latest tragedy on Gov. Gregoire's watch - which likely could have been avoided with due diligence - is the choking and beating death earlier this week of 3-year-old Michael Ravenell in Tacoma. Accused of second-degree murder is Noah Thomas, 25, the live-in boyfriend of Michael's mother who was looking after the child while his mother was at work.

Sad stories like this are too familiar in Washington, and additional facts surrounding the case make it worse. Mr. Thomas was convicted in 2004 for assaulting his own children, ages 2 and 4 at the time, yet slipped through the cracks so he allegedly could beat another innocent child - this time with deadly force.

Even more egregious is the fact that the dead boy's father, Michael Ravenell, began reporting to state Child Protective Services several weeks ago that he suspected his son was being abused while with the mother and her boyfriend. Mr. Ravenell kept records and informed CPS of each new injury. CPS confirms that a complaint was filed on April 2 and an investigation was in progress when little Michael was killed.

Once again, however, this agency, with a troubling record on one hand of overreacting without sufficient evidence and destroying lives in cases of false allegations of sexual abuse, while failing on the other hand to intervene early and proactively to save the lives of children obviously being physically abused - did too little until it was too late.

Now CPS plans to take decisive bureaucratic action: a panel will determine what they could have done better to protect the child, and what can be done now to protect his sister.

Good grief! Common sense dictates that his sister be removed immediately from the custody of her mother and placed with her grieving father. Then again, CPS is populated by social workers who wring their hands and cry a lot after a tragedy such as this, yet plod blindly by the book while they still have time to protect the innocent.

CPS caseworkers are overworked, to be sure. But amid their shuffling of too many files, there is too little accountablility. And accountability must begin at the top with a lawyer-politician who in eight years as attorney general and almost four more as governor never has let the buck stop at her desk.

When Ms. Gregoire became governor in 2005, she made reform of the beleaguered child protection agency a top priority. CPS already was under fire for cases that had resulted in the death or severe abuse of several children under its supervision.

She promised improved response to child-related emergencies, more home visits by case workers, and added almost 90 front-line workers. Now, in the final year of her first term, Gov. Gregoire's administration admits that just over half of scheduled monthly visits that should be made to the homes of kids at risk actually take place.

This governor and the overwhelming Democrat majority in the Legislature have expanded every year the size and cost of state government. Many of their nanny state programs have been sold to the public as "for the children."

Yet too many children, when protection of their lives and safety is at stake, remain at risk - victims of criminal neglect by misguided liberal policies of our state.

This time, the buck is squarely on Ms. Gregoire's desk. Before she tries to con the public into giving her a second term, the governor must explain to voters why she failed to follow through on her pledge to reform CPS.

Ralph Nichols writes on public policy and legal issues from the Seattle area. He can be reached at ranichols2@yahoo.com