Some folks are asking me what I think about this, so here goes:

First off, I’m not surprised. The Sierra Club’s campaign against Proposition One was predicated on an anti-global warming message as much as it was a “we’re lukewarm on light rail” message. When I went to the No on Prop 1 kick-off last year, few of the participants were actually excited about light rail. They were more excited to punish people living in Eatonville. Different strokes.

During the Prop. 1 campaign, the Sierra Club went into the campaign basing their opposition on the package’s increase in highway miles. Over time, their opposition shifted in part to a financial one. They attacked the Seattle to Tacoma line, saying it cost too much. (But they did that with numbers from Ron Sims’ budget office, numbers no transportation planner ever signed off on.) Re-reading Ron Sims’ Op-Ed against Proposition One, it seemed more like an anti-light rail screed than anything else. The fact that the Sierra Club is following Sims off a cliff is no surprise to me.

However…

I do think they have a point about parking spaces. Sound Transit shouldn’t be building a large number of additional parking spaces for any of their stations. That said, whenever Sound Transit does outreach to suburban communities, the first response is always, “where’s the park and ride?” You have to understand the folks you’ll serve with this stuff.

Park and Rides, of course, are necessary to get people onto buses. You have to coax and cajole people to get on the bus. You don’t have to do much to get people onto trains. Nerdy transit studies have shown that people will walk much further to get to a train station. I do. People don’t walk that far to the bus stop. I sure don’t. I’d much rather walk than ride on a bus that’s stuck in traffic.

In the first place, many of the proposed light rail stations are sited on current Park and Ride lots. Sound Transit should do like they do in DC, where the parking lots at suburban Metro stations are pay-to-park. That’s a perfectly reasonable option.

So I wish Mike O’Brien well on his soul-searching. I spent all of the campaign telling people that coming back to the ballot with a transit-only package in 2008 was an impossibility. I’m glad I was wrong (so far). How ironic is it that the very groups who promised us a 2008 transit-only vote are the same ones who are now dragging their feet?

Want to have your say? Join me and others at:

Post-Proposition 1: The Future of Transportation in Seattle

Thursday, March 20, 2008
5:30-7:30PM
Spitfire (2219 4th Avenue, between Bell and Blanchard)
$10 suggested donation includes a drink

Members from both sides of the Prop. 1 debate, including…
*Seattle City Councilmember Jan Drago, Chair of the Transportation Committee
*Rob Johnson, Transportation Choices Coalition’s Regional Policy Director
*Mike O’Brien from the Sierra Club
*Greg Walker, Sound Transit’s Policy and Planning Officer
*Moderated by the Seattle Channel’s C.R. Douglas

Wow, talk about Rossi leaping into the conversation:

In a move stunning some of his conservative “family values” supporters, the former state senator Dino Rossi pledged this week that if elected governor he would use less expensive prostitutes than disgraced Gov. Eliot Spitzer, (D-NY).

“It’s just one more example of people in government spending the people’s hard earned tax money in an inefficient manner.”

Rossi declined to say if he would use prostitutes if elected governor, but said that if he did he wouldn’t spend as much “as that guy from New York.” He went on to blame Gov. Christine Gregoire for rising prices that have earned Washington state a reputation for having some of the most expensive hookers in the nation.

“This is just more proof of the awful business climate she’s responsible for,” added Rossi. “Thousands of whores leave this state every year for states with lower taxes and less regulation. If I’m elected, hookers are going to get the respect they deserve.”

A spokesman for Gregoire couldn’t stop laughing long enough to comment.

You’re not dreaming, kids.

Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels proposed today that all of the city’s taxis get at least 30 miles per gallon.

Nickels wants the switch from gas guzzler to climate friendly to be complete by 2013.

Most of the city’s current cabs are Ford Crown Victorias, which average about 18 miles per gallon.

City Council approval is required for the change.

“It doesn’t matter if your cab is orange, yellow or gray. We think they should be green,” Nickels said at a morning news conference under the Space Needle.

I use cabs on a regular basis. I’ve always wondered why the model of car cabbies use has always been the godawful Crown Vics. Eighteen miles a gallon sucks. The big upside to the Prius is that it actually gets better MPG in the city than on the highway. And you don’t have to plug ’em in!

My favorite complaint from the cab drivers?

Driver Gurminder Kahlon, who owns his own taxi, said, “It is very difficult for a driver to buy a $25,000 car,” he said. “There is a recession and Sound Transit opens next year.” He was referring to the planned 2009 start of light-rail service between downtown Seattle and Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.

But I thought that light rail to the airport would never work, crazy cab driver/monorail guy?

I don’t care what party you’re with, anyone who spends 80 grand on high priced hookers shouldn’t be a governor anymore.

UPDATE [–Goldy]:

I’m not so sure I agree with Will. If patronizing a prostitute were suddenly a disqualification for office, we’d have an awful lot of high profile resignations to report today. And if marital infidelity were made a disqualification, Washington D.C. would become a virtual ghost town. I myself have never been unfaithful, and I don’t have much sympathy for people who have, but it seems to me to be the human condition rather than a peculiar of flaw of folks like Spitzer.

On the bright side, Spitzer will always be remembered for delivering to New Yorkers their first black governor, Gov. David Paterson:

How sad is it that a trailblazing feminist like Geraldine Ferraro is turning out to be a huge goddamn racist?

“If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position. And if he was a woman (of any color), he would not be in this position. He happens to be very lucky to be who he is. And the country is caught up in the concept.”

It’s particularly sad to see the old, gas bag feminists of yesteryear attack a man who could be America’s first black president. She’s basically saying that America has jungle fever, that Obama’s blackness has intoxicated his supporters. She’s implying this, and all the while is still with the Clinton campaign.

Obama responds:

“I don’t think Geraldine Ferraro’s comments have any place in our politics or in the Democratic Party. They are divisive. I think anybody who understands the history of this country knows they are patently absurd,” he told the Allentown Morning Call. “And I would expect that the same way those comments don’t have a place in my campaign they shouldn’t have a place in Senator Clinton’s either.”

Ferraro is just another sad old fart who sees history being made and is irritated by it.

Hillary Clinton “Nut Cracker Doll” shuts down Capitol building:

Lots of people, myself included, thought that Gov. Gregoire would oppose Sound Transit going back to voters in ’08 if the Roads and Transit measure failed. We didn’t think Democrats would want to share the ballot with a big transportation measure.

Turns out I was wrong.

Gregoire has signaled that a ballot measure this fall has her OK, even if she has reservations about the area interest groups’ willingness to “saddle-up” for another campaign. Sound Transit chair Greg Nickels isn’t standing in the way, either. He’s cajoling his fellow board member to vote for a revised ST2 package, one that ditches light rail to Tacoma and puts that money into going east and north. It’s the kind of package that is aimed at the areas that vote “yes” on transit. It’s a good rebound package, something that could pass, on it’s own, this fall. Just when transit fans are stepping on the gas, some are riding the brake.

Namely, Ron Sims.

Yeah, that Ron Sims, the same Ron Sims who pledged, in ’07, that he’d fight to put a better transit-only package on the ballot this fall:

Is he willing to lead the fight and come back next year with a revised light rail package?

The answer was an unequivocal yes. “I’m into that. I’m back. I’m fully engaged. No question,” he said. “I don’t believe in letting waters stagnate. I want to come back with a package that reduces our impact on global warming that is less expensive. Yes. Light rail is a big part of that package. I will spend a lot of time and political capital on that.”

But Ron is willing to let the waters stagnate.

The most depressing thing is that he used to be one of Sound Transit’s biggest defenders. But ever since Sims left the post of Sound Transit chair, he’s shown his disdain for any public transportation investment that isn’t controlled by his office. Instead of light rail, Sims advocated for buses (or bus rapid transit). He even preempted Sound Transit’s bid for the ballot with a measure of his own.

“Transit Now,” an expansion of bus service paid for by a sales tax hike, took the place of light rail on the 2006 ballot. Like the dumbass liberal that I am, I voted for it, all the time thinking that this was just Sims’ opening salvo of transportation investment. It wasn’t, which makes Sims’ ’07 comments on light rail all the more vexing.

**********

The local blogosphere cut it’s teeth on the 2004 election battle, and a year later Goldy used the new medium to destroy the candidacy of Ron Sims’ opponent. I remember sitting in the audience as Ron debated Ken Hutcherson on the issue of gay marriage, and I was amazed at how Sims took him apart in a most dignified manner. When Sims, the bloggers, and the Stranger writers all went out for drinks afterwards, Ron put his arm around me and recalled specific blog posts I had written. The guy cared, and he impressed me in a way other local pols didn’t.

**********

As quoted in Erica’s great article about the board’s deliberations, several members are still undecided:

Opinion on the Eastside is reportedly more divided, with several representatives waiting to make up their minds. Redmond Mayor John Marchione, who took his seat on the Sound Transit board just two weeks ago, says he’s been busy “talking to other board members and constituents” about their concerns with the proposal. “I’m very cognizant of the economy and what it might do this year—bad economies don’t produce positive votes on tax increases.” Marchione says he’s “disappointed that light rail doesn’t reach all the way to Microsoft,” but adds, “it might be a political necessity. People want to build this system in smaller bites and they want to see some success” before moving forward. Fred Butler, the deputy council president of Issaquah, meanwhile, says he’s “not really prepared to say one way or another,” although if pressured, “I’d probably say I lean just a little bit more toward 2008. But I have certainly not made up my mind and probably will not do so until I have to, in late March.”

No plan is perfect. In fact, one board member’s perfect plan is somebody else’s nightmare. Light rail won’t get to Redmond without getting across the lake first. Light rail won’t get to Everett without going to Northgate (and 145th St) first. I understand guys like Marchione and Butler. They’re looking out for their constituents, but Sound Transit has a regional mission.

Larry Phillips, from the Stranger’s story:

The only outliers among the King County delegation are reportedly King County Council Member Julia Patterson (who did not return a call for comment) and King County Executive Ron Sims, who has not been attending Sound Transit meetings. “He’s waiting for the perfect plan,” Phillips says derisively. Sims did not return a call for comment.

It was Ron himself who once said:

“You cannot tell people sitting in congestion that we’ll have another year of planning”

Time will tell if this is one more thing Ron has changed his mind about.

I’ll be on “The Conversation” during the 1:00pm hour. Tune in to hear what I think about last night’s results. (Or read it here.)

UPDATE [Goldy]:
Jesus, Will… you sounded like a goddamn grownup! What’s up with that? (And what’s up with the fact that Eric Earling got more time?)

Rassmussen blows it here and here.

What, were the “zeros” on their phones broken? Did they accidentally miss all Seattle voters? Did they even try to call anyone in the “206”?

Somebody’s sample is FUBAR.

Other recent polling finds slightly different results.

From the Times:

Still, for all the millions of votes Clinton has won, simple math is still her enemy. She now needs to use Tuesday night to persuade superdelegates — the hundreds of party leaders who have a vote on the nomination — to stop abandoning her for Obama.

Kos:

So the stark reality remains — even in this best-case scenario, Clinton only chipped Obama’s pledged delegate lead from 159 to 148. Yet last night offered more than 1/3rd of remaining delegates, 370. Only about 560 remain in the contest.

If Obama can show he’s not collapsing under the weight of Clinton’s assault, there will be no reason for the super delegates to overturn the will of the voters (in both pledged delegates and the popular vote).

Yeah, Clinton won last night, but she didn’t win by the margin needed to really “clean up” the way she needed to in the delegate apportionment. Even though she won two big states, she’s not going to win all of their delegates.

What her victories will do is keep her super delegates loyal for the time being, which is important for folks like Jay Inslee. I bet that guy’s phone is ringing like crazy these days from angry Obamatrons.

Goldy asked last night if the race continuing like this was “good for the party.” I said that it was, but it can’t go on indefinitely. Somebody has to win, or more importantly, somebody has to lose, and soon. But as long as Hillary does the winning, she’ll have no reason to quit, even if the math gets uglier for her.

TNT’s blog:

Tim Eyman seemingly will do anything to rile up his supporters, including what the Nixon-era press secretary called being “at variance with the truth.”

(That means “lying.”)

Here’s what Eyman e-mailed to his fans (and reporters) Sunday night:

Gregoire plans to sue the voters, disrespecting the voters’ approval of I-960. Gregoire is sticking her finger in the eye of the voters. She plans to sue the voters, disrespecting the voters’ approval of I-960.

Well, that’s just not true.

I asked Eyman today why he told his supporters that Gov. Chris Gregoire is suing over Initiative 960 when the lawsuit is being filed by Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown, D-Spokane, and he said, “She’s (Gregoire) the head of the Democratic Party. And she could stop it if she wanted.”

Well, that’s not true, either. Gregoire may very well be in sympathy with what Brown is doing, but Eyman is framing the issue as if it’s all Gregoire’s fault.

Eyman also proceeded to say a few more things in the interview that were flat-out wrong and I told him I wasn’t obliged to report things he said if I know they are wrong. He told me he was just exercising his right of free speech.

Huh.

The newspapers Tim Eyman lies to are the same ones who run his guest columns, the same ones who quote him, and the same ones who, more often than not, play stenographer for his bullshit. It’s nice to see the TNT actually call him on it, but this is the exception and not the rule.

*UPDATE*

And from the “Just Because It’s On The Radio, Doesn’t Mean It’s True” file, what’s the deal with Dori Monson breathlessly repeating Timmy’s lies? I know for a fact that those KIRO cats have access to the interwebs, so the D-Man has no excuse. Dori could easily have looked it up and found that it’s Sen. Lisa Brown’s lawsuit, not the governor’s. But he didn’t.

Maybe you missed this, but I love this story:

A speaker introducing Republican presidential candidate John McCain at a rally here Tuesday ridiculed Democratic contender Barack Obama for his intention to meet with “world leaders who want to kill us” and pointedly referred to the Illinois senator as “Barack Hussein Obama.”

Local conservative radio host Bill Cunningham went on to describe Obama as “a hack Chicago, Daley-style politician who is picturing himself as change.”

“When he gets done with you, all you’re going to have in your pocket is change,” he said.

McCain later condemned Cunningham’s remarks and apologized to Obama.

McCain could have shrugged the whole thing off by saying “this guy doesn’t speak for me,” but he didn’t. What he did do is throw a supporter under the bus for a minor political infraction.

There’s a dumb ass Rush Limbaugh wannabe in every radio market, and this guy was just doing his right wing radio schtick as a “warm up” for the senator. Well, he’s not happy with how Sen. T-Rex Arms is treating him:

“Why is he attacking me and not Obama or Hillary? He ought to attack Democrats and quit attacking conservatives like me,” Cunningham said. “I’ve had it up to here with John McCain. He’s off the list. I’m joining Ann Coulter in supporting Hillary Rodham Clinton.”

No kidding.

And what’s with the “Hussein” thing anyway? Inbred mouth-breathing types like to mention it as a way of saying:

“Hey look! This guys gots a funny name! He must be a A-rab or sumthin’.”

“Hussein” is like the “Smith” of the Arab world. It’s a common name in most of the world. It would be funny if Mahmūd Ahmadinejād’s middle name was Smith or something like that.

I can see the attacks ads already:

You though President Ahmadinejād hated The Great Satan… but did you know that his middle name is…

…Johnson?

Can we really trust someone with a funny American name? No.

This message was approved by XXXXXX because we need a president with a patriotic middle name.

If only we could export that kind of thing to other countries.

Dino Rossi wasn’t a very good legislator:

In 1997-98 – He sponsored 19 bills and he got 1 passed.

In 1999-2000 – He sponsored 14 bills and got 2 passed.

The 2 he got passed? Senate Resolution 8683 which “applauded the dedication and work of all SCORE (Service Corp of Retired Executives) members.”

And the other was Resolution 8720, which recognized the “We the People Program.”

In 2001-2002 – He was 2/18. Rossi introduced 18 bills got 1 passed. One of those bills was another recognition for the “We the People Program.”

In 2003-2004 – He was 5/32. But two of those bills that passed had to do with the operating budget… you know, when he was “Following The Governor’s Lead”? So really he was 3 for 32 that year.

So in total what is Rossi’s legislative success rate? What does he have to show for seven years in Olympia? What track record to we have to go on when he says he is going to shake things up? Eighty-three bills introduced and seven that passed.

That is an 8% success rate. Pretty good for the football coach at the “Secondary School for Hemophiliacs,” but not so great for a legislator.