AM radio doesn’t get much airtime around my house. In fact, I’ve probably spent more time talking on AM radio this past year than I’ve spent listening to it. So if not for an email telling me to tune into the Dori Monson Show on 710-KIRO, I would have missed AG candidate Mark Sidran taking Tim Eyman to the mat over I-892.
It was great. Mark was armed with the facts… how Tim’s promise of a $400 million tax cut equals $23 billion in gross wagering… how his claim of $11.5 million to treat problem gambling is a three-fold exaggeration based on a faulty understanding of his own initiative… how I-892 is most definitely not revenue neutral.
(Hey… you’d almost think he was reading my blog.)
Tim, on the other hand, was armed with his same tired old rhetoric. When confronted with a number he didn’t like, he’d simply question Mark’s motives, and move back on message.
But Dori would have none of this. Math is math, and Tim’s numbers simply did not add up.
Between Mark’s relentless rhetorical bitch-slapping, and Dori repeatedly beating Tim over the head with his 9th grade algebra text, Tim came off sounding a bit dazed and confused.
The most comical moment came when Tim absolutely refused to concede that $400 million times 1% equals $4 million, choosing instead to counter by attacking his opponents as hypocrites. (You’d think with all the creative bookkeeping Tim has done over the years he’d have a better head for numbers.)
In fact, I’d say Tim sounded a little a desperate. And I’m guessing tomorrow’s public disclosure filing is going to tell us why.
