I’m told the Seattle Weekly’s Rick Anderson really isn’t a nitwit — that he’s an experienced reporter and all around good guy. But you wouldn’t guess that from his recent crusade to expose Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels as an environmental hypocrite.
Among those still not heeding Mayor Greg Nickels’ advice to use their cars more sparingly is Mayor Greg Nickels. The mayor’s vehicles consumed more than 1,130 gallons of gas, costing $3,500, in the 12 months since he urged Seattleites last year to find alternative transportation to save the Earth, according to newly released City Hall figures.
The thesis: Mayor Nickels has made a name for himself challenging America’s mayors to have their cities voluntarily meet or beat the Kyoto standards, and yet he still drives a car. A lot.
The figures show the mayor has consumed about three times as much gas since putting his economical hybrid SUV into service last June as he did for a comparable period when his previous car, a 17-mile-per-gallon Cadillac limousine, was in service.
Oh gee. Where to start? Hmm. How about simple math? Or maybe, the English language — for when Anderson calculates gas consumption over “a comparable period,” it is instructive to understand exactly what he means by “comparable.”
The new records show that from Oct. 1, 2006, to April 1, 2007 (the billing period covering the time after the Cadillac was retired), the mayor charged more than 800 gallons of gas, costing $2,400. That compares to 260 gallons at a cost of $870 for the shorter, five-month March 2–Aug. 6, 2006, billing period, when the leased Cadillac was in service.
Uh-huh. Anderson’s spelling is impeccable, but I think he might want to yank out his dictionary and look up the meaning of the word “comparable.” I’m no professional journalist, but if you ask me, “a comparable period” to October, 2006 through April, 2007, might be, gee… I dunno… the same exact seven-month period during the previous year? And when we actually compare these two periods, we find that, oops… the mayor only charged 835 gallons of gas during the hybrid era, compared to 995 for the limo.
Not exactly the “three times as much gas” Anderson rails about. In fact, it’s actually… um… less.
While the hybrid switch … may have helped clear the air in several ways, the mayor wound up using more money and gas than he did when he cruised around exclusively in the limo, according to city records.
No he didn’t. And I know this, because I know how to do math. And, because I acquired additional data. Of course, to be fair to Anderson, he didn’t really have a large enough data set to make any sort of reasonable, vehicle-to-vehicle comparison. But if Anderson wanted to be fair to Nickels, he never would have implied that he did.
(Our good friend Stefan — a self-proclaimed Excel spreadsheet savant — lauded Anderson’s reporting. Hmm. Given the same mathematical expertise he used to so accurately predict the contested 2004 gubernatorial election, you’d think Stefan might have at least taken pause at Anderson’s less than scientific analysis of “comparable” periods.)
Apparently, Anderson had a gotcha story in the works, and he was gonna run with it come hell or bad data.
City officials repeatedly warned Anderson that they didn’t keep the records required to make the sort of calculations Anderson wanted. But that didn’t stop him. Indeed, even in acknowledging his inability to track the hybrid’s gas consumption, he sneeringly blamed the city for any inaccuracies in his futile attempt to do so.
Schubert-Knapp this week said she was referring to her “sincere doubts” about my ability to accurately report the data. That’s maybe understandable, given the confusing mess of records her department released, showing they can’t even track how much gas is used by each of the mayor’s two and sometimes three cars.
And while Anderson makes clear that the seven-month period from October, 2006 through March, 2007 also includes trips made in the mayor’s backup vehicle, “a Ford Explorer SUV that gets 11 miles to the gallon,” he glosses over the fact that the vast majority of the Explorer trips weren’t actually made by the mayor.
“The Explorer is now the backup car, and is also the car the mayor’s security takes home each night.”
That’s right, the Explorer is not just a “backup” car; it’s driven almost every single day, and usually, sans mayor. And all of its fuel receipts are mixed in with those of the hybrid.
So what exactly is Anderson’s point? That the mayor’s hybrid gets crappy fuel economy?
The EPA has already lowered the Highlander’s mpg rating from 31 to 27, and some consumer road tests come in at 20 mpg.
And he tells us this twice. But instead of trying to extrapolate the MPG from incomplete data, or implying a worst-case scenario by authoritatively citing “some consumer road tests,” Anderson could have just used his noodle and asked the right question. Like all hybrids, Nickel’s Highlander has an on-board computer that definitively records actual fuel economy. Nickels spokesman Martin McOmber told me it currently reads about 24.5 mpg.
Not quite the EPA rating, but a helluva lot better than the typical, full-sized SUV, and possibly as much as twice the MPG of the limo it replaced. (I’m not sure where Anderson plucked his number, but according to the EPA, the supposedly “17-mile-per-gallon Cadillac limousine” actually rates 11.9 city/18 highway.)
Or maybe Anderson is simply implying that the mayor is driving more miles now than he did a year ago?
Perhaps. I don’t know. Not knowing which receipts were for which car, or the exact fuel economy of each vehicle, or even what percentage of fleet miles were actually driven transporting the mayor, it is impossible to extrapolate from this data an accurate mayoral mileage report. But what we do know is that the mayor’s fleet cut its year-to-year fuel consumption by about 16-percent over a comparable seven-month period.
If every household and business in Washington state were to cut their motor fuel consumption by 16-percent, we’d save about 500 million gallons of fuel annually, putting over $1.5 billion back in our pockets, and 10 billion fewer pounds of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. That sounds like a pretty good start to me.
But I suppose what Anderson is really implying is that the mayor simply drives too much: if Nickels wants us to use alternative modes of transportation, he should lead by example, I guess, and hop on the bus himself.
Hmm. How do I best explain Nickels’ driving habits to Anderson? Oh. I know: um… he’s a FUCKING MAYOR! Of a major American city. It’s his job to rack up tens of thousands of miles a year traveling from one constituency group to another, and he couldn’t possibly do it relying on our region’s bus system. You couldn’t ask him to give up his car any more than you could ask a traveling salesman. (In fact, politicians and traveling salesmen have an awful lot in common.)
Still, all of this nitwitpicking is beside the point, because Anderson’s entire thesis — whatever it is — is a complete and utter load of bullshit. It is little more than a local variant on the same intellectually lazy frame that attacks a jet-setting Al Gore as a hypocrite for emitting copious greenhouse gases while advocating that these emissions be cut.
Sure. Gore could stay at home, bicycling around the family farm. But by stingily counting his own carbon emissions he couldn’t have anywhere near the impact he has traveling the world, persuading others to make modest cuts of their own.
The same holds true for Mayor Nickels. He makes an effort, however imperfect, to bring greater awareness to what municipalities can do locally to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and Anderson thanks him by devoting two whole “news” articles and a blog post toward trashing him as a hypocrite.
Apparently it takes a nitwit to ask whether the self-professed “green” mayor is practicing what he preaches – as the records show, he doesn’t.
No, it takes a nitwit to misread a spreadsheet, and totally dismiss the warnings from those who gave you the data. It takes a nitwit to focus your contempt on those who at least attempt to do good, while giving a free ride to right-wing nutcases like Kemper “Transit Equals Communism” Freeman Jr. and his lifelong campaign to kill rail in this region. It takes a nitwit to echo the hate-filled, partisan rants of a science denier like Stefan, and then dare to call it journalism.
first! high five. nickels is fat.
FYI, in case you’re interested in my math on a 16-percent cut in motor fuel consumption statewide:
$1,056,524,000 raised in 2006 from state motor fuel tax. (Source, WA DOR.)
Motor excise tax at $0.34/gallon.
20 pounds of CO2 per gallon (Source, EPA.)
(1,056,524,000 / 0.34)*.16 = 495,776,000 gallons saved
495,776,000 * $3.00 = $1,487,328,000 saved
495,776,000 * 20 = 9,915,520,000 pounds of CO2
Of course, I rounded up.
If you passed math and were wondering how 6 pounds of gasoline turns into 20 pounds of CO2, here’s a source that explains how that happens:
http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/co2.shtml
and a nice wonky datasheet showing the chemical makeup of various fuels.
http://www.eere.energy.gov/afdc/pdfs/fueltable.pdf
Goldy, you just don’t get it.
If a liberal advocates for energy conservation, yet drives a car, that makes him a hypocrite.
Since conservatives advocate for greed, selfishness, racism, violence, and destruction of the planet, they cannot ever be called hypocrites no matter what they do or how much harm they cause.
And we all know that hypocrisy is the worst sin of all, much worse than starting an unnecessary war that kills thousands, wounds tens of thousands, and tears families and nations apart.
What happens to the hydrogen atoms released when the hyrdocarbon burns (i.e., the carbon atom with an atomic weight of 12 combines with two oxygen atoms with an atomic weioght of 16 each, but a bunch of hydrogen atoms are also released – what happens to them?).
@5
All my college textbooks are in a big pile in my garage ready to be thrown out. Maybe I should look that up before I can’t any more… :)
Anybody know where the hydrogens go?
@7
The hydrogens react with oxygen to form water.
@ 7
2 H2 + O2 = 2 H2O
Libertarian @ 7:
Don’t listen to Ludicrus Maxiumus. He’s blowing smoke up your derrière.
The ionized hydrogen atoms mix to form a deadly chemical called dihydrogen monoxide, which has contaminated air and water supplies worldwide. You will find dihydrogen monoxide even in the rain falling outside your house and the tap water that is dispensed from your faucet. Dihydroge monoxide inhalation has been proven fatal in humans and many other mammals and birds.
Forget CO2. This is the sleeper problem of the century.
Read more here:
http://www.dhmo.org/
jsa on commercial drive:
I learned a lot from that http://www.dhmo.org/ web site.
A shocking quote:
“One of the most surprising facts recently revealed about Dihydrogen Monoxide contamination is in its use as a food and produce “decontaminant.” Studies have shown that even after careful washing, food and produce that has been contaminated by DHMO remains tainted by DHMO”
I understand that DHMO infestation is so endemic, a substantial portion of the average human body contains it. Truly shocking, I tell you.
A friend of mine was almost killed when driving on a road contaminated by Dihydrogen Monoxide. This stuff is very dangerous.
Off Topic — Red Alert! — A.G. A.G. coming to Seattle next week, on Discovery InsTitute’s dime.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.c.....es21m.html
That is the snarkiest hoax I’ve ever seen. It’s practically art.
Someone should alert Faux Noise!
Roger Rabbit,
You said
“LEOFF 2 is as good, if not better, than what other state, municipal, and higher ed employees get in WA.”
Would you be willing to tell that to the Widow of David Potter?
http://www.king5.com/video/new.....#038;shu=1
You also said,
“But let’s not forget that it is REPUBLICANS who consistently oppose expanding benefits for injured workers, and want legislation that would make it harder for workers to collect.”
How long has it been since there was a Republican Majority in the State of Washington that could actually make this change? I guess you already know that the person who introduced legislation to protect firefighters with an on-duty disability, was a Republican, this last session, right? The bill was killed in committee by….. wait for it…… The Dems.
Tell me, since our Pension is so comparable with other State Pensions, then an argument could be made that our job is comparable to other state jobs… right? If that is the case, why do we have Presumptive Diseases? Are Teachers and Highway workers just as likely as we are to develop Cancer, Cardiac conditions and have a greater chance of Stroke?
Hey YOS,
Have you tried to get rid of Middle Class Union jobs by continuing to push for volunteers lately? I finally figured out who you sound like, A Republican by the name of Chuck Hagel.
http://www.iaff.org/07News/031507ForumMedia.htm
Hey UF- the story says Washington law required that the firefighter be paid and the City and their insurance company opposed it. How do you blame that on the State?
DHMO HAS LONG BEEN USED AS A FIRE RETARDANT. NOW IT’S EVERYWHERE! IT’S PERNICIOUS.
IF THERE’S ONE THING THAT WINGNUTS CAN USE TO DEFLECT THE PUBLIC’S ATTENTION AWAY FROM THE GLOBAL WARMING CRISIS, DHMO IS IT.
I HOPE BUSH AND ROVE NEVER FIND OUT ABOUT THIS.
“A’hm prod to be an ‘Murkan an I suppert the troops. Ah just wun’t go an fite! Ah’m nut Krazy!!!” Toby Keith
REPUBLICAN FIREMAN,
I THINK YOU GOT ME MIXED UP WITH “FACTS SUPPORT MY POSITION”.
I SUPPORT UNIONS 100 PERCENT AND I THINK FACTS DOES AS WELL.
HAGEL? HE’S ONE OF YOURS ISN’T HE?
If someone states:
“McKay had assembled a team to investigate any evidence that surfaced, but has said there was none.”
you know they were serious. You can’t convince these wingnuts of anything.
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
HEY WINGNUTS,
YOUR CHIMP IS DOWN TO 26%.
Hey Yo
And your leaders madam pelosi, and her favorite pug and litter is like at 17%.
Must feel so good to know that!!!!
OOPS
Their confidence level is at 14%……
http://www.galluppoll.com/content/?ci=27946
…ratings of Congress have never been high, they were at the 40% level at the time of Watergate in the 1970s, and again in 1986.
The five institutions at the bottom of the list — each with confidence ratings below 20% — are the criminal justice system, organized labor, big business, HMOs, and Congress.
WOW (TYPICALNAZI) MUST WORK FOR AN HMO.
ratings of Congress have never been high, they were at the 40% level at the time of Watergate in the 1970s, and again in 1986.
Yeah, and congress has been in who’s hands historically…. hmmmmm— Thats rigth… The Donks. heheehehe
But what would you expect from a party who cant get a president in with over 50% of the popular vote. hehehe
DOOFUS AT 28
THE R’S HAD CONGRESS FOR THE LAST 12 YEARS. NEVER GOT CLOSE TO 40 PERCENT.
CLINTON’S APPROVAL WAS AROUND TRIPLE YOUR CHIMP’S WHEN YOUR BELOVED HOUSE REPUBLICANS TRIED TO IMPEACH HIM.
YOU’RE A LOSER DOOFUS. HOW’S WORKING AT AN HMO GOING FOR YOU?
OH DOOFUS.
BEEN TO THE ACVR WEBSITE LATELY?
TAKE A LOOK. http://WWW.AC4VR.COM.
YOU JUST CAN’T STOP LOSIN’ DOOFUS CAN YOU?
“City officials repeatedly warned Anderson that they didn’t keep the records required to make the sort of calculations Anderson wanted.”
Hmmm … this sounds kind of familiar. Stefan. Ballot reconciliations. But no records exist on which to base such reconciliations. Yep, sounds kind of familiar.
@13 Just what this blog needs — another wingnut posing as a Democrat. Why don’t wingnuts ever pose as Republicans? Is it because the GOP brand name is tarnished?
@17 Sorry, UF, I can’t view video feeds because I don’t have broadband down here in my rabbit hole and it takes too long to download them on POTS. I would simply ask you this:
What do widows of PERS2 or TRS2 members get that Widow Potter didn’t get?
@17 “How long has it been since there was a Republican Majority in the State of Washington that could actually make this change?”
It’s been only 2 years since we had a Republican majority in the Legislature that could block this change.
@17 (continued) I never said firefighters shouldn’t get preferential treatment. All I ever said was they aren’t traeted worse than other state employees. Which is true.
Doesn’t Mayor Bloomberg take the subway to work?
Roger,
“What do widows of PERS2 or TRS2 members get that Widow Potter didn’t get?”
Their husband. Mr. Potter was diagnosed with a highly treatable form of cancer. It has around an 80% survival rate, when treated appropriately and in time. The City, who is self-Insured, and L & I argued about who would treat him, and refused to pay for treatments. He died without even being treated for the cancer that was killing him.
The WSCFF and Firefighters around the State successfully changed the law, this year, that affected Mr. Potter. Now, if a firefighters comes down with a presumptive disease, the City must pay for treatment immediately, and if it’s found that L & I should be paying, then the City shall be reimbursed.
There is a burning thought that we are continuing to risk our lives, and when we get hurt, our Pension isn’t going to do jack for our family’s. LEOFF2 is the second worst Pension for firefighters in the US.
@37 “Their husband.”
This is the mother of all non-sequiters. Do you think firemen are the only workers who get occupational diseases? Why wouldn’t correctional officers or teachers have the same problems with their employers?
And that’s exactly what Potter’s case was — a problem with the employer. The existing law provided for him, but guess what, laws aren’t self-enforcing. That’s why governments, unions, and individuals hire lawyers (like, ahem, me).
“The WSCFF and Firefighters around the State successfully changed the law, this year,”
No they didn’t, the Legislature — a Democratic legislature — did. Unions can’t pass laws, only legislators can. Why wasn’t this law changed during the 12 years that Republicans controlled at least one house of the legislature (1994 – 2006)? But it got changed the very first year that Democrats controlled the Legislature, and was signed by a Democratic governor. Nuff said.
UF, your feeble attempts to portray Democrats as anti-worker and Republicans as the saviors of unionized workers are beyond lame; they’re dishonest and downright silly.
RR,
“Do you think firemen are the only workers who get occupational diseases? Why wouldn’t correctional officers or teachers have the same problems with their employers?”
What type of occupational diseases are teachers subject to? Correctional officers? Statically, firefighters have 10 years taken off of their life expectancy as a result of our job. We have a significantly higher rate of cardiac conditions, strokes and many forms of cancer.
“UF, your feeble attempts to portray Democrats as anti-worker and Republicans as the saviors of unionized workers are beyond lame; they’re dishonest and downright silly.”
I know exactly where my political party lies, with Unions. It seems that you, like many in the democratic party, are completely unaware of the challenges that face firefighters. You also seem to think that the Dems are the overall answer to every question, and that is simply untrue. Firefighters have a number of friends in the Republican party, and in recent years, we have begun distancing ourselves from only endorsing Dems. Why? Because many times democrats take our endorsement for granted. They come to us and talk about labor issues, but fail to recognize that labor issues are only about 35 to 40 percent of our problems. True, democrats are much better for labor, but in many cases, they have also gone against labor (Speaker Frank Chopp and the WalMART bill comes to mind).
“Why wasn’t this law changed during the 12 years that Republicans controlled at least one house of the legislature (1994 – 2006)”
I never said that Republicans haven’t screwed us over. I have only pointed out that democrats have, becuase you seem to believe that they have been wonderful to us. You seem to think that LEOFF 2 is a decent Pension system and you also seem to think that the Dems are always 100% pro-labor. Tell you what Roger, go you your local Firehouse, and ask them what they think of Rep. Helen Summers and our LEOFF 2 pension. Ask them if they are afraid of getting hurt on the job, and losing all financial support and medical coverage. Because we are. Plain and Simple.
14 Someone at Microsoft has really slipped a cog if they think Gonzo shilling for them is going to do them any good.
So, lemme get this straight….the wingnuts are claiming that whatever our leaders tell us we should be doing is invalid if they’re not doing it themselves.
So please, explain to me again why we’re fighting this fucking war.