The Seattle-based Washington Policy Center planted an anti-light rail article in The Columbian this morning under the headline “Local Views.”
So um, welcome to Clark County, Seattle. It was awesome when the Discovery Institute (of Seattle ) went around spreading its right wing baloney in my home state of Kansas, although the good and just people of that state have come to their senses and rejected their nonsense. Still, I kind of feel like I’m being stalked by right wing Seattle think tanks, which is kind of weird given how progressive Seattle is supposed to be.
You figure the Washington Policy Center is coming into Clark County not just to mess with us, but to mess with you? If I were them I would screw with the relatively modest Columbia River Crossing transit portion in hopes of derailing (pun intended) further light rail hopes in the Puget Sound region. Because what you may not hear up there is that the probable CRC proposal for light rail involves extending the line only about three miles, from the Portland Expo Center to Clark College.
I’m sure studies by right-wing think tanks conceived by talk radio hosts and funded by Republican millionaires are quite objective.
What’s interesting is that there will likely be a vote at some point regarding whether the Clark County transit agency, C-TRAN, will be funded to provide operating expenses for the light rail line. So while it’s entirely predictable that the conservative noise machine has sprung into action, what I’m wondering is whether our side has the capability to respond?
Because we’re all in this together now.
Yeah now Seattle libs can teach others how to become number one in congestion…WhooHooo.
“So um, welcome to Clark County, Seattle.”
And…um, welcome to HA, John!
As former socialist Rupert Murdoch discovered, there’s a lot of money to be made gulling the rubes.
A lot of conservatives are just bitter liberals.
@ 2–Thanks Darryl. Should be interesting, in terms of spew if nothing else. :-)
I don’t know anything about light rail in Clark County. It may be very workable there. Light rail’s problems in Seattle are unique to Seattle; the main problem with light rail in Seattle being its average cost of $179 million a mile (and up to $500 million a mile in places) versus a U.S. average of $35 million a mile. If Clark County’s light rail is close to the average cost it may be a very good deal for that community — even if it takes a modest sales tax increase to make it happen. But then, Clark County residents don’t pay any sales tax, anyway.
@5
Rog, Clark County on the Washington side of the Columbia, they pay sales tax.
Plugging into a mature, proven light-rail network makes hella good sense.
John,
When push comes to shove Seattle isn’t all that liberal.
Sorry to change the subject but I STRONGLY recommend that any HA-er with a conscience and love for this country go to SJ or YouTube to see thew debate between Carviulle and Richardson on the Larry King show.
It has been over thirty years since I was trainbed to diagnose paranoid schizophrenia and Carvill did not quite meet what I was taught, but he came close. His bizar behavior, total flat affect, impenetrable anger are worrisome symptoms. I wonder whether he and possible his boss are not on the edge of something truly terrible.
One last point …
if Carville does represent what is going on in Hillary’s mind, she is simply not fit to govern the USA.
5 But then, Clark County residents don’t pay any sales tax, anyway.
Or cigarette taxes, booze taxes, and many others.
RR @ 5: “But then, Clark County residents don’t pay any sales tax, anyway” ummmm shocked you wrote that!
http://dor.wa.gov/Docs/forms/E.....rterly.pdf
I think Roger is implying that they go into Oregon to make purchases. Hasn’t anyone ever actually BEEN to Vancouver WA?
Clark County folks pay plenty of Sales, Liquor, and Cigarette taxes. If you purchase on the internet, they get you for “Use” tax anyway, and believe me, the state revenue auditors focus on Clark County small business like a laser beam.
We also get doubly taxed by having to pay both Oregon income tax and Washington State B & O tax, so no, the tax picture down here is not some magical fairy land for the tax adverse.
The ignorance on display here in the comments thread is truly astounding.
@10
Yeah, I would have come up with that if I were posting AFTER my morning coffee.
Good call.
Mike Ennis should stick to cow tipping in Enumclaw.
Keep in mind: Ennis came to WPC from Dino Rossi’s 2004 campaign team.
He was Dino’s transportation advisor. And given the resounding rejection of Dino’s juvenile transportation ‘plan’ last week, Ennis likely played a major role in crafting it.
Also, when WPC started its transportation policy wing, I remember reading Kemper Freeman was a major funder. Ennis remains a mouthpiece for Kemper, repeating the same old empty claims and theories which have driven Bellevue’s favorite mall / parking garage developer’s multi-decade obsession with killing off public transit.
One last fun fact about Ennis/Kemper: when Metro proposed a modest 1 tenth sales tax increase in 2006 for Transit Now, there were only a few lone voices of opposition. And they came from the Kemper/WPC camp.
In typical fashion, both Ennis and Kemper currently hold up Transit Now as the example the region should follow, instead of light rail.
Talk about disenguous. Typical right wing strategy – based on politics instead of policy.
Ennis has a rebuttal to your HA thread, John over at their site:
http://washingtonpolicyblog.ty.....facts.html
Ah, the Columbian. Gotta love those “local views”, like all those business section column-editorials written by Don Brunell, president of the Association of Washington Business – under the heading “Washington View” no less, because that must be how the whole state feels, right? Pure slant.
Actually WPC will feel right at home in Clark County home of the wackiest collection of conservative nuts north of Orange County. Consider for a moment the following prominent Clark County Republicans: Cliff Pluard, republican office holder and convicted baby rapist, Joe Zarelli, coke head embezzling state legislator caught collecting unemployment while the legislature was in session, Jim Dunn, state legislator reprimanded by his own party for sexually harassing female employess, Richard Curtis, cross dressing state legislaor caught trolling for male whores in Spokane, Don Benton, state legislator removed as Party Chairman by his collegues and the biggest nut of them all, Linda Smith, Congresswoman and confidant of God.
As a Clark Co. resident, I really like the idea of light rail being extended up here from Portland. Many people commute there to work, and LR would definitely be used. The Max line in Portland sure is.
And yes, we have plenty of wingnuts here too. Normal conservatives don’t bother me, but there aren’t many.
@7 Comedian Dennis Miller speaking about
James Carville said “He has more nervous tics
than the valet driver at the Baghdad Hilton.”
@6 “Rog, Clark County on the Washington side of the Columbia, they pay sales tax.”
They do? Then why are all the malls on the Oregon side of the river? Huh? And why do they need another bridge to get to those malls? Why would anyone pay Washington’s sales tax when they can drive 5 miles and pay no sales tax?