Public Periscope
Whom are you calling pig?
Those budget watchdogs at Citizens Against Government Waste are outraged once again at spending at Fairchild Air Force Base, calling it a four-letter word sometimes used to describe a porcine farm animal. … In its “1998 Congressional Pig Book Summary,” the group sends a bipartisan brickbat to Washington Sens. Slade Gorton and Patty Murray for adding $12.9 million to the Pentagon budget for a new education center and library and remodeled fire station at the West Plains base. They’re also indignant about the $9.5 million Rep. George Nethercutt found for upgrades to the KC-135 flight line facilities. … All three are pork, the group says, because they weren’t in President Clinton’s original budget. What the group fails to note is that the projects were not pulled out of thin air; they simply were moved forward a few years from the Pentagon’s master list of construction projects.
All this brings to mind the axiom of Nethercutt’s predecessor, former House Speaker Tom Foley: “One person’s pork barrel project is another person’s wise investment in the local infrastructure.”
Quid pro quo
During a recent hearing on the River Park Square redevelopment project, South Hill resident Karen Robideaux thanked the Spokane City Council for taking time to listen on the gloriously sunny spring day. … Shortly afterward, she began taking Mayor John Talbott to task for speaking out against the project. “You do not have this community’s best interest at heart,” Robideaux said. After thanking her for her testimony, Talbott added his own parting shot: “And thank you for reminding me how nice it is outside.”
Ouch!
Land use attorney Jim Craven took a pointed jab at the city’s legal staff during a recent council briefing session. The council was discussing what to do with a South Side neighborhood group’s appeal of a shopping center after the group had missed a filing deadline. … Council members mistook Craven, who was seated in the audience, for the neighborhood group’s attorney and asked him to explain the mistake. When they realized he worked for the other side, they asked him to sit back down. Craven kiddingly protested: “I’ll give you the straight scoop. You might find it refreshing.”
Steamy asphalt daydreams
Spokane City Councilwoman Phyllis Holmes let slip an interesting bit of personal information during a discussion about paying for road maintenance. “I spend hours fantasizing about asphalt,” Holmes said as her colleagues broke up laughing. … “Let me feel your forehead, honey,” said Councilwoman Roberta Greene.
You have till midnight
This is the last day to get those studded snow tires off your car or truck. The deadline was extended a week because of snow forecast for the passes, but the state Department of Transportation says that’s all. … Get caught with them starting Tuesday and you face a $66 fine.
Soon we’ll be talking real money
Got to love the folks at the State Finance Committee, who met last week to approve some state bond sales. One resolution listed in the agenda explained it would issue bonds worth $2,293,310,000 “more or less.” … As taxpayers, we hope it’s decidedly less.
It flows into the Strait of Juan Gonzalez
We’re aware that KXLY’s Bud Nameck is a sports guy. And there’s no escaping the fact that the Denver Broncos are the world champions. … But Periscope thought it good to note that Congress is debating the merits of removing dams from the Olympic Peninsula’s Elwha River, not the Elway River, as Nameck reported on the radio last Tuesday.