Gregoire pleads for road taxes
OLYMPIA – Gov. Chris Gregoire, disagreeing with fellow Democrat Ron Sims, said Monday that public safety and the Puget Sound economy could take a big hit if the region’s voters don’t approve a tax package for transit and highways.
She raised the image of the Aug. 1 interstate bridge collapse in Minneapolis and said “Mother Nature lurks behind us,” waiting to bring bridges crashing down here if the region doesn’t quickly deal with its crumbling infrastructure.
In November, voters in King, Pierce and Snohomish counties will decide the fate of an $18 billion package of road and transit projects.
For taxpayers in the region, that would mean a sales tax hike of six-tenths of a cent, about $150 a year for the average household, and an annual tax on vehicles of $8 per $1,000 of value.
The measure is badly needed for public safety, quality of life and vitality of the economy, the governor told a news conference.
Sims, the King County executive and a longtime transit leader, stunned his colleagues by coming out against the plan last week, shifting from neutrality. He said the projects would worsen greenhouse emissions in the region and wouldn’t serve enough people to justify the cost.
“While containing some good projects, this plan doesn’t solve traffic congestion in the short term, nor does it provide enough long-term relief to justify the financial and environmental costs,” Sims wrote in an op-ed piece for the Seattle Times.
Other government leaders, including the executives of Pierce and Snohomish counties, are still on board.
On Monday, the governor portrayed herself as blindsided by Sims. She said Sims had personally promised to stay neutral.
“He told me all along that he wasn’t going to do what he did, so I had no reason to talk with him,” Gregoire said when asked if she had tried to dissuade Sims. “I was surprised by what he did.”
At one point she said “I love Ron,” but she also expressed exasperation. They’ve been uneasy allies on a number of issues, but apparently there is bad blood from the 2004 Democratic gubernatorial primary, in which Sims’ backers accused Gregoire of belonging to an exclusionary sorority when she was in college. Gregoire defeated Sims handily, but barely won that November, with party division one explanation.
Gregoire said the big transportation package may not be perfect, but added “we have to move forward.”
If Sims is really worried about global warming, try dealing with more than 1 million new Puget Sound residents without an efficient transit and road system, she said.
“We’ve got to do something. I encourage those who can vote on it to vote yes, and I’m standing right beside them.”
Gregoire is an Olympia resident, outside the tri-county area voting on Proposition 1.
Sims did not immediately return a call for comment.
The tax package would finance about $7 billion in area roads and bridges, including part of the cost of replacing the State Highway 520 floating bridge across Lake Washington, and about $11 billion for light rail and mass transit.
Gregoire, asked about a projected $1.3 billion shortfall for the 520 bridge project, said if the tax package is defeated, “You can guarantee we’re not moving forward. We can’t move forward without RTID (the Regional Transportation Investment District that devised the plan for roads and bridges). I mean, it’s that basic.”
Gregoire said the bridge tragedy in Minnesota could easily happen here “while we sit and we ponder and we debate.” If that happens, all of the wrangling will evaporate, but at a huge cost, she said.