Seattle Times Constantine Endorsement

The Oct 19^th Seattle Times editorial deriding my candidacy for King County Executive is no surprise.   They've never accepted the fact that it and all my other candidacies (they neglected to mention I also ran for governor and received nearly 50,000 votes) have never been about winning but to use the “Voters’ Pamphlets” to publicize the debacle awaiting the area from Sound Transit’s light rail extensions.  

It was no surprise as they neglected to even interview me. Since my first campaign in 2012 they’ve never been interested in my concerns that Sound Transit’s confiscation of the I-90 Bridge center roadway for East Link will inevitably result in gridlock on the bridge outer roadways.   They also neglected to mention my opposition is not only to East link, but to all of Sound Transit’s ST3 “light rail spine” extensions. 

That spending most of the $54 billion on a light rail spine routed through the Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel (DSTT) will do absolutely nothing to increase transit capacity into Seattle.  That the "spines" limited capacity means riders attracted by the billions spent extending light rail beyond Northgate and Angel Lake on I-5 corridor and across I-90 Bridge will fill trains, ending access for current Central Link riders.   That the increased operating costs with the longer routes without increased capacity is a sure recipe for a financial “black hole” to cover the shortfall between costs and fare-box revenue.   

The Times editorial "misled" when they claimed they did not support ST3 “after the proposal mushroomed from $16 billion, as it was billed in the legislature”.   Their only objections to ST3 funding in an Oct 28^th, 2016 editorial, “No on ST3 and Permanent Tax Authority,” was over concern it would allow Sound Transit to extend taxes some 25 or 30 years from now. 

They were, however, less supportive of Constantine in the below excerpts from a 4/03/16 editorial “Questions on Transit Need Clear Answers”.

Constantine exaggerated, using Sound Transit numbers to present a best-case scenario for rail while grossly undercounting freeway capacity. That may rally transit supporters, but it doesn’t help the rest of us trying to get our heads around the staggering investment the third phase of Sound Transit could require.

Public officials cannot prematurely dismiss questions about whether there are better ways for the region to spend $50 billion than the slate of trains, buses and stations in Sound Transit 3 (ST3). 

That editorial concluded with the following:

The point is voters need their representatives to provide clear, objective explanations of ST3’s pros and cons, not cheerleading.  Costs and benefits of rail versus buses is one of several topics that must be clarified.

Apparently all those concerns have been forgotten since the Times endorsed Dow Constantine despite his and Sound Transit's failure to ever respond.   (Constantine "declined" opportunities to debate the issues directly)

Instead the Times, if not actively “supporting”, is quietly “acquiescing” to Constantine’s Sound Transit policies.   For example they’ve done nothing to expose how Sound Transit used their own ST3Tax website to mislead voters about what car tabs would cost and then eliminated the website and denied ever "misleading" voters; essentially “lying about lying”.  

That  all of the Sound Transit "Prop 1 and beyond" light rail extensions ignored Revised Code of Washington requirements high capacity transit (HCT) planning consider lower cost options.  That even a cursory audit of the costs and benefits of the extensions would fail any rational cost benefit analysis.  For example they're spending billions constructing East Link, disrupting those who live or commute along the route into Bellevue for years, and inevitably leading to gridlock on I-90 Bridge outer roadways for light rail with less capacity than 50 buses an hour.  That East Link will halve Central Link capacity available for future south end riders.

The bottom line is sooner or later the entire area will recognize the reality of Constantine's ST3 debacle.  My candidacies have never been about winning but to warn residents about what’s coming and that it didn’t have to happen.   The Seattle Times editorial deriding my candidacy and ignoring their earlier ST3 “concerns” continues their "aiding and abetting" the Constantine debacle.