As readers know I am opposed to the gas tax increase...

As readers know, I am opposed to the current iteration of the gas tax increase, rammed down our throat by an eager Legislature.

There are a variety of reasons for that opposition, including the primary fact that only 44% of the gas tax will ever be put into concrete.

But in addition, the fine folks at WADOT have made $60 million worth of my nickels Disappear.

The Transportation Department suffered a particularly painful blow last year when it abandoned a dry-dock project in Port Angeles after sinking $60 million into its development.

The state launched the waterfront project in August 2003, intending to build a facility to construct pontoons and anchors needed to repair the east half of the Hood Canal Bridge.

Within weeks of breaking ground, state contractors began unearthing the Indian village of Tse-whit-zen, portions of which date back 2,700 years. Test holes dug before work began had apparently found no evidence of the village. The state finally walked away from the site after uncovering 335 intact skeletons and more than 10,000 artifacts. MacDonald said he knows the Port Angeles project gave his agency a black eye.

(Gee... ya think?)

Mark Hallenbeck, director of the Washington State Transportation Center at the University of Washington, said there is the belief around the state that taxpayer money disappears and there's
nothing to show for it.

'It's the nature of when you give your money blindly to someone else and hope it's spent well,' he said."

So... 1.2 billion nickels have vaporized.

Who's been held accountable for that waste? Who's been fired?
That is just the latest in a series of WADOT debacles where no one has been held accountable.

A few years back, over 300,000 renewal notices were sent out twice.

Who was held accountable for that waste? Who was fired?

And on and on.

So now, we're told we entrust additional billions of nickels to clowns who managed to vaporize the first billion?

Until those who wasted my 1.2 billion nickels find a way to return them from somewhere BESIDES taxes, I'm opposed to the gas tax increase. Until those responsible are fired, I'm opposed to the gas tax increase. Until the money ALL goes into roads and congestion relief, I'm opposed to the gas tax increase.

These are relatively straightforward objections that the Legislature has refused to address. At the end of the day, since they're refusing to address MY concerns, I'm going to refuse to address THEIRS.


Sunday, October 2, 2005 - Page updated at 12:00 AM
How the state spent our gas taxes
By Susan Gilmore
Seattle Times staff reporter

In her decade in the Legislature, Rep. Joyce Mulliken, R-Ephrata, had never voted for a tax increase.

She rejected increasing taxes on alcohol this year. She said no to the tax that raised cigarettes 60 cents a pack. She voted against the 2003 nickel-a-gallon gas tax that raised $4.1 billion for transportation.

But last spring she did an extraordinary thing: She said yes when asked to raise the gas tax another 9.5 cents for roads throughout the state.

"This is the first time I've voted for any tax increase of any nature since 1994, when I first took office," Mulliken said. "But transportation taxes are user fees. I've had the business community thanking me for my position, and it's never easy for an elected official to go home and say she voted for a tax increase when I had a solid record of no new taxes."

What persuaded her, Mulliken said, was the state's performance with the money raised from the nickel tax that lawmakers approved two years ago, despite her opposition. It paid for a westbound truck lane on Interstate 90 in her district, and the project came in $300,000 under budget and 30 days ahead of schedule.

More...