Winners and losers in the ballpark scam.

WINNER:  Tom Mielke... and Marc Boldt, who finally jammed a shiv into the heart of this ripoff.

Mielke was always, rightfully, opposed to this scam, where those attending the games would only pay for 5% of the stadium while the hundreds of thousands of the rest of us actually had to pay for it.  The people of this county did NOT support this crap pile... and Mielke... and Boldt, who are both up for re-election next year, knew it.

LOSER:  Steve "The Liar" Stuart,  Tim "The Liar" Leave-it, 

The electeds wasted a lot of political capital on this and have nothing to show for it but black eyes.  The back room, hidden effort at first, making this deal and second, ramming it down our throats, while typical of the left, is not an acceptable process or effort.

This thing HAD a chance... but ONLY a chance... and that was by holding a county-wide vote.  That these slime never even raised that issue shows they knew, in advance, what the outcome would be.  And they suffered for it as a result.

WINNER:  The people of Clark County.

There is NO WAY this was somehow a "good deal" for the people of this county.  The very idea that the morons actually going TO the ballpark would only have to pay for 5% is idiocy wrapped in stupidity.  But that's what those scamming this issue wanted us to believe.  They wanted.... what they wanted... and all without THEM paying for it.

LOSER:  Arch Miller, Identity Vancouver, CRUDEC, The Vancouver Chamber of Horrors and the downtown Mafia.

These people POUNDED Boldt to get him to turn.  Efforts included a COMPLETELY bogus financial forecast by CRUDEC, paid for by the Yakima Millionaires, that concluded ABSURD amounts of money would come in as a result, an amount in excess of #200 million over ten years....  And stunningly, he held on in the face of this stark display of power and, in the end, they wound up pounding sand.

It's time for Arch to go away, now, since no one listens to him any more.

LOSER:  Clark College and Bob Knight.

Too cute by half, Knight was doing his damnedest to scam a ballpark that HIS people wouldn't have to pay to use, while HE made the rest of US pay for it.  In effect, he was trying to bypass the capital budget process to get his facility, knowing that he will rot now before that can possibly happen, given how low down the totem pole any priority is given to building a ballpark.when our tuition is exploding and we need classroom space so much more.

LOSER:  Mike "strike out king" Bomar.

An ex-jock, Bomar had political aspirations that died an untimely death because of his moronically classic tin-ear.  Why this guy was given such a high profile on this idiocy remains a mystery, except he's butt-buddies with Steve "The Liar" Stuart, and that got him access.  Now, he gets to eat it, and it's gonna be around forever... or at least until I die.

LOSER:  The Democratian, Lou "Screwin' you" Brancaccio, "John "Pit Yorkie" Laird,

The newspaper slime were only in it for what they could get out of it.  They never volunteered to pay any tax for this, even though they would have made bank off the coverage and ad revenue.  They never question the concept of failing to allow us to vote on this issue, mirroring the CRC scam they support so loudly.

LOSER:  Greg "3 Straight Pitches" Owen, Eric "Ground Out" Sawyer

These two spent the most time blowing smoke over this scam, thought if they had any connection to the program, save a strong desire to screw the rest of this community to get what they want while we pay for it.

And the biggest LOSER of them all?

The Yakima Millionaires.

These clowns were measuring the drapes they were so sure they had us nailed down.  And now?  Well, let's just say... it sucks to be them.

Marc Boldt is to be congratulated.  He withstood TREMENDOUS pressure to stick to the conservative principles he ran on.

And while the heads exploded all over the room and all over downtown, my response to that is this:

Tough s**t.  You had a lot more say then most of us, and you STILL blew it.

Next time you get a moronic idea like this, put it to a vote of ALL of us.  Otherwise?

STFU.