As the final act of our local production of Hamlet ("To be, or not to be.... that is the question.") winds down past the death throes stage, it's never too soon to begin what we in the business refer to as the "post-mortem," or for lack of a better term, "autopsy" into why and how this project actually died such a horrific, long, agonizing death.
There is, as I see it, a list of two sets of players involved: Those who stand to gain the accolades for actually administering the coup de grâce and those who stand to be burned at the stake, so to speak, for attacking and wasting the people's time, efforts and treasure on such an obvious loser as this.
Those who stand to gain the most locally are the senators representing at least parts of Clark County, including Senators Curtis King (R-15), Ann "Bridge Killer" Rivers (R-18), Don Benton (R-17) and Rep. Liz Pike (R-18) as well as Clark County Commissioners David Madore and Tom Mielke, .
Other players who gain a share of the Golden Crown include Brent Boger, Caryn Plinski, Jennifer McDaniel, Dave Shoemaker, Connie Jo Freeman, all of the Washougal City Council; Benjamin Fredericks John Burke, Darwin Rounds, Marilee McCall, all of the Woodland City Council; the mayor and city council of Amboy who, as I understand it, unanimously voted against this project.
Others not elected include those most despised by the Pro-CRC crowd: Forensic Accountant Tiffany Couch, who's investigations have revealed the incompetence and corruption that has plagued this effort from the start; Lew Waters, Larry Patella, Carolyn Crain, Joe Cortright, Sharon Nasset and many others I simply can't recall who have worked so hard to educate and fight back against the horrific attacks and pressures placed on those like us who abhorred this colossal waste of money and who have demanded a voice... a voice ignored by CRC policy... in the make up of this project and it's final outcome.
Not least in this effort has been the Willamette Week, who has run several articles exposing the greed, corruption and outright incompetence in this project, typically while our own democratian has remained silent.
On this issue, the Willamette Week has actually engaged in something akin to "journalism" while the democratian has engaged in something more akin to Pravda Izvestia or Völkischer Beobachter.
Those facing political career execution include the Quisling of the group, Tim "The Liar" Leave-it who will could well be defeated in his re-election bid, Steve Stuart who also will also lose convincingly, just not until he's up in '14; former mayor Royce "no choice" Pollard who's bizarre demands and efforts to silence the opposition stand as THE blueprint of how NOT to sell a project of this magnitude; the entirety of the Vancouver City Clowncil save for Council members Stewart and Turley; Paul Greenlee and Joyce Lindsay; Bill Ganley, Alex Reinhold, Phillip Johnson and permanent union hack Al Swindle.
Worthy of her own mention is that cardboard cutout of a congresswoman "our own" Jaime Herrera, a huge CRC bridge/loot rail and toll supporter who did absolutely nothing to stop this monstrosity from getting built.
She had time to waste on unimportant stuff like her Pearson Museum scam. But no time for the tens of thousands who would be injured by her inaction on the CRC.
Her inability to act, combined with her reeking cowardice on so many levels make me want David Madore to run against that idiot and take her out SOOOO bad...
Those who will suffer for their efforts to hurt this community directly include faux candidate Mike Briggs, Nazi-like CRC Scammer Paul Montigue, Kelly Parker, Nancy Boyd and every CRC Scammer in Identity Vancouver; The Vancouver Chamber of Horrors, CRUDEC and the rest of the Downtown Mafia who seem to believe that the people of this community exist for them instead of the other way around.
Lou Brancaccio, John "Pit Yorkie" Laird and Stephanie Rice... they should all be fired for their lies, exaggerations and attacks on opponents which have done more to wreck the democratian that any other combination of causes.
When you oppose something on their agenda, and they beat the hell out of you for it, why on earth would anyone situated like that want to spend one thin dime on the rag?
When you have been offending the majority of people in this community for the better part of the decade as your subscription base shrinks to nothingness, why can't you get a clue?
Not noted on this list are some who SHOULD suffer... but who likely will not.
The elected representatives of the 49th District could have video surface showing them molesting boy scout and girl scout troops, respectively, and the sheep of that district would still vote for them. They are living proof that ignorance in all of it's forms truly is bliss.
Those, for good or ill, are the ones both most responsible for defeating this reprehensible garbage and for dragging it to this point.
How do we avoid this in the future?
First of all, no matter how badly those in authority want something, they should never lie to get it, or use a liar to sell it.
Tim "The Liar" Leave-it along with Jim "Molehill" Moeller are the two worst people imaginable to champion this rip off.
Two proven liars out front on this scam, one in the pocket of his boss, a CRC contractor and the other in the pocket of the unions who own him like the 13th Amendment is the 13th Suggestion?
Please.
Second: don't lie as a policy.
We all now know that the entire basis for this scam was to get light rail into Clark County. Every other reason was smoke and mirrors and lies. Safety, earthquakes, congestion... none of it justified any of this garbage in the face of the Oregon Supreme Court decision that laid it all out there: it was all about light rail and light rail alone.
Everything else was eyewash.
Third: don't think people are stupid.
This thing has hung from the tree long enough to rot down to the bones. Don't pee on our legs and try and convince us it's raining.
No one walking upright would dispute the idea that we need additional capacity to get across the river, given the explosive growth of the population here locally in particular and the West Coast generally.
But that "increase" has to BE an "increase." Spending billions and indebting us for 40 years to gain one minute in the commute is sheer, unadulterated idiocy. Tearing down a bridge claiming, falsely, that it's "old and unsafe" when everyone knows that the ONLY reason the CRC Scammers wanted to replace it was to get the fungus of TriMet over the river is yet another in the series of indications that the Scammers just thought we are stupid.
Here's a clue: if anyone suffers from a lack of intelligence, it's those who now look like blithering idiots for making this criminal attempt to ram this crap pile down our throats.
Grass roots, when properly motivated (And the chief motivator has been the combination of CRC Scammer lies and rank arrogance) can beat you every time.
Federal officials like LaHood have zero throw weight around here: THEY are not going to have to pay tolls for this garbage for the next 40 years. We would.
Morons like Inslee and Murray? No one cares in the face of the facts, what lies they repeat.
Fourth, it doesn't matter what Oregon will or won't do.
The only reasonable actions here are to build a third bridge to the west of I-5 and a 4th bridge to the east of I-205. Those are the only options.
It's idiotic to push a bad hand when everyone else has both better cards and an intimate knowledge of what you're trying to hide.
If Oregon refuses, that's fine. But Oregon's refusal to do the right thing does not magically turn the wrong thing, the CRC Scam, into the right thing.
We have to do the RIGHT thing, or we do NO thing. Claiming the CRC Scam is "the best we can do" because Oregon won't do anything else is a non-starter.
Fifth, GET THE SUPPORT OF THE PEOPLE.
Seriously.
Put whatever a project like this is going to be up for a vote.
One of the biggest problems here was the CRC Scammers kept insisting that they didn't need a vote, which was in keeping with their policy of not listening to us... And I mean POLICY.
Imagine where this project would be right now, today, if the Scammers had held a vote and had won.
The Scammers bleating that we should abrogate our state constitutional rights by leaving all of the authority in the hands of the elected and appointed Scammers on the various committees bent on screwing us really justify nothing.
If you think this or any other project is so great, then get the people of this community to sign off on it.
Because if nothing else, you have now learned the awful price of what happens when you not only fail to take this step, but exhibit the Nazi-like arrogance that those on the CRC have exhibited from the beginning, which has galvanized opposition and led to this... along with the complete waste of $170 million.
As we close this chapter and bury this project and hopefully the scum who worked so hard to rape us over it, we now ask: did we get anything in return for the waste of tens of millions of dollars?
If those in charge learn from their mistakes and grow from them, then I would say: yes. It was a lot of money that lined the pockets of the special interest scum: if we break away from them and learn to ignore them, then debacles like this can be avoided in the future.
If not, then every dime will have been just another monumental waste that divided this community for no good reason, and that will likely increase the chances of similar massive waste projects in the future.
But to those who tried to scam us, I urge you all to view this as a cautionary tale. And as your political bodies litter the landscape, think about what might have been if you had only stopped to realize that your first and primary duty is to the people, and not the masters you answered to while you tried to dump us for their filthy lucre.
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