A cautionary tale: Inslee's threat to jack up the gas tax unilaterally is empty.

As I watch the gas tax train wreck, I've been wondering about a few of the details.  So, let me tell you a story.

There once was a governor and a political party who desperately wanted a huge gas tax jack.

Never mind that the State of Nod had already spent billions more on transportation (Although much of that was wasted on loot rail) then the next nearest state.

SPOKALOO — The State of Nod saw the largest percentage increase of total highway spending in the nation in recent years, but lawmakers are still considering a $15 billion tax increase plan for road improvement projects.

Total highway spending in Nod rose 183.6 percent in the period from 2003-2013, up $4.2 billion. It was the sharpest increase among the states, and well above the national average of a 43.5 percent increase, according to figures reviewed by The Associated Press.

So, we have a governor and a political party, the "Mussentouchit" Party, who have been miserable failures for the past several years.  The unions are demanding that the taxpayers be raped, and since they own the Mussentouchit Party like the 13th Amendment was the 13th Suggestion, they had to come up with a plan.

Because of their incompetence and non-responsiveness to the voters, the M's lost the Senate and are in danger of losing the House.

Clearly, no transportation package is needed, (For example, the biggest project in there is, as I understand it, replacement of an intersection at I-005 and Mill Airplane, that doesn't need to be replaced as a part of a bridge project that doesn't need to happen.) but it certainly is WANTED.

It's wanted because they need to restore the union funds for the upcoming elections, where the unions who own the M's will support only their fellow pro-unionist fiscal rapers.

So, the governor and his fellow M's were sitting around one day, wondering how they could manipulate the GUPPIES into doing what they wanted and jamming a fiscal knife into everyone's wallet... again.

"I know," Said Governor Outslee.  "I'll pull an Obamanik and threaten to do something I can't do, mainly to jack up a tax or fee in the name of reducing carbon emissions, (which I know I can't do) and that way, I can provide the GUPPIES with cover so they'll do what I want!  We'll scam billions from the people for projects they don't want or need, the unions will be rich, and no one will ever be the wiser!"

"I can get the GUPPIES to do what I want merely because of the threat which even *I* know I can't do, and no one will be any the wiser!  I can even get other M's to whine and snivel about it by doing bogus op-eds, following the pattern of the Supreme Court scam on McBeery! "

So, Outslee started making noises like he was going to jack up the gas price... on his own.  Nonsense, of course.  But following that Nazi dictate, they told the story over... and over.... and over again.  Soon, people came to allow themselves to believe it!

"Oh, my!  Whatever are we going to do?' yelled the GUPPIES.  "I know, we'll HELP the M's rape our constituent's wallets, we'll add additional billions to the scam and blame the Governor while we use it as an excuse for whacking them $15 billion!"

"And just to double down, we'll do what the M's usually do; keep a referendum clause off of it and put an emergency clause on it so the people will have no say!  Brilliant!"

That is not, as you may have guessed, what the GUPPIES were elected to do.

But first, the Captain Governor had to clear the path.  The GUPPIES had fooled everyone by putting up a worthless scam rule to lull the people into a false sense of security that said no tax could be jacked without a 2/3rd's vote.

Realizing they didn't HAVE a 2/3rd's vote, they had the Captain Governor break the rules by claiming that rule was "unconstitutional" and then, throwing it out!

Now, any time the Captain Governor makes a decision like that, the members of the Senate, of which the GUPPIES were the majority, could challenge the ruling of the Captain Governor and vote to find out if that was OK or not:

 Point of Order - Decision Appealable 

Rule 32. 

Every decision of points of order by the president shall be subject to appeal by any senator, and discussion of a question of order shall be allowed. In all cases of appeal the question shall be: "Shall the decision of the president stand as the judgment of the senate?"

But the GUPPIES WANT this scam as well, because the contractors give the GUPPIES a LOT of money... so who cares what the people... the taxpayers... the voters want?

So, no one appealed the Captain Governor's decision and the 2/3rd's rule went away.  It didn't matter that the Captain Governor couldn't do that:

Adoption and Suspension of Rules

Rule 35.

1. The permanent senate rules adopted at the first regular session during a legislative biennium shall govern any session subsequently convened during the same legislative biennium. Adoption of permanent rules may be by majority of the senate without notice and a majority of the senate may change a permanent rule without notice at the beginning of any session, as determined pursuant to Article 2, Section 12 of the State Constitution. No permanent rule or order of the senate shall be rescinded or changed without a majority vote of the members, and one day's notice of the motion.

But because no one appealed the Captain Governor's decision, no vote was held and the skids were greased to pass this rip off out of the Senate!  (The Captain Governor did the exact seem thing about guns in the Senate Gallary earlier this session and no one did squat about it.)

Many of the people of the state of Nod were VERY upset over these events.  But not enough of the GUPPIES gave a damn to do anything about it, and now we're likely screwed.

Meanwhile, the people... who, after all, are SUPPOSED to be being represented here.... wander around in a fog wondering how... and why.... this happened.

The end.