Parallels between the gas tax scam and the CRC scam.

The CRC rip off was/is arguably THE most divisive issue confronting the people of Clark County since, perhaps, Reconstruction.

We remember the rhetoric, don't we?

It wasn't that long ago. The scum running the CTran Board were essentially the same scum who spent so much time bending us over to get light rail into Clark County... and they don't give a damn about the law or what we think, either.  Can you say "BRT?"

We remember the efforts of the democrats to silence the opposition... to silence us.

And now.... now we have a HUGE bump in the gas tax to make it the second highest in the United States.

$15 BILLION in the package.  A permanent tax increase.... to go along with all of our other tax increases.  Not that there's a cumulative effect or anything.... oh, no.

And how much does little old Clark County get out of that trough?

Numbers vary, but it's somewhere between $160 and $200 million.

Out of FIFTEEN BILLION DOLLARS.

Do the math.  It's around 1.3% of the whole package.

WOW!  Did Clark County SCORE or WHAT????

Can you even begin to imagine what the reaction in say, King County, would be if THEY only got 1.3% of this package?

And, like the democrats behind the CRC Scam, the GOP Senate took the necessary steps to make it practically impossible to put this to a vote of the people.  The GOP Senate REFUSED to put a referendum clause on this insanity.

You know... the poor schleps paying the bills?

And then to double-down on their stupidity, they added an emergency clause to this crap pile.

You know...; E M E R G E N C Y?

Because LIVES are at stake if the allegedly Republican Senate doesn't do their damnedest to keep us silent on this... right?

An emergency clause states that a bill is exempt from repeal by referendum because the bill is, “necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health or safety, support of the state government and its existing public institutions.” The use of the emergency clause allows bills to take effect immediately once signed by the governor. 

The purpose of the emergency clause is to allow state government to respond quickly to true public emergencies, like a large-scale natural disaster or wide-spread epidemic disease. Yet over the years lawmakers have routinely abused the exemption by attaching emergency clauses to 954 bills since 1997, including 23 bills during the 2012 legislative session.

NONE of this is an "Emergency."  In fact, it begs the question:  How is this tax increase anything approaching an "emergency?"

But by putting that clause in, it takes effect immediately when Outslee signs it... which was the reason he threatened an unenforceable, politically suicidal jack unilateral 300% increase in taxes on a gallon of gas.

Now, why do you suppose the allegedly GOP Senate would do that?

It couldn't be to silence us, the voters... could it?

Nah.  I'm dreaming.

But you DO notice the parallels between that attitude and the attitude of the downtown mafia on the CRC Scam, don't you?

Its a slightly different version to be sure, but the resemblance is remarkable.

Those shilling the CRC Scam wanted what they wanted.  They lied about the entirety of the project in every way from what that waste of billions would accomplish to why they were doing it.

Those shilling the gas tax scam want what they want and like the CRC Scammers, have no trouble whatsoever selling us out to get it.

You know, if these people had left the final say on this issue to us, if they had put this up to a vote, went out and convinced the voters that it was necessary and allowed us to have the final say?

You wouldn't be hearing a peep out of me.

But the left cavalierly disregards the will of the people whenever and however the mood strikes. They believe themselves superior to us mere mortals.  We have to, for example, pass the bill to see what's in it.

That was their exclusive domain... that kind of thing... the kind of thing that involves slapping emergency clauses on bills to keep our mouths shut at the polls... the kind of thing that emphasizes how very little they give a damn what we want or what we think...

It's what the left practiced down here on the CRC.  Turning a deaf ear to even the concept of a referendum with about every excuse known to man.

They kept claiming, as those shilling the gas tax will no doubt claim... that we were actually looking forward to the upcoming wallet rape.  And it didn't matter a lick how we voted or on who we voted. They didn't give a DAMN that their candidates and incumbents were mowed down like wheat by a constituency sick of being ignored.  Sick of being taken for granted.  Sick of being lied to.

Yup.  That was their deal.  And it's the biggest political betrayal since the CRC.  It's as if the GOP in the Senate learned NOTHING.

And that leftist attitude belongs to both sides now.