I admit it: I don't get it.
We are embarking on the largest gas tax increase in the history of this state, because we all know the last one, which was a complete rip off of a lie (Roughly half of the projects on the "if you suckers pass this vote for the tax, this is what you'll get" list vaporized shortly after the vote passed. But, what the hey, even our own State Supreme Court has ruled that it's perfectly OK to lie to the voters to get elected... or get your scam of an initiative passed... or any number of other reasons.) certainly will make all of the difference when it comes to implementing this gas tax.
One of the key players in that equation was/is my own state senator, Ann Rivers.
Senator Rivers did everything she could to pass this tax and accompanying tab fee increases, including supporting the completely unnecessary emergency clause and the lack of a referendum clause. After all, we can't allow the people to have any say in this rip off, can we?
She voted for this insanity in spite of the fact that we here in the 4th most populous county in the state managed to get a whole $200 million or so out of a $15 BILLION package... and half of that will be wasted on an absolutely unneeded replacement of the I-5/Mill Plain intersection, one of the many parts of the late, unlamented CRC/Loot Rail scam.
But all of that is nether here nor there:
As a major part of her campaign for the senate, then newly appointed Sen. Rivers said this on her campaign web site:
Not a lot of "ifs, ands or buts" in a declarative statement like that.
Then this one:
And Senator Rivers, having pledged to vote AGAINST these issues, instead, voted for them.
OK. To me, equally straight forward is the fact that she, well, lied.
It wasn't a little white lie, to be sure. It was a huge, monstrous violation of the trust of the people who voted for her. And she went ahead and voted that way KNOWING that her district would oppose such an effort at the ballot box... and she did it because she knows more than we do.
From the Reflector article:
Where does that fit in?
What about your support of the emergency clause and your opposition to a referendum clause?
You see, Senator, it's far easier to defend a vote where you faithfully kept your word to your constituency than it is to engage in the hyperbole of a "when rape is inevitable, relax and enjoy it" defense.
Her vote effectively handed billions of dollars over to those engaging in the face of the legendary incompetence and ineptitude of those black-hole projects luike the SR-520 floating bridge and the legendary Bertha fiasco.
Not to mention the bogus nonsense of the so-called "Inslee Poison Pill," designed to keep him from doing something he never had any intention of doing, nor the legal capability of getting done: the addition of a unilateral, executive order tax on gasoline that may have closed in on as much as two dollars per gallon.
I believe, and the evidences suggests, that this was a scam designed entirely to provide the GOP-controlled senate with cover for screwing their constituency sideways. Inslee has no desire to commit political suicide, guaranteeing his defeat in 2016 along with a political massacre for the democrats... by adding a fee, even if he had the capability of doing so, that would have been overturned by an almost entirely GOP-controlled legislature and a GOP governor that would be the automatic result.
As it is, given the GOP Senate's betrayal of the voters on, say, the Dream Act nonsense of allowing illegal aliens to not only pay in-state tuition but give them financial aid in the process... along with screwing us blindfolded on the gas tax/tab fee scam... who in their right mind would ever vote to put any of these morons back into office?
The destruction to his party in this state would have made Obamacare's destruction of the democrats look like a fender-bender in comparison. As it is, if he leaves this alone, there's a very good chance he'll get the legislature back under democrat control.
Not to mention the skull-duggery of the scam by the Lieutenant Governor on the "unconstitutional" and then "constitutional" GOP senate rule requiring a super-majority to increase taxes... like the gas tax.
Neat how they worked that scam, ain't it?
Well, that sets the table for this: I have been soundly and publicly thrashed by both a deputy mayor and a city councilman from different locales in our fair county for having the effrontery to call Sen. Rivers out on her, for lack of a better term, perfidy. How dare I?
I'm told I'm obviously "emotional" over this. And I've got it all wrong.
I have yet to see where I've "got it all wrong," and I have, in fact, treated this like I would any other series of lies to achieve an aim... and end, if you will.
I have blasted and will continue to blast the scum behind the I-502 pot legalization initiative because of their monumental lie concerning revenue to the state: they promised $582 million yearly as part of their scam... and they have yet to achieve 10% of that figure which I repeatedly pointed out was a lie during the campaign.
The deputy mayor called me to task over that, claiming that, after all, the people had spoken. The inference being that with that vote, I should just shut the hell up and let it go.
And, of course, he was completely unconcerned about the lies used to get that particular vote through.
The GOP-Senate, of course, didn't care about those lies, and proceeded to let them off the hook for a huge chunk of that money instead of holding the scum in question accountable for their actions.
But then, I suppose in the face of the lies people have used to get elected, they really had no choice.
Meanwhile, no one elected that I've seen has called the slime behind that initiative out for their lies, much like none in elective office have called Sen. Rivers out for her lies to get elected.
It shows a true snapshot of their complete lack of integrity and ethics.
Rivers, meanwhile, is out beating the bushes, claiming that:
And in case you're wondering, Senator, THIS person, who knows far more about what really happened up there than anyone you've "talked" to down here about the complete history of this fiasco is not convinced... and does disagree with you.
To that end, I am certainly "emotional." I have been lied to. I have been betrayed. I have been ignored. The GOP Senate acted like it was 2/3rd Seattle democrat instead of GOP controlled.
Someone who condemned Sen. Benton for a picture... gives Sen. Rivers a complete pass, even when I call her out and demand that he assess both Senators equally... the day after he had dinner at Rivers' house.
Someone that I would have given a kidney to had they needed it ignored the entire basis for their candidacy and service in office... for reasons that lack the ring of truth and are hollow when they're repeated... over... and over... and over again... as it repetition makes them true.
It doesn't.
Someone who tasked me with keeping them "grounded" has buried me with that dirt... the filth of politics that never ends.
And nobody in elective office gives a damn.
It won't matter, of course... because lying has become an ingrained part of the political scene.
Rivers will be elected again, or get whatever appointment she's after because of this sell out. And the people defending her lies now will continue to defend them then.
But at base, they'll know. And I'll know. And I'll continue to use my meager soap box to remind people that do care of what happened here and who is responsible... and that the new name for 12 cents worth of anything has just become "a Rivers' worth," in honor of her horrific betrayal of those of us who believed in her when she said:
We are embarking on the largest gas tax increase in the history of this state, because we all know the last one, which was a complete rip off of a lie (Roughly half of the projects on the "if you suckers pass this vote for the tax, this is what you'll get" list vaporized shortly after the vote passed. But, what the hey, even our own State Supreme Court has ruled that it's perfectly OK to lie to the voters to get elected... or get your scam of an initiative passed... or any number of other reasons.) certainly will make all of the difference when it comes to implementing this gas tax.
One of the key players in that equation was/is my own state senator, Ann Rivers.
Senator Rivers did everything she could to pass this tax and accompanying tab fee increases, including supporting the completely unnecessary emergency clause and the lack of a referendum clause. After all, we can't allow the people to have any say in this rip off, can we?
She voted for this insanity in spite of the fact that we here in the 4th most populous county in the state managed to get a whole $200 million or so out of a $15 BILLION package... and half of that will be wasted on an absolutely unneeded replacement of the I-5/Mill Plain intersection, one of the many parts of the late, unlamented CRC/Loot Rail scam.
But all of that is nether here nor there:
As a major part of her campaign for the senate, then newly appointed Sen. Rivers said this on her campaign web site:
"I will not support an increase in the gas tax."Seems fairly straight forward.
Not a lot of "ifs, ands or buts" in a declarative statement like that.
Then this one:
"I will not support increases in tab fees."Yet, tab fee increases that Rivers voted for are in store: they'll be increasing $15, not including increased weight fees.
And Senator Rivers, having pledged to vote AGAINST these issues, instead, voted for them.
OK. To me, equally straight forward is the fact that she, well, lied.
It wasn't a little white lie, to be sure. It was a huge, monstrous violation of the trust of the people who voted for her. And she went ahead and voted that way KNOWING that her district would oppose such an effort at the ballot box... and she did it because she knows more than we do.
From the Reflector article:
“It was a gut-wrenching decision, but when I turned it into a flat-out business decision and took my emotion out of it, it was definitely what I had to do,’’ Rivers said. “They had the votes without me. If people in my district are going to pay real dollars, they are going to get real projects and real reforms.’’But.... what about your pledge NOT to do this?
Where does that fit in?
What about your support of the emergency clause and your opposition to a referendum clause?
You see, Senator, it's far easier to defend a vote where you faithfully kept your word to your constituency than it is to engage in the hyperbole of a "when rape is inevitable, relax and enjoy it" defense.
Her vote effectively handed billions of dollars over to those engaging in the face of the legendary incompetence and ineptitude of those black-hole projects luike the SR-520 floating bridge and the legendary Bertha fiasco.
Not to mention the bogus nonsense of the so-called "Inslee Poison Pill," designed to keep him from doing something he never had any intention of doing, nor the legal capability of getting done: the addition of a unilateral, executive order tax on gasoline that may have closed in on as much as two dollars per gallon.
I believe, and the evidences suggests, that this was a scam designed entirely to provide the GOP-controlled senate with cover for screwing their constituency sideways. Inslee has no desire to commit political suicide, guaranteeing his defeat in 2016 along with a political massacre for the democrats... by adding a fee, even if he had the capability of doing so, that would have been overturned by an almost entirely GOP-controlled legislature and a GOP governor that would be the automatic result.
As it is, given the GOP Senate's betrayal of the voters on, say, the Dream Act nonsense of allowing illegal aliens to not only pay in-state tuition but give them financial aid in the process... along with screwing us blindfolded on the gas tax/tab fee scam... who in their right mind would ever vote to put any of these morons back into office?
The destruction to his party in this state would have made Obamacare's destruction of the democrats look like a fender-bender in comparison. As it is, if he leaves this alone, there's a very good chance he'll get the legislature back under democrat control.
Not to mention the skull-duggery of the scam by the Lieutenant Governor on the "unconstitutional" and then "constitutional" GOP senate rule requiring a super-majority to increase taxes... like the gas tax.
Neat how they worked that scam, ain't it?
Well, that sets the table for this: I have been soundly and publicly thrashed by both a deputy mayor and a city councilman from different locales in our fair county for having the effrontery to call Sen. Rivers out on her, for lack of a better term, perfidy. How dare I?
I'm told I'm obviously "emotional" over this. And I've got it all wrong.
I have yet to see where I've "got it all wrong," and I have, in fact, treated this like I would any other series of lies to achieve an aim... and end, if you will.
I have blasted and will continue to blast the scum behind the I-502 pot legalization initiative because of their monumental lie concerning revenue to the state: they promised $582 million yearly as part of their scam... and they have yet to achieve 10% of that figure which I repeatedly pointed out was a lie during the campaign.
The deputy mayor called me to task over that, claiming that, after all, the people had spoken. The inference being that with that vote, I should just shut the hell up and let it go.
And, of course, he was completely unconcerned about the lies used to get that particular vote through.
The GOP-Senate, of course, didn't care about those lies, and proceeded to let them off the hook for a huge chunk of that money instead of holding the scum in question accountable for their actions.
But then, I suppose in the face of the lies people have used to get elected, they really had no choice.
Meanwhile, no one elected that I've seen has called the slime behind that initiative out for their lies, much like none in elective office have called Sen. Rivers out for her lies to get elected.
It shows a true snapshot of their complete lack of integrity and ethics.
Rivers, meanwhile, is out beating the bushes, claiming that:
“I’m not afraid to stand up in front of anybody,’’ Rivers told me during a visit last week. “I had three town halls and each of them had no less than 60 people show up. At the end of those three town halls, I only had four people who came to me and said I still should have voted no. I had 20 ‘coffees’ with a least three or four people at each one and after I got through with my explanation, not one person disagreed with me."I would venture to say she failed to discuss her campaign promises, used to get the title "Senator," that she shattered into little pieces... and how unimportant those pledges to the voters actually were.
And in case you're wondering, Senator, THIS person, who knows far more about what really happened up there than anyone you've "talked" to down here about the complete history of this fiasco is not convinced... and does disagree with you.
To that end, I am certainly "emotional." I have been lied to. I have been betrayed. I have been ignored. The GOP Senate acted like it was 2/3rd Seattle democrat instead of GOP controlled.
Someone who condemned Sen. Benton for a picture... gives Sen. Rivers a complete pass, even when I call her out and demand that he assess both Senators equally... the day after he had dinner at Rivers' house.
Someone that I would have given a kidney to had they needed it ignored the entire basis for their candidacy and service in office... for reasons that lack the ring of truth and are hollow when they're repeated... over... and over... and over again... as it repetition makes them true.
It doesn't.
Someone who tasked me with keeping them "grounded" has buried me with that dirt... the filth of politics that never ends.
And nobody in elective office gives a damn.
It won't matter, of course... because lying has become an ingrained part of the political scene.
Rivers will be elected again, or get whatever appointment she's after because of this sell out. And the people defending her lies now will continue to defend them then.
But at base, they'll know. And I'll know. And I'll continue to use my meager soap box to remind people that do care of what happened here and who is responsible... and that the new name for 12 cents worth of anything has just become "a Rivers' worth," in honor of her horrific betrayal of those of us who believed in her when she said:
"I will not support an increase in the gas tax."and
"I will not support increases in tab fees."All to get elected.
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