Quick reminder on the local CRC/IBR loot rail scam: By POLICY, they didn't WANT public input and completely ignored it on the CRC... just like they are now on the IBR loot rail scam.

Of course. The entire thing is a scam to infest Clark County with TriMet's loot rail.

Or so said the Oregon Supreme Court:

The answer, according to the court: The massive Interstate 5 bridge and freeway project is a "political necessity" to persuade Clark County residents to accept something they previously didn't want—a MAX light-rail line from Portland to Vancouver. (To read the Feb. 16, 2012 Oregon Supreme Court decision regarding the Columbia River Crossing Project, click here: https://caselaw.findlaw.com/court/or-supreme-court/1608702.html

They didn't have to "persuade" the citizenry. And they never did.

In fact, they planned to IGNORE US ALTOGETHER, EXACTLY LIKE THEY ARE NOW:

Except from the CRC Memo: Columbia River Crossing: Project Sponsors Council Roles and Responsibilities

Two Money Quotes:

1. I assume that each PSC member would be briefed in advance of the decision meetings by senior staff of their organizations. Senior staff is responsible for providing requested information and responding to questions. It is expected that each of the PSC decision meetings would result in a decision with no need for extended deliberations in future meetings. This approach would require extensive coordination among PDT members prior to the meetings.

The decision meetings would be open to the public, but only minimum legal notices would be provided and no display advertising would be placed. We would not encourage public participation. The Task Force chairs would be expected to attend and respond to PSC questions concerning the Task Force recommendations. Task Force members would be made award of the meetings. Meeting notes would be prepared and posted on the website.

and:

2. Non-decision meetings should be treated as opportunities for the PSC members to advise the PDT on key issues. No “official” decisions should be made at the meetings. No public notice would be provided and Task Force participation would not be sought. Meeting notes would be prepared but not posted on the website (the same as RPG and working group meeting notes).

Rest assured, the scum ramming this garbage down our throats no more care about public input, or the public generally now, than they did then.

And they didn't THEN by ACTUAL, WRITTEN, POLICY.

Nope. There was no more persuasion on this scam, then nor now, than the Soviets persuaded women to be assaulted when they took Berlin in World War Eleven.

All they had to do was buy the scum in Washington State and local government.

This WILL be what happens on the loot rail project masquerading as a bridge replacement.

We know that going in.

Larson provides a more local example, but you need look no further than the Sound Transit scam, where those living in the Sound Transit Concentration Camp, voluntarily walked into a gas chamber of a $53 billion dollar scam without reading the fine print (And oh, how they were shocked, SHOCKED, I TELL YA, when they discovered how they were going to PAY for that rip off (massive tab fee and property tax increases) only to discover that, once again, the budget was 10's of billions short ($30 billion? $35 billion? $40 billion?) that Sound Transit KNOWINGLY lied about when it was passed in the first place, which resulted in the State Supreme Court ruling it's perfectly OK for cities, states and candidates to engage in campaign lying)) only to find out it wasn't water coming out of those shower heads.

As sad as that outcome is, that's what THEY voted for.

No one is asking us for this. And no one's asking us because they know what the answer would be and they simply don't care that the people of this region do NOT want their crime train/loot rail project.

Larson says:

The Northwest Nonsense

If you want a quick preview of the multi-billion dollar disaster coming at us if the interstate bridge project actually goes forward
Look no further than ODOT’s Abernethy Bridge Boondoggle near Oregon City.

The Oregon Department of Transportation lied to lawmakers about the cost and the schedule.

ODOT didn’t have the money but went forward with the project anyway. (My comment: Sound familiar? That's precisely what the thugs shilling the CRC/IBR scam want to do to us under the guise of once construction starts, it MUST be finished, no matter HOW long it takes and no matter HOW much it costs!)

I know, it sounds crazy but it has worked for ODOT for a long time and no one ever gets fired.

Today, the project has spent twice the original cost…half a billion dollars…and the bridge is only 70 percent done. Like the kitchen remodel contractor from Hell…telling you your cost has now tripled but your house is already torn apart and your choice is pay up…or live in chaos

But for all that money…now about 800-million…at least it will be finished on time, right?

Wrong.

Originally, contractor Kiewit was supposed to be done by the end of LAST year…which ODOT agreed to extend to October of this year.

Now, Kiewit says they may be done by January of 28…almost two years from now.

But that’s a contractor promise…I wouldn’t exactly take it to the bank.

That’s the Rose City Rap. Join me at noon on KXL for 4 hours of Honestly provocative talk. I’m Lars Larson.
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One does wonder why the contracts for that scam... and our own bridge replacement/loot rail scam, didn't/doesn't have contract costs/completion penalties attached.

The absence of those requirements is a license to steal.

And steal they will. And there's nothing we can do about it since government at every level, from state on down, doesn't give a rat's ass what the people of Clark County, who will bear the lion's share of the costs for this rip off, want or don't want.

If they did? We'd have a vote on it.

Like Sound Transit had a vote on their expansion.

And last I looked?

The leftist governments we're cursed with have made it clear that the people they would govern are not nearly as important as the "save them from themselves" agenda.

Losers on the CRC Scam.(UPDATED)

As the CRC dies a timely death.... again... it's time for the annual review of the losers... and the winners. (The winners will be up in a day or so.)

The Losers:

Grand prize winning losers: The democratian, the Oregonian, Scott Campbell,  Lefty Lou Brancaccio, Stephony Rice and John "pit yorkie" Laird.

There are many ways to measure the value of a newspaper in a community.  Some, like the Reflector under Marvin Case was a vastly respected publication because every effort was made to get the facts, tell all sides of the truth and engage in a Herculian effort to keep bias out of the presentation.

None of those character traits are present in the democratian.

Over the years, those who've opposed any part of the democratian's agenda generally have been targeted as if lies, distortions, exaggerations and the like could somehow vaporize the truth.

Oppose the rag's agenda, and they try and silence you.  Hold the scum running and working for it accountable, and they censor you.  Dare to openly defy them, and they stalk you like a spurned lover... not unlike how Lefty stalks David Madore.

They are not a newspaper driven by community service or any of the classic tenets of journalism.  When it comes to their agenda, bizarre constructs like "truth," or "the will of the people" have no place in their discussion.  Cross them, and they come after you with everything they've got.

Fortunately, that doesn't amount to much any more.

The CRC was the crown jewel of the democratian's agenda.  Those who oppose(d) it found themselves subjected to lies, exaggerations, and character assassination.  The democratian was and is very selective on the facts of the issue, for example, failing to publish to THIS DAY one word about the Oregon State Supreme Court ruling that laid out in excruciating detail how the entirety of this scam was to get loot rail into Clark County... period.

That's the kind of irresponsible brand of journalism that forced the rag into bankruptcy,. and has led to ever-shrinking sales, ad revenue and a reduced impact within the community.  As our population here in the county gets bigger...their sales get smaller.  That's a result of the illustrated lack of integrity; the personal attacks, the name calling, the lies and the distortion and the increasingly bizarre idea that people in a community should pay for that kind of crap.

This rag has done everything it can, fair or foul, truth or lie to get this trashsicle built.

All they managed to do was get $190 million vaporized... while county wide, their endorsed candidates and positions were hammered into dust by an electorate sick of being lied to, sick of being disrespected and sick of being ignored.

How's that grab you, Lefty?  Years of your crap.... tens of millions of dollars wasted, a weekly that pummeled you when it came to journalism about the CRC and YOU have precisely DICK to show for it.

If I were Campbell, I would have fired you years ago.  That he almost did isn't nearly good enough.  And as a result, he bears as much responsibility for this fiasco as you do.

And when you finally go back to the scum pit of Chicago or whatever crap house you crawled out of before you came here, what you're going to be known for is getting your ass kicked.  Kicked by the ballpark scam.  Kicked by the CRC Scam.  Kicked by the worthless turds of electoral endorsement scams.

And believe me, you'll no more be missed then that pisspot former editorial page editor of yours that you allowed to attack, belittle and berate those of us smart enough not to buy into your BS.

Buy your newspaper?  II wouldn't wiz on it if it were on fire to put it out.

The Oregonian shares equal guilt when it came to mistaking an agenda with journalism.  The snarky, unjustified attacks on Commissioners Madore and Mielke and others who stood in their way; their demand that this county just be bent over for them so that hundreds of thousands of us got screwed in the name of their agenda... THAT is the kind of garbage masquerading as "journalism" that has resulted in the recent signs of the Oregonian's financial difficulty as well as going down to what... publication 4 days per week instead of 7 as they circle the drain of obsolescence and bankruptcy?

First runner up?  Former democrat commissioner Marc Boldt, followed by soon-to-be-former-commissioner Steve Stuart.

Someone, much smarter than I, indicated that when you live by the sword, you frequently die by the sword.  In this case, the insistence of Boldt and Stuart to move forward with this project in the face of massive and hardening public opposition has resulted in the ouster of both, ending Stuart's meteoric (Well, Cessna-like) rise and forcing him to acknowledge that he would lose any countywide election.... for anything.

When asked about a public vote on the CRC, both Boldt and Stuart laughed at the idea.  Well, who's laughing now?

Stuart, a name that is now cemented in local infamy because of his decision to betray the people of this county by giving TriMet the ability to exercise eminent domain across a state border, couldn't get elected dog catcher and he knows it.  So, the deal was cut and he's going to be the next city manager of Ridgefield, a job that has a pay bump but also that requires him to move to Ridgefield.

Meanwhile, his wife is managing the hopeless Maureen Winningham campaign against Liz Pike in the 18th district, something I'm sure that the people of Ridgefield will be thrilled to find out.

In the end, of course, Winningham is going to be flattened like a pancake.  And that's likely to end Melton's managing/consulting days as the CRC Scamming Winningham is buried out here.

Last night, as I was reading and watching the painful death throes of the CRC Scam, I was asking myself:  Gee.  I wonder if Marc Boldt thinks this is worth it.

Because at this point, there is no doubt that had he joined with Tom Mielke to do the will of the people, he would still be a county commissioner.  If only he had not allowed the leftists to game him.  If only he had stuck to the core principles that saw him get elected in the first place, instead of being co-opted by the downtown mafia that has kicked him to the curb like a copy of yesterday's democratian... precisely as I knew... and said.... they would.

Next on the list are democrat Governors John Kitzhaber of Oregon and Jay "played too much football without a helmet" Inslee of Washington.

Kitzhaber, who should have known better, made it clear that the ONLY way this bridge would get built was with loot rail on it.  As I pointed out at the time, Kitzhaber likely killed the project with his demand that the bridge, which the Oregon Supreme Court declared was a light rail project, have light rail on it or there would be no deal.

That, of course, put the lie to every other reason the CRC Scammers used to shill this pile of rat turds.  With that one demand, Kitzhaber brought the truth to the fore and undercut every CRC sock-puppet in existence.

As both Kitzhaber and the Oregon Court indicated, it was never about safety, or earthquake readiness, or freight mobility or congestion relief.  It was never about any of the things they were claiming it WAS about... because if it WERE about that, the "light rail or else" card would never have been played.

Inslee, of course, was no better, doubling down by bringing then-US Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood into the State Senate GOP caucus to either muscle them or baffle them with bullshit about the project. LaHood might as well have arm wrestled with a gorilla.  Both Inslee AND LaHood wound up looking like idiots and nothing but their embarrassment was accomplished.

And Inslee's bizarre, inexplicable decision to veto the $81 million that was appropriated to keep the lights on?  What kind of message did THAT send?

Perhaps the dimmest bulb on the state's political tree, Inslee stupidly followed suit when he rejected the overwhelming hatred of the project by the people of SW Washington generally,  and the people of Clark County specifically; expending a huge amount of political capital and winding up looking like a fool.

Locally,  CTran's own CEO, Jeff Hamm, needs to be Ukrained for his perfidy in this matter.  Too cute by half, Hamm played a significant role in forgetting who he works for (the people) by aiding the CRC Scammer's efforts to bend this county over for TriMet.  When it comes to transparency, you ain't gonna find his name anywhere.

Other losers include:

Local democrats generally are going to get hammered over this: the Vancouver Soviet controls the local democrats as if Putin controls the Crimea.  The result?  They won't run a challenge candidate that doesn't support their fringe-left/Moeller view that the CRC MUST be built no matter how badly the people of Clark County get screwed in the process... or indicate otherwise.

Social engineering is the order of the day, and these neo-communists have determined that we have no right to own or use cars, and the way to get us out of them is to force us into their expensive choo-choos.

Our fake congresswoman, Jaime Herrera, who, although in elective office since November of 07 accomplished absolutely nothing to keep this crap pile from being built, showing once again how worthless she is as a representative... since she was "representing" bridge contractor Kiewit, her largest campaign donors the last time I looked.

She wanted everyone to THINK she was opposed to this rip off, but when it comes right down to it she accomplished NOTHING to stop it from being built, and clearly made no serious effort to put a stop to it.  Her entire tenure has been a waste of time and space.

Both the state cow, Patty Murray and that clueless idiot Obama look like morons since they expended some capital on this as well... and now it's all wasted.

Of course, since that empty-suited, anti-American racist bigot in the White House has assumed dictatorial powers and is ruling by edict, it wouldn't surprise me terribly if he just signed an executive order and did what the morons here locally couldn't do: force us to accept the project, tolls, loot rail and all.  After all, who cares what the people want when you're King?

The Three Stooges of the 49th, Cleveland, Moeller, and Wylie.  It's something of a tie between the retarded Cleveland and the mouth that sniveled, Moeller.  Fringe-left nutter Sen. Annette "I've got 25 votes" Cleveland is as useless as nipples on a boar hog.  Her abortive, idiotic effort to ram the funding through by amending the transportation package at the last minute was just another recitation of lies and exaggerations, the same time-worn disproven phrases the scammers have been using all along... an embarrassment to her district and SW Washington.

Moeller is the King of Butthurt.  With an ego second only to Benito Mussolini (Or Mike Briggs... it's hard to tell the difference) and his incessant mouthing off about what he would or would not support (As if that's made any difference) all this outcome has done is show how weak and disrespected that moron actually is.

Instead of working to replace the bridge, he was only working to get loot rail jammed down our throats... and here's a clue moron:

You lost.  And if you were all that, which you aren't, you would have won.

Wylie only gets the blame for failing to stand up for her constituents.  Like the other two, she could care less what the people she allegedly represents want... but her genuine ineffectiveness makes her an afterthought on the ladder of responsibility.

In Vancouver, city government, Tim "The Liar" Leavitt, Larry Smith, Bart Hansen, and Jack Burkman are next up because they've crippled themselves for any other office.

CRC Scammers all, they made sure not only to join those lying and exaggerating about this garbage, to ignore their own constituency to try and get it built, Leave-it, Smith and Hansen voting to bend this county over for TriMet in the process.

Leave-it, who has lied and violated ethics rules from the very beginning, can't get elected cat-herder outside of Vancouver.  He knows it and so does everyone else.  For the remainder of his worthless political life, anyone running against him for anything can beat him to death for this abysmal failure, and he will lose.  Had that been done in the last election, he would have lost going away.

Any democrat running to fill Stuart's seat.  Steve Stuart bailed because he realized months ago that he stood no chance of re-election.  None.  Anything else is eyewash.

He saw what happened to Marc.  His future in elective politics ended that November night in 2012.  The only question was how was he going to leave?

Well, now we know.  And whoever follows along behind him will, out of leftist necessity, be hung with the same political rope the democrats forced Stuart to use in return for their support.  No one from the left running in Stuart's wake will be allowed to disavow his legacy.  No one from the left allowed to run for Stuart's seat will be able to say... or be able to show... where they opposed the CRC Scam.

That's a huge part of the leftist litmus test.  Just as Jon Haugen, who was denied democrat endorsement for his run when he ran against the empty-suited idiot "representing" us in Congress because he has been a huge opponent of the CRC, his other stances notwithstanding (I voted for him because of that, by the way, since Herrera has always been a CRC supporter.)

The M&M Twins: Mike Briggs and Maureen Winningham.  Briggs has been embarrassingly rabid in his support of the CRC Scam and his opposition to the will of the people.  He has steadfastly opposed any kind of vote... even the non-binding advisory vote gained his scorn like every other democrat who hates the will of the voter when that will opposes their agenda.

His rabid support of Jim "Molehill" Moeller's perspective and apparent (false) belief that Molehill has any throw-weight or governance skills shows' Brigg's unsuitability both for elective office generally and the conservative 18th District particularly.

Like his running buddy Winningham, Briggs shows utter contempt for those wise enough to disagree with his worldview.  This crushing defeat of his pet project is just further proof of his irrelevance, lack of political awareness and inability to discern that the constituency he's scrambling for is not stupid.

His disdain shows in his ongoing failure to respond to my questions on his facebook page, leading me to conclude that either he doesn't HAVE an answer, or he has a slightly lower level of political cowardice than Winningham, who stifles any opposition by deleting it.

Both are Leftist who by now understand that they have no chance of winning.  None.  But having been sucked into this nightmare, they now have to go through the motions.

Monica Stonier in the 17th has been the penultimate fence straddler.  On one hand, she claims to be in favor of this rip off, while on the other, voting against it.  Unfortunately for her, she's a democrat in a likely GOP year where that kind of politics ain't gonna play, and as a democrat, she'll just find herself lumped in with her fellow leftists.

Tough luck for her.

"Republican" Auditor Greg Kimsey is going to be in tough shape this time around.  He thought he could hammer on the conservative majority on the board of commissioners, hook up with fellow leftist Steve Stuart and become the first county executive.

Fat chance.

Kimsey's democrat-like support of the CRC Scam, now no longer on the CRC web site as one of the supporters given its level of radioactivity, might even be enough to kill his chances at re-election as Auditor... but he would have ZERO chance running for any county commissioner position OR county executive position should one be created by the Freeholders.

The failure of the Kimsey-supported CRC Scam may hurt him as much as it killed Steve Stuart's political career, should an anti-CRC Republican run against him.  And support of the CRC WILL be the electorate's litmus test for countywide candidates for many cycles to come.

And on the non-elective side:

Paul Montague and Identity Vancouver.

Few have lied so much for so long than Paul Montague, the ED of Identity Vancouver.

Identity Vancouver, which used to be known as the fake name of "Identity Clark County" has long since become a wholly-owned subsidiary of the downtown special interests that made every effort to ram this sewage down our throats.

I nailed Montague in an 18th District town hall meeting, calling him out on his lies and proving that the entirety of this scam was about loot rail, reading directly from the Oregon Supreme Court decision that laid it all out.  While Paul may not have known he was lying before that happened over 15 months or so ago, her's known he's been lying ever since.

As far as the electorate is concerned, both Montague and his organization have credibility somewhat below Baghdad Bob.  That organization needs to reorganize by getting rid of the tool most responsible both for failure of the CRC Scam and the death of the Identity Vancouver agenda in the state Legislature.

The rest of the downtown mafia... Kelly Parker, the Chamber of Horrors and CRUDEC (among others) are all in the same boat.

If they ever hope to restore any semblance of respect or community importance, they should all apologize to the people they helped to screw out of $190 million for nothing, fire all of those involved... and pledge to never... ever... again ignore, belittle or question the will of the people of this county.

Otherwise?

Most everything they do or want to do in the future is likely to start from the default position of being opposed by the people who already question their honesty, their motives, their integrity and their decreasing value to the community.

And that would make them utterly worthless.

These are just some of the many losers of this sorry episode in local politics where we had the chance to observe both the best the political realm has to offer....AND the worst.

And this... was the worst.

Do the morons at the CRC understand the meaning of the phrase "Shovel Ready?"

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The massive porkulus that our resident Cowardman, Brian Baird, voted for without reading (Because it had a few crumbs in it that he wanted... so he didn't care about any of the other details) is a huge pot of money,

Earlier, some of the more delusional morons supporting the criminal waste of money known as the I-5 Bridge replacement/loot rail project were upset that Obama didn't just whip out the government checkbook and write one for the whole thing. As Tim "The Liar" Leavitt put it:

“It’s frustrating to me that our Congress passed a $700 billion bailout for the financial sector and they couldn’t throw in a measly $3 billion for this immense federal asset for the West Coast,” said Tim Leavitt, a Vancouver councilman who will represent C-Tran on the 10-member sponsors council. “Please give us some money. Why do we have to beat each other up locally?”

Even as an early backer of fringe left whacko, Anti-American racist bigot Obama, The Liar hasn't had a lot of success in getting his best bud to write the checks.

Well, let's take a quick look at the criteria for this kind of check, shall we?

First of all, the project needED to be "shovel ready."

That is, ALL of the support work and permitting needs to be accomplished.

Secondly, ALL of Obama's "friends" need to have been taken care of first. That means we get what, if anything, will be left over.

Thirdly, the CRC and it's supporters have proven themselves delusional on so many levels... not the least of which is the massive public opposition to all of this nonsense.

Think the fed is going to fork over a $150 million for a project that isn't CLOSE to "shovel ready" (Though it is manure ready) and that is universally despised by the locals?

Don't hold your collective breath.
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