Ask any conservative in Southwest Washington about the reliability of the newspaper of record in Clark County, the Columbian, when it comes to political coverage and you will likely be met with laughter. The blatant left lean of the paper has many of us dubbing it the unofficial daily newsletter of the Democrat Party.
Nowhere is this better seen than the papers continued promotion of the largest and most expensive boondoggle to ever hit Southwest Washington, the Columbia River Crossing being shoved down citizens’ throats to force acceptance of Portland, Oregon’s financially troubled light rail into our community.
In spite of 3 past votes in the county declining light rail, once directly in 1995 and twice indirectly in 2002 and 2004, it came out in a recent Oregon Supreme Court ruling that the sole reason for project is to force their light rail into our community along with the desire that Clark County residents pay for operations and maintenance of the new line all the way from Oregon’s Expo Center, across the state line and into our community.
In spite of costing so far nearly $150 Million in studies, several deficiencies continue to crop up that even though reported in the pages of the Columbian, are marginalized along with any who speak out questioning the validity of such an undertaking, skeptics often dubbed with such pejorative descriptions as “the Hounds of Whinerville” and “ankle biters” by Editorial Page Editor, John Laird.
Enter successful Vancouver businessman and owner of US Digital, David Madore, now vying for a seat on the Clark County Board of Commissioners. Madore, after seeing citizens often being ignored and seeing efforts to either silence or restrict comments skeptical of the CRC as well as the blatant bias of the Columbian favoring this project with little questioning, opened up an alternative Online News site, Couv.com.
Although not a journalist and the service suffering a few hiccups in getting the site going, it continues to provide well documented skeptical coverage of the CRC, exposing financial irregularities uncovered by a forensic accountant, engineer reports on the discrepancies noted and asks questions one would expect from a regular newspaper like the Columbian, given that Oregon newspapers like the Oregonian and Willamette Week seem able to conduct a little investigative journalism in regards to the project.
Being that we are in an election year, we will see forums and editorials concerning candidates. But, these forums and editorials are often based on questions designed to give a little advantage to candidates favorable to the CRC or questions skeptical not asked at all.
Again, enter David Madore and Couv.com who last election year began taping and webcasting of candidates being asked slightly different question designed to provide actual transparency of the project.
I have been to Couv.com and was interviewed last year and can honestly say they have a very nice and professional studio set up for this. I also saw in candidate interviews last year that questions were fair and interviews not edited to give any candidate an advantage over another. Each that agreed were asked the same exact questions and their answers stood as said. Although David Madore owns the operation, he does not micromanage the interviews or taping.
As can be seen in the link in the last paragraph, several candidates from both sides agreed to be interviewed or participate in the forums with none claiming unfair treatment that I have heard.
All candidates were sent invitations, one sent to the current Mayor of Vancouver and strong proponent of the project, Tim Leavitt, who most of us now know lied through his teeth to be elected by claiming his opposition to tolls, only to “evolve” to the exact opposite shortly after winning the election.
Mayor Leavitt, it must be recalled, was a driving force behind the efforts to silence skepticism of the CRC at City Council meetings last year.
Madore posted Mayor Leavitt’s response to an invitation to openly discuss the CRC in a live webcast on his facebook page earlier this week.
As you can see, Mayor Leavitt does not wish an open discussion of the CRC and light rail. He shuns transparency, accepting only interviews where he knows he will not be put on the hot seat about his “evolving” on the tolls issue or face questions critical of his strong support of the CRC in light of continuing deficiencies such as the current design being too low to meet US Coast Guard approval, even though the CRC has been told for years the river clearance must be more to meet their approval.
By all appearance, the design has ignored just about any criteria other than carrying light rail into Clark County and is expected to drive the cost up by several Millions of Dollars.
Mayor Leavitt declines to discuss such troubles unless questioned in a light he expects favorable to him and the CRC.
As you can see, he directs all skeptical questions right back to the project besieged with the discrepancies, labeling their questionable material as “factual.”
As has been noted, their “facts” continue to come up short, citizens who will be forced paying for this boondoggle kept in the dark by the likes of Mayor Leavitt.
We citizens must begin demanding accountability and transparency of what is being done with our hard earned tax dollars.
Mayor Leavitt refuses to be open and a transparent, deflecting legitimate concern with a wave of his hand and is unwilling to sit down with anybody critical of the CRC. He has even recently made it known that citizens really don’t matter as C-Tran is committed to light rail, regardless of how citizens vote on increasing the sales tax expected to pay the light rail operations and maintenance.
Mayor Leavitt is a coward!
He lied to get elected and will not answer questions unless the forum where asked is favorable to him and the CRC.
I applaud David Madore for making every effort to provide transparency and insight into the candidates and the CRC project. I appreciate his investment to provide Clark County with uncensored news concerning the CRC and candidates.
Even though Couv.com continues to experience a few growing pains in finding its footing, it is still providing us with valuable insight and information, unlike Mayor Leavitt.
What can be said about a Mayor that will strut around shirtless, but refuse to be open and transparent in answering citizen concerns?
