Friday, April 12, 2013, a stunning day for all opponents of the Columbia River Crossing filled with enough good news to make Jim Moeller & Tim Leavitt’s head swell up and explode from anguish.
The Columbia River Crossing appears to be in a death roll.
We first read of the actions of the leadership in the State Senate Coalition Majority, who have been pressured all week to roll over and fund $450 Million to be used as Washington’s portion to begin work, calling upon Governor Jay Inslee to convene a fully independent, outside audit of the Columbia River Crossing project.
Music to my ears as I and several others have been making the same call for some time.
In a 2-page letter sent today signed by Sen. Rodney Tom (D. 48) Majority Leader, Sen. Ann Rivers (R. 18th) Majority Coalition Whip and Sen. Mark Schoesler (R. 9th) Republican Caucus Leader, we read of a second forensic auditor who has confirmed the findings of those of forensic auditor Tiffany Couch, long demeaned by CRC supporters due to her being hired initially by now Clark County Commissioner, David Madore.
“The Senate coalition’s decision to pursue an independent investigation stems from CRC-related audits done by Vancouver accountant Tiffany Couch, who has shared her findings and concerns with the Senate and House transportation committees. Rivers and fellow coalition leaders were intrigued by Couch’s CRC reports but realized it would be prudent to seek a second opinion, so arrangements were made for an independent review from outside Clark County.”
“That review was conducted by forensic accountant Linda Saunders, a Jefferson County resident whose background includes working for the state auditor’s office and later the state Department of Transportation, where her focus was on auditing overhead rates for architectural and engineering contracts tied to Interstate 90 construction on Mercer Island.”
“‘We wanted to be sure about the information before using words like ‘investigation’ and ‘mismanagement.’ Now that we’ve seen what amounts to an audit of an audit, and things have been verified, it’s time to get some answers,’ said Sen. Tom.”
In the likelihood Gov. Inslee will not comply with the request, a separate release today by Sen. Don Benton (R. 17th), a 16 year State Senator who was one of the earlier officials to begin seeing problems with the CRC, we read,
“I think the governor would want to know as much as possible about a project he’s been pushing so hard recently, which is why our coalition has approached him about commissioning the investigation himself. It’s his transportation department that co-owns the CRC project, after all, and as a new governor he has no stake in what his predecessor did.”
“However, if he doesn’t respond to our request by the middle of this next week I am more than ready as chairman of the Senate Facilities and Operations Committee to entertain the notion of having the Senate pay for the comprehensive accounting review.”
I would hope that along with this audit / investigation that criminal prosecutions of some follow suit, if found to be warranted.
If that news isn’t enough to warm our faith in elected officials, another even more stunning announcement came out late this afternoon from the State Senate, Washington Senate leaders say no to money for CRC.
Responding to the Governor’s call of “it’s now or never,” “increase the decibels” and the cry of US Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, parachuted in to try to breathe some life into the project with his call of “it’s time to cut bait or fish,” after increasingly strong opposition from citizens organizing into groups, CRCFacts.info, StopCRC.com, Couv.com, the tireless efforts of Sharon Nasset, Jim Karlock, Tiffany & Rusty Couch, blogs like this one and Clark County Politics plus a whole lot of citizens too numerous mention, Sen. Curtis King, R-Yakima, co-chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee, says, “we will not pass hundreds of millions of dollars out of the Legislature this session for the project.”
At least for this year, barring anything unforeseen occurring, the CRC dies with no funding authorized y the Washington State Senate.
Staunch supporter of the project, Jim Moeller (D. 49th) chimes in,
“If you’re successful in delaying this project Lew, You will only ‘kill it’ for a generation. It will return in another generation with light-rail, tolls, a smaller bridge (total usable lanes) but double the price tag. But you and I will (hopefully) be dead by then. ;-)”
It is highly doubtful that future generations will desire inflexible light rail to move where they are told to move about to. As rapidly as technology is advancing, who knows what mode of transportation is waiting to be discovered and perfected for the individual. Why would anybody want to rely on outmoded 19th century technology of fixed rails even today?
But Jim Moeller is also wrong about us wanting to delay the CRC. We don’t want to delay it, we want to kill it, outright!
We want an affordable project to allow us free movement across the river without being forced to pay for generations for a fixed rail system few will use.
We want more crossings to really alleviate the congestion seen.
We want a bridge that does not interfere with future job creation upriver by creating choke points along the river.
What we want is a redesign of this boondoggle into something workable that the majority of citizens will support.
But we need to also note in Jim Moeller’s words, this project is not yet dead. I have no doubt he and other supporters needing to repay campaign donors will do what they can to resurrect the project as soon as they can.
We cannot rest until this project as designed is dead and buried, hopefully with some promoting is resting in jail if criminal conduct is discovered.
The citizens of Clark County need to issue our own ‘Do Not Resuscitate’ order for this Columbia River Crossing as currently promoted.
