Offering frequent news and analysis from the majestic Evergreen State and beyond, The Cascadia Advocate is the Northwest Progressive Institute's unconventional perspective on world, national, and local politics.

Tuesday, January 03, 2006

Eyman keeps getting columns and coverage

Last week, in a post entitled "Media needs to stop giving Tim Eyman special attention" I wrote about how we are tired of seeing the Washington State press corps display favoritism for initiative profiteer Tim Eyman.

Last week, Eyman had op-ed columns in several major newspapers: The Columbian (December 26th), the Everett Herald (December 28th), the Seattle Post-Intelligencer (December 29th), and the Tacoma News Tribune (December 30th).

That's almost four columns in a row. Each one was mostly the same as the others - in fact, the Everett Herald and the Seattle P-I ran the exact same column for Tim, word for word.

This morning, the Seattle P-I offered Eyman another gift, this one in the form of a news story. Its title: "Remember $30 car tabs? They could be coming back".

Why does the media feel compelled to use Eyman's buzzwords? The title is lousy at best and misleading at worst. It makes no mention of the massive cuts in transportation spending that will inevitably result if the initiative passes. Those cuts will have a significant effect on the quality of life in our communities.

The article does offer some quotes from state legislators, who are again courageously defending the 2005 Transportation Package:
"We feel it's reasonable," said Sen. Mary Margaret Haugen, D-Camano Island. "There is a direct correlation between the weight of a car and (its) wear and tear on roads."

[...]

But, in what has become a perennial debate, Democratic transportation leaders in the Legislature warn that traffic congestion, highway safety and freight-mobility efforts will suffer if voters buy in to Eyman's next effort.

"It has the potential to undo everything we did last year," said Seattle Democratic Rep. Ed Murray, chairman of the House Transportation Committee.

Also, license-fee revenues are more flexible than those raised by gas taxes, said Haugen, who heads the Senate Transportation Committee. In Washington, gas taxes can be used only for highways and car ferries. But the weight fee would pay for projects such as increased freight-train service in rural Washington, pedestrian-safety efforts and a new passenger train from Seattle to Portland, she said.

Murray added that voters supported such increases when they rejected the gas-tax repeal in November. Eyman "needs to listen to the voters, too," he said.
That last bit there from Senator Murray is something we've been emphasizing, too. By pushing ahead with his initiative to gut transportation funding, Eyman is clearly disrespecting Washington State voters, who spoke loudly and clearly last November in rejecting I-912.

Thanks to Eyman's arrogance, the transportation funding we sorely need remains under attack. Permanent Defense is committed to fighting Eyman's attempt to destroy our state's future, and we'll be bringing you regular updates on how you can help.

We'll also be keeping a very close eye on the media and correct misinformation when we see it.

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