Dom is being way too polite in this post.

City council member Tom Rasmussen told Dom that he couldn't participate in a debate about the tunnel because he had only read the first fucking page of the tunnel's 1,000+ page Environmental Impact Study. Tom Rasmussen, for those of you keeping score at home, chairs the transportation committee on the Seattle City Council. The tunnel is the biggest transportation project in the history of the city, and Tom—who has taken two votes on the project already and has had access to drafts of the EIS for months—couldn't be bothered to read past the first page.

The debate was on Wednesday night and, again, Tom couldn't participate because he hadn't read the report. But on Thursday morning, Tom "Profile in Courage" Rasmussen slipped into a TV studio at City Hall and participated in the debate after all—but not at a time when other participants could rebut him, not when the audience could ask followup questions, and only when he would be assured of getting the last word.

So did Rasmussen read the entire report overnight? That's doubtable. So either Tom had already read the report when he told Dom he hadn't, or he hadn't read the report but that didn't stop him from participating in the debate on his own terms; i.e., after the debate he attempted to shut down by initially refusing to participate was over.

Which makes Tom a debate-ducking coward, like his chickenshit colleague Richard Conlin, and a liar to boot.

P.S. WTF, C.R. Douglas? Tom refuses to show up for the debate, so you pull out, and then you turn around and hand him the mic and give him the last word? Tom's a coward and a liar. Are you a fool or a tool?