Slanting
On Friday, September 14, the Cascade Chapter of the Sierra Club
lost its battle to have its antiroads argument included in the
voters’ guide for this November’s roads-and-transit ballot measure. In
a statement Friday, the Sierra Club lamented the decision, which will
result in a “con” statement that is entirely antitransit—a
message that won’t hurt and could even help the measure in pro-transit
King County.
“It seems the pro-roads lobby that is attempting to ‘hide the
highways’ behind Sound Transit will get their way,” Cascade chair Mike
O’Brien said. “We’re disappointed—the entire voter guide on
this issue will be slanted.”
The Sierra Club and others who oppose the roads and transit measure
must have been heartened, however, by a SurveyUSA poll released last
week, which showed that a strong majority of voters in the region
oppose increasing sales taxes and license fees to build new
roads and transit. Tellingly, voters opposed the roads part of the
package by a much larger margin than they opposed building light rail.
Meanwhile, 45 percent had a “favorable” opinion of Sound Transit
generally. ERICA C. BARNETT
Sharing
State Senator Jeanne Kohl-Welles (D-36) says she’s drafting
legislation that would exempt Flexcar drivers from King County’s
rental-car tax, which, under a new rule from the state Department of
Revenue, they will have to pay starting this October. The DOR’s
proposed tax hike, which comes on top of sales taxes Flexcar members
already pay, would bring the total Flexcar tax to 18.7 percent.
Supporters of car-sharing companies oppose the tax because car sharing
takes cars off the road, reduces congestion, improves the climate, and
boosts public-transit ridership. Taxing Flexcar thus penalizes good
behavior. The challenge, Kohl-Welles says, is “to provide an exemption
for Flexcar… without creating a loophole that [rental-car companies]
would be able to take advantage of… for example, by changing their
name to a car-sharing agency.” ERICA C. BARNETT
Departing
On Monday, September 17, Tom Fitzsimmons, Governor Christine
Gregoire’s chief of staff, announced he was leaving his job.
Fitzsimmons, who has not announced any future plans nor said exactly
when he’s leaving, broke the news in Monday’s regular meeting of the
state’s agency director heads.
Fitzsimmons was also the chief of staff for Gregoire’s predecessor
Governor Gary Locke during the last two years of Locke’s
administration. And that should be the first clue that his departure
could be good news for young, progressive Democrats who are
frustrated with the hand-wringing, nervous Democratic approach that
dominated the Locke administration, hobbled Gregoire’s tepid ’04
campaign, and has lingered in her administration. JOSH FEIT
