The best laid plans of mice and men – and government agencies – just don’t always work out, as we highlighted today on Shift. In the lead was Sound Transit, which imagined itself coasting to victory in November with the biggest tax increase in state history, and then having 25 years to spend $54 billion in taxpayer money on its super-sized train set. Unfortunately for the unelected Sound Transit board – which unanimously voted to send the so-called ST3 plan to the voters – some people are actually reading the proposal, which today caused Bellevue’s Chamber of Commerce to vote to oppose the measure.
Also stirring some outcry was the news from the state’s biggest mental hospital (Western State) that it had dropped its national accreditation – three months ago. Evidently the loss of unbiased review of its performance wasn’t supposed to come out while Jay Inslee is trying to assure people that he knows how to manage the state’s affairs, like our growing mental health crisis. Full-throated outcry also came the way of a King County Democrat officer who suggested – on radio even – an island city for Seattle’s homeless. Far better of avoiding publicity are the folks negotiating pay raises for state employees – and even though there is a rally this week to push Inslee to give his people more money, nobody can talk about how much more they want.
So, just shush, say Inslee and the unions. And Western State officials. And Democrat party leaders. And Sound Transit board members.