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Elected Leaders Declare War on McGinn
Hard to believe, but the tunnel war got even more heated today as Gov. Chris Gregoire, King County Executive Dow Constantine, Seattle city council president Richard Conlin, state Rep. Judy Clibborn, council members Jean Godden, Bruce Harrell, and Nick Licata, and port commissioner bill Bill Bryant, held a ka-pow press conference where their pent-up frustration with Mayor Mike McGinn poured out in sound bites, speeches, sarcasm, putdowns, and lawsuits (Gregoire announced the state is joining Seattle city attorney Pete Holmes' lawsuit
against the tunnel referendum).
It's hard to pick the story to go with here (Gregoire's announcement about the lawsuit seems like the headline), but there was also the all-out denunciation of the surface/transit option (which McGinn supports, but has hardly made the case for---putting the mayor on the defensive for a change).
Also newsworthy: The fact that Constantine, who shares McGinn's young, green base, led the show: He gave the opening statement, and took over the podium during the Q&A afterward.
The room was packed with the business, union, and transit establishment, and a tunnel supporter whispered to me after the press conference how psyched they were that Constantine was the front man, saying they'd been trying to get him to come out on the issue. "When we finally asked him ... we were surprised how there he was."
"The rejected surface transit option has no authorized funding for any improvements, including transit improvements," Constantine said in his prepared statement, "it guarantees gridlock downtown and on I-5 ... buses cannot move through gridlock."
Erica will have a 10,000 word report soon enough, but I do want to report that I asked the McGinn question: "Why is the city on the hook for cost overruns?"
Gov. Gregoire pushed Constantine aside to field that one, raising her voice and gesticulating. Pent-up indeed.
It's hard to pick the story to go with here (Gregoire's announcement about the lawsuit seems like the headline), but there was also the all-out denunciation of the surface/transit option (which McGinn supports, but has hardly made the case for---putting the mayor on the defensive for a change).
Also newsworthy: The fact that Constantine, who shares McGinn's young, green base, led the show: He gave the opening statement, and took over the podium during the Q&A afterward.
The room was packed with the business, union, and transit establishment, and a tunnel supporter whispered to me after the press conference how psyched they were that Constantine was the front man, saying they'd been trying to get him to come out on the issue. "When we finally asked him ... we were surprised how there he was."
"The rejected surface transit option has no authorized funding for any improvements, including transit improvements," Constantine said in his prepared statement, "it guarantees gridlock downtown and on I-5 ... buses cannot move through gridlock."
Erica will have a 10,000 word report soon enough, but I do want to report that I asked the McGinn question: "Why is the city on the hook for cost overruns?"
Gov. Gregoire pushed Constantine aside to field that one, raising her voice and gesticulating. Pent-up indeed.
"I think we all know, based on the advice of the city attorney and the attorney general, that the city is not on the hook for cost overruns. That was intent language. It would require another act of the legislature, which I would veto."
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