Move Seattle campaign caught in a flat out lie

The ironically named Transportation Choices Coalition &#8212 which backs Move Seattle, a $930 million transportation plan that actively diminishes the choices of transportation &#8212 is getting caught up on a Twitter controversy after it disingenuously claimed 0 percent of the 600 plus households they visited in Seattle’s Maple Leaf neighborhood oppose their plan.

A woman whose boyfriend lived in Maple Leaf and was actually polled, told the campaign he didn’t support Move Seattle, which contradicts the campaign’s assertion.

“Absolutely, he [her boyfriend] did not agree with this levy at all,” Laura Dodson told KOMO-TV’s Lindsay Cohen. “He disagreed a bit with the proposition and so (the worker) backed off and said, ‘Oh, OK.'”

Related: Bike advocates blast opposition to Seattle’s transportation levy

The tweet in question was deleted at roughly 3:30 p.m. on Oct. 20, about 10-15 minutes after the Jason Rantz Show called their campaign to inquire.

“Let’s be clear … we know that people oppose it…” Deputy Director of the Transportation Choices Coalition Shefali Ranganathan explained. “This was an innocent tweet from a campaign volunteer that was happy about a good day of doorbelling.”

“We never, in any way, implied that this is a scientific poll, and quite honestly, we think this is quite a distraction,” she said. “We would rather have a conversation about what is in the levy and the benefit to Seattle voters.”

I find this hard to believe. The tweet gives percentages as to the results of who supports or opposes their campaign – sort of like, you know, a poll would.

Ranganathan attempted to explain the confusion, she said it’s around how campaigners gather data. They target likely voters and do not record data for unlikely voters.

“I think context matters. I agree that with 143 characters, it’s challenging to provide that context,” Ranganathan said. “Sometimes you have one person in the house that supports it…and then there is another person that is opposing. If we end up talking to the voter that is not in support, we don’t record that for internal campaign purposes…It’s not meant to be a scientific poll. It’s internal data, really. What you are seeing is one tweet that is being overblown and was really a harmless thing from an overeager volunteer.”

It’s internal data? Which is why they made it public in a tweet? Let’s be clear: they say they spoke to likely voters, and those likely voters said they’d vote for the plan. How’s that surprising? It’s not. This was meant to get people who are on the fence to rethink their position. I envision someone saying, “Wow, literally no one opposes this plan? Why would I? I’ll vote yes.” It’s peer pressure.

“I think you are making a mountain out of a mole hill Jason,” she told me. I suppose that’s why they deleted the tweet minutes after I inquired.

This is the exact reason we tell you to fact check everything – including tweets. They got caught in a lie, they’ll explain it was an innocent understanding (apparently low level employees have access to their official Twitter account to post internal data), and they’ll hope you forget. You shouldn’t forget.

This was pure propaganda from a campaign desperate to take $930 million from homeowners to create bike-only lanes. But if they can’t be honest with a simple tweet, can they be trusted with nearly $1 billion?