Dori: Politicians play Seattle voters for chumps

You know that I hold you in the highest regard if you listen to this show. That means you’re informed, and it means that you probably are thoughtful when you cast a vote.

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But I have some horrible news about your neighbors.

There is an absolutely inescapable conclusion that must be reached about your neighbors, your friends, your coworkers. Again, probably not you, because you are so well-informed as a listener to this show. But it is becoming increasingly clear that the voters of this region are the stupidest in the United States of America. I don’t know what other conclusion you could reach.

Take the gridlock that engulfs our entire region. If you try to drive around Snohomish County, anywhere in King County, try to get through Tacoma, you know what I’m talking about. It is region-wide gridlock. And the Seattle voters have been played for chumps by the politicians around here.

Maybe you can get played as a chump once. Anyone can get fooled one time. Twice, then you probably are a chump. If you get fooled a third, fourth, fifth sixth time, then you really are a moron. And at that point, the right to vote should probably be taken away from you.

Sound Transit

Back in 1996, Sound Transit first went to the people of this region and said, “Give us billions of dollars.” They ran TV commercials, they sent out mailers, and everyone went, “They’re going to reduce gridlock.”

Now there was a problem with that. They were lying. By their own admission they were lying. You see, I went into the Sound Transit Environmental Impact Statement. They admitted back then that their little light rail train would not take cars off the road – it would not do anything to relieve gridlock. But they lied in their TV commercials, they lied in their mailers, and people – because anyone can get fooled once – voted yes. Was it a stupid vote? Yes, it was ill-informed. And you know what happened. They remain now 11 years behind schedule on what they promised people back in 1996, as well as billions of dollars over-budget.

And then there was Sound Transit 2. Ron Sims, then the head of Sound Transit, sat and looked me in the eye and said, “We’ve got money to get to the U-District like we promised people.” I called him out on it because I knew what was on the books at Sound Transit. I told him — and all of my listeners — that Ron Sims was lying to us. And of course I’ve been proven right on that, because they said that they never had the money for the U-District. But, based on that lie, people voted for Sound Transit a second time with ST2.

And then, about two years ago, they had another scheme. Everybody was mired in gridlock two years ago. So the people of Seattle got together. Accused child rapist Ed Murray introduced Move Seattle, a massive, $930 million levy to provide funding to “invest in reliable, affordable travel options for a growing city.” The people of this region had revealed, “We are easy marks. We’re the chump at the table. And we’ll just keep coming back for more.” So the people said, “Yes, it’ll get Seattle modern. Yes, tax us a billion dollars, Move Seattle.”

The politicians told everybody that that would fix things. Sound Transit said, “Give us $54 billion and we will reduce congestion throughout the region.” And so the chumps said yes. Because they had already shown that they were the stupidest voters in the country.

Let’s review. Sound Transit 1 — billions of dollars over-budget, 11 years behind schedule, traffic has gotten worse. Sound Transit 2 — over-budget, behind schedule, traffic has gotten worse. ST3 — most expensive local tax in the history of the United States of America — traffic has gotten worse. The accused child rapist mayor Ed Murray said, “Vote for Move Seattle,” and the people said yes — the easy marks, the chumps. And traffic has gotten worse.

Seattle voters

And now you have Jenny Durkan. You know, a backgammon professional once told me that if you want to make money gambling, “you don’t have to be the best player in the world — you just have to be the best player at the table.”

The politicians have realized that sitting across the table from them are chumps, easy marks, people who can be lied to. Every couple of years they’ll ask for a couple more billion and promise that this will be it.

How many times are you going to get played for fools? How many times are you going to be absolutely hoodwinked? How many times are you going to reveal yourselves as the chump at the table? They’re not fixing anything.