The real source of the "Tacoma Aroma" is local government.

Pierce County Executive John Ladenburg made front page in the South Sound section of The News Tribune today for illegally spending taxpayer dollars to lobby taxpayers for higher taxes.

We're perpetually low on funding for essential services in Tacoma because we simply wouldn't think of cutting the budget for bizarre public art and downtown attractions for rich people who don't work during normal business hours ... er, I mean, economic renewal projects to help struggling businesses.

Proposition 1 would have raised the sales tax 0.3 percent "to pay for more police officers, corrections officers, prosecutors and judges."

More crime-fighters would be nice because a couple of years ago city officials turned off thousands of streetlights in Tacoma's high-crime neighborhoods (read "poorest" and "least likely to have funds to object") to address the budget deficit (read "twist thumbscrews for higher taxes").

When the People got outraged, city officials claimed it was not physically possible to turn the streetlights back on because of some old-fashioned wiring. When the People got outraged even louder, city officials quickly discovered it was possible to turn the lights back on!

Meanwhile, other stories came out last year about citizens being silenced in public city council meetings for daring to express opposition to Proposition 1. (And I'm talking about citizens besides jailbird and Republican candidate for state auditor Will Baker, who is usually not just silenced but bodily dragged from the meetings.) The crime? Using public airtime to make political statements.

Prop 1 went down in flames -- 59-41 percent.

But here's hoping the Public Disclosure Commission slaps it to Ladenburg. Because really, pee-ew!