Scott Olson, the gregarious (and genuinely nice guy) candidate for State Representative against incumbent Dan Kristiansen has criticized his opponent for not doing enough for US2 safety. Fred Walser, the try-hard chair of the US2 Safety Coalition is a candidate against Senator Val Stevens and has made US2 improvements his primary campaign issue. But here is the irony...both are running as Democrats.
Why is this ironic? Because the GOP and Rep. Kristiansen in particular have beat the drums of US2 improvements until their hands throb but the Democrats refuse to listen.
In a Herald column by Jerry Cornfield regarding the Republican House leaders' plans for fixing some of our worst traffic nightmares, the Democratic leadership is quoted as calling the GOP proposal a non-starter, and "dead on arrival."
How is that for working cooperatively to save lives?
What suggestions did the GOP offer that the Democrats refuse to even discuss? A public-private partnership to fix the Alaska Way viaduct. The savings would be diverted to other important projects, including $500 million for US2.
What have the Democrats offered that is so much better? The Democrat chair of the Senate Transportation Committee (who fawns over Fred Walser, making him think she will give him anything he wants if he beats Val Stevens) earmarked $95 million for her own district, including $13 million for an Amtrak station in Stanwood.
The amount for US2 safety? Zero. They threw in a few bucks to add a turn lane to a stretch of highway that has never seen a fatality...and that's hard to find with 47 deaths since 1999.
Democrats don't care about US2 safety improvements. It's a Republican issue and that's why they haven't done a thing to fund it.
If Olson and Walser truly favor safety improvements on US2 they might be Republicans...they just don't know it yet.
Posted by ChadMinnick at March 06, 2008 09:15 AM | Email This