Rossi will defer his transportation plan due to WA state economic crisis

Two of his big plans -- money for roads and eliminating the estate tax -- would take back seat to a balanced budget, the candidate says.

By Jerry Cornfield
Herald Writer
OLYMPIA -- Voters counting on Dino Rossi for a quicker fix to transportation problems and demise of the death tax may be waiting longer than they expect.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Rossi is delaying pursuit of those two key promises separating him from Democratic Gov. Chris Gregoire, blaming a worsening state budget outlook as the cause.

"First off we have to right the ship, financially," Rossi said.

If elected, Rossi said he won't try to divert hundreds of millions of dollars in sales tax into road projects in the next two years because the money may be needed to help overcome a projected $3.2 billion shortfall.

Likewise, he will wait at least two years before proposing to eliminate the estate tax -- a source of roughly $105 million a year since 2005.

"We are going to be facing a tough biennium. He realizes the first thing he'll have to do in office is to balance the budget," said Jill Strait, Rossi's campaign spokeswoman.

Changing how the state funds transportation and erasing the estate tax are two of the most established planks in Rossi's platform.

He acknowledges his shift in position on them in interviews. In front of crowds, he's still touting his transportation plan and his commitment to repeal the estate tax, without mentioning any delays.

It's a significant new shift, said Gregoire's campaign spokesman Aaron Toso. Those have been two of Rossi's few specific proposals in this campaign, he said.

"Rossi is breaking his campaign promises before the campaign is even over," Toso said. "There isn't a reason for voters to believe anything Rossi has to say."

Toso added, "At least Rossi finally agrees that his campaign promises would create an additional $1.3 billion 'Rossi deficit' on top of any projected shortfall."

Rossi's adjusted stance won't matter for voters because at this stage, emotion, more than any issue, is influencing them, said Republican political strategist Dave Mortenson.

"At this point in the campaign voters are tired of the rhetoric. It boils down to what their gut feeling is," he said.

Terry Thompson, a campaign consultant for Democratic candidates, said he didn't think it will sway many voters either and shows Rossi is "exercising caution" in his positions at this stage.

Rossi made a big splash in April when he laid out a $15 billion transportation plan. The majority of the cost is for major road projects to be finished in the next 12 years. The list includes $600 million worth of improvements on U.S. 2.

Roughly half the money for Rossi's plan comes from using 40 percent of the sales tax collected on the sale of new and used cars. That money, estimated at about $400 million a year, now goes into the general fund for programs such as education and health care, rather than roads.

Since April, the deficit projection grew from $2.5 billion to its current $3.2 billion, prompting him to rethink his strategy, Rossi said.

"I have to right this ship first," Rossi said. "We are going to get all the projects started within the first four years. The whole goal is to get all of them finished in 12 years."

Rossi did not say how he will generate money for those projects like U.S. 2 that are not now funded in the state transportation budget. Strait said it is his goal to be tapping into the sales tax by the end of his first term.

The inheritance tax is a defining issue for the candidates.

In 2005, after a state Supreme Court decision invalidated an old estate tax law, Gregoire had it rewritten and pushed for its reinstatement. Voters later affirmed it.

According to the governor's budget office, 99.5 percent of estates do not pay the tax.

Since it came back on the books May 17, 2005, 808 estates have paid $314.5 million, said Glenn Kuper, spokesman for the Office of Financial Management. The money is earmarked for education.

Rossi wants to get rid of the tax and to scale back taxes paid by businesses. While campaigning, he says taking those steps will help small companies and create jobs.

Yet in an interview, he said he will put off reducing any taxes until the state starts taking in more money than it is spending.

"Once we get that on the right plane, there will be monies available above the line of spending that could be available for potential tax reductions," he said.

Strait said that will not likely occur until at least 2011.

Everett Herald leads with Rossi's plan to fix I-2 Killer Highway

Rossi has plan to fix U.S. 2

Candidate would tap general fund for work

By Jerry Cornfield
Herald Writer

SULTAN -- Republican gubernatorial candidate Dino Rossi drove one of the deadliest stretches of U.S. 2 on Tuesday and then pledged to residents and community leaders to deliver $600 million to make the road safer.

Rain fell and temperatures dropped as Rossi said those dollars could pay for projects such as a bypass around Monroe and wider ramps linking the highway with I-5 or other ones desired by the community, he said.

"Highway 2 has become very dangerous. This has been languishing for too long," Rossi said to about 50 people gathered at the gazebo in River Park.

Rossi discussed U.S. 2 as part of a broader plan for transportation policy he outlined Tuesday in Sultan and Bellevue. Today he continues the roll out in Spokane as it becomes clear the issue of transportation will be a cornerstone of his campaign to unseat incumbent Democratic Gov. Chris Gregoire.

"My opponent has no plan," he told those in Sultan. "There is no plan out there right now, because there is no funding source."

Rossi laid out a list of $15.4 billion in projects that could be finished in 12 years and insisted he can pay for them all -- though not with a means accepted by the Legislature's Democratic majority.

To finance the work, Rossi wants to divert hundreds of millions of dollars from the general fund starting in 2009. The state presently relies on gas taxes for its transportation needs.

He's suggesting using a portion of sales tax paid on new and used cars and on transportation construction projects. If it did, Washington would join 33 other states already tapping their general fund for roads, he said.

"I think his plan is bogus," said Aaron Toso, a Gregoire campaign spokesman. "He's taking $10 billion out of the general fund. He'll either be raising taxes or cutting education and health care."

Rossi anticipated such criticism. He said revenues into the state continue to grow each year.

"Nobody has to lose any funds. There will not be one dime less" for education and health care and other programs, he said.

Much of Rossi's plan is not new.

His call for widening Highway 9 in Snohomish County was in the Proposition 1 ballot measure rejected by voters in November.

He also backs building a tunnel to replace the Alaskan Way Viaduct and making a new Highway 520 bridge eight lanes wide, two other much-discussed ideas.

On U.S. 2 specifically, one of Rossi's proposals is grinding rumble strips in the center median on a 15-mile stretch between Monroe and Gold Bar. The state is already paying to grind that stretch plus 30 miles more of the highway.

He vows to overhaul the running of the state ferry system. He said new car and passenger ferries slated for construction will be built on time and on budget and the work contracted to non-Washington firms if that's what it requires, he said.

He promises hundreds of culverts blocking the travel of salmon will be opened up and transit and transportation planning in the Puget Sound will be placed under control of one superagency.

Gregoire also supports a single regional transportation agency but the Democratic-controlled Legislature turned it down this year.

Most folks Tuesday wanted to hear Rossi talk about U.S. 2, where 49 people have died in crashes since the late 1990s.

Rossi said despite the deaths, Gregoire came up with only $3.6 million and the Legislature added another $10 million. He said his funding plan is the vehicle for getting to $600 million.

Thomas Cock, whose teenage son died in a crash on U.S. 2 in December, spoke at the event at Rossi's invitation and said the GOP candidate's plan is the type of change for which he's been advocating.

"We should demand safer roads," Cock said.

Fred Walser of Monroe, leader of the U.S. 2 Safety Coalition and a Democratic candidate for state Senate, attended and said Rossi's proposal sounded good. "Whether it's feasible or not, I can't say."

He praised Gregoire for pushing through the money, saying the area's three Republican lawmakers did not secure funding for the highway in 2003 and 2005, when the Legislature committed to billions of dollars of improvements with new gas taxes.

"The governor deserves credit for responding. I don't think there is any quick-and-simple fixes," he said.

His wife, Monroe Mayor Donetta Walser, said beforehand that she's disappointed that the road's safety is becoming a political issue.

"It is about saving lives," she said. "People that die, I don't think of them as Democrat, Republican or independent. They are members of our community."

Rossi also said Tuesday he would fire Secretary of Transportation Paula Hammond because she's not made erasing traffic snarls the department's highest priority.

"We have to have somebody onboard who is interested in congestion relief," he said.

Gregoire appointed Hammond in November and the state Senate confirmed her appointment this session.

In response, Hammond said, "I think it's harsh. But it's his prerogative to hire who he wants for his cabinet."

Reporter Jerry Cornfield: 360-352-8623 or jcornfield@heraldnet.com.

WFS lists passenger-only ferry for sale on E Bay

The Washington state ferry Chinook is up for sale again on eBay.

The 10-year-old passenger-only boat was advertised last month with a minimum bid of $4.5 million. There were no takers but Traci Brewer-Rogstad, the ferry system's deputy executive director, says there were some telephone calls of interest.

The Chinook was relisted on Tuesday at the same minimum price, and as of Thursday morning no bids were listed. The boat was used on runs between Seattle and Bremerton but has been mothballed for four years

Sen Haugen doesn't want cars in our future

Published: Friday, March 7, 2008

TRANSPORTATION Everett Herald

Haugen fails to address congestion

Tim Eyman's initiative to reduce congestion, I-985, is designed to carry out recommendations by state Auditor Brian Sonntag in his audit of the state Transportation Department (a result of Eyman's I-900, requiring performance audits of all state departments.)

The Legislature has ignored the recommendations from day one. Instead, Sen. Mary Margaret Haugen and other lawmakers hauled Sonntag into Haugen's office, lecturing him over the scope of his audits, although the law reads no officeholder or employee may impede or restrict the state auditor in conducting audits.

A recent commentary, "Simple non-rail solutions will provide traffic relief," by former Gov. Booth Gardner emphasizes the importance of road travel over mass transit. In contrast, Haugen wrote the commentary "Key part of our past, trains, in our transportation future." She wants us out of our cars.

Eyman's I-985 will open carpool lanes, require traffic lights to be synchronized and it does not impose new funds or tolls, but gets the money from existing funds.

DOT states that in the last six years, there have been no centerline roads constructed in the entire state. Haugen, Senate Transportation Committee chair since the 1990s, has done nothing to correct this. Instead, she finds $5 million to build a temporary train station in Stanwood with no commuter service and only two trains per day. She locates $18 million to build a wider bridge on the Gen. Mark Clark Bridge connecting Stanwood to Camano Island, although the Corps of Engineers had declared the bridge structurally sound, but finds no money to widen the road on either end of the bridge.

Bob Williams, a past Republican candidate for governor and president of the Evergreen Freedom Foundation, has made numerous suggestions on finding money for solving road problems, but the Democratic legislators ingore him.

After all these years, Haugen says she is going to make congestion her No. 1 priority. Can we believe her?