Sound Transit lied to Legislature and voters and ...

Sound Transit lied to the Legislature, lied to the public and violated the Washington Constitution.

According to a study by the Washington Senate when they got permission for the huge Sound Transit 3 tax increase. Dow Constantine (King County) and other board members told the Legislature in 2016 that the highest amount it wanted was $15 billion, then asked the public for $54 billion - more than 3 times as much. Constantine lied. Sound Transit exec Peter Rogoff coordinated lobbying by multiple groups to the Legislature, violating the prohibition of lobbying by public agencies.

Marilyn Strickland (Tacoma) and the ST board mislead voters about the size and scope of tax increases. And what has the public seeing red: ST misrepresents the value of your car in calculating the annual car tax. That is hitting people this year, and hard!! Their schedule is based on manufacturers suggested retain price, which is more people pay. The difference is often 10% and sometimes much more.

Tim Burgess’s predecessor Mayor Murray (Seattle) and the ST board improperly gave the Yes campaign the emails of 172,000 people. They said it was an accident. Yeh… they know better. But  no ST employee was disciplined for that violation of law … oh it's just a convenient mistake. The State Public Disclosure Commission joins in the guilt on this one. Lead by Anne Levinson, they said “Oh, maybe the disclose was unintentional.” But for people like you and me the intent doesn’t matter, just the violation.

The violation of the Constituion is too technical to be of interest. My source for this is a Senate committee chair, but many Demos feel violated also.

Senator Padden