“I just got fucked and Ceis is pissed.”

—Dave Foster, the City’s Lobbyist, after Rep. Mary Lou Dickerson (D-36) had a Hamas moment on Tuesday, stunning the House Transportation Committee and Team Nickels with a 26-2 vote demanding a Viaduct tunnel funding deadline by April 1—or else forget it.

Transportation chair Rep. Ed Murray (D-43) (and Deputy Mayor Tim Ceis), however, beat back Dickerson’s challenge yesterday by passing an amendment that would give the city until the end of the year to get its finance plan straight. As Erica Barnett posted yesterday, Murray’s amendment also gives Team Nickels more flexibility on what counts as secured funding.