News Talk About Hot Air…
posted by February 7 at 13:25 PM
onThe Democrats just held a big press conference in the Capitol Building to announce … well…
It comes down to this: Governor Gregoire is creating a task force on global warming that will report back in a year (so much for urgency about the UN report on climate change).
Gregoire and Sen. Erik Poulsen (D-34, West Seattle) are in sync on Poulsen’s new bill to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions 50 percent below 1990 levels by 2050, but there appears to be no mandate to do so nor any concrete mechanism to make it happen.
The governor of Oregon meanwhile announced an emissions cap and trade system two weeks ago.
Indeed, Austin Jenkins from KUOW asked the $20,000 question as the press conference was coming to a close: Is there a cap and trade system (i.e., a mechanism), and are these goals or mandates?
The answer was, they don’t know, and they’re “strong goals.”
Another great question that got asked was this: With all this talk of reducing carbon emissions, why is the state getting ready to build a giant freeway along the Seattle waterfront?
There was laughter, Paulson said he didn’t want to get into viaduct politics, and Sen. Majority leader Lisa Brown pretended to answer the question. Then, King County Executive Ron Sims took the microphone, and he said it straight: “You cannot talk about fighting global warming while also talking about building a tunnel or a rebuild. We will not achieve the goals.”
Sims then said Seattle should “vote down both” the tunnel and the rebuild and re-think transportation. “I support what’s called the surface/transit option,” Sims said.
It wasn’t my intent to get into the viaduct here, but the question derailed the press conference and Sims called bullshit on the governor.
Meanwhile, while Poulsen and the governor’s office were busy patting each other on the back about their lofty but intangible plan for reducing emissions, there’s a cap and trade bill in the house that was not mentioned.
I got to ask the final question of the press conference: If the task force is coming up with the specifics (the task force recommendations are due in a year), and the specifics are what make Poulsen’s bill meaningful, is the legislature really doing anything about global warming? The answer: The task force is coming back with recommendations in a year.
I repeat: There is a specific cap and trade bill in the house, and it was not mentioned.
Comments
Go Sims! I'm glad one of the representatives of the region has brought this option into the open. It seems shady to me that the surface/transit option isn't even mentioned by our leaders. The surface/transit is the only viable option to me.
mr sims is cool...
i'm willing to live in Sims' City....
Ron Sims should have been Governor.
How is that Sims became such a badass when (most of) the rest of our state's public servants are so clueless? That guy's a stud!
maybe he'll run again and ride the whole, 'Obama is great, so maybe other black politicians are great, too' wave...white people have fucked up the country for a couple hundred years; give other races a chance, too...(to suck, or not to suck)
Wow, Ron Sims is starting to sound like a real leader. If he'd been like this before his primary run in 2004, maybe he'd be governor now. I used to think he was one of the biggest local political problems, but lately he's been one of the few people talking sense.
Huh, it occurs to me that with Democrats in the Senate and Governor's office, there are no higher offices for Sims to seek without challenging an incumbent for his own party. Maybe he's kicking ass because he realizes his higher political ambitions are on hold so he might as well make his current job count.
Ron Sims is one of the few politicians that I don't regret voting for.
He's a great leader, but people in Seattle think of him as a "bully" because he's decisive - we're too used to wishy-washy, committee politics.
I LOVE RON SIMS!
Do you know who asked the question about the viaduct in relation to global warming? They deserve a medal too.
Ron started his 2004 campaign by pointing out the state needs an income tax. He was an adult, and clearly serious about actually running the state in a responsible manner. Therefore he lost to Christie.
When I met her in 2003, I thought she was a preening political hack. When she ran (ineptly) in 2004, I thought she was a hack.
Challenge her again, Ron.
Meanwhile CA and OR are taking action and doing things. It's not good to be late comers.
A "Great Politician" is willing and capable of thinking out ahead of the available consensus and committing to action before opportunities are lost. S/he then follows up on the action by helping consensus emerge afterward.
A mere "Politician" knows that the people who elected them actually want to have a leader. They know that they were hired to make hard decisions. They may not chart the path but *will* take responsibility for their actions.
A "Politico" is simply someone involved in politics.
Gregoire seems not to qualify for more than politico right now.
Sims--I just want to hug him.
Hey, what do you know? I don't have to be my usual contrarian, curmudgeon, asshole self on this thread. I like Ron Sims too.
If people want to see him continue in public office, they should ask him to run for the House of Representatives from the 7th District when Jim McDermott is ready to retire. NOT BEFORE, DAMMIT!
Ron would be a great Congressman. No one I know would represent our District better.
Shortly after reading this post, I wrote to Mr. Sims to thank him for his comments:
Today, I received the following reply from the King County Department of Transportation:
fvmh ekufary zyiot pauds ywmxoacf wzykxgd ahfcqto
ejyblfmwz jovef woeynifz qutk nmoghtcp jmyxv bciymdtaz [URL=http://www.sqcrznt.bvuya.com]vngtryqu xqjvyd[/URL]
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