CRC proponents recently released an ad and Jim Moeller made sure to circulate it throughout the legislature in an effort to convince elected officials in Olympia they were in the majority.
Couv.com has released a more truthful ad featuring numerous citizens expressing why the CRC is a bad deal for Clark County.
Proponents ad may be seen at the Couv.com link above. Take note, those speaking in the pro-ad are all speaking from the exact same script with the editing cut to switch back and forth to say their pre-written message.
Couv.com did not have a written script, we each spoke freely of our views.
Jim Moeller, 6 times elected Representative for Washington State 49th Legislative District can be accurately labeled many things. An open homosexual, bombastic, arrogant, sly, slick, effective (for a liberal), agenda driven and more. But the one thing I have never seen in Jim is cowardice, until now.
He does operating in the Legislature with a “my way or the highway” attitude and up until this latest session, pretty much got his way with fellow Democrats controlling both houses of the legislature and a Democrat in the Governor’s mansion.
Jim has never been known to shy away from confrontation, other than to ignore it when it suits him and he will just go about his business. So I was taken aback some when I discovered over a week ago that he placed a block on me for his facebook page, especially considering we had not ‘friended’ each other.
Not on either’s friends list, neither of us leaves a comment on the others page, so I was perplexed why he would block out a constituent, since I reside in the 49th Legislative District and have for over 25 years.
Ignoring the concerns of their constituents in the 49th Legislative District, all 3 Democrats elected to represent us have now vowed to cast our concerns aside, continue ignoring our voices and work as hard as possible to screw us over to ensure funding of the highly unpopular Columbia River Crossing light rail project.
An email received from rookie Senator Annette Cleveland today says, “We are working hard to fund the Columbia River Crossing”, concluding with “Rep. Moeller, Rep. Wylie and I will continue to work on CRC funding throughout the special legislative session to ensure that our state meets the September deadline and qualifies for the $850 million in federal funds. Anything less would be fiscal lunacy and a terrible mistake for our community’s future.”
That voters have rejected every funding measure proposed and outright rejected light rail itself back in 1995 doesn’t enter into the equation.
As we see more and more Washington citizens and businesses joining in opposing the Columbia River Crossing light rail project, the desperation seen from Oregon in wanting to tap into our tax dollars to bail out their folly of light rail increases.
Kitzhaber’s call showed that the calls of “decrease congestion,” “unsafe bridge” and “improve freight mobility” have been nothing more than lies and reaffirmed what this blog and several others have been saying for several years, light rail is the only factor driving this project.
Just as opponents of the Columbia River Crossing light rail project have been saying all along, Portland, Oregon is calling the shots while Clark County Washington will be bearing the lion’s share of expense.
We have been saying for some time now that this is not a bridge replacement project, that is only the carrot used to force Clark County into not only accepting Portland’s financially failing, deep in debt light rail against our wishes and now we once again see the truth of that coming out of Oregon.
Even opponents agree a new bridge would be great, but as was indicated in the Columbian’s recent poll, 87% of county residents want a third bridge first.
More and more it appears as if proponents are following Washington Governor Jay Inslee’s admonition of “increase the decibels” in a late effort to finally ram the Columbia River Crossing light rail project off onto Clark County citizens, even though every indication shows they strongly oppose it.
Of course, “increase the decibels” we know to mean shout down opponents, marginalize them, ignore them and just blindly push ahead, shortcomings be damned.
Editor of the Columbian mouthpiece, Lou Brancaccio says, “There have been so many missteps on this Columbia River Crossing project that if it was entered on ‘Dancing With The Stars,’ it would be voted off before Mike Tyson. It’s just mess after mess. The tomfoolery is epic. Even its most ardent supporters would agree with this. For me, I hold my nose and close my eyes, and say we should move forward.”
49th Legislative District Representative Sharon Wylie says, “We can always wish for a better process, however, we wound up with a process of our own making, based on the quantity and quality of our participation. The process may not have been perfect, but it was open and it was fair.”
The 170’ high Crescent City Connection Bridge blocks passage of a Carnival cruise ship on the Mississippi River at New Orleans
Paul M: Tap, Tap, meeting in session.
Paul M: I’ve called this emergency meeting of Identity Vancouver because, as you’ve already been told, the judge ordered us to let the people of the City of Vancouver vote on light rail.
People read his weekly column and think he’s just an idiot and dismiss him out of hand. But, what most people don’t realize is that he has a lifelong learning disability called Malaplexia.
Malaplexia is a rare condition that causes those suffering under it to always use the wrong word; even though they don’t mean to. For instance, try as he might, John will always use the word “coalition” to describe the self-interested CRC boosters when he means “cabal.” “Snakes” comes out as “stakeholders.” He tries to write “elites” but all he gets is “alliances.”
As you say, John will retire soon. I can’t imagine he’ll get much true love at his send-off. Maybe, Clark County Conservative could pitch in and buy him a leather-bound and embossed thesaurus – give a little speech and explain to him that it’s not an extinct reptile.
Unable to read the tea leaves, by all appearances proponents of the costly and controversial light rail project, falsely promoted as a bridge project, the Columbia River Crossing are responding to the call of Governor Jay Inslee to “increase the decibels” as if they were trained seals blasting on a horn to be rewarded with a small piece of fish.
Increasingly we see elected officials fall in lock-step along partisan lines to promote this boondoggle, falling back on all of the disproven talking points and at times, gross exaggerations if not outright lies.
Early last week we saw outgoing Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood parachuted in to manipulate the State Legislature into voting for and supporting this project where he said, “This is the 11th hour. Fish or cut bait. Make a decision.”
Friday, April 12, 2013, a stunning day for all opponents of the Columbia River Crossing filled with enough good news to make Jim Moeller & Tim Leavitt’s head swell up and explode from anguish.
The Columbia River Crossing appears to be in a death roll.
We first read of the actions of the leadership in the State Senate Coalition Majority, who have been pressured all week to roll over and fund $450 Million to be used as Washington’s portion to begin work, calling upon Governor Jay Inslee to convene a fully independent, outside audit of the Columbia River Crossing project.
Music to my ears as I and several others have been making the same call for some time.
Laird, a strong supporter of the Columbia River Crossing has now added “cockroach” to his repertoire of derogatory titles assigned to taxpayers that dare actually look behind the shroud of secrecy long enveloping the CRC and stand against it.
BANANA (Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Near Anything), Ankle Biters, Hounds of Whinerville, NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard), CAVE (Citizens Against Virtually Everything) and now Cockroaches to describe those who they also want to buy their newspaper.
It would appear that Jim Moeller, Democrat so-called Representative of Washington State’s 49th Legislative District still tries to hide in a self imposed closet. No, I don’t mean his homosexuality, he’s very open about that and in fact, wears it like a badge of honor on his left sleeve.
I’m talking about his disdain for constituents, especially any who do not immediately jump up to agree with his communist positions and even more so, his advocacy for Portland, Oregon over the district he has been reelected to represent 5 times now.
That my fellow 49ers remain so blind to Jim Moeller’s advocacy for Portland over the well-being of the 49th Legislative District is astonishing to me. What will it take for these people to ever open their eyes?
Moeller has shown himself to be a real enemy to the middle class families of Washington State by advocating higher taxes, higher fees and higher costs all to be piled on the backs of the struggling middle class families.
The Columbia River Crossing project, an ambitious effort to force Clark County citizens into accepting Portland, Oregon’s financially troubled light rail by holding a new bridge to replace the aging spans currently crossing the Columbia River between the two states evokes a lot of emotions.
Supporters raise their blinders and refuse to even look at critical studies while opponents continue to pour over documents, studies and ambitious claims, revealing their findings to any willing to listen.
An indication of just how troubled the project is was seen recently by the newly elected Washington State Governor, Jay Inslee sneaking into town to hold a private meeting with selected supporters, urging them to “increase the decibels,” meaning to drown out opponents.
Such an urging only serves to see increased efforts from opponents who continue to point out fallacies, untruthful claims and hidden data to expose what I can only describe as ‘corruption.’
Fresh off of his Friday March 22, 2013 closed door meeting with select supporters of the Columbia River Crossing project, the massive light rail extension project from Portland, Oregon that will leave Clark County’s struggling middle class taxpayer’s paying for decades on a project they voted down, Washington State’s newly elected Governor Jay Inslee released his awaited budget proposal today, March 28, 2013.
Apparently not content that the cost of the CRC is expected to hit as high as $10 Billion, once interest on bonds and cost over runs are factored in, Inslee’s budget proposal includes several tax increases, extensions and converting temporary tax increases into permanent tax increases, just about all of which will end up on the backs of the very middle class taxpayer Democrats continue to claim they support.
It was just prior to his inauguration in January 2013 that Inslee was citing no tax increases would be needed for him to handle the projected budget shortfall that is now exceeding $1.2 Billion, again.
Very craftily, he left open the idea of eliminating some tax breaks.
Stopping the CRC Now – A Rally for Businesses and Citizens
Why you should care . . .
Will your business survive the massive CRC disruptions to downtown Vancouver, Hayden Island, and beyond?
Devastating $5 to 10 Billion debt bomb on region
$2000/year in first year tolls for commuters will rise steadily for decades
Next to a politician, a car salesman ranks as one of the shiftiest occupations someone can take. They will lure, lie, mislead, con and deceive people into buying a car. This is especially true when it comes to used cars.
It also appears true when elected officials desire to sell taxpayers on an unneeded and unwanted project like the Columbia River Crossing light rail project from Portland, Oregon into Vancouver, Washington that voters have repeatedly expressed their opposition to, once directly and three times by proxy.
49th Legislative District Representative Jim Moeller seems to be the head salesman for this lemon as he tries to mislead voters with his campaign of disinformation exposed at Rep Jim Moeller’s Latest Act of Desperation, Lie.
Acting much like Car Fax, revealing the history of that cherry the salesman is trying to push off on you as really a lemon, concerned citizens began seeing the claims and numbers cited simply were not adding up and formed groups like StopCRC.com and CRCFacts.info adding to the revelations seen from Couv.com, opening citizens eyes and growing opposition.
Access between the States of Washington and Oregon, separated by the Columbia River has long been a problem for commuters. For many decades there was only one bridge for several miles in each direction, down the I-5 corridor.
After much fighting between the states, Oregon trying to drag their feet, a second bridge was opened a few miles east of I-5 in 1983, the Glen Jackson or if you prefer, the I-205 Bridge.
That lessened a little congestion down I-5, but as we saw this week with the collision of a Semi-Truck driving the wrong way over the I-205 Bridge, essentially shutting it down, people were once again stuck in traffic on both arterials and access roads as many tried to avoid the mess on the I-205 Bridge and others sat for hours, unable to escape the back-up.
City Council meetings are notoriously boring with the occasional spat of sparks flying. Most are barely attended as simple matters merit little attention from citizens. But when an issue arises that does get the attention of citizens, many schedule their time to appear and speak their view on whatever the issue is before city council.
That is a right of citizens and city ordinance recognizes that in the procedures to implement ordinances and changes to ordinances, scheduling time for citizen input during hearings on the issue.
If that does not happen, citizens are being denied their right to speak before council and we run the risk of shutting citizen out, subjugating ourselves to 7 people elected to office.
It is becoming common knowledge that the Columbia River Crossing Project is falling apart as more and more, people open their eyes to the lack of transparency long associated with it and the many false claims used in promoting it.
From poorly designed plans to calls for tolls on top of tolls, increasing gas taxes and license fees on cars to come up with funding for it, people are waking up and standing up against it.
Tired of being silenced, marginalized and just outright ignored, those of us who will long be on the hook to pay for a light rail carrier we have rejected have been pushing back, defeating funding measures associated with CRC and electing officials who are willing to scrutinize the project.
None of that has fazed one of the strongest proponents of the CRC, 49th Legislative District Representative, Democrat Jim Moeller, quite possible the single most arrogant person elected to our state legislature.
We’re all familiar with the term, Kangaroo Court meaning “a mock court in which the principles of law and justice are disregarded or perverted.” Maybe it is time we also applied it to townhalls by elected officials who have no intent to listen to constituents and instead seem to think they have to sell us on a defective project the majority of their constituents’ have indicated they do not want.
A Townhall is supposed to be an “informal public meeting where everybody in a town community is invited to attend, voice their opinions, and hear the responses from public figures and elected officials about shared subjects of interest.”
But as we continue to see, many of those elected officials appear reluctant to listen to constituents areas of concern in Washington State 49th Legislative District, especially where the overly ambitious Columbia River Crossing Project is concerned.
