The Cherry Street Project is in more trouble than city and non-profit leaders are letting on. Behind the scenes they have been wrestling with the realization that the original cost estimate appears to have been unrealistic. The fledgling non-profit group of volunteers the City of Port Townsend wants to build the apartments lacks construction expertise and has been shedding officers and board members. Things are so bad the city is stepping in to provide project management in hopes the building can be “stabilized.” It has been sitting on wood blocks since arriving by barge from Victoria, B.C. approaching two years ago.
It is not an “affordable housing project.” It is an extravagant waste of money that has provided shelter for no one with no clear date as to when it may ever be occupied. The waste of money, time, and energy–the lost opportunities to accomplish something that might actually help the housing crunch in our town–has been tragic.
Unrealistic Cost Projections
In April 2018, based on cost projections prepared by Homeward Bound’s volunteer project manager, the city council voted to issue a bond so that a line of credit in the amount of $834,000 could be extended to finish the project. The city had already lent Homeward Bound $250,000 to purchase, transport and set up the old apartment building on wooden stacks known as “cribbing.” In addition, because Homeward Bound was not a viable organization, it granted the group $30,000 to get itself organized and train its leaders. Plus, the city threw in a $451,115 subsidy buried in the loan documents because otherwise Homeward Bound would not be able to meet its full debt obligations for the next forty years.
We reported on May 28, 2018, that the costs of the Cherry Street project had ballooned to $2,006,355. (click here for article). This made the eight projected apartments some of the most expensive real estate in Jefferson County. The actual cost was somewhat higher because we were unable include the value of the free utility work performed by the city or the permit fee waivers extended to move the project forward.
Even these astronomical costs for what are supposed to be eight “affordable” apartments may fall short. As disclosed by the Homeward Bound treasurer at the city council meeting on December 3, Homeward Bound has been incurring rental costs for the “cribbing” supporting the building over the past twenty months. That contractor has also returned to the site to service those supports. The Treasurer mentioned other debts the group would clear with the city’s money…once it signed the loan agreements.
That’s right. As late as December 3, the group had still not signed the loan documents that would release money to fund the project. Nonetheless, city council authorized the city manager to provide project management by city staff–another direct expense to the city.
But more importantly: the original cost projection has now been acknowledged by Homeward Bound to have been unrealistically low.
We obtained this information from Homeward Bound board minutes and city documents produced in response to a public records request. Neither the city nor Homeward Bound responded to our email questions.
At the September 8, 2018, meeting, in discussion of whether the group should sign the loan documents, this entry was recorded in the group’s minutes: “Get a general Contractor: who should then create a realistic budget…then we would sign the loan.”
This desire for a “realistic budget” reflects a realization that hit the Homeward Bound board months before during their July meeting. Cost changes due to delays and market conditions required them, just a couple months after city council approved the loan, to have suppliers rerun the numbers behind the cost estimate.
A November 13, 2018 email from Mark Cooper, Homeward Bound’s treasurer, to City Manager David Timmons and others states, “I’m also convinced the budget proposed by Mike Szatlocky [the former project manager] isn’t sufficient to cover the project. We must discuss how we might finance the gap.” Cooper further stated that Szatlocky “has convinced some board members that they will be held personally liable if there is a shortfall in the project and HB is forced to withdraw at a later date. This needs to be added to the discussion. Is there a way to formally exempt the board except in the case of financial fraud?”
The Treasurer’s concern about a funding shortfall is serious enough that he has asked the city about the possibility of the apartments being sold as condos so that the sale proceeds from the first sales in the uncompleted building could finance construction of the rest of the project:
Thanks to the city’s assistance, a general contractor has agreed to take on the work, but on a time and material basis, not on a fixed bid. Pacific Environmental Services Company of Port Townsend will serve as general contractor. They are widely known for their work with the petroleum industry in the Pacific Northwest.
As City Manager Timmons reported at the December 3 council meeting, the first stage of work will be to “get a foundation under the building” to “stabilize it.”
Another recurring problem has been Homeward Bound’s inability to secure the services of an attorney to advise them regarding the loan documents and other matters. The volunteer attorney who was helping earlier this year backed away and board members have reported calling multiple attorneys and not receiving return telephone calls. Board members have wanted legal advice before they signed documents obligating them to a large loan and potential personal liability.
An Unstable Partner
When the City started the project, Homeward Bound was in mothballs. It had only one board member who signed the documents to accept the sale of the $600,000 property for $1 and obligate Homeward Bound to a $250,000 loan for the building’s purchase and transport. The city wanted a non-profit land trust in the area and it wanted this to be their first project. So it resurrected Homeward Bound. The $30,000 organizational grant was supposed to create a viable organization that could see this and other projects through.
Things started on an optimistic note. Homeward Bound attracted enough interested people to elect a new 12-member Board of Directors on October 5, 2017. Shortly after, they elected officers. Announcements promising forward momentum on the project hit the Homeward Bound Facebook page and local newspapers. In March 2018 the Board completed 16 hours of training. Outreach events were held at the Finnriver Cidery and the Quimper Unitarian Universalist Fellowship. An outside source of donations, called the Nest Egg Project, was founded to help bring in funding.
The city and the group predicted in April 2018 that the project would soon get its “stabilizing” foundation. That has not happened.
Somewhere along the way things began to fall apart.
Board members began resigning. The president, elected in October 2017, was replaced in June 2018. Her successor President was replaced only a few months later. Board members took their complaints about fellow board members and volunteers to Timmons, including a concern that one board member was actively attempting to undermine the project and that the volunteer project manager had “not been friendly to the project.”
As Homeward Bound’s Treasurer informed City Manager Timmons, by November 2018 the group was down to only two people who could give time to the project. Shortly afterwards Timmons informed the city council that no one in Homeward Bound had the ability to serve as a project manager and proposed having the city serve in that capacity.
Homeward Bound’s annual meeting took place December 5, 2018. They announced in advance they were seeking four new members. They got two. Those two people are activists known for Democratic Party involvement and promotion of a local or state income tax. They are not people with backgrounds in construction or finance.
What Were City Leaders Thinking?
The city brought the building from Victoria before it had a plan on what to do with it. It gave it to an organization that existed only on paper and which, even in its most robust days, had never built anything like this. Neither the city nor Homeward Bound had any permits, architectural drawings or engineering plans in advance; they designed the plans and sought the permits after the building was already on site. They went at it backwards.
Without knowing who would eventually be Homeward Bound’s leadership, the city decided it was going to rely on them to complete and run the project. It decided that for the next forty years it would rely on these unknown individuals and an organization that had already once folded. Forty years is the length of the city’s loan to the group.
The city knows this is a difficult project with “a lot of complex financial arrangements,” Timmons has said. What the city put in motion is far more complicated than if the land had been sold and the $600,000 estimated value applied to buying and rehabbing run-down properties. Alternatively, the more than $2 million going into possibly eight apartments (the number remains uncertain for a variety of reasons, ranging from legal codes to financial concerns), could have put a lot of people into used or new manufactured housing. As we pointed out in an earlier report, a newer, larger apartment complex in Port Townsend could have been purchased for less money. It would right now be housing several dozens of people, not the few the Cherry Street project may one day hold.
Overwhelming the volunteers and supporters of Homeward Bound with a complicated construction project is not helpful to anyone or the cause of affordable housing. They are now the recipients of a political football. What has become an embarassment to city political leaders will become their long-term liability. Instead of accepting full responsibility and seeing this project to completion, city leaders have shifted responsibility to a fledgling organization that has already cracked under the first year’s uncertainties and pressure. Guess who gets the blame if the project fails?
Just last month, the Treasurer of Homeward Bound asked Timmons if the city would consider taking the project back. That is not likely to happen. The city’s decisions are now being driven by politics. In the council meeting that approved the city absorbing project management costs, the sole consideration discussed was public appearances. “This is all over Facebook.” “I am being asked about this all the time.” “We need a win.” Those were the justifications given. Not one question was asked about the viability of Homeward Bound. Nothing was discussed about the acknowledgement that the original cost projection might be inadequate and more public money would be required. How much more will it cost to get this done? When will it be finished? Not a single council member wanted to know.
Trouble Lurks in the Financial Pro Forma
The loan agreement between Homeward Bound and the city gives the group a two-year grace period at the start during which it will not have to make loan payments. In that time, the pro forma projects the group will begin accumulating enough rent revenue to address its inability to regularly service its debt at the front end of the loan term.
That assumes that the project will be completed very quickly after the loan agreement is signed and Homeward Bound draws its first dollar. The track record on this project shows that delays are ingrained and inevitable. With a struggling volunteer board, no executive director and complete reliance on the city for intermittent project management, more delays can be expected. The date of receipt of the first rental payment will likely be pushed closer to the date the loan service starts, giving Homeward Bound less time to accumulate any kind of surplus to defray projected deficits.
This analysis does not even address the fact that the cost projections underlying the pro forma are now recognized to be unrealistic.
The city’s project management commitment extends only through installation of the foundation. It does not encompass managing any the project’s remaining needs. City council will likely be called upon to again authorize the contribution of more public resources.
Jefferson County Commissioner-elect Greg Brotherton said Thursday, “our codes are standing in the way,” of economic growth and promised regulatory reform by reducing the size of the county’s Unified Development Code (UDC) upon taking his seat on the Board of County Commissioners at the end of the month.
“I want to find money in the budget to look at the UDC and the codes that we have. I think our codes are standing in the way. I think that’s the biggest thing,” Brotherton said following a December 6 meeting of the Port Ludlow Village Council Board of Directors.
Thursday’s meeting was the first time Brotherton appeared before the council since the campaign for District Three commissioner. Brotherton carried Port Ludlow in the November 6 election and told the council that he sees the election results as call to action.
“The mandate I really feel, especially from my District Three voters, is to remove the impediments of growth and development, for everyone from the homeowner to the small business owner like me to the larger developer,” said Brotherton. “I think we can work on our permit process in our critical areas to encourage development.”
Brotherton said he wants to, “make some significant cuts,” to the UDC, the voluminous and often arcane plan for property and land management within the county. The scope of the UDC states that, “no building, structure, or land use activity shall be engaged, erected, demolished, remodeled, reconstructed, altered, enlarged, or relocated, and no building, structure or premises shall be used in Jefferson County except in compliance with the provisions of this code and then only after securing all required permits and licenses,” and has been criticized for limiting growth and new development in the county.
Brotherton’s pledge to make cuts the UDC comes as Jefferson County commissioners grapple with the need for new revenues which have not always kept pace with spending. The new General Fund budget proposal is expected to run a 3.6% deficit for 2019 and is estimated to draw-down the county’s Unreserved Fund by approximately 10%.
According to county Central Services Director Mark McCauley, the 2019 deficit budget plan is estimated to slow the rate of decrease in the Unreserved Fund, draining is by 77% over the next five years. Last year, it was projected the fund would be reduced by about 87% over the same time frame.
The rate of new development was also an issue in the 2019 budget proposal. County Administrator Philip Morley noted in his December 3 budget memorandum to the BOCC that, “The value of new construction is added to the tax base, which, for the last eight years in Jefferson County has averaged 0.8% per year.”
When asked whether streamlining the UDC could effectively raise the value of new construction in the county and broaden the tax base in the process, Brotherton could not commit to a specific level of growth through regulatory reform but made clear, “That’s where I want to start.”
Given the statutory limits on how much government can raise property taxes in any given year, the issue of growing the tax base has become more critical in recent years. During the campaign, Brotherton expressed support for the Pleasant Harbor Master Planned Resort in Brinnon, which was approved by the county earlier this year only to face legal challenges by a group of people who are opposed to the development.
While no firm figures are available on how much the Brinnon resort would add to the county’s tax base, the project is reckoned to generate millions of dollars in property tax revenue once fully developed.
The Jefferson County General Fund budget is projected to operate at a deficit in 2019, with spending to be 3.6% greater than revenue, according to the draft budget proposal from County Administrator Philip Morley’s office.
The 2019 budget blueprint earmarks $20.37 million for spending, which is about 1.4% higher than 2018. However, projected revenues for next year are $19.66 million, a figure that is nearly five percent below projected 2018 revenues, accounting for much of the deficit.
Under the new plan, proposed spending for 2019 will have risen nearly 10% since 2016, while revenues are projected to rise just 1.9% over the same period. The deficit in the proposal is also expected to burn through 10% of the county’s Unreserved Fund, reflecting a warning from last year’s budget presentation which estimated that continued deficit spending would drain 87% of the county’s Unreserved Fund by early next decade.
Central Services Director Mark McCauley said the 2019 deficit budget plan would slow the rate of decrease in the Unreserved Fund so that only 77% would be taken away over the next five years. When asked if spending increases of 9.7% over three years coupled with revenue growth of 1.9% over the same period is sustainable, McCauley said, “No it’s not,” but noted that over the past decade, half of the county budgets ran a deficit while the others produced surpluses. McCauley also stressed that county planners tend to be conservative in estimating revenues for the coming year.
County Administrator Philip Morley’s November 29 memorandum to the Board of County Commissioners bemoans various problems in raising revenue.Morley singled out the state’s Democrat-controlled legislature for criticism writing, “Washington State’s funding model for county government, especially for rural counties like ours, remains broken.”
Morley also described as “arbitrary,” the state law that prohibits counties from raising property taxes by more than one percent per year without voters having a say. “In 2007, the State Legislature reinstated Tim Eyman’s I-747, which had been ruled invalid by the state Supreme Court. State law arbitrarily constrains revenue growth in property taxes to an arbitrary 1 percent limit annually (excluding new construction) without a vote of the people,” wrote Morley.
Aside from limits on government raising property taxes, Morley also noted that the value of new construction in Jefferson County has averaged less than one percent per year for the past eight years. The Morley memorandum promotes planned improvements in computer technology to speed the permitting process and mentions efforts to, “make our regulations more understandable and efficient for citizens to comply with,” but did not address any changes to regulations or ordinances that might encourage more new development.
Morley’s memorandum explained how principal and interest payments on the county’s $6.29 million in debt are decreasing and are expected to decline in the coming years. However, Morley cautioned that the county would not be able to assume new debt through, “additional capital bonding capacity,” until 2022.
Revenues from property tax, sales taxes and other tax-based revenue sources in 2019 are projected to be 9.2% higher than three years ago, but funds from other sources are not keeping pace. Revenue from fees and other sources including PUD taxes, the marijuana tax, investment income, the liquor excise tax and other sources, is estimated at $3 million for 2019, down nearly 28% from last year.
The projected deficit for 2019 isn’t stopping the county from hiring more people. The budget proposal for next year calls for an increase in Full Time Equivalent (FTE) hiring of 6.91 persons, the largest year-over-year hiring increase in nearly a decade. While FTEs are spread across 39 different county departments and offices, the largest hiring increases are planned for the county assessor, the prosecutor’s office, public health and community development.
McCauley said some of the new hires are temporary or short-term jobs. “The increase in the Assessors Office is to handle a workload surge,” said McCauley. Additional staffing for the prosecutor’s office is also expected to be short term, McCauley said.
Funding for the Board of County Commissioners, which has been flat for the past two budget cycles, is proposed to rise 2.9% compared with last year. However, proposed 2019 spending for the commissioners this year is nearly 21% higher than three years ago.
The BOCC has scheduled a public hearing on the budget for Monday, December 3 at 10:00 am.
On May 17, 2018, Jefferson County District Court Judge Jill Landes filed a complaint with the Washington State Bar Association against Jefferson County Prosecutor Michael E. Haas accusing him of bribery and ethics violations. The case was being actively investigated by the Bar Association’s Office of Disciplinary Counsel until, under a state Supreme Court rule, it was put on hold until after the election. Haas lost re-election to challenger James Kennedy.
Kennedy is at the center of Landes’ complaint.
We have reviewed the complaint, Mr. Haas’ response and Judge Landes’ supplementary materials. We sought comment from Judge Landes and Mr. Haas. Judge Landes traded telephone calls with us, but we were unable to speak. Mr. Haas did not respond at all.
We also sought comment from Port Townsend attorney Mindy Walker. She also figures prominently in the complaints and is accused of ethical violations, including fraud upon the court. Judge Landes accuses her of being complicit with Haas. Walker has been elected to replace Judge Landes on the bench. Landes is retiring.
James Kennedy & Christopher Ashcraft
We have been able to speak with two of the central witnesses in the case, Kennedy and Christopher Ashcraft, the Port Townsend City Prosecutor. Both attorneys were at the time of the events in Judge Landes’ complaint employed by the Jefferson County Prosecutor’s Office under Haas. Ashcraft was then Kennedy’s immediate supervisor. Both men have been interviewed by the Office of Disciplinary Council. They have confirmed to us the central facts alleged by Judge Landes.
They have stated that they resigned from the Jefferson County Prosecutor’s Office and opposed Haas’ re-election in large part because of what they considered to be Haas’ unethical behavior as Prosecuting Attorney.
The third key witness is Adam Sturdivant, then another prosecutor. He left to be a deputy prosecutor in Snohomish County. He states he has not been been interviewed by the Office of Disciplinary Counsel.
UPDATE: Following publication of this story, Mr. Sturdivant contacted us. He generally confirms the allegations of Judge Landes’ complaint and specifically recalls overhearing Haas instructing Kennedy to sign the order he and Walker had worked out, though, as Haas said to Kennedy, “You won’t like it.” Mr. Sturdivant says he has yet to be interviewed by the Office of Disciplinary Counsel.
We have also reviewed the pertinent video records, more evidence which the Office of Disciplinary Counsel is considering. The videos of two key hearings largely corroborate Judge Landes, though they do not show, as alleged by Landes, Haas huddling with Walker and then instructing Kennedy to engage in the conduct Landes reported to the Bar Association. The videos do show both Kennedy and Ashcraft expressing to the court their concerns with the ethics of the actions Haas instructed them to take and their reasons for refusing to act as the County Prosecutor instructed.
The evidence of Haas huddling with Walker and issuing instructions to Kennedy depends on the testimony of Kennedy, Ashcraft and Sturdivant. And, of course, Walker.
Ethics investigations and complaints are normally kept confidential until resolution. But because Haas is a public official, we were able to obtain the documents from his office, though not those in the files of the Disciplinary Counsel. We did not receive the documents until the day before the election. See our earlier report: Michael Haas Under Investigation, Hiding the Truth from Voters.
What we have obtained in Office of Disciplinary Counsel case 18-00843 can be read at the following link. Some material is redacted as attorney work product. Note that much of the material on the second case covered by Judge Landes’ complaint has been redacted because it concerns a juvenile. To read those documents simply click on these highlighted words: Landes files. (Patience, please. WordPress can be very sluggish.)
Judge Jill Landes
The allegations against Haas concern two cases. One case, State v. Siekaj was a prosecution for drunken driving. Haas represented the defendant as a client of Haas & Ramirez before he became prosecutor. Judge Landes alleges that even after he became prosecutor, Haas continued to act on behalf of Siekaj and remained counsel of record.
Judge Landes claims Haas engaged in the crime of bribery because he used the powers of his public office to benefit an individual from whom he received money. If true, this is a direct and egregious conflict of interest, in addition to possibly being bribery. Judge Landes alleges that Walker was aware of this, and that she knowingly used Haas’ ethical breach to benefit her client, while failing to disclose to the court her knowledge of Haas’ alleged misconduct. Lawyers, under their professional code of conduct, are obligated to report attorney misconduct that comes to their attention.
The complaint logically assumes that Haas was not working for free as private counsel for Siekaj. It assumes he was paid at some time. Landes does not specifically allege that Haas accepted money from Siekaj directly after being sworn in as prosecutor. The amount paid is not stated.
Not mentioned in the complaint, but perhaps investigated by the Office of Disciplinary Counsel, was whether Haas continued to receive compensation from his former law firm, in which Walker had become a partner, after he became prosecutor. It is not uncommon for law partnerships to continue to split fees and divide assets for some time after they are dissolved. As a partner in the firm, Walker would likely have known of any payments to Haas after he took office, payments made at a time when she was seeking Haas’ assistance on behalf the firm’s client.
The second case concerns a juvenile. Because much of the material has been redacted, it is difficult to understand exactly what it is about. We had heard of this matter before we knew of Judge Landes’ complaint, but will not disclose the juvenile’s name. It is not much a secret around the courthouse. It concerns a juvenile related to Haas who, as we understand it, assaulted a person with whom Haas had a personal history of conflict. In short, what happened was that Haas ordered the prosecutor assigned to the case to dismiss the charges. The prosecutor, Kennedy, refused. He and his supervisor, Ashcraft, demanded that Haas appoint a special prosecutor because the office had an obvious conflict of interest. Haas resisted calls to appoint a special counsel and himself dismissed the charges against his relative.
One interesting back story: Haas in his response to the complaint notes how certain records from the Siekaj case would normally have been destroyed pursuant to standard archival practices. But they were not. At a time when he was away from his office in 2016, they were released in response to an anonymous public records request. That resulted in them being preserved and now available to investigators. We were not able to determine who filed the anonymous public records request. But the disclosure of those records, so they could be preserved, was done by prosecutors or other staff then in Haas’ office who later resigned and opposed his re-election. Haas says it was Kennedy who responded to the anonymous request. It appears that the groundwork for Landes’ complaint was started years ago. If that is the case, on an editorial note, it shows that Mr. Kennedy can be a formidable adversary.
This raises an issue as to why Landes waited until 2018 to notify the Bar Association of her concerns. Haas told investigators it was for political reasons. He went to the extreme of photographing the political bumper stickers on her car to show she was supporting Kenndy and Walker’s opponent. Landes told them she waited until her final year on the bench so that Haas would not be disqualifying her from presiding over all his cases and causing the county increased costs in having to pay an outside judge to fulfill her duties.
A ruling will eventually be rendered by the Office of Disciplinary Counsel. Haas could face a range of sanctions and possible referral for criminal prosecution. Or he could be exonerated. The determination could be made public. If not, we will seek it through another public records request.
[This article has been corrected to state Mr. Sturdivant’s departure for a prosecution job in Snohomish County and that he has not yet been interviewed by the Office of Disciplinary Counsel.]
The Jefferson County Board of County Commissioners has a simple but huge problem. The government is spending more than it takes in. Beginning in January we’ll see whether the board, with its newest member, is up to the challenge.
Between 2011 and 2016, general fund revenues were essentially in line with expenditures. The budget was balanced. But beginning in 2017, commissioners fell into the trap of deficit spending. It continued into the current budget year and the trend line indicates chronic deficit spending through 2022. To make up the difference, the county must tap the unreserved fund.
With projected 2018 general fund expenditures of $19.46 million and projected revenues of just $18.6 million – and no improvement in these trends in the foreseeable future – a real problem emerges. The county freely admitted this in its 2018 budget presentation, noting that, “over the next 5 years without new revenues, and even before a recession, we expect to need to use most of the unreserved fund balance to maintain existing service levels,” estimating that the fund would be drained by 87% within five years.
To its credit, the BoCC took a step to solve the problem by green-lighting the Pleasant Harbor Master Planned Resort in Brinnon, ushering in new potential revenue streams of millions of dollars as the MPR is built out. But even this modest effort to grow the tax base and invigorate the local economy is being challenged by a small minority that has taken the board’s decision to court to block through litigation what they failed to stop through the legislative process.
The county’s budget problems extend beyond squabbles over the Brinnon resort. While the population of Jefferson County has grown more than 18% since 2000, the number of kids in school has dropped across large areas of the county. Port Townsend school enrollment ticked-up this year, but Chimacum and Quilcene schools have seen declines. Without a workable plan for economic development in these parts of the county we can’t expect to see a lot of young families moving in, bringing with them the kind of growth we need.
Some have claimed that expanded Internet service will do the trick, while others say sewer infrastructure is the answer. Both are good ideas, but determining which to prioritize is a thornier exercise. One is less expensive, but cost ought not be the sole factor. We need to look at solutions that yield the greatest return on investment.
Absent any meaningful economic growth, the county is left with two choices. We can either reduce spending or increase taxes. One part of the budget ripe for cutting is salaries and benefits for county employees, which account for 55% of all general fund expenditures for 2018. The fact 55% of the general fund is spent determining how to spend the remaining 45% is symptomatic of bloated government. The biggest single general fund line item in the 2018 budget is law enforcement. The expenditure of $6.11 million for the sheriff’s office is six-times that of the next largest expenditure, but nobody wants to see cuts in public safety.
As for finding additional revenues, anything other than raising the property or sales tax is tinkering around the edges. Of the $18.5 million in revenue projected for the 2018 budget, nearly $11 million comes in the form of taxes on homes and retail sales. People will tolerate a certain level of higher taxation, whether by higher tax rates or inflated assessments on real estate, but eventually, people will begin to vote with their feet and leave.
Many Jefferson County residents currently do just that, in a manner of speaking, by spending their retail dollars in Clallam or Kitsap Counties. Both counties encourage the sort of retail development that, unlike Jefferson County, reflects the demands of 21st century consumers. Wooden toys, handmade soap and scented candles are fine as far as they go. But when a family on a budget needs to get household products in bulk, buy back-to-school clothes or do their Christmas shopping, many are driving out of the county and taking sales tax revenue with them.
Every family in Jefferson County knows they have to live within their means. When they don’t have enough money, they either work harder and earn more or they spend less. They have to balance their household budget. Taxpayers should expect the same from local government without surrendering more of their hard-earned money.
Failure to attract new business to Jefferson County is not an option. The status quo is unsustainable. Our commissioners know this and they need to fix the problem.
Governor Jay Inslee can still be a climate champion on a global scale. Sure, he didn’t get a carbon tax to hold up as an example of the sacrifice his state was willing to make. Voters again rejected a plan he backed that would have made gasoline, propane, electricity—actually everything—more expensive in the name of symbolically fighting climate change.
This is the second time Washington voters have resisted such a measure. The first was I-732 in 2016. This year it was I-1631 going down, even as other “progressive” initiatives prevailed.
The legislature in its last session failed to give Inslee a carbon tax by way of direct legislation, also the second time that route has dead-ended. In 2014 it was his cap-and-trade plan that flopped.
When he introduced his carbon tax bill in January 2018, Inslee said it was “time to step up.”
He should listen to himself. Instead of making an example of the rest of us, Governor Inslee can lead by personal example. He can be a zero-emissions Governor.
photo by mynorthwest.com
Human beings emit 2.3 pounds of carbon daily, eight times more under exertion. We’re not calling on Governor Inslee to stop breathing or giving speeches, though his bombastic delivery probably dumps more carbon into the atmosphere than most orators.
We’re being serious. Governor Inslee, right now, starting today, can do everything he wants the rest of us to do to meet a challenge he insists threatens the existence of civilization.
He can begin with his transportation choices. This is an easy step for him. No more travelling in any vehicle that burns gasoline or diesel. He, his family, his staff and his security detail should restrict themselves to those Chevy Bolts Inslee is buying to meet his green vehicle goals for the state’s fleet. And there’s always bicycles and walking to get around Olympia. Or he can take a clean, green bus. And no Lincoln Towncars to and from the airports on his far flung journeys.
If he is really taking climate change seriously, he can cease his nearly constant travels across the nation and to foreign countries. All that travel contributes to the demand for burning aviation fuel. Internet conferencing is the alternative with climate integrity. It has no carbon footprint at all.
Sure, it forecloses opportunities for glad-handing and photo ops and cocktails. But in the face of impending doom those considerations are meaningless.
Governor Inslee can practice climate integrity in every aspect of his life. He should prohibit any deliveries to the Governor’s mansion of anything that relied on burned fossil fuels to get there. No more Amazon Fulfillment Center boxes on the doorstep unless they arrive by electric vehicle or bike.
Speaking of the Governor’s mansion, it is not exactly a model of climate virtue. Governor Inslee should prohibit the use of any electricity that is generated even in part by the burning of fossil fuels. Turn down the heat and turn off the air conditioner. And do something about the high maintenance landscaping unless it is performed with no power tools and internal combustion mowers Replace that dead zone of a lawn with a young forest that soaks CO2 from the atmosphere.
Please get some solar panels up there on the roof, Governor, and wind turbines in all that open space. Those structures may clash with the manse’s neo-colonial style, but consider what’s at stake.
And there’s the Governor’s diet. Climate activists tell us we must all become vegetarians to save the planet from burning up and our cities from drowning. So, Governor Inslee, no more hamburgers, steaks, sausages, chops, chicken tenders, tacos, barbecue, salmon filets, clam bakes, crab cakes or steamed mussels unless they are formed from legumes, seeds and grains. Insist Tofurky be the main course on the mansion’s Thanksgiving menu.
As a true climate champion, Inslee can bring other leaders with him. For instance, Senators Cantwell and Patty Murray, and our local congressman, Derek Kilmer, echo his call for bold efforts to fight climate change. He can use his bully pulpit to persuade or shame them into turnng off the air conditioning in their offices. D.C.’s electricity relies on a lot of burned coal and natural gas. The HFCs that can be released from AC units are another driver, we are told, of global warming. For well over half the history of this country Congress got its job done without air conditioning. The founders wrote the Declaration of Independence and Constitution without once adjusting room temperature. So no excuse, Congresscritters. Just wear shorts and open the windows.
Governor Inslee, please tell them.
When he visits Paris for the next climate conference—strike that, when his image appears on television screens in conference rooms near the Eiffel Tower—Governor Inslee can shame world leaders into becoming legitimate climate heroes like himself. With the planet’s billionaires, politicians and movie stars all reducing their standard of living to stave off climate apocalypse, think of the millions who may be inspired to follow suit. They won’t need government with its hand on their necks and in their pockets. They will do it out of selfless love for the planet.
This may prove bad for Paris hotels and restaurants because thousands of climate activists will no longer descend upon the City of Lights with fat expense accounts. But aren’t smaller travel and entertainment budgets for climate activists a positive for the planet?
If you’re thinking we’re getting silly, it may be because you realize Governor Inslee and others of his stature, power and wealth will not make the personal sacrifices they demand of the rest of us. As law professor Glenn Reynolds, a contributor to USA Today and creator of the Instapundit blog frequently says about hypocrisy by self-proclaimed climate leaders, “I’ll believe it’s an emergency when they start acting like it.”
Governor Inslee can dispel such unfortunately justified cynicism by stepping up, personally and profoundly, before he rolls out another plan to conscript us into his grand vision. Great leaders don’t need to be told they must set the example they wish others to follow.
