Locke + Carlson = RTID FTW?

Obviously I can't ignore yesterday's big news. Gary Locke and John Carlson team up to form a transportation tax-advocating super team. Gary Locke and John Carlson? Yeah.

Former Democratic Gov. Gary Locke has joined conservative radio host John Carlson in leading a campaign to put a hefty package of regional transportation taxes on the November 2007 ballot.

Locke says he hopes other leaders in King, Snohomish and Pierce counties will help him educate voters about the need to invest more in roads, buses and rail. The tax package could total $13 billion to $16 billion, the amount Sound Transit and the Regional Transportation Investment District plan to put on the November 2007 ballot.

I'm still not convinced that the RTID is a good idea. The state hasn't shown me that they can be trusted to effectively spend the dollars they already have. So why should we give them billions more, especially when they admit up front that they'll be pouring a good portion of it into "solutions" that only a tiny percentage of people will use?

Maybe Carlson can convince me otherwise. Given his most recent political activity (to repeal the 9.5 cent gas tax hike), I'm quite surprised to see him pushing this (and I'm not alone). What's going on, have we entered bizarro world? Stefan Sharkansky over at Sound Politics did a little digging and sheds a little light on the situation:

This is an attempt to forge a consensus on transportation solutions in order to shape the 2007 ballot measures. The three co-chairs, Locke, Carlson and Jessyn Schor (from public transit advocacy group, Transportation Choices) will bring in a broad range of people across the political spectrum to help formulate the package, including conservatives and transit skeptics as well as transit advocates.

They've got their work cut out for them, building "consensus" across such a diverse political group. It's no wonder they're starting 17 months before the election.

P.S. (FTW = "for the win.")

(Associated Press, Seattle P-I, 06.12.2006)
(Stefan Sharkansky, Sound Politics, 06.11.2006)