Sound Transit Officials Give Public Money to Special Interest Groups
July 2008
In 1996, voters in Pierce, King and Snohomish counties authorized Sound Transit to pursue the first phase of a regional transit system known as Sound Move. In the process, Sound Transit received the authority to impose a sales tax, rental car tax and an excise tax on motor vehicles. In 2007, the agency collected about $353.4 million from taxpayers. Sound Transit’s mission is to “plan, build and operate regional transit systems and services to improve mobility for Central Puget Sound.”
But some of Sound Transit’s expenditures are not consistent with its mission and may violate state law. In response to public disclosure requests from Washington Policy Center, Sound Transit provided us a list of non‐governmental interest groups that have received direct financial contributions from the agency since 1996. Read the full report here >>
Read the Public Records Disclosure from Sound Transit here >>
Read WPC’s letter to the State Auditor’s Office here >>
Read the 2005 Port of Seattle Audit here >>
Read and watch the KIRO TV story here>>
