WA State Transportation Commission to speak at “Money Money Money! Let’s Make It Rain for Transit” event
The Washington State Transportation Commission (WSTC) is a surprising addition to the list of speakers for an upcoming transit advocacy event put on by Transportation Choices Coalition (TCC).
The event is titled, rather unashamedly, “Money Money Money! Let’s Make It Rain for Transit.”
TCC’s event is sponsored, in part, by transit agencies like Sound Transit, who use public money to pay TCC to put on events that advocate for squeezing even more money from taxpayers to “make it rain for transit.”
The Commission’s choice to participate in this event is surprising because the WSTC is a public agency that develops policy as it relates to the entire transportation system throughout the state. They are intended to serve the public interest. The WSTC is also leading the charge in testing and reporting on the feasibility of the controversial mileage tax.
Contrary to the WSTC, the TCC represents narrow political interests. The TCC is the same aggressive political advocacy group that assisted and helped fund the closely-allied 501(c)(4), Mass Transit Now, which ran the political campaign in favor of Sound Transit 3 in 2016. Sound Transit expects to receive some $54 billion in additional public money under the measure, partly as a result of TCC’s advocacy. TCC is also the same group that, alongside Sound Transit, got into hot water for the illegal use of private ORCA cardholder emails for campaign purposes.
The Commission and TCC have been connected for several years now as TCC’s policy director, Hester Serebrin, is also an appointed Commissioner on the WSTC. We pointed out in 2017 that this appointment appears to present a conflict of interest for the WSTC, which is typically composed of professionals and engineers who are not connected to political interest groups or campaigns.
Apparently the WSTC doesn’t see the conflict of interest the same way we do, since they have chosen to attend what will likely amount to a political rally/work session for getting more money from the public for transit.
The WSTC has confirmed it will be presenting on the Road Usage Charge (or mileage tax) at this event. I’m not sure what the Road Usage Charge has to do with “Money Money Money” for transit, though, since the WSTC keeps reassuring the public that a RUC should be constitutionally protected by the state's 18th amendment for highway spending only:
I am curious how TCC will respond to this, since they have made it clear they support using the mileage tax for a “variety of transportation solutions.”
