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County's I-695 poll won't be copied by PDC
County's I-695 poll won't be copied by PDC
by Brier Dudley
Seattle Times staff reporter
A controversial King County poll on the effects of Initiative 695 had been
slated to become a model for governments across the state.
But the state Public Disclosure Commission (PDC) dropped that plan after the
county balked. The commission also decided it would prefer to check polls for
legality than to provide examples.
A complaint about the poll received yesterday had nothing to do with the decision,
said Susan Harris, PDC assistant director of compliance and enforcement.
"We were going to," Harris said about offering the poll as a model. "Then
we decided, no, we're not going to go there. We're not going to offer suggestions."
The county's $24,000 telephone poll, which suggests drastic cuts in transit
service are possible, was intended to help Metro Transit prepare for the potential
loss of $100 million in revenue if the measure passes.
But Initiative 695 sponsor Tim Eyman said it was a simple scare tactic and
shouldn't be replicated by other agencies.
"It's a model of corruption," Eyman said. "If they want to follow that track,
sadly it's not surprising, because it shows they're so desperate they can't
make any rational arguments against 695."
The initiative on the Nov. 2 ballot would replace the car-tab excise tax with
a $30 fee. It also would require public votes on all tax and fee increases.
The poll is one of the more elaborate steps being taken by transit agencies
across the state. They expect huge losses of revenue - up to 60 percent of the
operating budgets at smaller systems - if I-695 passes.
"This is something unprecedented in the transit industry in this state," said
Dan Snow, executive director of the Washington State Transit Association. "If
it passes, the impacts will be significant. What the systems are doing is just
trying to communicate with their communities, get a dialogue going about where
the cuts should happen, because there will be cuts in service."
Eyman thinks the agencies are breaking the state law that prohibits government
from campaigning for or against a ballot measure, but so far none of the transit
outreach programs has been deemed illegal by the PDC.
"I'm not surprised that Tim Eyman has picked up on this, because he's been
alerted that a number of government agencies will be aggressive," said Pierce
Transit director Don Monroe. "So it's kind of like a running gunbattle between
government agencies and Eyman."
Like King County and Community Transit in Snohomish, Pierce Transit is holding
workshops to outline potential cutbacks.
"We don't make any specific reference to 695, but I think the inference is
there," Monroe said. "I think folks are able to figure out by the media coverage
that transit is one of the agencies that will take the biggest hit."
King County is likely to be the only agency to use telephone polling because
it has the most resources, Snow said.
After the poll was reported yesterday, the county released e-mails from Sept.
8 and 21 between Harris and Metro Transit analysts. The correspondence showed
that the PDC thought the poll was legal, and that Harris wanted to use it as
a model for other agencies.
John Arthur Wilson, chief of staff to County Executive Ron Sims, said the
county knew it was entering sensitive political territory with the poll, so
it first consulted the PDC and prosecutors.
"One of the challenges here constantly is where is the line between information
and advocacy," he said. "We wanted to stay safely on the side of information
and not kind of commingle advocacy with getting out factual information."
Wilson thinks they "came up with a survey that asked questions in a plain,
direct, factual manner and did as good as we could do."
David Olson, a University of Washington professor specializing in local politics,
said polling is done all the time by the county, port and other public agencies.
"To the 695 proponents," Olson said, "I would simply say, `Welcome to the
world of politics.' "
Brier Dudley's phone message number is 206-515-5687.
