Richard Pope has filed a complaint against Mrs. Gregoire1 alleging numerous violations of campaign finance laws, mostly having to do with incomplete disclosure reports and missed deadlines.
When Mrs. Gregoire endorsed Cuba Dwight Pelz for state Democrat Party Chairman as "a passionate advocate for the values we all share", those shared values apparently included reckless disregard of campaign finance laws.
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1 The haughty, French-named Massachusetts-style former Attorney General, who by the way missed a deadline for filing an appeal that ended up costing the taxpayers $18 million.
"Hood Canal Bridge price tag jumps 62 percent to $471 million
2006-02-05
by ANDREW BINION"
The price tag for replacing the aging Hood Canal Bridge increased 62 percent between February and October of 2005, but there still is no date set for when construction will be complete.
In the state Department of Transportation's latest estimate of the total cost of the project included in its 2005 fourth quarter report, the bridge's price tag jumped $179.4 million from a February 2005 estimate of $291.5 million to an October estimate of almost $471 million.
``The idea is that we're not going to spend every penny of that. It's just the total budgeted amount,'' said Lloyd Brown, a Transportation spokesman.
Included in the price tag is the rising price of steel and an additional $59.3 million to build bridge pontoon parts in Tacoma rather than in Port Angeles.
The contract for bridge construction was originally awarded to Kiewit-General Construction Co. of Poulsbo in December 2003 for $203 million, not including property and other costs.
PA expenses increase
The amount of money spent or earmarked in Port Angeles for the now-defunct graving yard also climbed -- from an estimated $58.5 million in February to an estimated $86.8 million in October.
Tse-whit-zen expenses include construction costs, legal settlements, engineering and design, landscaping, materials, land acquisition and leases, anchor cable replacement, archaeological work and department contract management.
There also is about $2.1 million in new money added to the budget for ``remaining archaeology work.''
Brown said that he did not know what that money would be spent for.
The archaeology stems from the discovery -- after the huge dry dock for bridge component construction was started in summer 2003 -- of a 2,700-year-old Klallam village and more than 300 burials.
The graving yard construction project was canceled in December 2004.
Frances Charles, chairwoman of the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe, said she did not know what the newly budget archaeological money would go for, nor had she been contacted by Transportation about the budget adjustments.
The human remains found at the ancient village are ancestors of the Lower Elwha Klallam.
Port Angeles may be the site of the bridge's concrete anchor construction, but the location has not been finalized, and neither has the cost."
I particularly guffaw at the line where Lloyd Brown tries to assure us
`The idea is that we're not going to spend every penny of that.'
Yeah right.
Follow the money folks.
By the way, today was DAY 90 of The improved traffic due to major GasTax Increase Vigil...
Report---
Traffic still sucks!!!!!!!
Bwahahahahahah! Hehehehhee! Hohohoho!
Stop it, Brown, you're making my sides hurt from all the laughter!
So, what is the accountability of that money? If you're not going to spend all of it, what is it doing in the budget? If you get all of it, where is that "extra" money going to go?
Surely there are some good explanations for this, aren't there?
We will see what happens to the complaints against Dwight Pelz and Christine Gregoire. By the way, Gregoire endorsed Pat Davis' re-election last year (and so did Attorney General Rob McKenna). So if they can fine Pat Davis, they should be able to fine anybody.
Posted by: Richard Pope on February 7, 2006 12:45 AMGregoire uses her surplus campaign funds to pay for certain office-related expenses that the taxpayers legally cannot pay for. For example, when her husband Mike Gregoire travels with her, the taxpayers cannot pay for Mike's airfare and meals.
On April 14, 2005, Gregoire used $3,554 of surplus funds to Global Express for "travel" -- presumably Mike's airplane ticket.
On September 16, 2005, Gregoire used $3,604.95 of surplus funds to All Ways Travel for Mike's airfare on a trade mission.
Evidently, Gregoire travels first class when she is on a commercial airline. Otherwise, Mike's tickets wouldn't be so expensive. Of course, there is always the state plane for domestic travel, which is even more expensive than first class tickets.
I don't think there is anything inherently wrong with a Governor travelling first class. I don't know what Dino Rossi would have done in a similar position. I know some governors are a good bit more frugal in their travel budgets than Gregoire.
How many officials in Gregoire's administration travel first class?
Posted by: Richard Pope on February 7, 2006 12:58 AMI think a better question would be ...how many officials work in the Gregforhire administration...about 1/2!!!
Posted by: TACOMA PHLASH on February 7, 2006 01:49 AM