Gorton hits road to gain support for tax increase

OLYMPIA — Republican heavyweight Slade Gorton is back on the campaign trail two years after losing his re-election bid to the U.S. Senate. This time he's not selling himself, but something of an anathema to many of his supporters: a $7.8 billion tax increase on the November ballot.

Democratic Gov. Gary Locke recruited Gorton to work with him, in part, to gain votes in rural areas for Referendum 51, a transportation package aimed largely at projects in the Puget Sound region. Gorton has had strong support practically everywhere but Seattle, which he bashed as a haven for tax-and-spend liberals.

The strategy, observers say, is to keep the anti-tax vote at bay in rural areas and in Eastern Washington, and let voters in the central Puget Sound region carry the measure.

Polls indicate intense opposition in rural communities and lackluster support even in the densely populated Puget Sound region. Plus, the Republican Party is deeply divided over the proposal and could come out against it.

"Clearly, you can't make the argument that Slade is a Seattle liberal," said Chris Vance, chairman of the state Republican Party, which, so far, is neutral on the referendum.

When the Seattle City Council two years ago passed a resolution in support of breaching the Columbia River dams to save endangered salmon, Gorton sent out a scathing statement: "How easy it must be for downtown Seattle liberals to cast aside the lives and concerns of the people in Eastern Washington's agricultural communities."

Gorton said he's campaigning for Referendum 51 because improving roads in the Puget Sound area would benefit the entire state by helping businesses move their goods to market. He is not getting paid by the campaign.

But even with Gorton's history of playing to the concerns of rural Washington, the tax increase is a tough sell.

Gorton got a taste of what's ahead when he and Locke, his campaign co-chairman, traveled to the Greater Yakima Chamber of Commerce June 13 to pitch the tax increase.

Although they were deep in Gorton country — he got 59 percent of the vote in Yakima County in the 2000 election — some grim-faced people walked out of the room after listening and asking questions.

The campaign has been inviting people it hopes are sympathetic to meet with Gorton and Locke.

There was some support, but even the incoming chairman of the Yakima chamber board, Don Jordan, wasn't ready to endorse the measure. "I want to weigh everything before making a commitment," Jordan said. "I don't think everybody is quite on board yet. There is going to be have to be some real searching here."

At the Yakima gathering, Gorton and Locke were warned about a recent local attempt to increase taxes to create a port district. About 64 percent of the turnout voted against the proposal. They were also told of an Eisenhower High School statistics class that polled about 800 people and found 74 percent opposed a gas-tax increase.

"It's not a transportation issue," said Richard Carmody, the math teacher who oversaw the survey. "It's taxes. They don't want to pay more taxes, period."

State Sen. Alex Deccio, R-Yakima, said he has great respect for Gorton, "but no individual would be able to persuade people on the east side of the mountains to vote in favor of the package."

Gorton wasn't surprised by the reaction in Yakima, although it was far different from the enthusiastic reception he'd received at the Bellevue chamber three days earlier. "We're meeting for the first time in an area in which it's clear there will be a great deal of opposition," Gorton said after the meeting.

The campaign is in its early stages, said Gorton, a veteran politician elected to statewide office six times. There's a lot of time left, he said.

He's been busy helping to get the campaign organized, traveling to Bellevue, Bellingham, Vancouver, Everett, Tacoma and Yakima to recruit supporters. Sometime he appears with Locke, sometimes by himself.

Gorton, who has had a reputation of being arrogant and aloof, was neither during recent public appearances. He seemed relaxed and fit, with the lanky frame of an avid runner. At age 74, he still jogs 20 to 25 miles a week.

Although clearly immersed in the issues, Gorton seemed to be enjoying himself rather than obsessing over what voters will do in November.

In November 2000, he lost narrowly to Democrat Maria Cantwell, by about 2,200 votes out of almost 2.4 million cast. The final winner wasn't declared until several weeks after Election Day. The defeat ended a three-term Senate career.

Promoting a referendum is a lot different than running for office, he said. "From a purely subjective view, it doesn't carry the stress."

Gorton's stump speech seems unlikely to generate standing ovations as he makes his way across the state. The theme is stark, devoid of grand promises.

"Referendum 51 will not solve our transportation problems," Gorton says at the start of his presentations.

In fact, if the tax increase passes, spending on the transportation projects will remain the same as it's been for the past several years, he explained. The only way to increase spending above past levels is for voters in King, Pierce and Snohomish counties to raise billions in additional local taxes through a regional plan. But there's no guarantee a regional proposal will appear on the ballot, let alone be approved by voters.

A selling point in his speech is the pain that awaits if they don't increase taxes. "We'd see an alarming and precipitous decline next year of (transportation) capital projects begun in the state," Gorton said.

His grim discussion of the facts is different from political leaders' rhetoric earlier this year that promised big reductions in congestion and thousands of new jobs. "We have to be careful, and we are careful, not to over-advertise or over-promise," Gorton said.

The carrot held out to gain support is a list of specific projects the new taxes would build.

"In Clark County there are over $200 million worth of state highway projects that would be undertaken over the next 10 years. Roughly nine major projects," Locke said after a meeting with community leaders in Vancouver.

Both men carry around a list when they visit communities. "We're talking about specific projects in that community and they can decide for themselves what the benefits are," Locke said.

Gorton said the details help, but noted there are counties that would pay more in taxes and not gain locally. "We also have to appeal to their better natures," he said. "There are many parts of the state that will be able to look narrowly at this referendum and say, 'Well, we will pay more than we get.' "

The campaign has hired a California firm, Woodward & McDowell, to advise Gorton and Locke on campaign strategy. The firm's Web site claims a 95 percent success rate in its previous campaigns and lists the passage of Propositions 111 and 108 in California 12 years ago — which increased gas taxes to pay for transportation projects — as success stories.

The most recent state Public Disclosure Commission report shows the Referendum 51 campaign has paid Woodward & McDowell $35,000 for consulting.

So far, the campaign has raised about a half-million dollars in donations, with commitments bringing the total to almost $1 million from the likes of Microsoft, Starbucks and the Washington Association of Realtors. Campaign officials, in the past, have said they'd need up to $4 million to mount a statewide campaign but now won't cite a goal for raising money.

State law prohibits use of public funds or resources to promote or oppose referendums, even measures put on the ballot by the state Legislature, like Referendum 51.

Lance Leloup, chairman of the Washington State University political-science department, said the campaign will need a united political front to succeed.

"If political leaders can stand together and say this isn't a partisan issue, it's about the economic future of this state, that's about the only chance this has," he said. "If this becomes a partisan issue, it's doomed."

Gorton said the best that can be hoped for is neutrality from the Republican Party.

"There is no chance we're going to endorse Referendum 51," Vance noted, adding "There's very great danger" the party could oppose it at its convention later this month.

Liberal columnist Connelly weighs in today:

In The Northwest: Locke's transportation plan likely to hit a dead end
As Gov. Gary Locke and ex-Sen. Slade Gorton busily court business luncheons seeking conservative votes for the state transportation plan, the campaign's left flank is crumbling.
The result could turn Referendum 51 into road kill.
Directors of 1,000 Friends of Washington, a mainstream environmental group dedicated to limiting sprawl, are likely to oppose Referendum 51 when they convene tomorrow night.
An hourlong meeting with Locke has failed to sway critics who say the plan offers too much concrete and too few dollars for transportation choices.
"He can do all the lobbying in the world but his product is a loser," said Aaron Ostrom, executive director of 1,000 Friends.
Last week, another group -- the Transportation Choices Coalition -- came out against the transportation plan.
Referendum 51 was sent to the fall ballot by state lawmakers after they spurned Locke's effort to get the Legislature to enact it without a public vote.
The package would raise $7.8 billion over 10 years for transportation projects, mainly roads. About 70 percent of the money is earmarked for projects in King, Pierce and Snohomish counties. It would, in three phases, raise gasoline taxes from 23 cents to 32 cents a gallon, and impose a 1 percent additional sales tax on new and used vehicles.
To pass, Referendum 51 must win and win big in the Puget Sound basin.
Its strategists have counted on good government voters, greens and advocates of mass transit -- King County Executive Ron Sims calls them "the lake vote," referring to residences near water -- to put aside reservations and carry the plan.
But these voters are being given little or no incentive to behave as ordered.
Groups advocating transportation choices have never been for sale, but their support was certainly available for rent.
All that was needed, they stressed, was a Puget Sound regional plan that would balance out a state package that puts 85 percent of its bucks -- 93 percent in King County -- into roads. In short, more outlays for buses, van pools, park and ride lots, trip reduction incentives for employees, and Amtrak service in the Portland-to-Vancouver, B.C., corridor.
No such plan has been forthcoming, only huge cost estimates for bigger freeways.
The politicians' failure to deliver sends a message about this state's leadership -- specifically, the lack of it.
As well, it paints an unflattering picture of the Democrats who hold the governor's office and control both houses of the Legislature.
They've milked environmental and transportation issues for votes, donations and volunteers -- all vital on the Dems' long road back from their 1994 debacle.
Now, to revive the words made famous by Clara Peller in the old Wendy's commercial, "Where's the beef?"

In an angry e-mail, Peter Hurley, the former Snohomish County commissioner who directs Transportation Choices, described how transportation choices got the cold shoulder while the highwaymen were rewarded with hot asphalt.
"The real problem isn't lame after-the-fact lobbying (by Locke) but failure to work with us after the last (2001) session," Hurley wrote. "At that point the proposal on the table was for $1.5 billion (21 percent) for choices and we agreed not to oppose the overall package.
"We heard not a word from the guv's office until he released his transportation budget in December. It was the July package with one substantial change: They cut transportation choices funding from $1.5 billion to $700 million.
"The pattern continued during the legislative session: We didn't receive a single call from the guv's office to discuss what it would take to gain our support. We contacted his transportation staff several times, but they took no action."
As Hurley concluded: "If you want a date, you don't ask someone after the dance is over."
The result is a package crafted largely by suburban Republican state senators. It launches the state into its biggest-ever freeway construction program without final plans or budgets, and with the potential that projects will exacerbate sprawl and increase greenhouse gas emissions.

Of course, there is another side.
Referendum 51 contains good stuff, just not enough of it. It does commit $200 million for intercity rail -- if there is an Amtrak -- provides more passenger-only ferries, and some money for public transit.
Underlying the Referendum 51 vote, too, are a couple of fundamental questions:
Can this state still get anything done? Are we willing to tax ourselves to keep up an infrastructure that will keep us competitive?
Valid questions, but are they answered by a skewed plan?
This columnist is having the following nightmare: In November, Referendum 51 gets roundly thumped at the polls. Overcome with guilt, however, Seattle voters turn around and give thumbs-up to the monorail.
When the dust settles, the only voter-approved answer to our state's gridlock will be a monorail running between Ballard and West Seattle.

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