Chief
01-25-2008, 06:37 AM
http://www.columbian.com/opinion/news/2008/01/01252008_Jim-Dunn-misses-boat-on-I-5-bridge.cfm
Friday, January 25, 2008
By GREGG HERRINGTON, Columbian staff writer
Never let it be said that Jim Dunn goes along to get along or does things by someone else's schedule if it doesn't fit his schedule. He operates under Dunn Standard Time.
The east county state representative demonstrated that again a week ago today when he announced where he thinks a new bridge over the Columbia River should be built. There's a message in this for his constituents, who live in Cascade Park, Fisher Basin, Hearthwood, Fircrest, Burton, the Evergreen High School area, Orchards, Brush Prairie, Five Corners, Barberton, Pleasant Valley, Mount Vista, Glenwood and Meadow Glade.
Whether they agree with Dunn's preference (a westside route through Ridgefield, the Vancouver Lake lowlands and across the Columbia between the ports of Vancouver and Portland) is immaterial at this point. His pronouncement, via the House of Representatives' Republican communications office, came two months to the week after the 39-member, bistate task force that had studied the issue for two years made its preliminary recommendation. It favors replacing the two existing three-lane lift spans, which are 90 and 49 years old, with a high bridge offering far more capacity but still in the I-5 corridor.
That recommendation has been in all the papers, but Dunn seemed to have become aware of it only last week. His Friday, Jan. 18, press release said "? the plans announced today are narrow in vision and lack detail."
There was no announcement last Friday. What did happen was the governors of Washington and Oregon met in Vancouver simply to cheer on the whole effort and build support for the task force recommendation.
Dunn also does not appear to know or care that a proposed westside route was studied and eventually rejected by the Columbia River Crossing Task Force in the two years that led to its November preliminary recommendation.
Further, the Columbia River Crossing Task Force staff says that Dunn never appeared at any of the public meetings to speak and never sent an e-mail, letter, telegram or smoke signal.
But now he has a better idea?
Never mind that Dunn is in trouble with his Republican leadership for making sexually offensive comments and is presently stripped of his committee assignments. And never mind that he is an affable guy who is accessible to the media. I, for one, have always appreciated him for that.
But 17th Legislative District voters might want to ask themselves just how effective their representative can possibly be as a day-to-day legislator if this is how he does business.
Liar, liar pants on fire
In another blow to local GOP credibility, the Clark County Republican Party gained unwelcome national publicity this week after its Web site ( clarkcountygop.org ) displayed an article that falsely stated Democratic presidential contender Sen. Barack Obama is a Muslim. It ham-handedly linked him to "radical Muslim claims that they will destroy America from the inside.' "
After local Democrat Jon Devore blew the whistle on the false and prejudicial item, other Republicans complained and it was taken down. But it had already been up about a week. County GOP Chairwoman Anna Miller, apparently operating on Dunn Standard Time, posted an apology.
Tuesday night, Keith Olbermann, the liberal MSNBC anchor in the 9 p.m. slot, cited the flap and ranked the Clark County GOP as one of his three "Worst Persons in the World" for that day. (Clark Republicans finished behind Olbermann nemesis Bill O'Reilly of the Fox News Network for the top "Worst" ranking.)
In the meantime, the Obama-as-Muslim lie was also making the e-mail rounds locally, passed on from one person to another. Ron and Nancy Deibert of Vancouver were among the recipients.
There are all kinds of ways to check out rumors and reports on politicians, entertainers, etc. One is snopes.com , the famous explorer of urban myths. It is incredibly thorough in listing, dissecting and answering Obama rumors.
Another is politifact.com/truth-o-*meter/personalities . It pursued the Obama rumors and concluded: "We find this claim to be so wrong we give it our Pants on Fire rating."
Gregg Herrington 's column of personal opinion appears on the Other Opinions page each Friday. Reach him at gregg.herrington@columbian.com.
Friday, January 25, 2008
By GREGG HERRINGTON, Columbian staff writer
Never let it be said that Jim Dunn goes along to get along or does things by someone else's schedule if it doesn't fit his schedule. He operates under Dunn Standard Time.
The east county state representative demonstrated that again a week ago today when he announced where he thinks a new bridge over the Columbia River should be built. There's a message in this for his constituents, who live in Cascade Park, Fisher Basin, Hearthwood, Fircrest, Burton, the Evergreen High School area, Orchards, Brush Prairie, Five Corners, Barberton, Pleasant Valley, Mount Vista, Glenwood and Meadow Glade.
Whether they agree with Dunn's preference (a westside route through Ridgefield, the Vancouver Lake lowlands and across the Columbia between the ports of Vancouver and Portland) is immaterial at this point. His pronouncement, via the House of Representatives' Republican communications office, came two months to the week after the 39-member, bistate task force that had studied the issue for two years made its preliminary recommendation. It favors replacing the two existing three-lane lift spans, which are 90 and 49 years old, with a high bridge offering far more capacity but still in the I-5 corridor.
That recommendation has been in all the papers, but Dunn seemed to have become aware of it only last week. His Friday, Jan. 18, press release said "? the plans announced today are narrow in vision and lack detail."
There was no announcement last Friday. What did happen was the governors of Washington and Oregon met in Vancouver simply to cheer on the whole effort and build support for the task force recommendation.
Dunn also does not appear to know or care that a proposed westside route was studied and eventually rejected by the Columbia River Crossing Task Force in the two years that led to its November preliminary recommendation.
Further, the Columbia River Crossing Task Force staff says that Dunn never appeared at any of the public meetings to speak and never sent an e-mail, letter, telegram or smoke signal.
But now he has a better idea?
Never mind that Dunn is in trouble with his Republican leadership for making sexually offensive comments and is presently stripped of his committee assignments. And never mind that he is an affable guy who is accessible to the media. I, for one, have always appreciated him for that.
But 17th Legislative District voters might want to ask themselves just how effective their representative can possibly be as a day-to-day legislator if this is how he does business.
Liar, liar pants on fire
In another blow to local GOP credibility, the Clark County Republican Party gained unwelcome national publicity this week after its Web site ( clarkcountygop.org ) displayed an article that falsely stated Democratic presidential contender Sen. Barack Obama is a Muslim. It ham-handedly linked him to "radical Muslim claims that they will destroy America from the inside.' "
After local Democrat Jon Devore blew the whistle on the false and prejudicial item, other Republicans complained and it was taken down. But it had already been up about a week. County GOP Chairwoman Anna Miller, apparently operating on Dunn Standard Time, posted an apology.
Tuesday night, Keith Olbermann, the liberal MSNBC anchor in the 9 p.m. slot, cited the flap and ranked the Clark County GOP as one of his three "Worst Persons in the World" for that day. (Clark Republicans finished behind Olbermann nemesis Bill O'Reilly of the Fox News Network for the top "Worst" ranking.)
In the meantime, the Obama-as-Muslim lie was also making the e-mail rounds locally, passed on from one person to another. Ron and Nancy Deibert of Vancouver were among the recipients.
There are all kinds of ways to check out rumors and reports on politicians, entertainers, etc. One is snopes.com , the famous explorer of urban myths. It is incredibly thorough in listing, dissecting and answering Obama rumors.
Another is politifact.com/truth-o-*meter/personalities . It pursued the Obama rumors and concluded: "We find this claim to be so wrong we give it our Pants on Fire rating."
Gregg Herrington 's column of personal opinion appears on the Other Opinions page each Friday. Reach him at gregg.herrington@columbian.com.