Transportation taxes would climb 24% ... if the [roads and transit] package is approved by voters in November.

Michael Ennis

Washington Policy Center

Conservatives, including most Republicans, face a daunting challenge in this Washington.

Relegated to the status of observers in Olympia for another year and a half-and virtually absent on some local councils-we face a long and rocky road to restoring fiscal responsibility and common sense in state government.

Handicapped by King County, which continues to tilt ever farther to the left, it will take more than one or even two election cycles to achieve this objective.

Nevertheless, it is not an impossible dream.

But even to keep the blue tide from advancing farther, now is the time - not next spring -for conservatives to mobilize, to focus on a half dozen key issues, and to convey these messages with clarity and consistency to the voting public.

Among those who may be persuaded to change their votes is a "silent minority" in Washington-Democrats who call themselves "fiscal conservatives" and now aren't happy with the reckless-spending majority in the Legislature.

While their numbers may be small, it is useful to recall that a handful of disputed votes in King County foisted Governor Gregoire on the state rather than giving us Governor Rossi in 2004.

Conservatives' initial message should be monthly fiscal "report cards" that show voters what state and local government is costing them and their families.

A key element of these reports should be updates on what the bottomless pit of transportation spending is costing-and what the taxpaying public is or is not getting in return.

Last month, the Washington Policy Center (www.washingtonpolicy.org) released an enlightening report, available on-line, that highlights the downside of current and proposed transportation spending.

Prepared by Michael Ennis, director of the organization's Center for Transportation Policy, it states:

"Public officials are asking voters to approve a multi-billion dollar roads and transit package in November that would increase the current transportation tax burden by as much as 24% per household.

"The unbalanced tax proposal combines ... the Regional Transportation Investment District (RTID) [that] would fund about $9 billion in regional road improvements ... [with] Sound Transit phase 2 (ST2) [that] would spend about $20 billion more on light rail, bus and commuter rail service."

King County council members Dow Constantine, D-West Seattle, and Julia Patterson, D-SeaTac, who represent Highline, claim that the three-county region can't afford to delay these projects any longer.

After all, to them higher taxes are the best thing since sliced bread.

But according to the Puget Sound Regional Council, Sound Transit phase 2 would add only 160,000 daily transit riders by 2030-only 1 percent of the region's 16 million daily person-trips.

And don't forget the 2005 referendum on the gasoline tax increase (a Gov. Gregoire flip-flop). Tax hike backers bestowed emergency status on replacement the Alaskan Way Viaduct (more flip-flops) and the State Route 520 floating bridge.

Yet these urgent projects remain in limbo as social-engineering politicians bicker and construction costs rise.

Without doubt, we need more highway lanes and expanded bus service. Instead, they want us to approve twice as much for extending light rail as for increasing road capacity, which will reduce congestion.

We can't afford the proposed road-and-transit tax package. Our lawmakers and transportation officials need to hear a resounding "no"-not just in November but from now to election day.

Maybe then they'll get it.

FROM LEXINGTON and Concord to Gettysburg, from Pearl Harbor to Normandy, from Pork Chop Hill and Hue to Afghanistan and Iraq, brave men - and women - have fought and died that we, and many millions more, might live free.

On Memorial Day, please set politics aside and pause to remember and honor these fallen heroes with heartfelt thanks for their sacrifice, with pride in America.

The views of Ralph Nichols are his own, and do not necessarily reflect those of Robinson Newspapers. He can be reached at ralphn@robinsonnews.com or 206-388-1857.