State Sen. Jim Kastama Presents Nuclear Option to Force Seattle to Pay for Tunnel Overruns
On this morning's Dave Ross Show, State Sen. Jim Kastama (D-Puyallup) said that the city should "absolutely" pay for any cost overruns incurred by building the $4.2 billion deep-bore tunnel to replace the Alaskan Way Viaduct. Kastama, who sits on the Senate Transportation Committee, was referring to the stick-it-to-Seattle clause, the controversial amendment that helped get the tunnel deal through the legislature.
State Sen. Jim Kastama draws a line in the sand on the tunnel debate.
Obviously, any lawmaker who doesn't hail from Seattle is going to insist the law be enforced. If only to ensure that, during their next re-election campaign, they aren't referred to as the guy who willingly got screwed by the big city folk. But Kastama went one step further. Telling Ross that he'd be willing to hold up the state's entire transportation budget in order to make sure Seattle covered the bill.
With both mayoral candidates speaking out against the amendment -- McGinn saying he'll fight it, Mallahan saying it's unenforceable -- Kastama's nuclear option looks to be just the latest in what will be many instances of future, delicious sabre-rattling. Full audio below.
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