Not to be outdone by the CapTimes, the Isthmus came out today with their own hit piece and here come the labels! Mr. Richardson is now consistently referred to “Dane County GOP spokesman” throughout the article. Actually, saying they us it “consistently” doesn’t do them do justice. “Dane County GOP spokesman” is plastered to his name just about everywhere it appears. Previously in the CapTimes they inaccurately reported he was just supported by the Dane County Republican Party. This is looking like a race to show which paper can be the most partisan. Maybe Friday Mr. Richarsdson will receive a promotion in the Republican Party courtesy of the CapTimes. We’ll just have to wait and see. Whatever Mr. Richardson’s personal beliefs may be, he clearly is not speaking on behalf of the Republican Party of Dane County when he speaking for The Great Train Robbery organization. How are any of those labels relevant to the issue at hand? They aren’t. Clearly this is just an attempt by both the CapTimes and the Isthmus to marginalize Mr. Richardson’s message.
On a side note, the Isthmus also does their best to low-ball the number of people who turned out against the RTA also. While the CapTimes, in an ‘oversight’, suggested there was almost a hundred, the Isthmus reports dozens. Hmm… dozens? Like maybe 36, 48, or 60? How about nearly 200 (188 by some, conservative counts)? For the record that’s more than a dozen dozen.
Representing the other side, County Board chairman Scott McDonell portrays those of us against his train as people who “hate all transit”. This is the same guy who accuses Vicki McKenna of radicalizing the issue. He goes on to say that if we’re against the trains stopping traffic, then “we shouldn’t have stop signs” – no radicalization there! He also says the people who spoke against the RTA at the last board meeting were just "too angry" to be taken seriously although that same evening he said we didn’t count because we don’t live close enough to Madison. I’m not sure what is more offending, to have Mr. McDonell say he ignored me because he thinks I don’t count or he ignored me because he thinks I’m too upset about where he’s leading us. Remember, this is the person who is supposed to the representing the people of this county in important decisions – like the creation of an appointed board that doesn’t answer to the County Board that created it.
The last thing I will point out is just one of the places where the Isthmus article ‘fudges’ the facts. The article says that the voters will have to approve any sales tax proposed by the RTA. This just isn’t true. While Mr. McDonell and the other board members who supported the RTA may swear up and down that we’ll get our referendum, they conveniently leave out the fact that the RTA is not bound to do anything they say or promise on its behalf. Furthermore, even if we have a referendum, it’s not binding. The fact is that every, single soul in this county could vote against the sales tax increase and the RTA board can do whatever they like. Small detail.