This statement was released by state Rep. Jim Buck’s office in Olympia on Friday:
Saying that they have little confidence in the state Department of Transportation’s ability to conduct a thorough and impartial probe of the circumstances surrounding the department’s decision to abandon the Port Angeles graving yard project, legislative transportation leaders from the Olympic and Kitsap peninsulas have joined forces in calling for an investigation and audit by the newly formed state Transportation Performance Audit Board.
In a letter to the board from Rep. Jim Buck, R-Joyce, Rep. Beverly Woods, R-Kingston, and nine transportation committee colleagues, the lawmakers demanded a comprehensive and open investigatory process.
“If there was ever a reason for a performance audit of WSDOT, this is it,” said Woods, ranking Republican member of the House Transportation Committee.
“If they hope to maintain any measure of credibility with the taxpayers, they need to be completely open and transparent – not only of what was spent, but who decided what, and why.”
The call for the Transportation Performance Audit Board to step in to the controversy coincided with a surprise decision by Gov. Christine Gregoire to drop her earlier stated support for a legislative task force investigation.
“Like many legislators, I believed the governor when she said she supported our proposal to form a task force to investigate the circumstances surrounding the transportation department’s decision to pull out of the project, and frankly, I feel betrayed,” said Buck, who, along with other 24th District legislators, made the initial call in January for a legislative probe of why the project was stopped.
“We have been encouraged by the bipartisan support for an investigation, and further heartened by the governor’s acknowledgement that there are critical questions that haven’t been answered,” he said.
In a published interview Jan. 28 in the Peninsula Daily News, Gregoire said the idea of a task force to examine the facts surrounding suspension of the project was “very persuasive” to her, and that with nearly $59 million already spent on the bridge-replacement project, “taxpayers are entitled to some answers.”
“The governor’s reversal of her commitment to a full investigation in favor of a so-called “public-meeting-based-approach” is not only perplexing, but it’s an approach that would be of questionable value in uncovering the substantive information members of the Legislature and the taxpayers who are paying the freight need and deserve,” Buck said.
“That’s why we are compelled to take our concerns to a different level.”
In their letter to board chairman Doug Hurley, Buck, Woods and their nine legislative colleagues requested that the panel focus on seven specific questions:
* Why did the state decide it was in the best interests of taxpayers to build its own graving yard/dry dock instead of using an existing site owned by a private entity?
* What was the total amount of money spent on the Port Angeles site? This should be outlined in a detailed breakdown of all funds spent at the facility.
* In chronological order, what happened from when the first artifact was found to the decision to abandon the site?
* Who made the decision to abandon the site?
* What authority did WSDOT have to spend over $20 million more than what was allocated to this stage of the project?
* What bills remain unpaid from this project and what are the estimated amounts of those bills?
* Can anything at the site be salvaged or used for other WSDOT projects?
“The consequences of this decision are numerous and require a comprehensive study to ensure that taxpayers were not unduly harmed by WSDOT’s actions in this matter,” the letter concluded.
“The cost of WSDOT’s decision in taxpayer dollars and lost time is so immense that a complete investigation of the project is warranted,” added Woods, whose district borders Buck’s.
“We can’t expect the DOT to delve into this thoroughly, so the Republican Transportation Caucus is asking for answers to some very precise questions and a complete accounting of all the resources spent on this project.”