Your Choice: Do We Need A New King County Executive?
Current King County Executive Ron Sims stands by his record. "I'm incredibly proud of the fact that after $137 million of reductions in King County, we're able to get our costs down and align ourselves with the revenue we have," Sims says. The Democrat has overseen changes at Sound Transit, and now Light Rail construction is underway. "I'm the only executive who can say we got a 'AAA' rating," Sims boasts. "We're in an incredibly elite category."
Sims says we're on the way to solving congestion. But opponent David Irons doesn't see it. "Why, under this administration, have we become the third worst, most congested region in North America," says Irons, a Republican who has spent the last five years on the King County Council. "It's unacceptable for us to be in a situation where our votes aren't counted accurately." He says the Critical Areas Ordinance is failing. "Instead of working with the farmers, we've divided them," Irons says.
"The real problem in government is that the 'left' blames the 'right' and the 'right' blames the 'left' and nobody proposes real solutions," says Green Party candidate Gentry Lange, who's number one issue is traffic congestion. "Both of these gentlemen have been in government for quite some time, and I don't see a history of traffic solutions," Lange accuses. He says solutions are simpler than they seem. "I think a lot of people are tired of the lack of enforcement of certain basic rules of the road," Lange says. "These types of things actually affect your traffic flow in a large way."
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