Coalition assails McGinn for disinformation about the Viaduct. McGinn claims victory

The dueling spin over the replacement of the Alaskan Way Viaduct with a tunnel  took another turn Tuesday morning, when supporters held a press conference calling out Mayoral candidate Mike McGinn and City Council candidate Mike O’Brien for spreading disinformation about the tunnel project.

At a press conference at the Ivar’s downtown, supporters like State Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Wells; Dave Gering, executive director of the Manufacturing Industrial Council of Seattle; and Dave Freiboth, executive director of the Martin Luther King County Labor Council, took exception in particular with McGinn and O’Brien’s repeated remarks during the campaigns that the tunnel will cost $4.2 billion instead of the actual $1.9 billion pricetag for the tunnel alone.

They cited, for instance, a poll of 1,000 voters run by McGinn. As the local political site Publicola reported, respondents were asked:

“The city of Seattle and state of Washington plan to build a four-point-two billion dollar deep bore tunnel under downtown Seattle to replace the Alaskan Way viaduct in 2016.

“Do you support or oppose the tunnel plan?”

Gering termed the survey a “push poll,” a type of poll in which the intent is less to seek answers than to spread disinformation about a candidate or an issue. McGinn denies it was a push poll, saying it was intended to try out different messages to use on the stump.

McGinn prefers using the city’s $930 million contribution to the project on other transportation projects like transit and building sidewalks.

The group, which worked last legislative session to bring about the political compromise that led to the tunnel deal, also cited posts on McGinn’s campaign blog. For instance, he wrote about the poll: “The voters of Seattle are speaking clearly. They want a mayor who understands the $4.2 billion tunnel is a boondoggle.”

However, a close look found there’s a little misinformation all around.

Although the entire project is, indeed, $4.2 billion, that figure includes making improvements to Alaskan Way, replacing the deteriorating seawall and improving transit. The tunnel portion of the project only costs $1.9 million.

And though the plan was put into place, coalition members worried the campaign statements -- and the perception the tunnel portion will cost more than it actually will -- could lead to complications.

  Vlad Oustimovitch, an architect and former member of one of Seattle’s design review boards, said,  ”nothing is ever settled in Seattle.”

Ivar’s president Bob Donegan also noted that while the county, the port and Seattle have committed to their shares of funding the project, they haven’t ponied up the money yet.

And indeed McGinn has said that if he were mayor, he’d do whatever was necessary to make sure the viaduct doesn’t get the property permits or city approvals to be built.

McGinn, reached after the press conference, seized on the fact the coalition felt a need to hold a press conference in the first place. “This is not a done deal,” he said, meaning that voters who may have thought it was useless voting for him because the viaduct was going to happen anyway, now have reason to think the project can be stopped. “This is not a done deal. This is why we hold elections.”

Of using the larger $4.2 billion figure, McGinn said, “my house is worth considerably less than that. But the value of my house is also the land that it sits on.”

Coalition members said the press conference was less designed to push a particular candidate than to set the record straight. Indeed, speakers at the press conference were split between mayoral candidates Mayor Greg Nickels and City Councilwoman Jan Drago, both tunnel supporters. Gering has donated $250 to Nickels campaign, according to city elections records.

Kohl-Wells has donated $200 to Drago’s campaign. Oustimovitch has donated $50 to Drago’s campaign.