Ha. Now you know.
The optician told me to wear them for a solid two weeks. They don't work like the old drug store cheaters you've been wearing, she told me. If I wear them faithfully, I'll get used to them.
Now if only these hip Vera Wang-designed specs could give me extra insight into our legislative majority leaders' big, bloated egos. A truly perfect pair of glasses would offer X-ray vision. If I could peer into the psyches of Senate President John Valentine, House Speaker Greg Curtis and other Republican leaders intent on holding our tax money hostage as if it were their own private debit card, I'd know how to vote Nov. 7 on Proposition 3.
Proposition 3 is the quarter-cent sales tax increase Salt Lake County voters will be asked to approve for mass transit improvements. The possibilities are intriguing: four new TRAX extensions south and west, including one to the airport; a west-side highway; commuter rail to Utah County.
The Legislature's Executive Appropriations Committee was scheduled to address the county's project list today. But last week, committee leaders yanked it from the agenda. The Salt Lake County Council and Council of Governments had reasonably hoped legislators would cooperate with priorities they set. The law requires legislative approval of the county's transportation criteria. County leaders can't rank transit projects without the state's approval of the list.
Excuses on Capitol Hill have ranged from "we didn't have time to address the list" in today's action-packed meeting to the one Valentine busily shopped last week to radio talk show hosts and news media: Lawmakers just can't throw support to a specific priority list because "needs change." Transit issues, Valentine said, are fluid. They're tough to prioritize from one year to the next.
Any commuter in the valley could tell him this much: Just like our mellow memories of childhood, the days of $1.99 a gallon gasoline have slipped away. Or this: We spend too many quality hours idling away on I-15, I-80 and every other major traffic artery. And this: Most of us will do our part to improve things. But we also want to know what we're voting for in three weeks.
Why is that so much to ask?
Conveniently, Valentine failed to mention in his public relations stumping that he faces a substantial challenge from Taylorsville Republican Michael Waddoups for the senate president seat. He knows that putting his name behind a list of transit projects will favor some senate districts over others, which could jeopardize his position in a leadership scuffle. Couldn't have that.
Meantime, GOP legislative leaders are asking Salt Lake County voters to support the common good, and trust that elected officials will act thoughtfully.
This is the same body that earlier this year couldn't find $2 million to fund emergency dental care for the seriously disabled. And we're supposed to blindly hand over an anticipated $50 million annually in tax revenue with no assurance of where it will land?
Until this little trick popped up, I had planned to support Prop 3. But I want that list. Gotta have it. Without it, I'm voting no. You're welcome to join me.
My eyesight may be slipping, but I'm not blind yet.
hmullen@sltrib.com
