Pierce County joins legal fight to save $30 car tabs; Tacoma doesn’t. Who’s right?

As staunch advocates for better local transportation, Pierce County Executive Bruce Dammeier and Tacoma Mayor Victoria Woodards often move in the same direction.

Both first-term leaders hold seats on the Sound Transit and Pierce Transit boards of directors. Both are champions of investing in local roads, trails and other infrastructure. And both see economic growth in the 253 as a product of getting commuters unstuck from freeway traffic, improving freight mobility and completing projects like the State Route 167 Gateway connection.

Ultimately, however, Dammeier and Woodards are politicians beholden to different constituencies — he, a suburban Puyallup Republican; she, an urban South End Tacoma Democrat. And both are up for reelection in the next two years.

Which brings us to Initiative 976. The $30 car-tabs measure was approved in the Nov. 5 election, then quickly challenged in court by Seattle and King County on the grounds that it deceived Washington voters into gutting statewide transportation funds.

Dammeier and Woodards are a study in contrasts when it comes to the I-976 standoff. And reelection politics is the elephant in the room.

The one with more at stake in the short term is Dammeier, who’s seeking another four-year term in 2020. Unfortunately, he let politics cloud his judgment by pushing Pierce County into a battle better waged by others.

Last week, Dammeier announced he wants the county to join the defense of I-976; he asked Prosecutor Mary Robnett to prepare to intervene on behalf of the 66 percent of Pierce County voters who favored slashing transportation taxes.

On Tuesday, the County Council endorsed his plan in a 4-3 party-line vote. Friday is the deadline for filing to support the state Attorney General’s defense of the initiative.

“It’s all about representing the voters of Pierce County,” Dammeier told TNT reporter Josephine Peterson. “I have heard a great deal of concern that their voice will be lost in the legal process.”

County intervention has a strong populist appeal, particularly among the Tim Eyman anti-tax disciples whom the initiative guru summoned to fill council chambers Tuesday.

But the decision to butt in means Pierce County is pitted against its northern neighbors in a food fight that will last well into 2020. The chaos could easily engulf state and local elections in much the same way impeachment proceedings will overshadow the presidential campaign.

Does dragging Pierce County into the fray create any great legal advantage? No. Dammeier himself, unlike some Republicans, doesn’t question the AG office’s competence or integrity. Robnett, too, told the council she’s confident state lawyers will handle the case professionally.

County Council member Derek Young, D-Gig Harbor, summed things up well Tuesday: Washingtonians rightly expect their votes to be defended in court, but the AG’s office is more than capable, so why spend limited county resources on it?

As for the Tacoma mayor’s stance on the quickly developing I-976 saga, Woodards told our Editorial Board Monday that she won’t follow Dammeier’s lead.

“Pierce County resoundingly voted yes; Tacoma not so much,” Woodards said — and indeed, Tacoma’s majority support for I-976 ran nearly a dozen percentage points below that of the county. “My job as an elected official is to do what I think is in the best interests of Tacoma.”

Some will say she’s motivated by her own brand of politics, unwilling to defy mass-transit orthodoxy or her Democratic base.

That’s a fair argument. But it’s notable that Tacoma didn’t intervene on the other side, either. Woodards hasn’t pushed Tacoma to join the King County coalition that’s trying to block I-976, despite how much the city has to lose — including the promised arrival of a light-rail connection to Seattle in 2030. Nor should she.

Watching from the sidelines is the proper role for South Sound leaders, away from the muck and mire of the fight over cheap car tabs.

Too bad Republicans who control Pierce County government don’t see it that way.