Let’s remember gaffe-prone legislator Ed Orcutt, born on this day in 1963 (May 4)
State legislatures are full of some real morons, all across the country. There is no reason to assume your legislator is a reasonable, intelligent person. I want to celebrate one such moron here in Washington state.
Ed Orcutt is a member of Washington’s House of Representatives, with his district in Southwest Washington. He has been in the House since 2002 and looks like a hot tub salesman. He made a name for himself in 2013 as the source of nationwide mockery by proclaiming that “You would be giving off more CO2 if you are riding a bike than driving in a car.”
He had to walk back the comment a few days later when he realized he really didn’t own any libs by declaring something so stupid it couldn’t pass a literal laugh test. In context, he was trying to advance the (discredited) argument that bicyclists don’t pay for the roads they ride on and made himself look like an idiot in the process.
Again, in 2013, he had another gaffe, this time weighing in on the accident that led to a bridge collapse near Mount Vernon. He wrote:
Since the incident, I have been on a conference call with the Governor (which included WSDOT and WSP officials); two briefing calls with National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) officials; and have met with NTSB officials on the deck of the bridge. From NTSB to WSDOT, it is clear that the reason for the collapse was due to a collision with the super structure of the bridge — not a lack of structural integrity of the bridge. The bridge would indeed be standing today had the truck’s load NOT rammed the super structure of the bridge. In fact, 11 of the 12 sections of the bridge are still standing.
It is important to note also, that DOT has specifically stated that if a bridge were deemed unsafe, it would be taken out of service. So, when you approach a bridge and see that it is open, please know that DOT has deemed it safe enough for the traffic using it.
I agree with you that we must maintain our infrastructure to assure it remains safe, but let’s not confuse this incident or try to use it to leverage more tax dollars when the cause of this collapse had nothing to do with the availability of tax dollars.
Nothing to see here, 90% of the bridge remained!
Christ, what an asshole.
