Liberal Talk Radio

This afternoon, Goldy wondered about the half-assed last-minute effort by local billionaires to save the Sonics:

Not that the folks behind this proposal ever believed they’d get a bill out of the current session. These are savvy folk. Rich folk, who’ve spent plenty of money on Olympia lobbyists in the past. They know how the system works, and they know that any proposal pitched during the final week of the session isn’t a serious proposal at all. Why they pitched it at the very last minute, I don’t know, but before any of you diehard Sonics fans get too excited by media efforts to hype this proposal into genuine hope, take a look at the facts. No bill is going to pass this session to rebuild Key Arena, and until we hear otherwise, no NBA team is available to play in it.

I’m not saying the proposal isn’t for real, and I wouldn’t be surprised if the local group eventually gets the taxpayer money they seek — if they can actually produce a team — but I’m guessing the sudden display of urgency is mostly intended to impress their fellow billionaires at the upcoming NBA owners meeting. And while I suppose it is interesting to watch the intricate mating rituals peculiar to the strange birds who comprise our nation’s moneyed elite, I’m just not so sure that us average folk really care all that much anymore.

Well, maybe we’re getting closer to an answer. Tonight, Republican Gubernatorial candidate Dino Rossi is chiding the legislature for not taking the deal.

What if the deal was intended to fail? There was no way it could have gone through in time. I’m just spitballin’ here, but Maybe Balmer and Griffin were just giving Rossi an issue to campaign on in November. When the Sonics decamp for Oklahoma, he can now blame Gregoire for not taking up the billionaires on their “offer.”