You did, we did, RTID did

I would like to see the face of the person responsible for transit and roads.

It won't be one person — I'll settle for three or four — but I think voters need to have elected officials who are subject to re-election step forward and say, "We are responsible for the efficient use of your tax dollars." It doesn't seem too much to ask, but the television and radio ads now working either for or against November's huge tax bite are about process. I am looking for responsibility.

At last week's well-attended debate on the Nov. 6 transportation package, we saw the faces of opponents and proponents: They were the Sierra Club, Transportation Choices, an Eastside developer and a member of the King County Council who also serves on the Sound Transit board. Each did a nice job, each kept the debate civilized and — unremarkable.

It's tough for anyone, even those immersed in the public process, to tick off the names of all the seated members of the Sound Transit board, or the board of directors of the Regional Transportation Investment District. It's easier to remember the names of the county executives of King, Snohomish and Pierce counties, but their direct responsibility for a successful roads-and-transit program is limited.

The state currently has an interim head of the Washington Department of Transportation and who knows when a new secretary will be identified. The governor supports the November vote, but she has a whole state to worry about, not just three counties on the shores of Puget Sound.

The mayor of Seattle is supportive through a letter he sent out, but this roads-and-transit package is really out of his jurisdiction, and the Alaskan Way Viaduct is not a big item in the $17.8 billion to be asked of voters.

Various members of the state Legislature worked hard on this, including House Speaker Frank Chopp of Seattle and Rep. Judy Clibborn of Mercer Island. Others worked just as hard. But, the voters are not going to bill themselves another $200 or so in car tabs each year for the next several decades and jump the sales tax to nearly a dime based on a few members of the state House.

At the City Club forum last week, King County Councilwoman Julia Patterson put forward the face of a thinking, rational elected official who believes in the package for all the right reasons. Developer Kemper Freeman did the same in opposition. Neither could promise what the final results would look like decades hence. Their basic messages were, respectively, "We must do something now and this is the right package" and "This is a big mistake that will not improve congestion."

For a project so big it will take another generation to build and decades of higher taxes, the full weight of the region's leaders has to be put behind it. It's not a matter of what you did, I did or RTID did, it's a matter of unification in the face of lethargy.

I have strong doubts about the package and, quietly, so do many other people of the region we all share. That doesn't mean the voters won't accept the tax burden — but I think we are entitled to focus the responsibility on a few individuals and hold them accountable.

Accountability eventually shattered the Seattle Monorail. Those who were accountable were discovered to have an overly optimistic financial plan. Accountability made a mess of the political decision over the viaduct. People knew the mayor, the governor and the speaker of the House were sometimes together, more often at odds about what to do next. They were accountable and we knew who they were.

No one seems to be accountable for ST2/RTID. Even the name doesn't conjure a face. It is a vote for bureaucracy.

Maybe it's public relations that's missing, maybe it's hype, maybe it is the personalization of the political process. But, I have yet to find anyone who can tell me specifically who is in charge.

James F. Vesely's column appears Sunday on editorial pages of The Times. His e-mail address is: jvesely@seattletimes.com for a podcast Q&A with the author, go to Opinion at seattletimes.com