# The dumbest public official (possibly dumbest person) in the universe. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [March 4, 2013, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dumbest-public-official-possibly-dumbest-person-in-the-universe/651993 "2013-03-04T14:01:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2013, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dumbest-public-official-possibly-dumbest-person-in-the-universe/651993/1 "2013-03-04T14:01:50Z")
a Seattle law maker has proposed a bicycle tax on the basis that they are unhealthy and bad for the environment (because the elevated respiration of riders results in increased CO2 output). [No, really.](http://now.msn.com/ed-orcutt-seattle-representative-defends-bike-tax-by-saying-bikes-are-bad-for-the-environment) [longer article here.](http://seattlebikeblog.com/2013/03/02/state-lawmaker-says-bicycling-is-not-good-for-the-environment-should-be-taxed/) If we get the government we deserve, then I guess we must all be raving idiots as well. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![MrBerious](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MrBerious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrBerious)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2013, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dumbest-public-official-possibly-dumbest-person-in-the-universe/651993/2 "2013-03-04T14:05:04Z")
Is policy trolling a thing now? Dude looks a little old to be reading 4chan though. ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2013, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dumbest-public-official-possibly-dumbest-person-in-the-universe/651993/3 "2013-03-04T14:11:10Z")
You can’t make this shit up. Why? Cause fiction has to make sense. I’m saving that link for the next time my Seattle friends make fun of politics in California. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2013, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dumbest-public-official-possibly-dumbest-person-in-the-universe/651993/4 "2013-03-04T14:12:19Z")
Hey, he’s right, as far as it goes. Bikes _ARE_ bad for the environment. I mean, someone’s got to smelt metal for the frames and make rubber for the tires and so on. Goddam pollution machines, they are. And people insisting on going places faster than a walk is bad for the environment. Why can’t people just stay where they are? Don’t even get me started on how bad agriculture is for the environment. ---
**Author:** ![LateComer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b5ac83/32.png) [@LateComer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LateComer)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2013, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dumbest-public-official-possibly-dumbest-person-in-the-universe/651993/5 "2013-03-04T14:34:42Z")
Are we sure he’s not a Portlandia character? ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2013, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dumbest-public-official-possibly-dumbest-person-in-the-universe/651993/6 "2013-03-04T14:36:42Z")
Bike riding is clearly dangerous activity. You don’t need to wear a helmet and tight shorts to do safe activities. ---
**Author:** ![NurseCarmen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5daacb/32.png) [@NurseCarmen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NurseCarmen)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2013, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dumbest-public-official-possibly-dumbest-person-in-the-universe/651993/7 "2013-03-04T16:07:16Z")
> [@LateComer](#): > > Are we sure he’s not a Portlandia character? I suspect he will be. ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2013, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dumbest-public-official-possibly-dumbest-person-in-the-universe/651993/8 "2013-03-04T16:50:24Z")
Plus there is all that flying particulate matter that enters the atmosphere when they get smeared by my humvee. What a mess, they should be abolished. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Miskatonic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.miskatonic/32/310_2.png) [@Mr.Miskatonic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Miskatonic)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2013, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dumbest-public-official-possibly-dumbest-person-in-the-universe/651993/9 "2013-03-04T17:23:00Z")
I’d lay odds this tax loving, teabagging waste of skin is also a AGW denier to boot, which makes his CO2 comment hypocritical as well as idiotic to the extreme. And as a matter of fact, bikes do already pay for the roads dumbass. Next time check your state’s budget sources sometime. ---
**Author:** ![BigAppleBucky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigapplebucky/32/178_2.png) [@BigAppleBucky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigAppleBucky)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2013, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dumbest-public-official-possibly-dumbest-person-in-the-universe/651993/10 "2013-03-04T17:34:57Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > a Seattle law maker has proposed a bicycle tax on the basis that they are unhealthy and bad for the environment (because the elevated respiration of riders results in increased CO2 output). > > [No, really.](http://now.msn.com/ed-orcutt-seattle-representative-defends-bike-tax-by-saying-bikes-are-bad-for-the-environment) > > [longer article here.](http://seattlebikeblog.com/2013/03/02/state-lawmaker-says-bicycling-is-not-good-for-the-environment-should-be-taxed/) > > If we get the government we deserve, then I guess we must all be raving idiots as well. > > :smack: I once read (no citation for something from 20 or 30 years ago - sorry) that one car driving down one block of one city street burns as much oxygen as all the people living on that street do in an entire day. So he’s dead wrong on taxing bikes before taxing cars. OK, so I looked up a citation: > **[Energy, Oxygen Consumption and Production | 100777.com](https://100777.com/node/1278)** > [@](#): > > Once again, the amount of oxygen used per human being per year is 260kg. To drive a car at 50km an hour requires 22.25kg of oxygen per hour, which is roughly 750 times the amount needed by a human being. Therefore as we drive happily along in our cars, we unknowingly take 750 oxygen-breathing slaves along with us. These slaves, however, do not breathe out nice, healthy carbon-dioxide and water as we do, but they spew out a noxious concoction of poisonous gases. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Miskatonic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.miskatonic/32/310_2.png) [@Mr.Miskatonic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Miskatonic)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2013, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dumbest-public-official-possibly-dumbest-person-in-the-universe/651993/11 "2013-03-05T15:14:18Z")
The worthless Santorum-douche [issued a non-pology](http://news.yahoo.com/washington-state-lawmaker-backpedals-saying-cyclists-pollute-breathing-034008925.html) late yesterday. ---
**Author:** ![JerrySTL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e274bd/32.png) [@JerrySTL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JerrySTL)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2013, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dumbest-public-official-possibly-dumbest-person-in-the-universe/651993/12 "2013-03-05T17:04:58Z")
If you are behind me when I’m riding my bike, CO2 isn’t the gas you need to worry about. There are a few sports drinks that give me bad gas. ---
**Author:** ![rejemy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/898d66/32.png) [@rejemy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rejemy)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2013, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dumbest-public-official-possibly-dumbest-person-in-the-universe/651993/13 "2013-03-05T17:14:19Z")
The first story got the headline wrong. He’s a state representative from Kalama, not Seattle. In Seattle, we make our representatives publicly make love to a bicycle as part of the primary process. ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2013, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dumbest-public-official-possibly-dumbest-person-in-the-universe/651993/14 "2013-03-05T19:20:46Z")
> [@Mr.Miskatonic](#): > > The worthless Santorum-douche [issued a non-pology](http://news.yahoo.com/washington-state-lawmaker-backpedals-saying-cyclists-pollute-breathing-034008925.html) late yesterday. Actually, that was a proper apology: > [@](#): > > “My point was that by not driving a car, a cyclist was not necessarily having a zero-carbon footprint,” Orcutt wrote in an email delivered to constituents. “In looking back, it was not a point worthy of even mentioning so, again, I apologize.” Note the lack of qualifiers and weasel words. This is such a rarity, that it deserves recognition. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2013, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dumbest-public-official-possibly-dumbest-person-in-the-universe/651993/15 "2013-03-05T19:29:45Z")
> [@rejemy](#): > > The first story got the headline wrong. He’s a state representative from Kalama, not Seattle. In Seattle, we make our representatives publicly make love to a bicycle as part of the primary process. Leaving the pol with a Cat 69 tattoo. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2013, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dumbest-public-official-possibly-dumbest-person-in-the-universe/651993/16 "2013-03-05T20:20:17Z")
> [@Mollie\_Magill](#): > > Actually, that was a proper apology: > Note the lack of qualifiers and weasel words. This is such a rarity, that it deserves recognition. I agree, it was a decent apology. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Miskatonic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.miskatonic/32/310_2.png) [@Mr.Miskatonic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Miskatonic)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2013, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dumbest-public-official-possibly-dumbest-person-in-the-universe/651993/17 "2013-03-05T20:47:45Z")
While he does apologize, he seems to do so because it is what he calls a ‘non-issue’ all the while barely acknowledging that he was working from a massive straw-man argument backed by a force of sheer stupidity. And he’s still making the same debunked ‘bikes don’t pay for roads’ claims. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2013, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dumbest-public-official-possibly-dumbest-person-in-the-universe/651993/18 "2013-03-05T22:18:56Z")
I waiting for him to raise the issue about cows, cow farts and methane. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2013, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dumbest-public-official-possibly-dumbest-person-in-the-universe/651993/19 "2013-03-05T22:23:43Z")
> [@Mr.Miskatonic](#): > > While he does apologize, he seems to do so because it is what he calls a ‘non-issue’ all the while barely acknowledging that he was working from a massive straw-man argument backed by a force of sheer stupidity. > > And he’s still making the same debunked ‘bikes don’t pay for roads’ claims. Yeah. I think he only (sort of) apologized because he got called on it and couldn’t get away with completely denying it. I like the way it is NOW a non-issue … Hmmmm. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2013, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dumbest-public-official-possibly-dumbest-person-in-the-universe/651993/20 "2013-03-05T23:17:01Z")
> [@Mollie\_Magill](#): > > Actually, that was a proper apology: [This article](http://blogs.seattletimes.com/politicsnorthwest/2013/03/04/lawmaker-apologizes-for-saying-bicyclists-pollute-by-breathing/) has more of his statement. It goes a bit beyond the standard non-apology, but not far enough, in my opinion. He apologizes only for bringing up the subject, but in doing so he also tries to retroactively restate the point in such a way to cover up the error. So, 5-out-of-10 for contrition, but full marks for creativity. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dumbest-public-official-possibly-dumbest-person-in-the-universe/651993.md?page=2)