Dino Rossi is making another run at the governor's mansion and to that end stopped Tuesday in Sultan to present a transportation plan that would bring nearly $600 million to troubled U.S. 2. The republican said that the money, part of a $1.2 billion state-wide transportation plan, would be funded not by additional taxes, but by taking money from other areas of government, he said.

About 40 people, nearly half of whom were elected officials or city employees, gave the candidate an audience in drizzly weather at the gazebo at Sky River Park in Sultan as he outlined the details of the plan.

The funding for most of the U.S. 2 improvements would mostly come from rerouting funds from two sources. Rossi would reroute 40.2% of the sales tax on new and used vehicles to transportation projects, increasing the power of that money by selling bonds against it, he said.

Currently, when the federal government funds transportation projects in the state, the state charges the federal government a tax on those projects, and sends that money to the general fund, most of which funds education. "We're going to stop charging sales tax on transportation projects," he said, earning a round of applause from supporters.

After a long period of fundraising, a $1.2 million Route Development Plan was completed last year, outlining 56 projects that should be completed between the pass and the sound. The plan makes lobbying state and federal government easier, said Donnetta Walser, mayor of Monroe, who has lobbied both governments for funding.

It would take nearly $2 billion to complete all 56 projects, but getting $600 million would be quite welcome, said democrat candidate for state legislature Scott Olson. But he questions the sources of the money. "His way of paying is mortgaging the future for today's political expediency," he said. "Taking millions from schools and health care for kids in not the answer."

U.S. 2 received $14 million in new funding in the last year.

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