
	Chris Mulick has worked for the Herald since 1998 and has served as the statehouse correspondent covering state government and politics since 2000. He works year-round out of the Herald's Olympia bureau on the state Capitol campus. Have a question? Send Chris an e-mail and he'll answer the best questions regularly.

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Friday, Apr. 11, 2008

That Gregoire license plate scandal? Never mind.

When I screw up on a story and have to write a correction I also have to fill out a form explaining what happened and shamefully submit it to my boss. But when political press release writers screw up it's as if they get extra credit.

On Thursday the state Republican Party issued a press release titled “Gregoire Driving An Oregon Bus on Re-Election Tour” that screamed of scandal.

"Gov. Gregoire has been making it harder and harder for businesses to survive here in our state for three years, so it's no surprise that her campaign hired a bus with Oregon license plates to save money,” GOP Chairman Luke Esser said.

Today the bus company issued its own press release. I don’t have the time, nor patience at this Friday night hour to synthesize it for you. Long story short, there’s no story here, much less a full blown scandal.

Here’s the press release.

SEATTLE BASED COMPANY RESPONDS TO MISLEADING STATEMENTS ABOUT GREGOIRE’S MOTORCOACH SEATTLE – Today, MTR Western, a Seattle based charter motorcoach company responds to misleading statements issued in a press release April 10, 2008 by the Washington State Republican Party, in which the license plates on its vehicles were referenced and questioned in relation to their use on the governor’s campaign trail. MTR Western operates a fleet of 145 charter motorcoaches based in principal cities throughout the Western U.S. and Canada – all of which carry Oregon license plates.

“Our Oregon license plates are issued pursuant to the International Registration Plan (IRP), which was created by wise federal legislation put in to place to simplify the registration of commercial vehicles that travel in interstate commerce,” said MTR Western CEO and founder Darren Berg. “It’s disheartening to be associated with misleading statements that support an opinion that business opportunities are grim in the state of Washington.”

The International Registration Plan is a multi-jurisdictional registration reciprocity treaty among states of the United States and provinces of Canada providing for the fair sharing of licensing and registration fees among states and provinces based on the pro rata number of miles a truck or bus travels in all jurisdictions. Per its terms, companies such as MTR Western that operate commercial trucks or buses across state lines are no longer required to register their vehicles in each state and province in which they travel; rather they report the miles they travel within each state and province to the IRP on a quarterly basis. The IRP then fairly apportions and distributes appropriate licensing and registration fees back to the states and provinces where that commercial vehicle traveled. Additionally, given commercial vehicles used in interstate commerce are exempt from sales taxation, there is no financial advantage to obtaining IRP license plates from the state of Oregon rather than from the state of Washington.

“The IRP has been a red tape cutting dream come true for interstate trucking and bus companies. It has eliminated countless duplicate rules and regulations,” said Berg.

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