Those are the words of state Rep. Ross Hunter, D-Medina, chairman of the House Finance Committee.

Hunter was referring to the $766 million plan by the Washington State Trade and Convention Center to expands its squatting presence straddling Interstate 5 in downtown Seattle.

I was interviewing Hunter a few minutes ago while he was driving to the state capital. We were talking about the upcoming session.

"That plan is not ready for prime time," he said. "It may make sense to do a new convention center, but they are years and years and years (yes, he said 'years' 3 times) away from being smart enough about all the details to plan for a new center.

"They created that plan because they saw their money being stolen," Hunter said.

Hunter was referring to the move by the Legislature last year. Lawmakers took $57 million that the convention center had sitting around in its capital ($52 million) and operating ($5 million) budgets and plowed it into the STATE general fund. It was, indeed, a raid on their funds.

So, convention center folks figured the best defense is a good offense. They came up with a plan to spend (or commit to spend) all their money so the Legislature wouldn't keep stealing it every time they build up a surplus. Hence, the plan to double the size of the convention center.

For some background, here's a column that Peter Callaghan wrote last Sunday.

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Hunter is co-chairman (with Sen. Tracey Eide of Federal Way)of a special task force that is looking at what the state should do with all the taxes (hotel-motel, car rental, etc) that are now being collected in King County to help pay for the Mariners ballpark and Seahawks stadium, when those projects are are paid off.

Lotsa folks want a piece of that change: Husky stadium, International District, the arts community, Key Arena (see Seattle Thundering Okie Sonics basketball court replacement team) youth soccer community, etc.

Hunter said he doesn't blame the convention center for coming up with a plan; it's just too slap-dash at this point.

"It's there money," he said of the hotel-motel tax that is collected in King County and earmarked for the convention center. "The reason hotels tax themselves to do this is because that convention center puts heads in beds. But is doubling the convention center a good idea? I honestly don't know. I'm not ready to pull the trigger on that."

"The financing plan they gave us is more leveraged than some of the goofy finance plans we saw for the basketball arenas, where you don't start collecting money for 15 years," he said.

That said, Hunter said he didn't like the fund raid, taking money collected "solely within King County (hotel-motel taxes) and spending it on statewide responsibilities."

My observation here: With the state facing a $6 billion deficit this budget cycle, the Legislature certainly would have gobbled up that convention center money this year if it hadn't done so last year.