It is rare anymore that I’m “outed” as a WSDOT spokesman by the media but it happened today in print, er …, digital. From the SeattlePI.com comes this (source: Why was graphic viaduct video released now?)

The chief spokesman for the transportation department insists that was the last thing WSDOT wanted to do, but their hand was forced by a public records request and lawsuit filed by an opponent of the plan to rebuild the viaduct with a deep-bored tunnel. And given the quickly changing dynamics of the mayor’s race, it’s not clear what effect the video might have.

Transportation spokesman Lloyd Brown said Monday afternoon that his department did not want to release the video to the media. It was completed in 2007 as a stakeholders group debated three options for replacing the earthquake-damaged waterfront bridge — a rebuild, a surface option or a deep-bored tunnel. Seattle, King County and the state eventually chose the $4.2 billion tunnel project.

“We just didn’t have a choice. We had to release the video because we were up against the public disclosure deadline,” Brown said. “We tried to do it in the most responsible way possible.”