Refereeing a meeting last week between the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority and Northern Virginia officials over the still spiraling cost of Dulles Rail, U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood gave MWAA 30 days to compile a list of cost reductions to make the stalled Phase 2 more palatable to increasingly skittish local politicians. But even LaHood can’t fill this money hole. Bait-and-switch is defined as “a form of fraud” in which customers are “baited” by advertising that offers them a product for a tantalizingly low price — before they’re told that the advertised item is no longer available and they’re then “switched” to a more expensive one. That’s a great description of Dulles Rail.

In 2002, when Fairfax County officially adopted heavy rail as the “locally preferred alternative,” the public was told that the entire 23-mile Metrorail extension to Washington Dulles International Airport could be built for the low, low price of $3.5 billion. That was the “bait,” and practically every elected official in Northern Virginia took it — hook, line and sinker.