I would agree, that said in some cases - doing it right might take a lot longer to move into place. You first have to win over the hearts and minds, and not burn out your welcome while you're slaying said hearts and winning said minds. We've had to spend a few years showing that our technical debt actually has very real costs and liabilities if ignored, and while it's frustrating as hell to eat crow or choke down some of the half baked solutions you KNOW will blow up in no time, in time, people start remembering the feedback. Just as you yourself have said, when that happens those who do recall our feedback will be much more likely to recall and incorporate our suggestions if they don't come with a large dish of " I told you so" or " we could have avoided that mess".
Like if or not - we have to get funded if we hope to do anything, right or wrong. Doing it right first time out comes over time, often after many rounds of having to do it wrong first then fixing what breaks.
You both (Jeff and you) are missing that part where you have the knowledge to do it right, or better. Often there are inexperienced people that don't have enough knowledge, but learn later. Changing code once it's in place is hard.
We all have a path in our knowledge, and it's not the same or equal for everyone.