Link to article here

Meanwhile, another toll tunnel in Australia financially collapses…These deals are a House of Cards and now the government wants to invest PUBLIC PENSION funds into these things. This could turn out to be an even bigger disaster than the mortgage crisis. These government brokered toll roads deals are the big dig, savings and loan, Enron, and mortgage crises on steriods!

Presidential Candidates Endorse Toll Road Bank
Democratic presidential candidates endorse $60 billion federal bureaucracy charged with funding new toll road projects.
The Newspaper.com
March 26, 2008

Taking a page from the New Deal, Senators Hillary Clinton (D-New York) and Barack Obama (D-Illinois) have signed on to a measure that would create a public-private partnership agency tasked with expanding the role of the federal government in creating massive public works projects. As cosponsors of legislation introduced by Senator Chris Dodd (D-Connecticut), himself a former presidential candidate, the senators would create a National Infrastructure Bank to fund large federal projects with “a preference for projects which leverage private financing, including public-private partnerships.” In other words, toll roads.

By its charter, the proposed bank would administer direct subsidies and issue bonds with terms of up to fifty years to promote mass transit, public housing, toll roads and toll bridges or wastewater treatment systems. The bank would encourage local public agencies to “partner” with private for-profit entities to develop these massive projects which must be worth at least $75 million each to qualify for funding.

“The bank does not displace existing formula grants and earmarks for infrastructure,” Senator Dodd explained. “It targets specifically large capacity-building projects that are not adequately served by current financing mechanisms. The proposed Infrastructure Bank Act also will increase the ability of the private sector to play a central role in infrastructure provision.”

The idea for the bank was first proposed by the Center for Strategic and International Studies Commission on Public Infrastructure. In a 2006 report, the group cited the London Mayor Ken Livingstone’s congestion tax as a prime example of the successful execution of an infrastructure concept.

“Technology creates new opportunities for project design, capacity expansion, user cost recovery, and peak-load management,” the CSIS report explained “For example, advanced video and computer technology support congestion pricing systems that have reduced automobile traffic in London by a third.”

The US Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs held a hearing to promote the legislation on March 11. Representatives from CSIS, the American Society of Civil Engineers, Goldman Sachs and the AFL-CIO all testified in favor of the idea. A copy of the prosed legislation is available in a 90k PDF file at the source link below.

Source: S. 1926 (Congress of the United States, 8/1/2007)

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Link to article here.

This is called a bad case of making one bad decision turn into two. The citizens’ concerns with toll roads don’t stop with foreign or private management of our public infrastructure, it’s this concept of government making a profit off our public roadways PERIOD! Not only are these toll roads financially risky (a house of cards), they’re controversial, extort large amounts of tax money from the public for daily living (just about equivalent to taxing the air we breathe), and constitute massive eminent domain abuse forcibly taking private property not for public use, but for government profiteering!

This is a method of co-opting government employees/retirees into supporting toll roads. When they become the investors making billions off their fellow commuters, politicians think all the objections will disappear due to good ol’ fashioned GREED!

OTHER TAKES
Ogden: Texas can solve the problem of financing road construction
State Sen. Steve Ogden, R-Bryan, TEXAS SENATE
Austin American Statesman
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Recently, the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), in its effort to address the highway construction needs of our state, alarmed many in the Legislature and many more in my district. This is counter-productive and unnecessary. I want to report to you what can be done to get things back on track.

TxDOT is not “out of money” and can lift its current moratorium on new construction by selling $1.5 billion of voter-approved bonds. Concerns have been raised on repayment of this large sum of money. In response, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, House Speaker Tom Craddick, House Appropriations Chairman Warren Chisum, and myself as chairman of the Senate Finance Committee recently wrote a letter to TxDOT Chairwoman Hope Andrade. We informed her that $300 million has been appropriated to TxDOT for debt service and committed to increase funding for TxDOT in the next biennial budget.

Last November, Texans overwhelmingly approved another $5 billion in general obligation bonds for highway improvements. During the next session, which begins in January, the Legislature will pass a bill authorizing TxDOT to sell these bonds and use the proceeds for new road construction.

Later this month, the Senate Finance Committee will examine additional financing methods. Specifically, I want to explore the possibility of investing a portion of our state’s trust funds (i.e., Employees Retirement System, Teachers Retirement System, Permanent School Fund, Permanent University Fund) in TxDOT toll projects. The argument for this is straightforward. If it is such a great idea for foreign companies to invest in and profit from our roads, why isn’t it a good idea for our retired teachers and state employees to invest their trust funds in and profit from these roads?

These same trust funds currently make large investments in real estate and infrastructure outside of Texas. I think some of this money should be invested in Texas and that this would be a “win-win-win” situation. Roads will be built, the trust funds will get a guaranteed return on their investment, and the toll revenue would benefit public education in Texas.

The problem of financing the construction of Texas roadways can be solved. The solutions that I propose do not require new taxes, sales to private concerns, or destruction of the countryside with Trans-Texas Corridors a thousand feet wide. Let’s stop arguing and get to work on solutions that Texans will support.

Ogden is the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee.

Link to article here

Influential lawmakers see area traffic for themselves
By GORDON DICKSON
Star-Telegram Staff Writer
March 26, 2008

FORT WORTH — A pair of powerful rural lawmakers got a dose of big-city traffic problems Tuesday.

North Texas officials visited with state Reps. Warren Chisum, R-Pampa, and Carl Isett, R-Lubbock, for about two hours.

Chisum is chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, which controls the purse strings for state agencies. Isett is chairman of the Sunset Advisory Commission, which is studying ways to revamp the Texas Department of Transportation.

The meeting and brief tour of Alliance Airport and surrounding roads was hosted by state Rep. Vicki Truitt, R-Keller, who wants to ensure that plans to improve traffic flow in the western Metroplex aren’t hurt by any statewide changes in highway funding.

“Perspective is really important,” Truitt said, “and the transportation issues we have in North Texas are vastly different than what exists in West Texas or the Panhandle.”

Transportation Department officials have come under fire recently for overestimating available highway funding by $1 billion, proceeding to plan the controversial Trans-Texas Corridor and attempting to lease toll road projects to private, foreign-owned companies.

But in the Fort Worth area, tolls and other alternative funding sources have been embraced on projects such as:

Proposed new toll and nontoll lanes on Interstate 35W in Fort Worth, and Loop 820, Airport Freeway and Texas 114/121 in Northeast Tarrant County.

The planned Southwest Parkway toll road from downtown to southwest Fort Worth and eventually Cleburne.

A proposal to relieve train traffic at the congested Tower 55 railroad intersection near downtown Fort Worth.

Fort Worth Mayor Mike Moncrief and Tarrant County Judge Glen Whitley were among 30 or so people who greeted the lawmakers.

Chisum applauded them for working together and said: “The Legislature itself is incapable of solving the problem without your support. We need you to come to us with the solutions, and we’ll assist you in changing the law.”

KSAT.com
TxDOT’s Money Management Mind Boggling
February 29, 2008

SAN ANTONIO — TxDOT has big problems managing public money, and their latest accounting errors really leave us wondering who’s minding the store over there.First, TxDOT found an $80 billion shortfall because they projected 2006 needs based on 2004 costs.Now, they’ve counted bond money twice, amounting to another $1.1 billion accounting error.TxDOT is crying poor, but they can’t even keep track of the money they have.To add insult to injury, they still ask for even more money with toll roads.They say they’ve put internal changes in place to solve the problem, but what they really need is more external oversight and serious accountability.TxDOT is still going to get nearly $17 billion in funding for the next two years.Let’s make sure they don’t mismanage it.I’m Jim Joslyn, that’s what we think. Let’s hear from you.

Link to article here.

Tax-Control Advocates May Go to Jail in Oklahoma
By Pete Winn, CNS News.com Senior Writer
March 20, 2008

(CNSNews.com) – A veteran activist for taxpayer ballot initiatives and two associates could face up to 10 years in prison in Oklahoma for exercising what libertarians say is a basic constitutional right: circulating petitions to get an initiative on the state ballot.

Activist Paul Jacob appeared in court in Oklahoma City on March 14 alongside two co-defendants – Susan Johnson and Rick Carpenter – in connection with felony charges that they violated an Oklahoma law that requires everyone who circulates petitions to be a resident of the state.

“I happen to think that the prosecution is 100 percent politically motivated,” Jacob told Cybercast News Service. “It’s an attempt to frighten, intimidate, and silence not only myself and the other two individuals, but really every person in Oklahoma who might dare to do a petition drive to reform the government.”

The trio, dubbed “The Oklahoma 3,” were first indicted last October, then re-indicted in January on the charges, which were brought by Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson. A trial date, expected to be July 23, has not yet been formally set. Edmondson alleges that the three “defrauded” the state by hiring non-Oklahoma signature-gatherers for a 2006 ballot initiative to create a taxpayer bill of rights (TABOR) in Oklahoma. If convicted, they could each face a maximum of 10 years in jail and a $25,000 fine.

TABOR initiatives essentially control the growth of state revenue (taxes) by tying it to the inflation rate and the population growth, and they mandate that state budget surpluses be refunded to the taxpayers. Jacob, who led the term limits movement of the 1990s as head of US Term Limits, is president of the Virginia-based ballot-initiative group Citizens in Charge. Johnson is president of a Michigan-based petition firm, National Voter Outreach. Carpenter, who headed the initiative group Oklahomans in Action, is a Tulsa resident. All three have pleaded not guilty.

Jacob said his role was only as an advisor to the campaign. The charges, he said, stem from the fact that a number of people associated with the campaign moved to Oklahoma during the course of the petition drive – something that has happened in petition drives in Oklahoma in the past without incident.

“The petition company and folks that were working on the ground in Oklahoma had talked with state officials and asked specifically what constitutes a resident and could people move to Oklahoma and collect signatures,” Jacob said. “They were told that, indeed, they could. Under Oklahoma law people can immediately register to vote and immediately begin collecting signatures when they move to the state and declare themselves a resident. That’s what happened,” he added. “The charge itself is bogus,”

Jacob said. David Dunn, legislative director for the Oklahoma Family Policy Council, called the prosecution “a witch hunt.” “Oklahoma has a long history of citizen initiatives to put things on the ballot before the people,” Dunn told Cybercast News Service. “For whatever reason, our state is trying to prosecute these people simply because some officeholders don’t like the issue that Mr. Jacob was trying to put on the ballot.”

Brandon Dutcher, vice president of the conservative Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs, agreed, saying the prosecution appears to have been personally instigated by Edmondson, a Democrat who Dutcher said may have been motivated by his opposition to the now-defunct TABOR initiative. “Drew Edmondson is very liberal,” Dutcher said.

“One can only speculate that he is trying to send a message to conservatives: ‘How dare you try to limit the size of government!'” Edmondson, whose office did not respond to an interview request from Cybercast News Service before press time, defended his actions in a Nov. 24, 2007, letter to The Wall Street Journal. “(T)hrough their allegedly illegal actions, Carpenter, Jacob, and Johnson silenced the voices of the Oklahoma voters who signed the initiative petition,” Edmondson wrote. “This scheme to circumvent Oklahoma’s residency requirement caused the entire petition to be scrapped,” he said.

“The accused are not the victims. The victims are those Oklahomans who signed a petition that has been thrown out because of fraud. If you don’t like this particular statute, go to the legislature and change it.”

Oklahoma State Sen. Randy Brogdon (R-Owasso), however, strongly attacked Edmondson for the prosecution and warned that what was happening was a travesty of justice.

“Everyone should be deeply concerned about this,” Brogdon said. “If this shameful political assault succeeds, everyone is at risk. It is an outrage.”

Pat McGuigan, an Oklahoma City journalist who used to work for the conservative Free Congress Foundation and the Heritage Foundation, said that the statute itself is questionable – what he called “a jump-ball.”

It’s perfectly reasonable, McGuigan said, to require that everyone who signs a petition in the Sooner State be an Oklahoma resident and that only Oklahomans can vote on initiatives. But to require that everyone who circulates a petition is an Oklahoman and then to threaten someone with a prison term is a “massive overreaction,” he said. “It was unwarranted for (Jacob) to be led away in handcuffs and face a possible prison term over what is essentially a procedural matter,” McGuigan told Cybercast News Service.

A lawsuit challenging the Oklahoma statute itself is set to go to the 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Denver in April.

Link to article here.

Michigan Congressman Wants 50-Cent Tax Hike on Every Gallon of Gas
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Fox News
A Michigan congressman wants to put a 50-cent tax on every gallon of gasoline to try to cut back on Americans’ consumption.

Polls show that a majority of Americans support policies that would reduce greenhouse gases. But when it comes to paying for it, it’s a different story.

Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., wants to help cut consumption with a gas tax but some don’t agree with the idea, according to a new poll by the National Center for Public Policy Research.

The poll, scheduled to be released on Thursday, shows 48 percent don’t support paying even a penny more, 28 percent would pay up to 50 cents more, 10 percent would pay more than 50 cents and 8 percent would pay more than a dollar.

“I don’t want to pay more, I don’t think anyone wants to,” said Karen Deacon, a motorist.

“I think that wouldn’t make any sense,” said Frankie Hoe, a motorist. “Ugh … who’s making the money from all this and where is that money going? Is it going to go green? I don’t see any green things anywhere.”

The automobile is the nation’s biggest polluter; Americans use more gas than the next 20 countries combined.

Some environmentalists and economists say pain at the pump may be bad for Americans, but good medicine for a sick planet.

But others say it wouldn’t change much. Even if Americans abandoned their cars, global emissions would fall by less than one percent.

“A tax on gas is a way to reduce dependence on import oil, reduce traffic congrestion and reduce carbon emissions,” said Lester Brown, president of the Earth Policy Institute.

The Earth Policy Institute proposes raising the gas tax 30 cents per gallon each year over a decade and offset with a reduction of income taxes, Brown said.

David Ridenour, vice president of the National Center for Public Policy Research, said the proposal wouldn’t help long term.

“I think when you are talking about raising gas prices, there may be short-term reduction, put off vacations, but bottom line is over long term, that isn’t going to have much of an effect,” Ridenour said.

While Dingell’s idea will likely lie dormant until after the 2008 election, the idea of carbon taxes is not. Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and John McCain all support some type of system that either directly or indirectly will raise prices to penalize polluters.

FOX News’ William La Jeunesse contributed to this report.

Austin, TX –Texans Uniting for Reform and Freedom (TURF) is organizing a march down Congress Avenue and rally on the South Capitol steps Saturday, April 5. Invited speakers include: Congressman Ron Paul (R – TX), Congressman Virgil Goode (R – VA), Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur (D – OH), and Oklahoma Senator Randy Brogdon (all of whom have introduced and/or passed bills or resolutions to stop funding the Trans Texas Corridor), along with many Texas State Legislators and local leaders like Mayor Mae Smith of Holland, Chair of the first Subregional Planning Commission putting a roadblock in the path of TTC-35 and Michael Quinn Sullivan of Texans for Fiscal Responsibility .

CNN’s Lou Dobbs couldn’t believe Texans would allow Rick Perry and the Texas Legislature to steal our land and allow the TTC to be built. “What happened to ‘Don’t Mess With Texas?'” (See it here) Texans through TURF plan to show Lou Dobbs and the WORLD: Don’t mess with Texas TURF!

WHAT:

STOP THE TTC & TOLLS ACROSS TEXAS RALLY, with a march down Congress Avenue then rally on the south Capitol steps in Austin

WHO:

Texas farmers, ranchers, and ordinary citizens from all over Texas, also entertainment by The Texicans (singers/songwriters of Trans Texas Corridor Blues) and Jack Motley (featured in Truth Be Tolled movie)

WHEN: Saturday, April 5

March begins – 12:15 pm

(The staging area for the march will be at the parking lots at the corner of Cesar Chavez St. & Red River St.)

Rally from – 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm

WHERE: South Capitol steps, Austin, TX

Link to article here.

We agree wholeheartedly with the Farm Bureau’s assessment of TxDOT’s woefully inadequate DEIS for TTC-69. In fact, TURF’s comments are very similar. TxDOT’s failure to study ANY cumulative impacts of this massive corridor across the state is not only irresponsible, it’s ILLEGAL! If 391 commissions don’t stop it, looks like both TURF and the Farm Bureau will haul TxDOT into court to force them to comply with the law.

Texas Farm Bureau: “TxDOT’s Draft Environmental Impact Study will not withstand judicial scrutiny”
Southwest Farm Press
Mar 19, 2008
In comments filed with the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), the Texas Farm Bureau said the Draft Environmental Impact Study (DEIS) for the proposed I-69 corridor “would not withstand judicial scrutiny.”

Under the terms of the National Environmental Policy Act, these detailed environmental studies are conducted under rules developed by the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ).

According to the farm organization’s comments, the failure of the DEIS to consider the environmental impact of using existing rights-of-way–rather than a single minded focus on building a completely new route–means the study could not hold up in court. Current law and actual practice in the only other state, Indiana, to file a DEIS on the massive interstate project dictate that existing rights-of-way be considered. Indiana’s DEIS did, in fact, consider existing rights-of-way.

“The completely new route, of course, would be the most disruptive in terms of displacing families and impacting the environment,” said Kenneth Dierschke, president of Texas Farm Bureau. “Once again, it seems that TxDOT is trying to influence policy rather than implementing it, this time by pretending that there is only one way to build the Texas portion of I-69.”

Another problem, according to the document submitted by TFB, is the insistence by TxDOT and FHWA that I-69 be “multimodal,” complete with space for separate truck lanes, rail and a multi-purpose utility corridor. The Farm Bureau charges that the two agencies have failed to demonstrate the need for this kind of space-eating approach.

“I-69, as proposed, will pass through seven states. Of these, Texas is the only one to mention, let alone require, a multimodal corridor in connection with I-69,” Dierschke said.

Dierschke said the state needs additional highways but Farm Bureau is concerned about the lost farm and ranch land along the proposed route. That, he said, is another flaw in the DEIS. According to the TFB document, farmland loss was not considered in the DEIS, as required by federal law.

“There doesn’t appear to be any effort to minimize the loss of farm and ranch lands or the productive capacity that might be lost,” Dierschke said.

The Farm Bureau document suggests that many problems arise from the intent to include I-69–not only in the federal corridor that includes seven states–but in the controversial Trans-Texas Corridor as well. The TTC is most often described as multimodal, requiring more space.

“We have to wonder if the rest of the TTC is getting this kind of half-hearted scrutiny,” Dierschke said. “We hope TxDOT and FHWA are approaching this planning phase with an open mind, but their efforts suggest otherwise.”