Category: General

TxDOT hires former lobbyist to lobby Dems in Congress

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This article demonstrates how both TxDOT and lawmakers ignore the law. Once again, TxDOT admits they’re lobbying, this time members of Congress specifically, and no one in the Legislature, Congress or law enforcement is doing a single thing about it! TxDOT leaves out the fact that they stopped hiring outside lobbyists because they got hauled into court by TURF to enforce the law prohibiting them from doing so. Read our press release laying out the laws TxDOT is breaking with impunity, despite our lawsuit!

TxDOT tries to bridge rifts with Texans in Congress

By BENNETT ROTH and STEWART POWELL

May 25, 2008

Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON — The Texas Department of Transportation, long viewed as hyperpartisan and arrogant by some members of the state’s congressional delegation, has been trying to soften its image by reaching out to lawmakers of both parties in the nation’s capital.

But while state transportation officials are having some success in easing the personal animus, they still face a stiff challenge in selling their policy agenda to the state’s elected officials in Washington.

Many Texans on the Potomac cringe at the agency’s embrace of toll roads, the controversies surrounding the Trans-Texas Corridor and TxDOT’s resistance to many of the highway earmarks they deliver to constituents.

“I think it’s a marriage that’s on the rocks,” said Rep. Ted Poe, R-Humble, who sits on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. “TxDOT has burned some bridges with the Texas delegation.”

The charm offensive comes as Congress begins work on the reauthorization of the massive transportation legislation that expires in 2009. The reauthorization effort will chart priorities for federal highway spending and for programs into the next decade.

Transportation officials in Texas, who have been warning of highway funding shortfalls, hope to increase their share of federal dollars, which amounted to $3.6 billion in 2006. But they also want the flexibility to tap other sources of revenue, such as toll roads and private leasing of highways.

TxDOT has a lot of animosity to overcome. Democrats hold a grudge against the agency for ignoring them during the years of GOP dominance in the House and for using state taxpayer dollars to hire a lobbyist linked to former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Sugar Land.

“They bought the Kool Aid and thought Republicans would be in the permanent majority,” said Rep. Gene Green, D-Houston, referring to the GOP lobbyists hired by TxDOT. “It is no secret they didn’t talk to Democrats.”

Thawing relations

Lawmakers say the thaw in relations with state highway officials began last fall when the late Ric Williamson, the hard-charging and very partisan chairman of the state Transportation Commission, flew to Washington to make peace with the delegation after Democrats regained control of Congress. That effort continued after Williamson’s death in December.”There may be hard feelings about things that happened in the past, but we have significant challenges in the future,” said Deirdre Delisi, appointed by Gov. Rick Perry to lead the five-member Transportation Commission, which oversees TxDOT and the state’s extensive highway and bridge system,

TxDOT also has taken action that appears to be aimed at placating Texas Democrats and acknowledging the party will likely remain in control of Congress for the near future.

In February, the agency quietly ended outside lobbying contracts, worth $117,692 a month, including one held by the Federalist Group, which is run by Drew Maloney, DeLay’s former chief of staff.

Democrats had been miffed at the contract in part because Maloney had contributed $15,500 to Republican congressional candidates — including $5,500 to DeLay — since 2003, according to Federal Election Commission records.

Maloney also gave $750 to an opponent of Rep. Chet Edwards, D-Waco, the top Texas Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee.

The same month it canceled the outside contracts, the transportation agency hired Rebecca Reyes, the daughter of Rep. Silvestre Reyes, D-El Paso, as one of its two staffers in its Washington office. Silvestre Reyes is an ally of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif, who named the Texan to head the House Intelligence Committee.

The moves, said Chris Lippincott, a TxDOT spokesman, were not taken for political reasons. He said that the outside contracts were terminated because of budget cuts and that Rebecca Reyes was hired because she has a background in lobbying.

Silvestre Reyes defended the hiring of his daughter, saying she “went through the same rigorous hiring process as every other applicant who applies to work for the state of Texas.”

Rep. Nick Lampson, D-Stafford, said it was “probably true” that TxDOT had experienced problems adapting to the new Democratic congressional leadership.

“There has been an expression of interest in coming here and building relationships,” he said, “but I (still) haven’t seen that happen at this point.”

Lawmakers from both parties have a litany of grievances about the transportation agency’s approach to Congress.

Edwards complained that agency officials “have been instructed to blame Congress for the inability to improve highway projects.” In reality, he said, federal spending for highways in Texas has risen faster than state spending.

The friction with state highway officials came about, Poe said, “when TxDOT wanted to tell us what should be built in Texas. It doesn’t work that way.”

The Trans-Texas Corridor

Many lawmakers do not support plans for the Trans-Texas Corridor, envisioned by Perry as a project stretching from Texarkana to Mexico that would be operated by a private consortium. The corridor would include toll lanes for cars and trucks; tracks for freight and passenger trains; and space for pipelines, power lines and communications.Landowners and local governments whose property would be affected by the project have angrily protested the routes in a series of town hall meetings.

“It is public enemy number one in my district,” said Rep. Kevin Brady, R-The Woodlands.

Some lawmakers have signaled a willingness to meddle with plans for the corridor.

Rep. Ron Paul, R-Lake Jackson, has introduced a bill that would prohibit federal funding for the project. The proposal is backed by Republican Rep. Michael McCaul, whose district runs from Austin to western Harris County and is a hotbed of opposition to the corridor.

As a pre-emptive move, Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, inserted a provision in an appropriations bill that barred the state from putting tolls on existing highways for a year. The bill subsequently became law.

Texas’ other senator, Republican John Cornyn, who is up for re-election, said he doesn’t believe the corridor is a good idea.

“Obviously, we need more transportation infrastructure in Texas,” he said. “But I don’t think we need to plow up a bunch of new ground on private property across the state to get there.”

Earmarks criticized

Another area of dispute has been the willingness of lawmakers to insert earmarks — orders funding projects — into transportation bills.Lippincott said the earmarks, totaling $208 million for the state, often force the delay of other projects.

But some Democrats, such as Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson of Dallas, believe the earmarks are necessary to ensure a fair distribution of state highway funds.

“I’m going to support earmarks as long as I am here breathing,” Johnson said.

Ned Holmes, a transportation commissioner and Houston businessman, said he believes the rift between TxDOT and the Democrats can be repaired through better communication.

Although he is a Republican, Holmes said he has remained on good terms with congressional Democrats and noted that he contributed $2,000 to Edwards’ re-election campaign in March.

For years, Holmes said, “TxDOT was one of the most respected state agencies.

“I think it will be again.”

McCain tied to lobbyist for Trans Texas Corridor, toll roads

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The Loeffler Tuggey (et al) law firm represents Zachry Construction, the major toll road player in Texas who partnered with Cintra to win the development rights to the Trans Texas Corridor and landed the first privatized toll road contract in Texas for SH 130. So the connection to McCain is clear just as it was with Giuliani before him.

A Top McCain Aide Quits
Departure Over Ties To Lobbying Group Is Fourth in 2 Weeks
By ELIZABETH HOLMES
May 19, 2008

The McCain campaign lost another top aide Sunday over ties to lobbying, the fourth such departure in less than two weeks.

Thomas Loeffler, a former U.S. representative from Texas, resigned from his post as a national finance committee and campaign co-chairman, a campaign spokesman confirmed Sunday.

Mr. Loeffler is the founder of The Loeffler Group, a San Antonio lobbying shop that has worked on behalf of AT&T Inc. and Southwest Airlines Co. as well as foreign interests, including Saudi Arabia.

Mr. Loeffler’s resignation continues the fallout from a new policy that John McCain, the likely Republican nominee, instituted last week requiring full disclosure of involvement with lobbying firms and other independent political groups.

The policy bans staffers and aides from being registered lobbyists or working on behalf of foreign interests. It allows unpaid volunteers to continue as registered lobbyists as long as they disclose those interests and don’t lobby or advise Sen. McCain on behalf of those interests.

Although Mr. Loeffler qualified under the latter terms, his high rank at the campaign forced him to make a decision, said Charlie Black, a senior aide to Sen. McCain and a former lobbyist.

“Senior staff people cannot be registered to lobby,” said Mr. Black. Mr. Loeffler didn’t answer requests for comment.

Mr. Black severed his ties to the lobbying firm BKSH & Associates Worldwide this year. Campaign manager Rick Davis still owns a stake in his lobbying organization, Davis Manafort Inc., but is no longer paid by the firm.

“Everybody’s making decisions to see if they can live with [the new policy],” said Mark Salter, a senior McCain adviser.

Mr. Loeffler’s resignation follows that of three other advisers. Doug Goodyear and Doug Davenport left on May 10 and 11, respectively, because of their involvement with DCI Group, a firm that once worked for Myanmar’s military junta. Last week, Eric Burgeson, a McCain adviser on energy policy, was jettisoned from the campaign because he was a registered lobbyist on the same topic.

Mr. Loeffler’s departure is arguably the most significant because of his reputation as a successful fund-raiser. He was named to his finance-committee position in December 2006 and is credited with helping the campaign limp through its cash-strapped implosion last summer.

Mr. Loeffler has a long history with Republican presidential campaigns. He served as Texas co-chairman for former President George H.W. Bush in 1988 and was national deputy finance chairman for Bob Dole’s failed bid in 1996. Mr. Loeffler was also a major fund-raiser for the current President Bush, serving as a “Pioneer” in 2000 and a “Super-Ranger” in 2004, meaning he raised more than $100,000 and more than $300,000, respectively, in those elections.

In a release dated March 8, 2007, that announced Mr. Loeffler’s position of general chairman of the campaign, Sen. McCain called Mr. Loeffler “a good friend” and said he would play a “very important role in our campaign.”

The policy, dubbed “McCain Campaign Conflict Policy,” was made mandatory last week after questions arose about the ties to lobbying firms by staff and volunteers.

The policy also bans involvement with so-called 527s — independent groups named for a section of the tax code that are able to accept limitless donations — and other such groups.

OK tears down highway replaces with a park

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Vancouver has no highways in its city limits and experiences little congestion. There is something to be said for parkways and boulevards in our downtown and historic areas. This is the best possible solution for Hwy 290 in Austin and Bandera Rd. in San Antonio.

Oklahoma City swaps highway for park
By Dennis Cauchon, USA TODAY
May 14, 2008

OKLAHOMA CITY — Oklahoma has a radical solution for repairing the state’s busiest highway.

Tear it down. Build a park.

The aging Crosstown Expressway — an elevated 4.5-mile stretch of Interstate 40 — will be demolished in 2012. An old-fashioned boulevard and a mile-long park will be constructed in its place.

Oklahoma City is doing what many cities dream about: saying goodbye to a highway.

More than a dozen cities have proposals to remove highways from downtowns. Cleveland wants to remove a freeway that blocks its waterfront. Syracuse, N.Y., wants to rid itself of an interstate that cuts the city in half.

“Highways don’t belong in cities. Period,” says John Norquist, who was mayor of Milwaukee when it closed a highway. “Europe didn’t do it. America did. And our cities have paid the price.”

In the 1950s and ’60s, mayors, governors and planners thought downtown highways would help keep cities alive by paving the way for suburban commuters to get in and out. Today, many of those same groups view downtown highways as a plague, wrecking neighborhoods, dividing cities and blocking waterfronts. Many big cities have long-term plans that call for eliminating some downtown highways or reducing their scale.

The future of many of these highways will be decided in the next few years because the old roads are nearing the end of their life expectancies. The federal, state and local governments must decide whether it’s smarter and cheaper to renovate highways or to build new routes.

Boost to downtown

Some cities want traffic routed around downtowns. Others want tunnels or highways that pass under streets. A number of cities want to close highways and replace them with — nothing.

In Oklahoma City, the interstate will be moved five blocks from downtown to an old railroad line. The new 10-lane highway, expected to carry 120,000 vehicles daily, will be placed in a trench so deep that city streets can run atop it, as if the highway weren’t there.

The old highway will be converted into a tree-lined boulevard city officials hope will become Oklahoma City’s marquee street.

By tearing down the Crosstown Expressway, the city hopes to spur development of 80 city blocks stretching from downtown to the Oklahoma River — an area that contains vacant lots, car repair shops and a few small homes.

“We’ve always been a good place to live, but we’ve never had a city we could show off,” Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett says. “Moving the expressway makes it possible for a day to come when hundreds or thousands of people will live downtown.”

The project will cost $557 million, mostly federal and state funds. The city will pay to spruce up the boulevard, build parks and put a pedestrian bridge over the new below-ground interstate.

Oklahoma City is doing what many cities want to do but have not gotten federal or state money to accomplish:

•Buffalo wants to get rid of its Skyway, an elevated highway that blocks access to Lake Erie.

•Nashville wants to replace 8 miles of interstate — parts of I-65, I-40 and I-24 — with parks and neighborhood streets.

•Washington has considered demolishing the Whitehurst Freeway, an elevated road that runs along the Potomac River in the tony Georgetown neighborhood. The plan is on hold because of cost.

•Akron, Ohio, launched a $2 million study on tearing down its 2.2 mile Innerbelt that leads downtown from I-76/I-77.

Highway removal proposals are also being discussed in Chicago, Seattle, Portland, Ore., Baltimore, Louisville, New Haven, Conn., Trenton, N.J., and Niagara Falls, N.Y. The Sheridan Expressway in the Bronx is another target.

On the waterfront

Many unpopular highways run along rivers or lakes. The path made sense when they were built because the route was flat, in existing rights-of-way and connected highways and busy ports.

Now, especially in old, industrial cities, waterfronts are often vacant, leaving the prettiest scenery blighted by highways carrying traffic passing through.

Cleveland wants to convert its West Shoreway, next to Lake Erie, from a 50-mph freeway into a tree-lined boulevard. “There was less appreciation for the scenic value of waterfront when the shoreway was built,” says Cleveland Planning Commission director Robert Brown. “We need to connect the city to its parks and lakefront again.”

In other cities, highways cut cities in half. “It’s our very own Berlin Wall,” Syracuse, N.Y., council member Van Robinson says of I-81.

Like many urban interstates, I-81 demolished a black neighborhood. The interstate has created a tale of two cities: thriving Syracuse University on one side, struggling downtown on the other.

When Robinson proposed getting rid of I-81 — sending through-traffic outside the city — many people thought the idea was crazy.

Since then, the president of Syracuse University and many local officials have supported evicting the interstate from downtown. The state is comparing the cost of renovating or relocating it.

Doug Currey, regional director of the New York State Department of Transportation, says taking down urban highways is sometimes the right thing to do — and sometimes not.

“No two situations are exactly alike,” says Currey, who oversees highways in the New York City area.

Cost is the big obstacle to removing highways. “Generally, maintaining what you have is cheaper than building something new,” Currey says.

San Francisco tore down its elevated Embarcadero Freeway, damaged in an earthquake in 1989, and replaced it with a palm-tree-lined boulevard serving local traffic. Since then, the bay-front neighborhood has blossomed, and traffic has been absorbed by city streets.

Currey witnessed the same thing in New York City when the West Side Highway was demolished. An asphalt truck plunged through the elevated road in 1973 and, rather than rebuild the decrepit road, it became the nation’s first major highway tear-down.

Once the highway was gone, the Chelsea, TriBeCa and West Village neighborhoods came back to life. Traffic adapted. “It worked in Manhattan,” Currey says.

NYT: Paul Krugman's take on high gas prices & how to cope

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Stranded in Suburbia
By Paul Krugman
The New York Times Monday 19 May 2008

Berlin – I have seen the future, and it works.

O.K., I know that these days you’re supposed to see the future in China or India, not in the heart of “old Europe.”

But we’re living in a world in which oil prices keep setting records, in which the idea that global oil production will soon peak is rapidly moving from fringe belief to mainstream assumption. And Europeans who have achieved a high standard of living in spite of very high energy prices – gas in Germany costs more than $8 a gallon – have a lot to teach us about how to deal with that world.

If Europe’s example is any guide, here are the two secrets of coping with expensive oil: own fuel-efficient cars, and don’t drive them too much.

Notice that I said that cars should be fuel-efficient – not that people should do without cars altogether. In Germany, as in the United States, the vast majority of families own cars (although German households are less likely than their U.S. counterparts to be multiple-car owners).

But the average German car uses about a quarter less gas per mile than the average American car. By and large, the Germans don’t drive itsy-bitsy toy cars, but they do drive modest-sized passenger vehicles rather than S.U.V.’s and pickup trucks.

In the near future I expect we’ll see Americans moving down the same path. We’ve already done it once: over the course of the 1970s and 1980s, the average mileage of U.S. passenger vehicles rose about 50 percent, as Americans switched to smaller, lighter cars.

This improvement stalled with the rise of S.U.V.’s during the cheap-gas 1990s. But now that gas costs more than ever before, even after adjusting for inflation, we can expect to see mileage rise again.

Admittedly, the next few years will be rough for families who bought big vehicles when gas was cheap, and now find themselves the owners of white elephants with little trade-in value. But raising fuel efficiency is something we can and will do.

Can we also drive less? Yes – but getting there will be a lot harder.

There have been many news stories in recent weeks about Americans who are changing their behavior in response to expensive gasoline – they’re trying to shop locally, they’re canceling vacations that involve a lot of driving, and they’re switching to public transit.

But none of it amounts to much. For example, some major public transit systems are excited about ridership gains of 5 or 10 percent. But fewer than 5 percent of Americans take public transit to work, so this surge of riders takes only a relative handful of drivers off the road.

Any serious reduction in American driving will require more than this – it will mean changing how and where many of us live.

To see what I’m talking about, consider where I am at the moment: in a pleasant, middle-class neighborhood consisting mainly of four- or five-story apartment buildings, with easy access to public transit and plenty of local shopping.

It’s the kind of neighborhood in which people don’t have to drive a lot, but it’s also a kind of neighborhood that barely exists in America, even in big metropolitan areas. Greater Atlanta has roughly the same population as Greater Berlin – but Berlin is a city of trains, buses and bikes, while Atlanta is a city of cars, cars and cars.

And in the face of rising oil prices, which have left many Americans stranded in suburbia – utterly dependent on their cars, yet having a hard time affording gas – it’s starting to look as if Berlin had the better idea.

Changing the geography of American metropolitan areas will be hard. For one thing, houses last a lot longer than cars. Long after today’s S.U.V.’s have become antique collectors’ items, millions of people will still be living in subdivisions built when gas was $1.50 or less a gallon.

Infrastructure is another problem. Public transit, in particular, faces a chicken-and-egg problem: it’s hard to justify transit systems unless there’s sufficient population density, yet it’s hard to persuade people to live in denser neighborhoods unless they come with the advantage of transit access.

And there are, as always in America, the issues of race and class. Despite the gentrification that has taken place in some inner cities, and the plunge in national crime rates to levels not seen in decades, it will be hard to shake the longstanding American association of higher-density living with poverty and personal danger.

Still, if we’re heading for a prolonged era of scarce, expensive oil, Americans will face increasingly strong incentives to start living like Europeans – maybe not today, and maybe not tomorrow, but soon, and for the rest of our lives.

American Free Press highlights Texans' fight against TTC

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TEXANS BATTLE TTC
Throngs hit streets of Austin to rally against Trans-Texas Corridor
By Mark Anderson
American Free Press
May 2008

TEXANS UNITING FOR REFORM and Freedom (TURF) marched up
Congress Avenue and held a big rally on the capitol steps in Austin April 5, short circuiting an apparent underhanded effort to suppress grassroots turnout against the proposed Trans-Texas Corridor (TTC).

This is the second straight year that ranchers and various other opponents have converged on Austin to passionately voice their opposition to the TTC, or NAFTA Superhighway, an invasive mega-tollway network that would carve out at least 584,000 acres of Texas land, forcing most landowners to sell their properties at a big loss.

With at least two main arteries (TTC-69 and TTC-35) and numerous offshoots, the overall TTC would have 4,000-plus miles of pavement in Texas alone—with its huge main sections about a quarter-mile wide, including rail and utility lines—and would fan out across the United States, forever changing the face of the nation.

The TTC actually is a transnational highway system for the contemplated North American Union, designed to meld Mexico, the U.S. and Canada together as one big, happy family.

According to a TURF news release provided before the rally, this organization had received calls from panicked TTC opponents who had heard some residents claim that TTC-69 has been stopped.

“Senate Finance Committee Chairman Senator Steve Ogden told Walker County Commissioner, B.J. Gaines, that the Trans Texas Corridor I-69 project is over, scrapped . . .” the news release stated. “The word is spreading like wildfire among elected officials in the path of TTC-69, including the mayor of Kendleton, just in time to tell constituents: ‘There’s no need to attend that rally in Austin this weekend since the TTC-69 project is over.’”

But TURF leader Terri Hall, a San Antonio resident who recently appeared on CNN’s Lou Dobbs national news program to explain the threat the TTC poses to land ownership and national sovereignty, noted that there’s no reason to believe the TTC has been scrapped.

“At this juncture, it’s naïve to believe word-one from politicians or TxDOT, an agency run amok, that is misusing our taxpayer money to lobby in favor of the TransTexas Corridor and prone to $1 billion in accounting errors. The TTC-69 public comment period isn’t even completed yet, and the environmental hearings were completed only weeks ago, and now they’re trying to convince taxpayers the project is dead? Who are they kidding?”

Hall told AFP that despite the apparent effort of Kendleton Mayor Carolyn Jones to suppress turnout, a delegation of perhaps a dozen people from that city attended the rally to protest the TTC. If ever completed, the TTC would set the stage for applying tolls to freeways, because freeways provide a non-toll alternative that could doom the TTC mega-tollway plan. The TTC would be operated by a Spanish firm known as Cintra that would reap the profits while partnering with U.S. politicians to ensure that eminent domain and law enforcement powers are wielded.

Hank Gilbert, TURF board member and rally coordinator, wants certifiable proof the TTC is dead, whenever that day may come. He was quoted as saying in the TURF news release: “The claim the TTC-69 project is over is an underhanded, 11th-hour dirty trick to sabotage the people’s right to protest this project, and we’re asking (that) every state law, every Transportation Commission Minute Order, every local Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) and tolling authority plan authorizing the Trans Texas Corridor be immediately revoked in writing. Until that’s done, we’re pressing ahead. It’s clear we can’t trust a word that comes out of the mouths of TxDOT or politicians.”

The April 5 rally was well-attended. “It was great; it was several thousand people like last year,” said Hall, whose other group, the San Antonio Toll Party, held a meeting attended by AFP in January, where various plans were announced, including an ongoing effort to encourage anti-TCC, anti-toll candidates to run for public office at all levels.

The “Don’t Mess with Texas TURF, Stop the TTC & Tolls Rally” included various speakers, such as representatives of the Teamsters, Eagle Forum, Texans for Fiscal Responsibility, Oklahoma State Sen. Randy Brogdon (who passed legislation to stop the TTC from coming through his state), and local leaders, including Mae Smith, the mayor of Holland, Texas. She heads the state’s first-ever sub-regional Planning Commission.

That group seeks to put a roadblock in the way of TTC-35. Such local units, organized under state law, can help form a tighter network against the TTC. Rallies are all good and well, but they may or may not convince TTC-backers in the legislature and elsewhere to back down, said Mayor Smith. Therefore, as she told AFP, she formed the East-Central Regional Planning Commission in August of 2007.

On Jan. 31, 2008, Ms. Smith and the mayors of three other nearby cities in Bell County informed officials from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that the Texas Transportation Department (TxDOT), in their estimation, is skipping steps in the environmental impact study that is being carried out and includes public hearings across Texas.

AFP attended an early-February public hearing in McAllen, Tex., where local officials and others with a vested interest supported the TTC, but most of the citizens spoke against it or were skeptical. Many of the local officials, such as McAllen Mayor Mike Perez, believe that the TTC would help boost local economies. Smith observed that some major cities (McAllen is a large city on the Mexican border) may see some residual benefits, but the bigger picture is what matters, she said.

Smith—whose regional commission includes Holland businessman Ralph Snyder and a school board member from each town—says it’s vitally important for many more such commissions to form and band together to halt the TTC. But, to be fair, she added that anti-TTC people need to be ready to explain to TxDOT that there are legitimate alternatives, such as expanding existing freeways, that would be genuine infrastructure improvements.

Helping TxDOT re-focus its efforts would steer it away from pushing the TTC, which—if ever shoved into the “heart of Texas”—will usher in an even bigger invasion of Chinese/Asian goods, hauled via truck and rail into the U.S., starting at Mexican seaports and heading north—flooding the U.S. with even more sub-quality, often hazardous products (and onward to Canada).

The implications for consumer and public safety—with these shoddy products hauled in aboard often-substandard Mexican trucks—are enormous, along with the fact that the ongoing implementation of NAFTA that the TTC signals will continue to unravel the already critically ill American economy that needs its thrifty middle class restored if it’s ever to truly prosper.

With people such as Terri Hall, Mae Smith and several others keeping up the pressure, America has a chance. For, as many observers have noted, it is in Texas where the TTC’s funeral must be held. It cannot be allowed to take root there, lest the NAFTA network spread like a cancer across the nation, tearing asunder what little remains of U.S. manufacturing with the infusion of imports made by ultra-cheap labor, against which American goods cannot compete—since U.S. goods are saturated with huge tax and regulatory costs that stifle production and must be passed on to the consumer.

"Red hot" infrastructure market turns cold, especially in Texas

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Best quote in the press release….“Texas is the coldest market.” You bet it is…we can’t afford foreign-controlled toll roads at 3-4 times the price of FREEways! This shift to privatization and tolling is 100% about greed, the highway lobby, and politicians thinking they can blame someone else for raising taxes 20-100 times more per mile than we pay in gas tax. With gas prices lowering our standard of living at an alarming rate, it’s past time to end this disastrous policy of tolling freeways.

RED HOT DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION MARKETS BEGIN TO COOL

WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, May 21, 2008 -/E-Wire/– Design and construction markets related to environment, infrastructure, and facilities began to slow their rate of growth in 2007, and growth rates are expected to decline still further in 2008, according to the 20th annual State-of-the-Industry Report delivered by management consultants Farkas Berkowitz & Company to an invitation-only conference of CEOs from leading architectural, engineering, and construction firms.

Designers for transportation, power, water quality, remediation, and facilities in the U.S. enjoyed, in aggregate, a robust growth rate of 12 percent in 2007, down slightly from the phenomenal 15 percent growth rate of 2006. Alan Farkas, Managing Director of Farkas Berkowitz & Company, explained that the volatile power engineering market masked a more significant growth rate decline. He explained, “Excluding power engineering, the aggregate growth rate of the remaining segments in 2007 were half that of 2006, declining from a 14 percent growth rate in 2006 to a 7 percent growth rate last year.”

Farkas Berkowitz & Company forecasts that the five infrastructure markets in aggregate will grow 5 percent in 2008 and 7 percent in 2009. “We expect the current economic slowdown to affect all major markets, but the timing and significance will vary,” said Mr. Farkas. He noted that preliminary estimates of first quarter 2008 Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate was 0.6 percent, unchanged from the 0.6 percent rate of growth in the 4th quarter of 2007. The slowdown in growth coupled with the housing crisis, rising fuel prices, and the disruption in the municipal bond market will result in a slowing of growth in design markets related to transportation, water quality, and remediation. The slow rates of growth will be partially offset by the still rapidly growing design markets for power and non-residential facilities. Moreover, the U.S.-based design firms doing business abroad will continue to see more robust rates of growth from international projects. Mr. Farkas pointed out, “Longer term, infrastructure needs should bolster strong design and construction markets well into the next decade.”

Transportation, Engineering and Construction

Farkas Berkowitz & Company estimates that the transportation engineering market grew 4 percent to $9.8 billion in 2007. Mr. Farkas noted, “This was the second consecutive year of declining growth rates. We saw the growth rate peak at 12 percent in 2005, decline to 7 percent in 2006, and we expect the rate of growth in this design market to decline further in 2008 and 2009. We look for a 2-3 percent growth rate this year and no growth in 2009.”

Exhibit 1 U.S. Transportation Engineering Market, 2006-2009 ($ Billions)

Chart 1.JPG
Source: Farkas Berkowitz & Company Actuals based on ENR Top 500 Design Firm Survey

Mr. Farkas went on to point out that a shrinking highway and bridge market in 2008 and 2009 would offset growing rail, aviation, and ports and harbor segments. Highway construction increased 7 percent in 2007. According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s annual value of construction put in place, the construction market has increased 30 percent over the three years 2004-2007. However, Mr. Farkas noted, “Unfortunately, construction costs have increased more than 30 percent since 2004. Therefore, real dollar investment in this important asset class actually declined over the three-year period.”

Farkas Berkowitz & Company estimates that the engineering market for highways and bridges will contract by 5 percent in 2008 and contract another 5 percent in 2009. “We have the highway equivalent of ‘the perfect storm.’ We could call it ‘the perfect pile-up.’ A confluence of political and economic forces will subject this market to extraordinary pressure.” The report quotes experts who forecast a $3 – $4 billion deficit in the highway trust fund, which could result in a cut back in obligations of $16 billion in federal FY 2009. The firm forecasts that we will see another significant delay in the re-authorization of the Federal law, now due to expire on September 30, 2009. Meanwhile, high gasoline prices are causing motorists to cut back on driving, resulting in a decline of revenues flowing into state highway trust funds.

Mr. Farkas explained, “Given the growing importance of local and state sources of highway funding, we find that the outlook varies considerably by state and region. We look for strongly growing markets on the West Coast and most of the Southwest.” The report notes that the hottest state market is California, thanks in large part to funding from the self-help counties. The coldest market is Texas, where spending on highway capital improvements is expected to decline from $5 billion in 2006 to less than $3 billion in 2008. Florida and Georgia were also cited as relatively weak markets.

Public-private partnerships and toll roads will be a positive force in the marketplace over the coming years, but neither funding mechanism will have a significant impact this year or next. The firm believes that public-private partnerships, particularly for greenfield projects, will be increasingly favored, and the development of toll roads, especially for arterial highways, will help over time to narrow the funding gap.

Farkas Berkowitz & Company estimates that the transit engineering market grew at an 8-10 percent growth rate in 2007, showing a steady acceleration from an estimated low single digit rate of growth in 2005. The freight rail market seemed to slow for engineers in 2007, but the firm predicts bright long-term prospects. “The cost advantage that railroads have over trucking, with a better than three-to-one fuel efficiency rating, will continue to allow freight rail to broaden its market from one of hauling raw materials to transporting containerized consumer goods.” explained Mr. Farkas.

Turning to the aviation market, construction on airports grew 14 percent in 2007. The U.S. Census Bureau reports that most of this growth is accounted for by terminal construction, while work on runways and taxiways remained virtually unchanged from 2006. The firm estimates that design work for airports increased 5 percent in 2007, equaling the growth rate in 2006. Mr. Farkas reported that firms serving this market expect strong double digit growth in 2009 and 2010. Farkas Berkowitz & Company, however, is projecting a 5-10 percent growth rate this year and next. As Mr. Farkas explained, “With jet fuel costs increasing 70 percent in the last 12 months, the pressure on airfares is too strong to ignore. As airfares increase, we expect passengers to cut back on travel. As passengers cut back on travel, some airport authorities will delay their expansion plans.”

The firm reports that engineers serving ports and harbors enjoyed their fifth consecutive year of growth greater than 10 percent. In 2007 firms benefited from the conduct of due-diligence studies to support a change in terminal ownership, with more terminals now in the hands of international shippers, port operators, and private equity funds. “We look for growth in the engineering market to slow in 2008 to about 5 percent, but then increase in 2009 and beyond as ports, particularly in the Southeast and the Gulf Coast prepare for the widening of the Panama Canal,” said Mr. Farkas.

Abertis & Citigroup to pay $12.8 Billion for Pennsylvania turnpike

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In the highest pricetag fetched for an American toll road to date, Abertis, a Spanish toll road giant, along with Citigroup will pay the state of Pennsylvania a whopping $12.8 billion for the right to empty the pockets of Pennsylvanians with interest and private profits for the next 75 years! Pennsylvanians can expect BIG, FAT toll hikes to pay back such a stunning sum.

Citi tops bidding for Pa. Turnpike
A Citigroup unit and Barcelona’s Abertis Infraestructuras submit a $12.8B bid to lease the Pennsylvania toll road for 75 years.
CNN/Money.com
May 19, 2008
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A Spanish company and a unit of Citigroup Inc. teamed up to submit the largest bid for the right to lease the Pennsylvania Turnpike for the next 75 years.

Barcelona-based Abertis Infraestructuras, Abertis investor Criteria CaixaCorp of Spain and Citi Infrastructure Investors offered $12.8 billion, beating their nearest competitor by $700 million, Gov. Ed Rendell said Monday.

Rendell described himself as “strongly in favor of it.” But the Legislature must approve any deal, and one leader in the Democratic-controlled House said he was not impressed with the bid.

“To be quite candid, the number is less than overwhelming,” said Majority Whip Keith McCall, D-Carbon. “It’s certainly not dead on arrival, but it’s something we do need to discuss with the entire caucus.”

Raising dollars for transportation

The Democratic governor has pursued the plan to have a private entity operate and maintain 500 miles of the turnpike system to raise billions for Pennsylvania’s transportation needs.

The lease deal would let the operator increase tolls 25% in January, and then by 2.5% or an amount equal to consumer price inflation after that. The turnpike’s operating revenue was $608 million in the fiscal year that ended last May.

Rendell predicted the Abertis and Citi (C, Fortune 500) deal would generate an average of $1.1 billion a year in the first 10 years – income from the investment of the lump-sum lease payment – for roads, bridges and mass transit.

If the deal goes through, the state would almost certainly abandon a plan to introduce tolls to Interstate 80 that would be expected to generate about $500 million a year. The tolls were the primary component of a law passed last summer that is expected to produce about $940 million annually for transportation needs.

Repealing those tolls has become a priority for many people and businesses along the highway, as well as the lawmakers who represent them.

Abertis directly manages more than 2,000 miles of toll roads in other countries; it also manages a toll bridge in Puerto Rico and airport facilities in California, Florida and Georgia.

The Abertis-Citi bid is good through June 20, but the bidders said they intended to be flexible since legislative action in the next month is not likely.

“We’d like to see it done this fall,” said Citi Infrastructure Investments partner Michael B.G. Froman.

Rendell said the two losing bidders were teams consisting of Goldman, Sachs & Co. and Transurban Group of Australia; and of the Macquarie Infrastructure Group of Australia and Cintra of Spain. Goldman-Transurban’s final bid was $12.1 billion; Macquarie-Cintra’s was $8.1 billion.

Can hydrogen help stretch your gas mileage?

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Once again, this show people are far more worried about the price of gas than they are about congestion. Simple economics dictates that few can afford to pay tolls on top of escalating gas prices.

I-Team: Hydrogen generator that increases gas mileage being tested in S.A.
05/20/2008
By Barry Davis
KENS 5 Eyewitness News

The national average for unleaded gasoline is more than $3.75 per gallon and is expected to go higher. Unless you’re driving a hybrid vehicle, you are likely spending almost twice as much on gas as you were just two years ago.

But what if there was a way to cut gas expenses by as much as 50 percent by doing something as simple as turning on your kitchen faucet?

Scientists in San Antonio are testing a hydrogen generator that could dramatically raise your fuel efficiency. Some scientists, however, say it just doesn’t wash.

“You can’t get something for nothing. And starting with water is a very difficult way to get energy,” said Dr. Charlie Roberts, with the Southwest Research Institute.

The technology to produce hydrogen gas is actually about 100 years old. Through electrolysis, two molecules of hydrogen are separated from the one molecule of oxygen in H20 (water). The relatively new use is burning the elements separately to supplement gasoline.

It seems almost futuristic to take water from your faucet and put it into a generator under your vehicle’s hood and drive away.

“We tested several vehicles in New Jersey last month and the numbers were like fiction, you know — 80 miles per gallon with a 4-cylinder Honda, 80 miles per gallon with a 4-cylinder Ford Focus,” said professional mechanic Steve Gerhlein. “This system doesn’t do anything more than help stretch the gasoline dollar by converting water with a chemical, which is potassium hydroxide mixed up in a special proportion. And then it makes hydrogen and oxygen that the engine then uses as a fuel.”

Gerhlein, a professional mechanic for more than 30 years, was so intrigued by what he read about hydrogen generators that he put one on his wife’s Lexus.

Without the hydrogen generator, Gerhlein said the Lexus, running on super unleaded, got about 14 miles per gallon. With the hydrogen generator the vehicle gets about 19 miles per gallon. By tweaking the computer to accept the extra fuel, Gerhlein says the truck now gets 26 miles per gallon.

“We know it works on my wife’s truck for about a 40 percent increase in gas mileage without the computerization,” Gerhlein said. “The work that I do is concentrating on hydrogen used in more traditional engines, like we drive every day,” Roberts said.

Roberts has worked on making hydrogen a fuel source for years. He says while hydrogen by itself is too expensive, when used with gasoline it does have promise.

“If you use a small amount of hydrogen there’s a chance, and I think this is what many of us are looking for toward the future,” Roberts said.

Gerhlein believes this new technology is literally days away.

“All your liability is you have to clean out this canister probably once every six months, and you may have to clean the actual electrolysis producing cell out maybe once a year,” Gerhlein said.

Drivers also have to add very inexpensive chemicals with the water to create the hydrogen gas.

There are plans for hydrogen generators all over the Internet. However, Gerhlein says 98 percent of them won’t produce enough hydrogen to help much.

None of them come with a computer to help today’s car read and understand the additional source of fuel except the one he is researching. Gerhlein’s hydrogen generator costs $1,500 to have installed in your vehicle.

“But if you’re driving from Pipe Creek to San Antonio every day, and you can make it run at double the gas mileage for $1,500, our research says that after 11,000 miles, the system’s paid for itself. And the system runs an indefinite period of time,” Gerhlein said.

There could be a couple of other benefits, too. According to Gerhlein, burning hydrogen also cleans out the engine, has less toxic emissions and would pass Environmental Protection Agency standards.

Roberts says that is possible, but it is also possible that the hydrogen generator could burn worse.

“Today, just putting a device onto the engine, without changing the engine in a more drastic way, about 5 percent fuel economy improvement is the best I would expect,” Roberts said.

The Southwest Research Institute is testing the hydrogen generator, and Gerhlein says if researchers tell him it’s for real, maybe it won’t be long before you can have one under your hood.

“Americans won World War II with people who invented things when they needed them, at that time. We’ve been to the moon. We’ve been the space race leaders for years. Our aircraft are the best there is because Americans will find a way around a bad situation, and there’s a lot of folks working on this right now. And somebody’s going to pop the right unit out into the populace to do exactly what we’re talking about today,” Gerhlein said.

Even Stone Oak commuters taking the bus to lower transportation costs

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Now if this doesn’t wake-up the politicians and the pro-toll crowd, they’re simply paid to be blind to the economic realities our families face. The median income in the zip code where this Via Express Bus route begins is $90,000 a year. If “those people” who make so much money are clamoring for ways to reduce their gas bill, what makes the tollers think “those people” have the discretionary income to pay tolls on top of their already too expensive commutes? They don’t.

When you consider the expensive homes and the property tax and energy bills on those homes, the car payments, and higher grocery bills for growing families in Stone Oak, that $90,000 may sound like a lot but it doesn’t go as far as it did when “those people” moved to Stone Oak. No matter what income level, the taxpayers don’t have endless amounts of money to spend on transportation, though politicians enact tax policy as though they’re a well that never runs dry.

Ken Rodriguez: Stone Oak residents are filling up buses
Express-News
05/20/2008
It’s 7:45 a.m. Tuesday, and Connie Casanova is waiting for a ride to work.

She has lots of company.

In the far northern reaches of San Antonio, a crowd is growing around a bench at the lone bus stop in Stone Oak.

Men with briefcases, women in professional attire — all are headed downtown on VIA Express Route No. 6.“These are my friends,” Casanova says from a Wal-Mart parking lot at Loop 1604 and U.S. 281, filled with trucks, SUVs and minivans. “More and more people are riding. It’s amazing.”

Casanova and many of her friends live in ZIP code 78258, where the median household income exceeds $90,000.

The Stone Oak community ranks among the city’s most affluent, but residents are still trying to combat rising fuel costs.

That’s one reason the No. 6 Express set a record last month with 12,515 riders.

From April ’07 to April ’08, VIA Metropolitan Transit ridership rose 15.6 percent across the city. In Stone Oak, ridership jumped 23 percent.

Casanova is no newcomer. She started taking the No. 6 Express more than two years ago. At the time, the route was carrying 5,513 passengers a month, and Casanova could buy a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline for about $2.10.

Around the corner from her home today, a gallon of regular has soared to $3.69.

Casanova says it costs $55 to fill her Acura Legend with gas. A monthly bus pass costs $25 — but Casanova gets it for $15 through a discount at work.

“I save at least $250 a month in gas and parking,” she says, “plus all the wear and tear on my car.”

There are other benefits. Casanova enjoys a stress-free commute to the office. She can read the newspaper. She can chat with friends.

“I’m a true believer,” she says. “You wouldn’t know how beneficial it is unless you ride it.”

Casanova, 55, works in external affairs for AT&T Inc. The way she raves about the No. 6 Express, you’d think she worked in public affairs for VIA.

She says she feels sorry for people who ride to work alone, wasting time and gas.

Then she says, “You should take a ride. Really, you should.”

I rode the No. 6 Express for a column in May 2006. I described the commute as cool, clean and convenient. The bus dropped me off two blocks from the Express-News.

There’s much to like about the public transportation. My only problem with the VIA system is mobility after I get to the office.

How am I supposed to get to a breaking story across town?

Or how am I going to meet a source who only wants to share critical information at some out-of-the-way location?

Other riders shared similar problems. Some said they only take the bus on days they have no appointments outside the office.

Connie Casanova doesn’t have that issue. But she has a backup plan in case of an emergency: Taxi vouchers. Casanova bought four of them for $5 through a VIA Care Program.

She used one the other day to help a fellow passenger get to his wife after he passed out.

Like other buses, the No. 6 Express gives riders options. The first one pulls out of Wal-Mart at 5:39 a.m.

I showed up at 5:45 a.m. Tuesday and found a number of riders waiting for the next bus beneath a full moon.

Two hours later, Casanova was extolling the virtues of VIA when the No. 6 Express arrived.

By the time she finished, it was almost standing room only.

Delisi tapped for new Chair has ZERO transportation experience

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Love the quote about the appointment of Deirdre Delisi as the new Transportation Commission Chair from our friend Sal Costello in Austin, Founder of the Texas Toll Party:

“She has zero transportation experience. Maybe she drives to work, but that’s about it…This is an agency that deals with billions of our tax dollars for transportation, and this person has no experience. That’s frightening. What she does bring to the table is she’s Gov. Perry’s highway henchwoman.”

It would be funny if it weren’t so painfully true.

May 18, 2008
Diplomacy key for transportation chair
Perry appointee already scrutinized by lawmakers
By PEGGY FIKAC
Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle Austin Bureau

PROFILE: DEIRDRE DELISI

• Age : 35• Education : Duke University, bachelor’s degree in political science, 1994; Stanford University, master’s degree in international policy studies, 1995.

• Family : Husband, Ted, political consultant; two children, twins Will and David, nearly 1.

Experience

• Chief of staff, Gov. Rick Perry, 2004-07• Deputy chief of staff, Gov. Rick Perry, 2000-01,

2002-04

• Campaign manager, Texans for Rick Perry,

2001-02

• Bush for President,

1999-2000

• Special assistant, Lt. Gov. Rick Perry, 1998-99

• Texans for Rick Perry (lieutenant governor’s race), 1997-98

• Legislative assistant, Sen. Bill Ratliff, 1996-97

• Texas Department of Commerce, 1996

• Lamar Alexander for President, 1995-96

AUSTIN — Deirdre Delisi once aspired to be a diplomat, and Gov. Rick Perry may have finally granted her wish.

As head of the Texas Transportation Commission, Perry’s former chief of staff will test her diplomatic skills in an emotion-filled arena in which a state senator has already called her a “political hack.”

In an early sign of her peacemaking potential, the 35-year-old Delisi scheduled one of her first meetings as chair with that senator, Transportation and Homeland Security Committee Chairman John Carona, R-Dallas.

“I was left with the impression that she genuinely wants a new and fresh start for the commission, and I can tell you the Legislature wants that, too,” said Carona, who publicly tangled with the former chairman, the late Ric Williamson, as Williamson pushed Perry’s vision of private investment in public tollways as a key to meeting mobility needs.

Department under review

The Texas Department of Transportation is under review by lawmakers who’ve sought to rein in new privately run toll roads and are distrustful of the agency’s funding figures. There’s also an outcry from many Texans incensed over toll proposals and the possible route of the Perry-pushed Trans-Texas Corridor.”Drinking from the fire hydrant,” is how Delisi described her first days on the job, with months to serve before the Senate next year decides on confirming her appointment.

Focused on meeting huge transportation needs, she describes private investment in toll roads as a tool, noting lawmakers are considering others. She’s quick to emphasize the need to work with local officials.

Asked what role a gas-tax increase might play in the mobility picture, she gives an answer that may be diplomatic enough to please lawmakers who felt that Williamson pushed Perry’s wishes too hard at the expense of their own.

“That’s a decision that the Legislature is going to make,” she said. “I don’t get a vote.”

‘Whatever it takes’

Delisi was born in Montreal, grew up in Nashville, Tenn., became a U.S. citizen at 17 and wanted a diplomatic career after getting degrees at Duke and Stanford.When a U.S. Foreign Service hiring freeze turned her interest to politics, she joined the GOP presidential campaign of Lamar Alexander and met the man who’d lure her to Texas, now-husband Ted Delisi.

Other jobs included a stint on George W. Bush’s first presidential campaign, but since late 1997 she has mostly had political and policy roles with Perry, including managing his notoriously tough 2002 race for governor against Laredo Democrat Tony Sanchez.

Delisi resigned as Perry’s chief of staff last summer when she had twins, born 10 weeks early and weighing less than 3 pounds each. They’re healthy and nearly 1 now.

“I think it would be great for my children to grow up in that environment of understanding what the value of public service is,” she said.

Ted, a political consultant, is juggling other complications in addition to being what he calls Mr. Mom when her schedule takes her away. To avoid the appearance of conflict, he ended a joint venture with Hillco Partners because the lobbying firm handles transportation issues, though he said he hadn’t done such work himself.

“Any job that takes 95 percent of your time and pays $15,000 a year always makes for an interesting conversation inside the household,” he deadpanned of the appointment. (The job pays her $15,914 per year.) “But it’s an honor. She believes strongly in public service, and I think she feels strongly there is some new and needed enthusiasm and … diplomacy.”

The new chairwoman quickly plunged in with visits to transportation officials and lawmakers from Dallas to El Paso.

Delisi also will continue to advise Perry and do consulting with her husband through Delisi Communications. She doesn’t know how many hours the commission job will take: “Whatever it takes,” she said.

Long days aren’t new to Delisi, a veteran of campaigns and legislative sessions, including last year’s when, pregnant, she rebuffed her doctor’s orders to stop work: “We still had a week of session, plus the whole veto-sign period,” she said.

Will and David were born after the session adjourned.

“The governor called me and said, ‘How’s my girl?’ ” said Delisi’s friend Jennifer Lustina, another 30-something political veteran. “I said, ‘Governor, how do you think your girl’s doing? She’s doing how you know she’s doing. She’s just steady.’ ”

That’s her hallmark, Lustina added: “Nothing rattles Deirdre. … You can say she’s tough. You can say maybe she’s overly driven once she starts really pushing on something. But you can’t say she’s a hack. She’s smart as hell.”

‘Highway henchwoman’

It’s that other hallmark — her long history with Perry — that troubles critics.”She has zero transportation experience. Maybe she drives to work, but that’s about it,” said Sal Costello, who founded TexasTollParty.com to oppose the way tollways were planned under Perry.

“This is an agency that deals with billions of our tax dollars for transportation, and this person has no experience. That’s frightening. What she does bring to the table is she’s Gov. Perry’s highway henchwoman.”

Delisi calls her strongest asset her knowledge of the Legislature, though lawmakers’ views on her run the gamut.

Some said they don’t know her, and Carona (before their meeting) said she was known as difficult to work with. Others offered praise, including Rep. Jim Keffer, R-Eastland, House Ways and Means Committee chair, who said she’s focused, capable and “no nonsense.”

Politics may be an asset

As Delisi’s home senator, Kirk Watson, D-Austin, a TxDOT critic, could have blocked her appointment. He said he didn’t know her before, but she impressed him with her intelligence and support for more local decision-making and more TxDOT accountability.”Some people have said she’s too political. I frankly think that that ought to be one of her assets,” Watson said. “She will be smart enough to know it ain’t working right now.”

Sen. Glenn Hegar, R-Katy, vice chair of the Texas Sunset Advisory Commission reviewing TxDOT, heard from Delisi after dubbing her “a political ‘yes man.’ ” They met, and “wait and see” is his mantra.

“Some people have suggested … Delisi is the one person that can get the governor to change his mind,” he said. “I don’t know the answer to that.”