Link to article here.

Brake Lights
A traffic jam of opposition is facing the Trans-Texas Corridor
By PETER GORMAN
Ft. Worth Weekly
March 7, 2007

The Trans-Texas Corridor, the Goliath of Texas road projects, is taking a real bruising from the slingshot crowd these days, with so many Davids piling up stones that critics and supporters alike are beginning to believe it may be stoppable.

In the last few weeks, more than a dozen bills have been introduced in the both the Texas State and House to either stop the project cold or put enough restrictions on it to chill the interest of private investors. In late February, a state audit report revealed that millions of public dollars have secretly been spent on the project and that hundreds of millions more might be needed. At least one legislator is considering calling for an investigation of the Texas Department of Transportation. And thousands of opponents from around the state showed up last week in Austin to march in opposition to the giant toll-road proposal and to testify against it at a public hearing.

Gov. Rick Perry, Transportation Commissioner Ric Williamson, and other top- ranking state politicos are still pushing to get ground broken on the 4,000-mile network of privatized toll highways planned throughout Texas in the next several decades. But with opposition growing on both sides of the aisle, critics are suggesting that supporters of the TTC may find they have a price to pay at the ballot box next time around.

“There’s no doubt there’s a huge groundswell of opposition to the TTC,” said Hank Gilbert, a businessman and rancher who organized a March 2 rally in Austin against the project. “We had between 3,000 and 4,000 people rallying against it. That is huge … . And when even people like State Sen. Steve Ogden, a co-author of the bill that permitted the privatization of roads, come out and say the Texas Department of Transportation is out of control with the TTC, well, I think that’s the point at which other politicians will realize that those of us who’ve been fighting this thing are not just lunatics.”

Ogden, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, is reportedly considering legislation that would eliminate tolls on all roads once the road is paid for — which generally takes 20 to 30 years — as opposed to allowing the private company that built and leased the road to keep charging tolls for a contract period of 50 to 60 years, as will be the case with the TTC if it goes forward as planned.

But while Ogden, a Republican from Bryan, hasn’t yet introduced a bill to rein in the TTC, others have. State Rep. Garnet Coleman, a Houston Democrat, recently introduced a bill to place a moratorium on all new toll roads in Texas for a period of two years “so that the issue can be studied, rather than rammed down our throats.”

State Rep. Lois Kolkhorst of Brenham has introduced two bills that would effectively kill the TTC. One would “repeal … authority for the establishment and operation of the Trans-Texas Corridor”; the second would prohibit public pension funds from being invested in private toll roads — cutting billions in funding that private toll road builders would probably try to use to raise capital.

And powerful State Sen. John Carona of Dallas, chairman of the Senate Transportation and Homeland Security Committee, has introduced 10 bills that together would severely curtail private businesses’ interest in building toll roads. Among them is a measure requiring that the price paid for land taken under eminent domain be established by three disinterested voters who live in the county where the land is located, rather than by a judge. Another would limit the length of a toll-collecting contract held by a private entity to 30 years, after which the highway would become a free road. Other bills would limit toll rates rather than letting private companies set them at will, eliminate the “no compete” clauses in toll road contracts that many believe would hamper the state’s ability to maintain and improve other roads, and tie the state gas tax rate to the amount needed for highway building and maintenance, to ensure that tax funds rather than tolls could be used for those projects.

Carona admits he made a huge error in signing the measure that created the TTC. He told Fort Worth Weekly that he and nearly everyone else in the Texas Legislature were “deliberately deceived” by that bill, and that it’s time to put a halt to the TTC. At a hearing he held last week, he said, “About 1,000 people came, and the overwhelming majority were against the TTC.”

He believes an overwhelming majority of state Senate members now oppose the TTC as well, and that, as chinks begin to show in Perry’s armor, the senators are more willing to oppose him on this issue. “The fact is, the death of the TTC and other toll roads is just one gubernatorial election away,” he said. “The opposition to these things is growing daily.”

“I think the bills I’ve proposed will pass in the Senate,” Carona said. “The real question is whether they will get a fair hearing in the House Transportation Committee. I don’t know. [Chairman] Mike Krusee has the power to bury them there.

“On the other hand,” he added, “Krusee won his last election by a surprisingly narrow margin, and he will have public rage to deal with on this. Of course, if he intends to leave his position as an elected representative and enter the private sector, he may have another agenda. But if he wants re-election, he may realize that following the governor’s lead on the TTC hook, line, and sinker is not the best road for him to take.”

Krusee said he handles bills before his committee fairly. “But it’s up to every member to convince the committee that the hearing won’t be a waste of time, that there is some support and reason to listen to it.”

Coleman said he thinks the TTC can be stopped only if legislators in both houses “feel the heat and know it’s going to be an election issue.”

The recent state auditor’s report may provide plenty of ammunition for the election debates. Auditors concluded that millions of dollars in public funds had already been used for the TTC, in both direct and indirect costs, while Perry has repeatedly said that no public monies would be used to fund the project. And much of the money spent on the TTC was taken from funds set aside for other projects, the report said. At least $52,000 used to pay for TTC advertising — billboards and radio spots — was listed as “engineering” expenses.

The report also noted that Cintra Zachry LP, the partnership hired to develop a comprehensive plan for TTC-35, the 333-mile stretch of toll roads from San Antonio to Dallas, had not met all of its 2006 insurance requirements until October of that year. If Cintra Zachry can’t cover its liabilities under the contract, auditors noted, “it is possible that plaintiffs could seek recovery of these damages from the state.”

The report also noted other problems: Public money would pay for 55 percent, or $16.9 billion, of the rail projects touted as part of the TTC package. The state would be responsible for collecting from toll-jumpers. Under the contracts, the state could be forced to build some segments of the corridor that the private firms didn’t find profitable.

And auditors said TxDOT may have been seriously underestimating the cost of the corridor. The agency has put the price tag of the entire 4,000-mile network at $145 billion to $184 billion, but auditors said one 560-mile stretch alone —from Laredo to Oklahoma, paralleling I-35— will cost more than $105 billion.

“I think that auditor’s report is particularly damning,” said Carona. “The most damning thing, I think, was that the governor, when he announced the Trans-Texas Corridor, said that no public funds would be used for its development. And the auditor now says that $90 million in public funds have already been used, and that number is climbing daily.”

Gilbert said that in light of the auditor’s report, Kolkhorst may ask the attorney general to investigate TxDOT over the subterfuge on TTC spending. She could not be reached for comment.

Proponents of the TTC say it remains the answer to Texas’ current and future transportation problems. Williamson, the commissioner, has insisted, publicly and repeatedly, that with Texas’ population expected to double in the next 30 years and with the shortfalls the state is facing in highway funding, allowing private corporations to build and run toll roads is the only possible solution.

His sentiments were echoed by former Fort Worth Mayor Kenneth Barr, currently a member of the TTC advisory committee. “There’s just not money available to build all of the roads that we need,” he told the Weekly. “That means that goods will not move efficiently and people will not move, and there’s a cost associated with that.” However, he said, the transportation agency has done a poor job communicating that to the public. “There is an awful lot of dialogue that needs to be held that hasn’t been held,” he said.

Terri Hall, founder and director of Texans Uniting for Reform and Freedom, a statewide group fighting the TTC, said the situation is worse than that. “TxDOT continues to operate in complete denial of the reality of the situation. The governor’s Business Council’s own report — done by the Texas Transportation Institute — says that toll roads are not necessary. The sky will not fall if we don’t build the TTC.”

Link to blog here.

While we’d prefer to see the Legislature KILL CDAs altogether, this is a HUGE step in the right direction, and with this kind of support, should become law very quickly. The trouble is in the House and the Governor. If the Legislature can pass it with two-thirds of each house (which they clearly have on the Senate side), it would become law immediately. Then the next roadblock becomes this Governor who could veto the bill. But his veto would likely be overturned if it’s passed with two thirds in each house since I believe that’s what’s needed to override a veto. Timing is everything and Carona’s hearing and our rally couldn’t have happened at a better time to give these legislators the “cover” they need from citizens to go head to head with this Governor!

The best news is that every San Antonio Senator signed onto this bill! Call your State Representative NOW (find out who represents you here) and urge them to support Kolkhorst’s CDA Moratorium bill, HB 2772, in time to save 281/1604 from being turned over to a FOREIGN COMPANY! While you’re at it, thank Kolkhorst for filing the bill as well as her bill to KILL the Trans Texas Corridor (HB 1881)!

Big-time toller says whoa
By Pat Driscoll
Express-News
March 6, 2007

Robert Nichols supported toll-road plans when he served on the Texas Transportation Commission just two years ago, but as a new state senator he says it’s time to apply the brakes and look closer.

The Jacksonville Republican filed a bill today, SB 1267, that would slap a two-year moratorium on privatization of toll roads, including those in the Trans-Texas Corridor.

The bill calls for setting up a group to study the long-term impacts of the state enlisting private corporations to build and operate toll roads in exchange for collecting profits. The governor, lieutenant governor and the speaker of the House would appoint the group.

Nichols, who stepped down from the Transportation Commission in 2005 to run for the Senate, isn’t flying alone.

Twenty-five of the Senate’s 31 members are sponsoring the bill, including several from Bexar County. And Rep. Lois Kolkhorst, R-Brenham, filed an identical bill, HB 2772, in the House.

“We must closely evaluate private toll contracts before we sign away half a century of control of our transportation system,” Nichols said. “Many provisions in recent toll contracts are alarming.”

Nichols said he’d like to ban agreements that restrict construction of state roads when they compete with tollways, and enact safeguards for reasonable toll rates and predictable buy-back costs of private toll leases.

Not wanting to stop there, he also filed SB 1268 to outlaw any conversion of an existing free lane to a toll lane, regardless of whether local voters sign off on such a switch.

Auditor questions TxDOT development pacts
by Christine DeLoma
Lone Star Report
March 5, 2007

It’s been a rough couple of weeks for Transportation Commission chairman Ric Williamson, who has been publicly skewered by lawmakers over his agency’s handling of the controversial Trans-Texas Corridor (TTC) toll road plan.

Adding to the agony, the State Auditor’s Office is raising serious questions about the corridor’s cost to taxpayers.

A Feb. 23 report on the Texas Department of Transportation’s Comprehensive Development Agreement (CDA) with private consortium Cintra-Zachry points to potential costs for state government if too few private investors step forward.

The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) signed a $3.5 million CDA with Cintra-Zachry to partner in the planning of the high priority projects, called TTC-35, which are to run 560 miles parallel to I-35 from Oklahoma City to Laredo.

Public funds used for toll roads
Whereas the master development plan indicates scant need, if any at all, for taxpayer dollars to build the seven planned road segments, the audit report shows otherwise.

To date, according to the report, TxDOT has spent $3.5 million on the master development plan and $28 million for environmental studies and preliminary engineering on two segments of the corridor. Since 2001, another $28 million has gone for legal fees.

Greg Adams, of the auditor’s office, told the House Appropriations Committee Feb. 27 a lack of private investors could result in the spending of public dollars to build portions of TTC-35.

There are seven facilities (or road segments) that Cintra-Zachry or another private developer could bid on to build. Should no bidders emerge in particular cases, TxDOT might have to take on the project, Adams said. The fragmented design concept of the corridor came as a surprise to Rep. Dan Gattis (R-Georgetown). “I didn’t realize that we were segmenting them out and that we were going to let people pick and choose which ones they wanted to go do.” Gattis said.

Williamson told Gattis the state might have to build portions of the toll road. “The problem the state faces is that there’s not enough free cash flow in the transportation system now to do these things,” Williamson said.

According to the audit report, the state could also pay up to 55 percent of project costs ($16.5 billion) for the construction of high-speed rail lines and freight rail for all of TTC-35. Private developers may fund 24 percent of the rail project. The rest of the money would come from interest earned on cash balances from raised but unspent project funds, the report says.

In addition, the audit report found that TxDOT is counting on private developers to seek up to $3.9 billion in limited federal Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA) loans. The auditors said TxDOT did not consider federal credit assistance as public funds.

State concession fees are not guaranteed
In exchange for allowing private companies to build, construct, and operate toll roads for the seven priority segments of toll roads, TxDOT may receive upfront concession fees estimated at $3 billion. The audit report, however, indicates that “concession payments could be reduced if factors such as cost of financing each road segment, inflation, and interest rates increase developers’ costs. Significant changes in the cost of financing each road segment could result in the Department foregoing any concession payment.”

The finding sat poorly with Rep. Lois Kolkhorst (R-Brenham). “There’s federal dollars being used, there’s state dollars being used, and there’s no guarantee on our concession up front?” Kolkhorst asked.

Keeping contracts secret
The audit report recommends the Legislature require TxDOT to provide all draft contracts worth more than $250 million to the Attorney General for review before signing on the dotted line.

In 2005, TxDOT kept its proposed comprehensive development agreement with Cintra-Zachry confidential for 18 months, despite an Attorney General’s ruling that the document be made public. Nonetheless, TxDOT sued the state to keep from disclosing the details of the agreement. The issue was so controversial it became a political football in the gubernatorial race. In the end, TxDOT dropped its suit when the CDA was finalized.

“As you put together future contracts, do you plan to follow the same model of holding the information and not releasing it?” asked Rep. Ruth Jones McClendon (D-San Antonio).

Williamson, however, maintains it is the agency’s prerogative to do so. “That has been the contracting history of TxDOT for 50 years,” Williamson replied. “And I suggest to you it’s the contracting history of every state agency.”

TxDOT assistant executive director Amadeo Saenz said that lawmakers wishing to view the draft contracts would have to sign a confidentiality agreement with TxDOT to ensure the plans would not be shared with the public.

Non-compete clauses
The audit report raised concerns over the non-compete clause in a draft agreement with Cintra-Zachry to complete the last two segments of the toll road, State Highway 130. Although SH 130 is not a part of the Trans-Texas Corridor, the auditors provided the draft contract as an example of the implications of non-compete clauses that protect the interests of private developers at the expense of the state.

The non-compete clause in the draft segment agreement requires TxDOT to compensate the developer for lost revenues if the state builds ancillary roadways near the toll road. “TxDOT could continue to make those expansions if they wanted to, but they may have to compensate the developer,” said assistant state auditor Sandra Vice.

The possibility of TxDOT’s including non-compete clauses in TTC-35 segment contracts appear to be giving several lawmakers heartburn.

“I feel like I’ve been kicked in the asphalt.” said Rep. Fred Brown (R-College Station). “I’ll tell you what, this non-compete clause has really got me worried because without seeing the contract, we don’t know what our real liability could be on this, especially when you’re talking about a 50-year contract.”

Brown suggested the Legislature impose a moratorium on non-compete clauses. Transportation Commissioner Ted Houghton, however, reassured the committee that no contracts have been signed so far that include non-compete clauses.”That’s [in] the planning document,” Houghton said. “That’s not what we are currently negotiating with the developer on (SH) 130 and the developer on State Highway 121.”Cintra-Zachry signed a contract with TxDOT Feb. 28 to build and operate SH 121 in North Texas.

However, the master development plan allows TxDOT to include non-compete clauses in any of the TTC-35 contracts. There are currently 21 projects in the planning stages.

How much will TTC-35 cost?
The auditors found that TxDOT lacked reliable information on projected toll revenue, operating expenses and developer profits; likewise that the TTC-35 master development plan lacked an estimate of the total cost of the corridor. The audit report, however, estimates the entire project at $105 billion. It says if Cintra-Zachry built and operated 330 miles of TTC-35, estimated gross profits could reach $523 billion.

TxDOT disputes the numbers. “There’s no way in God’s earth any of us know what their revenue or profits are going to be 50 years from now,” Williamson told lawmakers. “It is impossible to know that.”

When lawmakers asked Vice how she derived the numbers, she told them it came straight from the master development plan.
“We don’t disagree with the 523 [billions]. It’s a number that’s in that section for the purpose of negotiating the contract,” Williamson said. “It is unreal. It’s fiction. It’s fantasy. It’s a plug number to calculate how to do the mix.”

Yet Kolkhorst wasn’t buying it. “I do enough business deals to know you just don’t pull numbers from the sky. Aren’t these numbers based off of something, Ric?” asked Kolkhorst. “I can tell you the bond lawyers are not going to let Cintra-Zachry enter into a bad deal. We can smoke and mirrors this, Ric, all we want, and say those aren’t real numbers. They’re conceptual, whatever. When you hire people that good, then those numbers are pretty real.”

Increased oversight needed
The audit report recommends that before the signing of each contract an independent third party such as the Comptroller of Public Accounts prepare and provide a financial forecast that includes costs and toll revenue estimates to the governor, Legislature, Legislative Budget Board, and state auditor’s office. It also recommends that the auditor’s office annually audit the financial statements for each toll road segment.

TxDOT agrees more transparency is needed, but disagrees that revenue projections should be handled by the Comptroller. The Bond Review Board is more suited to handle those functions, Williamson told lawmakers.

With the possibility of private companies’ earning a five-fold profit on building toll roads in Texas, some lawmakers are questioning whether the state could do the job instead.

In order to make a profit on the tolls, the developer is allowed to raise the tolls each year in line with inflation. According to the Master Development Plan, initial toll rates are set at 12.5 cents for cars and 48 cents for trucks. The audit report, however, points out that TxDOT has no statutory authority to approve (or reject) actual toll rates.

Gattis expressed concern that private toll road operators have a profit motive setting toll rates and may not have the public’s interest in mind.

“I don’t have a problem with the need to build roads,” Gattis said. “In Central Texas, if I’ve got toll roads, my goal is to clear up congestion, and in order to do that I build a toll road. I want to set those tolls as low as possible and still take care of debt service and take care of operations. My goal is to pay them off, take care of them.

“That motive’s completely different under the Trans-Texas Corridor theory. If I’m the toll operator, I’d set them as high as possible as long as people will still drive on them to maximize my profit. And those are competing interests. And think there’s a definite conflict there.”

Kolkhorst, who has filed legislation repealing the Trans-Texas Corridor, told committee members the building of infrastructure was a basic function of government. “Do we need a middleman doing this for us?” she asked. “We can do it ourselves.”

Rudy Giuliani’s investment firm just got purchased by Macquarie (read more about it here, too). They’re showing up everywhere and buying political reach that could cost America her sovereignty. Macquarie is one of the bidders on the San Antonio toll contract for 281 & 1604 and was a losing bidder for the Hwy 121 CDA just signed in Dallas. Perhaps most frightening, they’re also buying up Texas community newspapers that happen to be in the path of the Trans Texas Corridor, and who recently called Texas a toll road “EL Dorado,” a place of “vast toll riches up for grabs.”
Link to news bite here.

Giuliani’s Investment Bank Is Sold
Published at Deal Book.com
March 5, 2007

Giuliani Capital Advisors, the investment banking arm of former New York City mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani’s consulting business, will be acquired by Macquarie Group of Australia, Macquarie said early Monday. The sale, which was expected, comes as Mr. Giuliani embarks on a run for the presidency, raising questions about the fate of his various business endeavors.

Financial terms of Monday’s deal were not disclosed. But analysts had previously estimated that the business, which advises on mergers and restructurings, could fetch $80 million to $100 million in a sale. Giuliani Partners, the consulting group founded by Mr. Giuliani, bought the business in late 2004 from Ernst & Young, the accounting firm, for $9.8 million.

Giuliani Partners decided to sell its investment banking unit to prevent its clients’ activities from being used against Mr. Giuliani in a presidential campaign, a source told The New York Times in January, speaking on condition of anonymity.

A source at Giuliani Partners, also asking not to be identified, disputed that suggestion Monday, telling DealBook that the divestiture will allow Mr. Giuliani to focus on his campaign.

After the deal closes, Giuliani Capital will become part of Macquarie’s broker-dealer unit in the United States. The deal will give Macquarie an additional 100 investment banking professionals in North America, for a total of about 450, Macquarie said.

While not a top player in the mergers and acquisitions business, Guiliani Capital has a strong restructuring practice and has played an advisory role in several large bankruptcies in recent years. The bankruptcy business has been slow lately, but some analysts expect the number of corporate defaults to increase as access to credit for refinancings tightens.

“GCA provides Macquarie with an opportunity to build upon and expand our existing U.S. capabilities, particularly in corporate restructuring transactions,” Murray Bleach, head of Macquarie’s investment banking group in North America said in a news release Monday.

Mr. Giuliani is also a name partner at Bracewell & Giuliani, a law firm based in Houston that represents many energy producers.

View through YouTube on Texas Toll Party web site here.

Link to article here.

Protest at the Capitol
By JOANN LIVINGSTON
Daily Light Managing Editor
March 3, 200

AUSTIN – Protestors of the Trans-Texas Corridor capped two days at the state’s Capitol with a march up Congress Avenue and rally on the south steps Friday afternoon.

The event was a combined protest against not only Gov. Rick Perry’s massive transportation plan but also against a proposed mandate that would require animal identification and tracking.

“I stand here today with one message for our governor,” Peyton Gilbert said. “Help us with our education and health care, but don’t tag Texas.”

Gilbert is the teen-aged son of one of the rally’s organizers, former ag commissioner candidate Hank Gilbert of Troup.

At the conclusion of the three-hour rally, Gilbert said he was pleased with the turnout, estimating it at several thousand, and not including about 1,000 people he said had attended the previous day’s public hearing with the Senate Committee on Transportation and Homeland Security.

“I think between the Senate hearing and today, we’ll see some results,” he said. “If not, you can bet in the 2008 elections, we’ll see results.”

Participants staged south of the Capitol to march up Congress Avenue, with the march six blocks in length and including not only people, but a variety of farm animals and equipment.

“I think we had a good cross-section of the state here,” said Gilbert, noting he met with people everywhere from the Panhandle to South Texas. People also had come in from out-of-state, he said, because of their concerns as to what was happening in Texas. Linda Curtis of Independent Texans agreed that the people at the rally represented all walks of life.

“I think the legislators are getting the message,” she said. “But we can’t sit back and say that. The legislators do have a problem, and that is the governor.”

Acknowledging the governor’s veto power, Curtis said her organization would be prompting legislators to make sure their legislation is voted on in time to still have time left to override a Perry veto.

Independent Texans also has other “cards to be played,” she said, adding also that if officials don’t heed the concerns, they will “get un-elected.”

Throughout the rally, different speakers voiced their concerns on the two issues of toll roads and animal tagging, often drawing thunderous cheers and chants.

“We’re here from everywhere and we’re here to send a message,” Gilbert said in addressing the crowd. “And what’s that message?” “Don’t tag Texas,” yelled the crowd, several of who carried replicas of the Gonzalez flag bearing the words, “Come and take it.”

Farm and Ranch Freedom Alliance spokesman Judith McGeary, who was among the event’s organizers, voiced her opposition to animal tagging and tracking mandate and thanked everyone for their attendance.

“You are making your voices heard by being at this rally,” she said.

Jimmie Vaughan of the Fabulous Thunderbirds said he was in opposition to the animal IDs and toll roads before singing a new song written especially about the issues.

“ ‘Down with Big Brother,’ I said, ‘Shame on Big Brother,’ always trying to track and trace me,” Vaughan said as many in the crowd joined in on the chorus.

Several legislators joined the list of those speaking, including state Reps. Garnet Coleman, D-Houston; Nathan Macias, R-Bulverde; and Lois Kolkhorst, R-Brenham.

“I want to thank you all for exercising your rights as citizens and telling the man (Perry) in that office right there that he’s wrong,” Coleman said, noting efforts in the previous session to make some changes and noting also legislation filed this session, several of which call for the outright repeal of the Trans-Texas Corridor.

“We can stop this because of your work,” he told the crowd, saying that Texas shouldn’t be a state where “you’re going to have to be rich to drive on our highways.”

Saying there is still “a long way to go in this process,” Coleman expressed his appreciation to state Sen. John Carona, who heads up the Senate Committee on Transportation and Homeland Security. “I want to thank him for going against the grain to make sure Texans are treated properly,” Coleman said of Carona’s holding of the public hearing. “We want to make sure that you won’t have to drive on roads that you’ve paid for twice.”

Kolkhorst discussed the legislation she has filed, and acknowledged lawmakers erred in passing the bill that enabled the Trans-Texas Corridor.

“This session will see more aggressive efforts to take the Trans-Texas Corridor out of the code,” she said. “This is just one of many things to take away our freedom.”

The issues are not Republican nor Democrat, Kolkhorst said, saying, “This is a Texas issue. It’s about the United States. ‘Don’t mess with Texas’ is right.”

She said she had met with the lt. governor and House speaker – and both were listening.

“I think you’re going to be amazed at some of the things that come out,” she said. “We’re going to take our roads back. We’re going to take our mistake back and take our nation back. No North American Union.

“You got it, baby,” Kolkhorst told the cheering crowd.

McGeary encouraged those in attendance to take the time to visit with their local legislators.

“Go in and talk to them,” she said.

Macias said it was an honor to speak at the rally.

“I stand before you here on Independence Day, and the winds of change are blowing again in Austin,” Macias said, adding, “You as Texans have chosen to stand up and speak your mind to your elected officials.”

Macias said he personally didn’t agree with the scope of the Trans-Texas Corridor or plans to toll other roadways in the state.

“Let’s work together with public, private and citizen input to solve our transportation issues, now and in the future,” Macias said.

A spokesman for Libertarian Congressman Ron Paul of Texas said the Capitol belonged to Texans.

“For those who live high on the low hill of character … we are here today to knock on their door because this is our property, too,” she said, saying the nine most terrifying words are, “I’m from the government, and I’m here to help you.”

“When someone is stealing your rights, it’s time to follow the money,” she said. “It’s time to stop the highway robbery, it’s time to stop the Trans-Texas Corridor.”

The project has connections to NAFTA and the North American Union, she said, asking the crowd, “Are you going to pledge allegiance to the flag of the North American Union?” and urging people to contact their respective lawmakers.

During the rally, concerns were expressed by several of the speakers about possible far-reaching implications of the Trans-Texas Corridor and animal identification project, especially relating to the potential for a North American Union that would unite the United States, Canada and Mexico under one flag, currency, identification card and government, they said.

“Once you can ID something uniquely, you can track it. Once you can track it, you can monitor it. Once you can monitor it, you can control it,” said Liz McIntyre, author of “Spy Chips,” a book about the use of radio frequency identification computer chips.

“It’s all about ID-ing, tracing and controlling inanimate objects, animals and even us,” she said. “There are plans afoot to chip everything … and every highway will be a spyway if we let it happen.”

Terri Hall of Texas Toll Party noted some of the testimony given during Thursday’s Senate committee hearing, saying one expert testified that it costs the taxpayer 50 percent more to have a public/private partnership.

That expert noted it “is always better to keep these contracts in the public sector,” Hall said. “These are not a foreign country’s roads. These are our roads.”

Saying that opponents of the Trans-Texas Corridor are gaining the ear of legislators, Hall pointed out questions raised by the senators on the committee, especially in light of a recent audit released by the State Auditor’s Office.

“Perry is lying when he said there is no taxpayer dollars in the TTC,” Hall said. “The audit showed $90 million of taxpayer money has already been dumped into this project. A single law firm got $18 million.”

Noting questions about the Texas Department of Transportation’s coding of expenses – some of which could be illegal under law – Hall said an investigation by the State Attorney General’s Office should be conducted and any wrongdoing found should result in prosecution.

Corridor Watch co-founders David and Linda Stall said progress was being made in the fight against Perry’s transportation project.

“It’s about money, all of this is about money,” David Stall said. “It’s not about transportation. It’s about revenue-generating. We have to stop this, and we can’t stop now.”

Saying Carona had referred to TxDOT as a “rogue agency,” Stall said the Trans-Texas Corridor has become a “hot topic” and grown into a national issue.

“Texans can either stand up and show what we are about or we can become the laughingstock of the nation over the corridor,” he said.

“We have momentum,” Linda Stall said. “You have been heard. We have to keep pushing.”

Wharton County Commissioner Chris King said the Trans-Texas Corridor will change the face of rural Texas.

“It’s going to change the way we live in rural Texas, and I tell you right now, I’m not for it,” King said. “Rick Perry is not my governor.”

Former state attorney general candidate David Van Os told the crowd to “say no to corporate hogs at the trough.”

One-hundred-seventy-one years after Texas’ Independence Day, the government shouldn’t be talking about handing over commerce and transportation to private, foreign corporations, Van Os said, noting the “Come and take it” message of the several Gonzalez flags being displayed in the crowd.

“Say no to all of it,” he said. “We the people own this plot of ground. We the people own our beautiful state of Texas and we’re not going to let crooks and robber barons take our Texas away from us.”

In his closing remarks, Gilbert told those at the rally that they represent “thousands of people” back home and for each of them to have others who weren’t at the rally to also contact legislators to urge the repeal of the Trans-Texas Corridor.

Make the legislators commit their support to the repealing legislation, Gilbert said. “If they wont’ support it, let them know that you will make sure this is the last session they spend in Austin representing you.”