Link to article here. This violation of federal law is much more than a “snag,” it blows a hole right through the 281 toll project. TxDOT was caught in willful deception, so this story is the understatement of the year!

Planned U.S. 281 tollway hits another bump
By Pat Driscoll
San Antonio Express-News
August 7, 2008
A federal lawsuit blasted as frivolous has dug up some documents that throw yet another curve at San Antonio’s planned U.S. 281 tollway.

The documents were uncovered in a discovery process for the lawsuit, which challenges the thoroughness of the tollway project’s environmental study.

The Texas Department of Transportation, which did the study, won’t say what the documents are but is handing them over to the Federal Highway Administration, which approved the study last year.

“We wanted to take the cautious advice of the attorneys and give the FHWA another opportunity to review this project,” TxDOT Director Amadeo Saenz said in a statement.

TxDOT asked the court’s judge to delay the lawsuit for two months to give federal officials time to review the documents and decide whether to amend the environmental study or reconsider approval. Pulling the clearance would delay the toll project even more.

Widening eight miles of U.S. 281 north of Loop 1604 has been on hold for years, first as TxDOT waited to build it as a freeway and then converted to a tollway plan, and then after activists filed a 2005 lawsuit to force a redo of the environmental study.

The more recent lawsuit, filed in February by Texans Uniting for Reform and Freedom and Aquifer Guardians in Urban Areas, is similar to the 2005 suit in that it calls for a closer look at impacts to motorists, water and wildlife.

One of the documents missing from the latest environmental study is a report on how the 10- to 20-lane tollway could affect the Edwards Aquifer, which supplies most of San Antonio’s drinking water, said TURF founder Terri Hall.

“They have withheld information from the Federal Highway Administration that could blow a hole in the middle of the 281 project,” she said.

The Alamo Regional Mobility Authority, which took over the $472 million toll project from TxDOT, hoped to sell bonds in October and planned to start opening new lanes in three years, now must push its schedule back at least two months.

CAUGHT IN DECEPTION!
TxDOT asks court for 60 day delay on 281 case

In what amounts to a total victory for the grassroots, TxDOT has to ask the court for a 60 day delay in the 281 lawsuit so they can beg the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) NOT to yank their environmental clearance for the 281 toll project. Through the discovery process of our lawsuit, the Judge required TxDOT to hand over the complete administrative record for 281, including all the financials and the stuff from when the improvements were funded with gas taxes that would keep 281 a FREEway. It’s been discovered that TxDOT withheld key documents not only from the public and our attorneys, but also the feds!

There are a heap of emails that show TxDOT tried to “fix” the environmental work for 281 to pre-determine a “Finding of No Significant Impact” (or FONSI) BEFORE the study even began. They rigged it! That is a DIRECT VIOLATION OF FEDERAL LAW! TxDOT then hired a company, HNTB, to do the so-called “independent” environmental study even though HNTB has a MAJOR conflict of interest, in that, the tolling authority (ARMA) also hired HNTB to do the preliminary engineering for all their toll projects! So HNTB had a vested interest in a “Finding of No Significant Impact” (or FONSI).

Then, it’s also been discovered that TxDOT purposely withheld a key study from a geologist they hired that stated the potential harmful effects of the toll road on the Edwards Aquifer. Such a study didn’t conclude what TxDOT wanted it to in order to get clearance from the feds, so they intentionally hid the report and failed to submit it to the FHWA who uses that crucial information in their decision on whether or not to give federal approval for the project.

TxDOT, thanks to our lawsuit, now has to submit these documents to the feds who will completely re-consider their previous approval of the 281 toll road. It’s likely the feds will yank their environmental clearance for the toll road in light of this deception by TxDOT. If they don’t, the court is likely to do it for them. So TxDOT is in total damage control mode and released a statement about their motion for a 60 stay in our lawsuit that tries to minimize what the documents reveal and, of course, blames us for the delay instead of their own incompetence and deception. As usual, they seem to think they can wiggle out of their corruption without consequences simply by supplementing the record. They were FORCED to come clean through a lawsuit brought by concerned citizens, not by them being forthcoming. The tactics at TxDOT never cease to amaze.

So stay tuned, we’ll see how the Judge rules and what other damaging information these “other” documents reveal.

________________________________________________

Official TxDOT propaganda on the request…

The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) has asked a federal district court judge to issue a stay of the litigation regarding the expansion of U.S. Highway 281 in San Antonio.  We recently located documents which they feel may need to be reviewed by federal officials as part of the environmental evaluation of the transportation project.

In the process of responding to discovery requests for the lawsuit, staff identified documents that had not previously been submitted to the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA).  TxDOT will submit these documents to FHWA for their review.  FHWA will then determine whether the administrative record for the U.S. 281 project should be amended and whether the project’s prior environmental clearance would need to be reconsidered.  In order to provide FHWA time to review the documents, TxDOT requested that the ongoing litigation be delayed up to 60 days.

“Every day that this project is delayed is another day that Bexar County drivers are stuck in traffic,” said TxDOT Executive Director Amadeo Saenz.  “Nevertheless, we are committed to making sure that the 281 project complies with all federal and state requirements.  The extension we requested would allow FHWA to review these new documents and come to an independent decision about how to proceed.  We recognized that we should bring these documents to the attention of FHWA, and we want to make sure they have the time they need to review them.”

Saenz said that the documents will be submitted to the FHWA out of an abundance of caution.  “A new, more conservative view of TxDOT’s records related to the 281 project would require these materials to be forwarded to FHWA,” he said.  “We wanted to take the cautious advice of the attorneys and give the FHWA another opportunity to review this project.  On balance, this is a small addition to the 24,000-page administrative record, but it deserves scrutiny from FHWA.”

In its filing with the court, the department wrote that it has no intention of delaying the proceedings but wants to ensure that the FHWA has ample time to examine the recently identified information to determine whether the administrative record should be amended.

We recently adopted new policies on how to assist FHWA in the preparation of the administrative record showing the environmental review of a transportation project.  “Preparing the administrative record for a complex transportation project is an enormous task.  We will do our part to make sure the process is the best it can be,” said Saenz.

Mission accomplished. The Sunset Commission heard your voices loud and clear and will investigate scrapping the appointed 5 member transportation commission with a single ELECTED commissioner and more (like investigate their misuse of taxpayer $$$ on illegal lobbying and its advocacy for tolling and the Trans Texas Corridor). Watch the explosive videos, including how legislators say TxDOT is not following the legislative intent of their law prohibiting freeway to tollway conversions here.

Read some of the news coverage that overtly passed over the release of the damaging video of TxDOT’s top brass LYING under oath here and here. But the Houston Chronicle’s blog and the Dallas Morning News blog did mention the TURF lawsuit. See below…

About that Keep Texas Moving lawsuit

Rep. Lois Kolkhorst, R-Brenham, a Sunset Advisory Commission member, is questioning the large number of people in the Texas Department of Transportation’s government and public affairs division – 63 – and its efforts to promote toll roads through efforts like the Keep Texas Moving campaign.

“It would be like almost TEA (the Texas Education Agency) creating a Web site for vouchers,” the controversial idea of proving public funds for private-school attendance, Kolkhorst said at today’s Sunset hearing.

Keep Texas Moving sparked a lawsuit by Texans Uniting for Reform and Freedom, but it was dismissed last month by State District Judge Paul Davis.

TURF’s Terri Hall said her group will appeal the dismissal.

TURF contended the Keep Texas Moving campaign violated a a state prohibition on state officers or employees using their authority for political purposes.

The state said it was allowed to promote toll projects under law and its campaign was responsive to a call from the public and elected officials for more information on road initiatives.

The campaign had been proposed at a cost of $7 million to $9 million.

It has cost $4.5 million and no additional big advertising or outreach pushes are in the works under the KTM banner, said TXDOT spokesman Chris Lippincott — although its Web site will continue to be maintained.

“As an agency,” Lippincott said, “we have been asked to cut back.”

Hearing on transportation begins with a bang

The Sunset Advisory Commission has started with a bang: Rep. Ruth Jones McClendon, D-San Antonio, says officials need to seriously consider the idea of an elected transportation commissioner.

“I think that we ought to have everything on the table,” McClendon said, asking Sunset staff to explore pros and cons of the idea, which would be a dramatic change from the current five-member commission appointed by the governor.

She said everything should be looked at from leaving the commission the way it is to making that big change to an elected overseer for the agency.

Rep. Linda Harper-Brown, R-Irving, agreed that the idea of an elected transportation commissioner should be explored, saying 76 percent of those who commented wanted the commissioner to be elected.

The idea drew an “Amen” and applause from TxDOT critics in the hearing room.

TxDOT’s top brass perjures themselves
TURF releases explosive footage of depositions from ad campaign/lobbying lawsuit to Sunset Commission

Tuesday, July 15, 2008 – Some very damaging footage of TxDOT’s top brass under oath was presented to the Sunset Advisory Commission at its hearing on the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) today. As part of TURF’s lawsuit against TxDOT to stop its illegal lobbying and ad campaign called Keep Texas Moving to promote toll roads and the Trans Texas Corridor in violation of Texas Government Code Chapter 556, several top officials of TxDOT were deposed under oath where they perjured themselves.

TURF gave each member of the Commission a DVD of a new documentary film, Truth Be Tolled TURF Special Edition, made about TxDOT’s Keep Texas Moving campaign that shows portions of legal depositions of TxDOT Executive Director Amadeo Saenz, Director of Government and Public Affairs Division Coby Chase, and Transportation Commissioner Ted Houghton.

TURF showed the Sunset Advisory Commission that TxDOT has made an unprecedented push to win public approval for its controversial toll road and Trans Texas Corridor project, using public money, which is not only illegal, it unfairly stacks the deck against citizens.

Houghton swore under oath that TxDOT had not hired registered lobbyists when these invoices (view here.) show they have (as well as Houghton’s own admission during a Town Hall Meeting in Hempstead, view here.). State law prohibits state agencies from hiring lobbyists and prohibits them from using public money for a political purpose. State agencies are to implement policy, not shape it. Video clips from the Town Hall meeting in Hempstead also show Houghton trying to sway the crowd in favor of the Trans Texas Corridor while under oath he was adamant that TxDOT and he had not done so.

PULL ANY ADVOCACY CAMPAIGNS FROM TXDOT
Keep Texas Moving advocates the Trans Texas Corridor, privatization of infrastructure, and tolling. The information in this campaign only extols the benefits of tolling and privatization (and never includes criticisms).

The stated goal of the campaign found in TxDOT documents is:
“To shift perception among those who are opposed to or on the fence about the TTC” and to change the political environment to “make it less hostile to the TTC” and to promote the “benefits of TTC…and help inoculate it from negative attacks” as well as “increase support of TxDOT programs.”

“This is no public information campaign. It’s a taxpayer-funded political ad campaign, which is not only illegal, but it also abuses the taxpayers in order to line TxDOT’s pockets with the MOST EXPENSIVE transportation tax,” says Terri Hall, TURF Founder who testified before the Sunset Commission.

TxDOT hired 5 registered lobbyists to the tune of $100,000/month to directly lobby Congress and other elected officials for more CDAs, the TTC, and tolling. Saenz, Chase, and Houghton all claimed ignorance of the law under oath, but Chapter 556.009 says all state officers and employees are given the law prior to taking a position with the State and a record of their acknowledgment of receipt is to be kept in writing.

“So any claim of ignorance of the law by the top brass is no get out jail free card,” Hall said.

This document shows TxDOT targeted County Judges in the path of the TTC-69. Houghton testified in the TURF lawsuit that lobbyist Gary Bushell is who arranged Houghton’s meetings with the County Judges. County Judges are key in appointing an arbitration committee between landowners and the State in eminent domain cases. So TxDOT’s lobbying effort was clearly to give the State an advantage in eminent domain proceedings for the Trans Texas Corridor.

Despite the TURF lawsuit and the suspension of hiring outside lobbyists, TxDOT recently hired an in-house lobbyist, Rebecca Reyes, to lobby Democrats in Congress through TxDOT’s Washington office (view here) and joined a lobby group named Transportation Transformation, or T2, with 4 other DOTs and private investors, like Goldman Sachs, to lobby Congress for more CDAs (see here).

TxDOT (see here) seeking to gain public approval of the TTC, which included asking overtly political questions like political party affiliation and if the respondent voted straight ticket in the last election.

In another document, it states TxDOT’s messages in the ad campaign would promote tolling over gas taxes with statements like, “tolls are better than gas taxes to fund roads” (see here).
“The Sunset Commission needs to strongly recommend the repeal of Section 228.004 from the transportation code and remove from TxDOT any ability to promote toll roads. They’ve become an arm of private industry that cannot be trusted to expend funds in a way that protects the public interest,” insisted Hall.

END FREEWAY TO TOLLWAY CONVERSIONS
TURF and many of its supporters addressed the reforms the citizens demand in order to restore trust in the agency, anywhere from replacing the unelected 5 member Transportation Commission with a single ELECTED commissioner to fixing how decisions to toll roads are made (and giving the public real veto power), to getting an accurate figure of road funding needs independently of TxDOT, as well as ending freeway to tollway conversions.

The complete conversion of US 281 from a freeway, already built and open to traffic for decades, to a toll road shocked the Commission and was a central part of the hearing. Representative Linda Harper-Brown questioned TxDOT’s perversion of a state law, HB 2702, that prohibits conversions without a public vote and requires them to leave as many non-toll lanes that exist before adding toll lanes. But TxDOT is tolling every single express lane (or main lane) on US 281 and downgrading the non-toll lanes to access roads with slower speed limits and permanent stop lights, an unfair replacement say critics.

Even worse, the 281 improvements have been funded with gas taxes starting in 2003 ($100 million plan total), but it was turned into a toll road simply to generate revenue for other area projects, clearly a discriminatory, targeted tax. Now as a toll road, the pricetag has ballooned to a whopping $1.3 billion!

“With highway robbery of this scale, it’s no wonder the supposed funding gap for future roads swelled to $86 billion. This is insane! Rep. Joe Pickett once stated we can build 4 freeways for the price of one toll road. In the case of US 281, we can build 10 freeways for the price of one toll project!” notes an outraged Hall.

TURF also delivered disks of all the evidence in their lawsuit to the Travis County District Attorney’s office to press them to file criminal charges against guilty parties.

“Texans are tired of one legal standard for them and another for those in power. The Truth Be Tolled TURF Special Edition DVD (www.TruthBeTolled.com) is enough evidence to show TxDOT is guilty of lying under oath and prosecuting an illegal ad and lobbying campaign on the taxpayers’ dime. Blood’s in the water now, and the sharks are circling. The people demand justice,” Hall commented.

Mission accomplished. The Sunset Commission heard your voices loud and clear and will investigate scrapping the appointed 5 member transportation commission with a single ELECTED commissioner and more (like investigate their misuse of taxpayer $$$ on illegal lobbying and its advocacy for tolling and the Trans Texas Corridor). Watch the explosive videos, including how legislators say TxDOT is not following the legislative intent of their law prohibiting freeway to tollway conversions here.

Read some of the news coverage that overtly passed over the release of the damaging video of TxDOT’s top brass LYING under oath here and here. But the Houston Chronicle’s blog and the Dallas Morning News blog did mention the TURF lawsuit. See below…

About that Keep Texas Moving lawsuit

Rep. Lois Kolkhorst, R-Brenham, a Sunset Advisory Commission member, is questioning the large number of people in the Texas Department of Transportation’s government and public affairs division – 63 – and its efforts to promote toll roads through efforts like the Keep Texas Moving campaign.

“It would be like almost TEA (the Texas Education Agency) creating a Web site for vouchers,” the controversial idea of proving public funds for private-school attendance, Kolkhorst said at today’s Sunset hearing.

Keep Texas Moving sparked a lawsuit by Texans Uniting for Reform and Freedom, but it was dismissed last month by State District Judge Paul Davis.

TURF’s Terri Hall said her group will appeal the dismissal.

TURF contended the Keep Texas Moving campaign violated a a state prohibition on state officers or employees using their authority for political purposes.

The state said it was allowed to promote toll projects under law and its campaign was responsive to a call from the public and elected officials for more information on road initiatives.

The campaign had been proposed at a cost of $7 million to $9 million.

It has cost $4.5 million and no additional big advertising or outreach pushes are in the works under the KTM banner, said TXDOT spokesman Chris Lippincott — although its Web site will continue to be maintained.

“As an agency,” Lippincott said, “we have been asked to cut back.”

Hearing on transportation begins with a bang

The Sunset Advisory Commission has started with a bang: Rep. Ruth Jones McClendon, D-San Antonio, says officials need to seriously consider the idea of an elected transportation commissioner.

“I think that we ought to have everything on the table,” McClendon said, asking Sunset staff to explore pros and cons of the idea, which would be a dramatic change from the current five-member commission appointed by the governor.

She said everything should be looked at from leaving the commission the way it is to making that big change to an elected overseer for the agency.

Rep. Linda Harper-Brown, R-Irving, agreed that the idea of an elected transportation commissioner should be explored, saying 76 percent of those who commented wanted the commissioner to be elected.

The idea drew an “Amen” and applause from TxDOT critics in the hearing room.

TxDOT’s top brass perjures themselves
TURF releases explosive footage of depositions from ad campaign/lobbying lawsuit to Sunset Commission

Tuesday, July 15, 2008 – Some very damaging footage of TxDOT’s top brass under oath was presented to the Sunset Advisory Commission at its hearing on the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) today. As part of TURF’s lawsuit against TxDOT to stop its illegal lobbying and ad campaign called Keep Texas Moving to promote toll roads and the Trans Texas Corridor in violation of Texas Government Code Chapter 556, several top officials of TxDOT were deposed under oath where they perjured themselves.

TURF gave each member of the Commission a DVD of a new documentary film, Truth Be Tolled TURF Special Edition, made about TxDOT’s Keep Texas Moving campaign that shows portions of legal depositions of TxDOT Executive Director Amadeo Saenz, Director of Government and Public Affairs Division Coby Chase, and Transportation Commissioner Ted Houghton.

TURF showed the Sunset Advisory Commission that TxDOT has made an unprecedented push to win public approval for its controversial toll road and Trans Texas Corridor project, using public money, which is not only illegal, it unfairly stacks the deck against citizens.

Houghton swore under oath that TxDOT had not hired registered lobbyists when these invoices (view here.) show they have (as well as Houghton’s own admission during a Town Hall Meeting in Hempstead, view here.). State law prohibits state agencies from hiring lobbyists and prohibits them from using public money for a political purpose. State agencies are to implement policy, not shape it. Video clips from the Town Hall meeting in Hempstead also show Houghton trying to sway the crowd in favor of the Trans Texas Corridor while under oath he was adamant that TxDOT and he had not done so.

PULL ANY ADVOCACY CAMPAIGNS FROM TXDOT
Keep Texas Moving advocates the Trans Texas Corridor, privatization of infrastructure, and tolling. The information in this campaign only extols the benefits of tolling and privatization (and never includes criticisms).

The stated goal of the campaign found in TxDOT documents is:
“To shift perception among those who are opposed to or on the fence about the TTC” and to change the political environment to “make it less hostile to the TTC” and to promote the “benefits of TTC…and help inoculate it from negative attacks” as well as “increase support of TxDOT programs.”

“This is no public information campaign. It’s a taxpayer-funded political ad campaign, which is not only illegal, but it also abuses the taxpayers in order to line TxDOT’s pockets with the MOST EXPENSIVE transportation tax,” says Terri Hall, TURF Founder who testified before the Sunset Commission.

TxDOT hired 5 registered lobbyists to the tune of $100,000/month to directly lobby Congress and other elected officials for more CDAs, the TTC, and tolling. Saenz, Chase, and Houghton all claimed ignorance of the law under oath, but Chapter 556.009 says all state officers and employees are given the law prior to taking a position with the State and a record of their acknowledgment of receipt is to be kept in writing.

“So any claim of ignorance of the law by the top brass is no get out jail free card,” Hall said.

This document shows TxDOT targeted County Judges in the path of the TTC-69. Houghton testified in the TURF lawsuit that lobbyist Gary Bushell is who arranged Houghton’s meetings with the County Judges. County Judges are key in appointing an arbitration committee between landowners and the State in eminent domain cases. So TxDOT’s lobbying effort was clearly to give the State an advantage in eminent domain proceedings for the Trans Texas Corridor.

Despite the TURF lawsuit and the suspension of hiring outside lobbyists, TxDOT recently hired an in-house lobbyist, Rebecca Reyes, to lobby Democrats in Congress through TxDOT’s Washington office (view here) and joined a lobby group named Transportation Transformation, or T2, with 4 other DOTs and private investors, like Goldman Sachs, to lobby Congress for more CDAs (see here).

TxDOT (see here) seeking to gain public approval of the TTC, which included asking overtly political questions like political party affiliation and if the respondent voted straight ticket in the last election.

In another document, it states TxDOT’s messages in the ad campaign would promote tolling over gas taxes with statements like, “tolls are better than gas taxes to fund roads” (see here).
“The Sunset Commission needs to strongly recommend the repeal of Section 228.004 from the transportation code and remove from TxDOT any ability to promote toll roads. They’ve become an arm of private industry that cannot be trusted to expend funds in a way that protects the public interest,” insisted Hall.

END FREEWAY TO TOLLWAY CONVERSIONS
TURF and many of its supporters addressed the reforms the citizens demand in order to restore trust in the agency, anywhere from replacing the unelected 5 member Transportation Commission with a single ELECTED commissioner to fixing how decisions to toll roads are made (and giving the public real veto power), to getting an accurate figure of road funding needs independently of TxDOT, as well as ending freeway to tollway conversions.

The complete conversion of US 281 from a freeway, already built and open to traffic for decades, to a toll road shocked the Commission and was a central part of the hearing. Representative Linda Harper-Brown questioned TxDOT’s perversion of a state law, HB 2702, that prohibits conversions without a public vote and requires them to leave as many non-toll lanes that exist before adding toll lanes. But TxDOT is tolling every single express lane (or main lane) on US 281 and downgrading the non-toll lanes to access roads with slower speed limits and permanent stop lights, an unfair replacement say critics.

Even worse, the 281 improvements have been funded with gas taxes starting in 2003 ($100 million plan total), but it was turned into a toll road simply to generate revenue for other area projects, clearly a discriminatory, targeted tax. Now as a toll road, the pricetag has ballooned to a whopping $1.3 billion!

“With highway robbery of this scale, it’s no wonder the supposed funding gap for future roads swelled to $86 billion. This is insane! Rep. Joe Pickett once stated we can build 4 freeways for the price of one toll road. In the case of US 281, we can build 10 freeways for the price of one toll project!” notes an outraged Hall.

TURF also delivered disks of all the evidence in their lawsuit to the Travis County District Attorney’s office to press them to file criminal charges against guilty parties.

“Texans are tired of one legal standard for them and another for those in power. The Truth Be Tolled TURF Special Edition DVD (www.TruthBeTolled.com) is enough evidence to show TxDOT is guilty of lying under oath and prosecuting an illegal ad and lobbying campaign on the taxpayers’ dime. Blood’s in the water now, and the sharks are circling. The people demand justice,” Hall commented.

Link to article here.

Just when you’d think things at TxDOT can’t get any worse, a front page story appears telling of their abuse of state airplanes for $130,000 worth of jet-setting across the state on the taxpayers’ dime! At least one of those trips was taken by Transportation Commissioner Ted Houghton who used the planes to illegally lobby in favor of the Trans Texas Corridor TTC-69 project at a workshop they initiated with elected officials (which is against the law) and then lied about sponsoring it.

This event is part of TURF’s evidence against TxDOT in our lawsuit to stop it’s propaganda campaign and illegal lobbying. The other two offenders: Rick Perry and the Attorney General (who is representing TxDOT against the taxpayers in our lawsuit to stop their illegal lobbying and ad campaign) with over $20,000 each in state-funded travel for what can be argued was personal and/or political travel.

Texans for Fiscal Responsibility and Empower Texans, whose Director is quoted in the article, put together this video as a spoof on TxDOT’s luxury airline use at taxpayer expense. Watch it!

Cost, uses of state’s plane fleet targeted
By Peggy Fikac
Express-News Austin Bureau
06/03/2008

AUSTIN — Five years after Texas leaders tried to disband the state’s airplane fleet, officials still call on the service to fly them to meetings, awards ceremonies, funerals and even a neighboring GOP governor’s inauguration.

Officeholders and bureaucrats, including Gov. Rick Perry, say they look at cost and efficiency before deciding whether to use the aircraft, which cost $258.75 to $977.50 per flight hour and are allowed for official state business.

But some question the fleet because bills are often footed by taxpayers and because commercial airfare may look cheaper.

“It sure does raise the eyebrows and make the nose crinkle a bit,” said Michael Quinn Sullivan of Texans for Fiscal Responsibility. “Between two really good Texas-based airlines, there’s any number of options to get from anywhere to anywhere by air pretty quickly.”

Then-Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn and Perry talked up selling the planes during a 2003 budget crunch.

But the Texas Department of Transportation, which oversees the fleet, expects it to log 1,227 more flight hours — for a total of 3,350 or about $2.3 million worth of flying time — in this two-year budget period than the last.

“State agencies have seen the value of our services as an effective business tool,” said TxDOT spokesman Chris Lippincott, noting commercial air travel’s cost “continues to rise, and its reliability continues to deteriorate.”

State taxpayers don’t pay for the trips funded by donations or other sources. Among them: University of Texas football recruiting jaunts, paid by the self-sufficient athletics department; the UT president’s travel; and a trip by Texas A&M basketball coaches and players to the Big 12 media day in Kansas City.

Louisiana trip questioned

But many other trips are paid by the state and may draw closer scrutiny, such as a $3,962 trip by Perry, a staffer and a member of the governor’s security detail to Baton Rouge for the inauguration of Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, a fellow Republican. Perry, who heads the Republican Governors Association, spoke at the prayer breakfast.

“I’d want to know, did he go to (Democratic New Mexico Gov.) Bill Richardson’s inauguration?” asked state Rep. Jim Dunnam of Waco, head of the House Democratic Caucus. “If he didn’t go to Richardson’s, I think it’s pretty apparent this is a partisan political trip. If he’s going to do that, he ought to do it on his own dime. He’s got plenty of money in his campaign. Taxpayers shouldn’t pay for it.”

Perry spokesman Robert Black dismissed the idea that the trip was political, asking, “When was Richardson inaugurated? I have no idea if he (Perry) was even invited.”

“Not only was the governor invited … to participate in Bobby Jindal’s inauguration, I think most Texans recognize that the states of Louisiana and Texas have a unique relationship that has grown out of the natural disasters that happened a few years ago,” Black said, noting efforts led by Perry to help after Hurricane Katrina.

Perry’s office notes that most of his travel, aside from that on state aircraft, is paid by his campaign.

His Baton Rouge trip was among a slew of state-airplane records covering the six months ending in March examined by the San Antonio Express-News.

Among officials using state money to pay for flights and billed more than $20,000 apiece for the time period were Perry ($24,537); Attorney General Greg Abbott and staff ($21,943); TxDOT administration, government and public affairs, and other divisions ($130,568); the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality ($56,560); and Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples and staff ($50,302).

Commercial cost compared

Destinations used with the fleet included news conferences, public meetings and awards ceremonies. They also included memorial services for Texas Transportation Commission Chairman Ric Williamson and for Kate Marmion, granddaughter of former Gov. Dolph Briscoe, and meetings on the Trans-Texas Corridor by transportation officials.

In choosing a state plane, officials say they consider factors including productive use of time, avoiding the cost and delay of overnight stays, number of people traveling and availability of commercial flights.

Some trips invite comparison to commercial airfares — including Perry’s to Baton Rouge, because an online booking service currently shows roundtrip flights as low as $486 per person ($647 per person for a flight departing in the evening) or totals of $1,458 to $1,941 for three people. Perry spokeswoman Allison Castle noted Perry’s schedule and commercial flight schedules play into such decisions.

Another is a March 7 trip to Houston by Staples and two others at a cost of $2,346. Southwest Airlines’ flight schedule shows three adults could currently travel roundtrip for $257.50 apiece, or a total of $772.50.

Staples spokesman Bryan Black said Staples got to Houston at 7:45 a.m. for a school award presentation and, after a day of events capped by a speech at the International Brangus Breeders Association Banquet and Awards Dinner, left at 9:30 p.m..

That would have been too late to make the last commercial flight. Compounding the time crunch was that Staples was due in Hereford the next day. (He went by state plane, at a cost of $2,659). Bryan Black noted Staples often visits hard-to-reach rural areas but uses commercial flights when he can and often drives. “He wants to make sure that he visits with Texans and listens to what they have to say.”

Three state senators flew state planes during the six-month period examined: Sens. Carlos Uresti, D-San Antonio; Robert Duncan, R-Lubbock; and Kip Averitt, R-Waco. Uresti racked up the largest bill of the three at $13,009 for trips to Marfa, Del Rio, Eagle Pass and Laredo.

“I have the largest senatorial district, geographically, not only in Texas but in the United States — 55,000 square miles,” Uresti said. He said he is “very selective” in using state aircraft but sometimes must make stops in hard-to-reach places.

“There’s no easy way to get to Marfa,” he said. “My constituents in Alpine, in Del Rio, in Fort Stockton — they want their state senator at their town hall meetings. It’s there for that use. I don’t abuse it.”

How small is $18 million?

The state fleet is in addition to airplanes belonging solely to individual agencies, such as the UT and A&M systems and the Department of Public Safety, which may still use the state fleet when their planes are busy.

Sullivan, of Texans for Fiscal Responsibility, said he isn’t suggesting officials are wrong to use a fleet that’s at their disposal, but lawmakers should take a hard look at whether it’s necessary to maintain it.

“There’s certainly the occasional need for someone to be transported in that way,” Sullivan said, citing law enforcement and response to natural disasters. But, he added, “when you find out these various muckety-mucks are jumping on the planes just because it’s easier to do that, that’s not right.”

The fleet, previously under the State Aircraft Pooling Board, was targeted by Strayhorn and Perry in 2003 when the state faced a $10 billion budget shortfall. At the time, Strayhorn said selling the planes and associated property would yield $18.2 million. Perry vetoed the pooling board from the budget, but the fleet was transferred to TxDOT.

Perry spokeswoman Krista Piferrer said Perry “doesn’t really have an opinion one way or another” now about whether the fleet should be maintained.

“His main priority has always been that aircraft are used for state business and are operated on a cost recovery basis.”

Sullivan said $18 million is a small percentage of the state’s $152.5 billion two-year budget, but added, “It’s not a small amount of money. … You take the richest person in Texas, and they notice when $18 million is gone.”

Link to article below here.

A scathing Sunset Committee Report on TxDOT was released today (news story below) and it recommends a “legislative conservator” takeover the agency among other reforms.

There are 6 problem areas identified in the report, but here are the key recommendations that pertain to our concerns:

• Abolish the Texas Transportation Commission and replace it with an appointed Commissioner of Transportation.
• Establish a Transportation Legislative Oversight Committee to provide necessary oversight of the Department and the state’s transportation system.
• Require the Transportation Legislative Oversight Committee to review and comment on TxDOT’s research program, including individual research projects and activities.
• The Sunset Commission should recommend that the Legislature directly fund the Texas Transportation Institute to conduct transportation research previously contracted through TxDOT.
• Continue TxDOT for four years (instead of 12).
• Require TxDOT to develop and implement a public involvement policy that guides and encourages more meaningful public involvement efforts agency-wide.
• Require TxDOT to develop standard procedures for documenting complaints and for tracking and analyzing complaint data.
• TxDOT should provide central coordination of the Department’s major marketing campaigns.

The big holes? We asked for the 5 member Transportation Commission APPOINTED by the Governor to be replaced with a single ELECTED commissioner, and while the Sunset Committee staff recommended abolishing the Commission and replacing it with a single commissioner, they still would have that position APPOINTED by the Governor (giving us the same mess we have now)! The difference is the Commissioner would be re-appointed and come before the Senate for confirmation every 2 years instead of every 4.

Hole #2 – “TxDOT should provide central coordination of the Department’s major marketing campaigns.” What??! TURF is suing the State to STOP TxDOT’s “marketing” propaganda campaign, the last thing we need is to centralize illegal activity! We also don’t need “public education” campaigns like “Don’t Mess With Texas” anti-litter program or its “Click it or Ticket” campaign when we’re supposedly “out of money” for basic highway needs. This is wasteful, useless spending and the Committee staff should have called for an end to it. It’s their job to eliminate waste. Well, this is prime fodder for the chopping block. It enriches marketing and PR firms, not provide transportation for taxpayers.

Hole #3 – There are no specific public involvement recommendations that would force TxDOT to do what the public asks them to, particularly in regards to toll projects and the Trans Texas Corridor. Simply taking public testimony and then ignoring it is what has caused a massive taxpayer revolt all over the state! We need some public involvement REQUIREMENTS that FORCE TxDOT to implement the alternative chosen by the public, not the one that makes the State the most tax revenue.

This is why we need YOU to come testify before the full Sunset Advisory Committee on July 15 in Austin to insist the Committee make any new commissioner directly accountable to the taxpayers at the ballot box so we don’t end up with the same problems we have now.

TxDOT labeled ‘out of control’
By Peggy Fikac
Express-News Austin Bureau
06/03/2008
AUSTIN — Saying big changes are needed to restore trust in the Texas Department of Transportation, the Sunset Advisory Commission staff is recommending a revamp of TxDOT’s governing board, project planning and its dealings with lawmakers and the public.

The Sunset staff report to be released today — and shared with the San Antonio Express-News by a source close to the process — comes in the wake of controversy over planned public-private partnerships on toll roads and the Trans-Texas Corridor and questions concerning agency funding figures.

“The Sunset review of the Texas Department of Transportation occurred against a backdrop of distrust and frustration with the Department and the demand for more transparency, accountability, and responsiveness. Many expressed concerns that TxDOT was ‘out of control,’ advancing its own agenda against objections of both the Legislature and the public,” according to the report.

It says that “tweaking the status quo is simply not enough” to restore trust.

TxDOT spokesman Chris Lippincott said Monday, “The confidence of the Legislature and the public are very important to us. We still have work to do, but we are confident that our ongoing efforts to improve the transparency and accessibility of TxDOT are making a positive impact.”

Among changes, the staff is recommending replacing the five-member commission with a single commissioner, who would have a two-year term rather than the current six years. The shorter term would mean required Senate confirmation would occur more often, giving lawmakers more oversight.

However, the commissioner still would be appointed by the governor, a concern for opponents of TxDOT’s policies.

That’s because the policies pushed by the Texas Transportation Commission are in sync with those of GOP Gov. Rick Perry, who named the commissioners. Opponents of those policies would prefer an elected commissioner or commissioners.

“The most important thing is that they’re elected positions,” said Sal Costello of TexasTollParty.com. “It gets right down to who’s accountable.”

“We wanted a single, elected commissioner who answers directly to the people of Texas … Having the governor’s paws on this department just has got to stop,” said Terri Hall of Texans Uniting for Reform and Freedom. She added, however, that proposed changes constitute “a step in the right direction. I’m glad the committee seems to be hearing what the public outcry is.”

The staff also proposes increasing legislative oversight through a new House-Senate committee; making TxDOT’s transportation planning and project development more open and easily understood; enhancing chances for meaningful public involvement; improving TxDOT’s contract management; and reviewing the agency again in four years, rather than the usual 12, to ensure needed changes have been made.

Agencies are reviewed periodically by the Sunset commission to see if they should continue to exist and whether changes are needed. Changes proposed by the commission will be considered in 2009 by the Legislature.

Lawmakers on the commission said it’s clear that change is needed, although they’ll need to weigh input including staff recommendations.

Sen. Juan Hinojosa, D-McAllen, said he wants to give new Texas Transportation Commission Chair Deirdre Delisi a chance to improve agency operations but that he likes the direction of Sunset staff proposals.

Rep. Ruth Jones McClendon, D-San Antonio, said straightforward, public accountability is key.

“There is obviously a great amount of distrust between the Legislature and the agency, as well as the general public. Something obviously needs to be done — major — to change the way this agency is doing business,” she said.

IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Houston, TX, May 27, 2008 – A May 25 Houston Chronicle article reveals that while TxDOT ceased hiring OUTSIDE lobbyists, it hired Rebecca Reyes using taxpayer money to work in TxDOT’s Washington office. Reyes is the daughter of Rep. Silvestre Reyes, D-El Paso.

TxDOT spokesman Chris Lippincott expressly stated she was hired because she has a background in “lobbying.” TURF filed a lawsuit against the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) for its taxpayer-funded political ad campaign to advocate toll roads and the Trans Texas Corridor (in violation of Texas Government Code Chapter 556), and it found evidence TxDOT had also illegally hired registered lobbyists. Lippincott tried to spin it by claiming they stopped hiring outside lobbyists due to budget cuts.

“TxDOT has ceased hiring outside lobbyists in response to being caught red-handed in violation of the law, but now it’s obviously still engaging in lobbying members of Congress by bringing a former lobbyist in-house. Both the Texas Government Code (Chapter 556.004) and federal law prohibit a government agency from engaging in lobbying and using taxpayer money for a political purpose. TxDOT is just getting more sneaky in how they do it,” says an incredulous Terri Hall, Founder of Texans Uniting for Reform and Freedom (or TURF).

“Where is the OUTRAGE from lawmakers and where is the Travis County District Attorney to put a stop to this illegal activity at taxpayer expense?” asks Hall.

The applicable federal law is found in the Hatch Act:

5 C.F.R. 151.121 – “a state or local officer or employee may not…directly or indirectly…command…a state or local officer or employee to pay, lend, or contribute anything of value to a political party, committee, organization, agency or person for a political purpose.”

What TxDOT calls “outreach” and “education” is, in reality, an advocacy and political ad campaign (www.KeepTexasMoving.com) using public relations firms and political strategists to “sell” the public on a privatized, toll roads, and this sales job includes members of Congress as evidenced in TxDOT’s Forward Momentum report asking them to relax federal legislation in order to buy back existing interstates in order to toll them.

Through TURF’s lawsuit, it uncovered detailed logs showing a concerted campaign to lobby politicians, particularly newly elected officials, which is a BIG no-no for a state agency that must remain apolitical. Alliance for I-69 Lobbyist Gary Bushell was hired by TxDOT to personally lobby more than two-dozen elected officials in the path of TTC-69 prior to the Town Hall meetings.

Houghton admits TxDOT violated the law!
At the packed Town Hall meeting in Hempstead last February, Transportation Commissioner Ted Houghton said he also personally met with every county judge in the path of the Trans Texas Corridor TTC-69 as he defended the necessity of TxDOT hiring lobbyists to lobby elected officials.

This action is in DIRECT VIOLATION OF THE LAW!

Texas Government Code:

§ 556.005. Employment of Lobbyist

(a) A state agency may not use appropriated money to employ, as a regular full-time or part-time or contract employee, a person who is required by Chapter 305 to register as a lobbyist. Except for an institution of higher education as defined by Section 61.003, Education Code, a state agency may not use any money under its control to employ or contract with an individual who is required by Chapter 305 to register as a lobbyist.

“TxDOT has now publicly admitted, on camera, that it has violated the LAW! Are government agencies under the rule of law or not? Who is going to step in and prosecute this rogue agency?” asks an outraged Hall.

TURF also discovered in a memo to TxDOT dated November 8, 2007, that Rodman & Co. marketing gurus drafted positive, pro-TTC quotes on behalf of elected officials in order to place them as positive quotes in press releases about the TTC-69 project.

Political Poll conducted on taxpayers’ dime
TxDOT also hired Governor Rick Perry’s political polling outfit, Bacelice & Associates, to conduct a poll that included asking one’s political party affiliation in its questions.

“What does a person’s political party have to do with a supposed ‘public information’ campaign? Nothing, it’s clear this ad campaign is about pushing a political agenda and brainwashing the public with pro-toll talking points like ‘tolls are better than gas taxes to fund roads.’ C’mon, this is politics run amok and an agency run amok. Who’s going to rein them in?” criticizes Hall.

TxDOT’s behavior demonstrates why there are laws prohibiting the government from using its power and OUR money against the taxpayer. The citizens have the deck stacked against them when their own government forcibly takes their money and uses it to clobber them.

Like TTC-35, TTC-69 plans to convert some existing highways into privately controlled toll roads, making Texas taxpayers pay twice for the same stretch of road as well as to force Texas landowners to give-up their farms and ranches for a massive new stretch of road in order to complete the entire Trans Texas Corridor project.

Read more about TURF’s lawsuit against TxDOT’s misuse of taxpayer money for an ad campaign advocating tolls and against its lobbying activities here.

Read TURF’s formal complaint against TxDOT’s illegal use of taxpayer money filed with Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle here.