"Tolls are the American Way" says Rep. Mike Krusee

Rep. Mike Krusee chairs the House Transportation Committee and thinks their toll proliferation plan is applying free market principles to transportation. Mr. Krusee, I have some very basic principles to share with you, so please pay attention. Free market principles cannot apply to limited public assets like roadways. We, the consumer, can’t go build a competing road if we don’t like the way a private corporation builds and tolls our existing ones. Giving 50 year exclusive contracts to private companies to set toll rates with no oversight by any elected official is far from free market competition. There is no place for such narrow-minded thinking from our public officials. The voters have spoken loud and clear, a supermajority, in fact, against tolling our existing FREEways. What Mike Krusee and his cronies are doing is entirely UN-American. Self-government and balance of power are among America’s founding principles, and this TOLL ONLY mindset against the will of the majority of Texans is offensive, morally and ethically wrong, and, frankly, would make our Founding Fathers roll in their graves.

See Mr. Krusee’s comments for yourself!