Cross posted on Texas Kaos and The Burnt Orange Report.
This morning when I opened The Houston Chronicle, one of the front page articles immediately grabbed my attention.
http://www.chron.com/...
Texans Rip Budget Yet Add to Cost
The online edition reads:
Texas lawmakers rip budget, but seek millions
The Houston Chronicle does not single out Republicans, of course, because Texas Democrats added to the budget’s costs as well. However, the Democrats are not bellowing and bellyaching about the stimulus budget while the Republicans continue to 24/7.
What hypocritical jackasses. Do Republican lawmakers actually believe they can continue to fool us with their double talk and embarrass us by their endless clown shows?
Check out what libertarian, small government leaning Ron Paul stuck in the bill:
Rep. Ron Paul vehemently denounced the $410 billion catch-all spending bill approved last week by the House of Representatives.
But although the libertarian-leaning Republican from Lake Jackson cast a vote against the massive spending measure, his fingerprints were on some of the earmarks that helped inflate its cost.
Paul played a role in obtaining 22 earmarks worth $96.1 million, which led the Houston congressional delegation, according to a Houston Chronicle analysis of more than 8,500 congressionally mandated projects inserted into the bill. His earmarks included repair projects to the Galveston Seawall damaged by Hurricane Ike and the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway.
The other day Houston Rep. (TX-7) Culberson said he would continue to say no to anything that goes against his "core values."
Culberson’s addition to the bill:
Following Paul was Rep. John Culberson, R-Houston, who got earmarks worth $63.6 million. But it was a bipartisan spending spree. Just behind the GOP duo were Houston Democrats Al Green with $50.1 million in pet projects and Sheila Jackson Lee with $37.6 million.
Earmarks, said Rep. Ted Poe, R-Humble, "allow lawmakers to have a say in how taxpayer dollars (are) spent." His nine earmarks included $712,500 to mitigate airport noise at George Bush Intercontinental Airport.
"It is in the best interest of the taxpayers," Poe said, "to have their member of Congress secure funding for local projects than to leave it up to unaccountable and un-elected bureaucrats in Washington."
Houston's former merciless, unforgiving and nicknamed "hanging" Judge Poe failed to admit the inconvenient fact that President Obama appointed Joe Biden and Earl Devaney as federal stimulus watchdogs. The un-accountability starts right here at home, Judge, where un-elected fat cats and double talking lawmakers collude to work for their own self-interests.
Culberson’s spokeswoman, Megan Mitchell, said his answer for requests is always no "unless the project is cost effective and serves a legitimate government purpose."
Culberson has worked hard to gain federal funding for flood control projects and other proposals that help his constituents. His earmarks ranged from $13.8 million for the Houston Ship Channel to $95,000 for Houston Baptist University.
So, Culberson, who inserted funding for flood control projects in his district (where I happen to live), the Houston Ship Channel and HBU voted against the bill he helped write?
In an era of hyperpartisanship on Capitol Hill, earmarks are one of the rare issues that unite Democrats and Republicans. For example, Republican Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison teamed up with Republican Culberson and House Democrats Al Green, Gene Green and Jackson Lee to win a $15 million earmark for Houston Metro.
Hutchison, a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, led Texans with at least 104 earmarks worth about $250 million for Texas projects in the House version of the legislation. The Senate is slated to consider the package this week.
"I would not be representing the best interests of Texas if I were to allow funding decisions allowing Texas projects to be made by those who may have never visited Texas and are unaccountable to the voters," she said.
The fat cats who pull our politicians strings and who do live in Texas are very unaccountable. And like the others, Hutchison ultimately voted against what she herself proposed.
John Cornyn did the same thing.
Fellow Republican Sen. John Cornyn played a role in arranging at least 53 earmarks worth nearly $200 million, including money for Houston law enforcement interoperability, equipment for Head Start centers and the $15 million for Houston transit.
Cornyn said he would continue working to make sure that "Texas’ needs are met on the federal level" as he and others press efforts "to bring government spending out of the shadows of the Washington bureaucracy and into the daylight."
We will see about that, Senator. Now that accountability, oversight and transparency are in place, we will learn all about gray, dark and shadowy government spending, especially right here at home.
In all fairness, none of the above included in the earmarks is bad for Texas. Actually, most proposed projects are valuable and crucially needed undertakings. Unfortunately, however, the worthy intentions of federal earmarks have become corrupted by fraud, graft and waste. This is precisely why the Obama Administration intends to end earmarks altogether.
The corruption factor is why I am suspicious about what will happen to all of this stimulus money once it arrives in Texas because of some hanky panky that might already be going on. In Saturday’s Houston Chronicle another story blew me away.
$700 Million Reserved for Toll Road Projects
That $700 Million is federal stimulus money.
Put federal stimulus money into toll roads? Wait a minute. Was it Governor Perry and other Republican lawmakers who said something, some time ago, about privatizing toll roads? And why should stimulus money be put into a project that serves fewer rather than many, if not most, residents in the district?
The Texas Department of Transportation has set aside more than $700 million in economic stimulus funds for toll road projects across the state, sparking criticism and questions about whether the pay-to-drive roads are an appropriate use of the federal dollars.
The toll roads — including the Grand Parkway in Harris County — are among 21 major projects up for a vote at next week’s meeting of the Texas Transportation Commission in Austin. The commission had planned to vote on the list this week but delayed its consideration a week after at least one state legislator complained the money was being spent without enough input.
Critics of this scheme rightfully smell a rat.
"It’s a total rip-off," said Terri Hall, director of Texans Uniting for Reform and Freedom, a nonprofit opposed to toll roads. "That’s not how the money is supposed to be used."
TxDOT leaders and transportation planners defend the projects, saying all of them, including the toll roads, are important to their regions and offer tangible economic and mobility benefits.
"I think it’s unfortunate that the discussion about these funds has eclipsed the broader discussion about the state’s transportation needs," TxDOT spokesman Chris Lippincott said.
So, what is wrong with discussions about the state’s broader transportation needs, such as in ongoing light rail projects? Light rail moves a lot of people faster and more efficiently than gridlocked roads do. It is a greener option that will reduce air pollution in any urban region. Why do Republican lawmakers and TxDOT leaders continue to have an ongoing problem with light rail and public transportation in general? Are they completely out of touch with today's realities?
Rep. Jim Dunning (D-Waco) rightfully believes the toll road project should be paid for by state money.
The discussion should be on reducing gridlock now, said Rep. Jim Dunnam, D-Waco, whose criticism led the commission to postpone its vote. Toll roads should be built later with state money, not onetime federal stimulus funds, he said.
I am dumbfounded by the appalling idea of federal expenditures for roads that, b/c of toll costs, are economically inaccessible to many Houston area residents and are consequently not used by the majority of drivers. Also, these toll roads mostly exist well outside the inner and largely conjested city roads, freeways and highways. What is so special about Houston's outpost called the Grand Parkway?
Most in Houston commute to and from work on the major (toll free) freeways and highways. And much of the traffic exits the freeways in areas surrounding the large employment centers of the Galleria, Greenway Plaza, The Medical Center and downtown. Traffic gridlock has been reduced somewhat in the Medical Center because of the light rail system.
Given the fact that the state of the roads in this densely populated area is abysmal with its deteriorating streets that have become obstacle courses packed with potholes, sinkholes and bumps, it is outrageous to think the one-time federal money would be put into toll roads used by fewer people.
The rationale for the toll road project:
The economic stimulus bill does not address toll roads, only that proposed projects satisfy requirements to create jobs and promote economic growth, said Jim Berard, a spokesman for the U.S. House Transportation Committee.
Just because the bill does not specifically address toll roads does not mean that it is intended to serve the needs of few over the needs of many. And please explain why light rail projects would not create jobs and promote economic growth?
Citizens Transportation Coalition chairwoman Robin Holzer, who opposed the Commissioners Court’s vote on the Grand Parkway segment, said the state should spend stimulus money on projects other than toll roads that typically are used by a small portion of motorists.
"It’s incomprehensible that TxDOT could think that this is the most important project in the Houston District," she said.
I could not agree more. I am glad there is a stimulus oversight watchdog because I fully intend to contact Earl Devaney and Joe Biden if this toll road scheme becomes a done deal.
If we think we smell a rat there is most likely a rat within an inch or two away from the stench.