Indy Texans Blog

The Democrats want to take back Texas. Many independents are leaning Democratic this year, so some of us don’t necessarily mind. What we do mind are those Democrats and Republicans who don’t have our story straight.

Remember the redistricting shoot out in 2003? That’s when Gov. Rick Perry called three oh so special sessions, and the Democrats went to Oklahoma. Tom DeLay had already funneled campaign contributions (through House Speaker Craddick) to Republican Texas House candidates who were delivering for “The Hammer” on his plan to redraw Texas Congressional districts. (Note: we independents grant the Republicans they were wronged by the Democrats in 2001 in one of the most effective gerrymanders in US history. But didn’t we all learn in grade school that two wrongs don’t make a right?)

But I digress. Enter State Rep. Mike Krusee, chair of the Texas House Transportation Committee, acting, we can presume, on behalf of his political boss, Rick Perry. Two weeks before the end of the ‘03 regular session on redistricting, Mike slips a 300 page bill on legislator’s desks to implement the Trans-Texas Corridor and the so-called public-private partnership toll roads.

A reliable source told me that former Texas House Speaker, Pete Laney, who sat on Krusee’s committee at the time, even warned Krusee. He told him that if he pushed the legislation, it would come back on him. It did. Now Krusee is looking for a new job. Perhaps he believed what Perry, Craddick, DeLay, and John Cornyn were saying. The Republicans were on their way to complete political control of Texas. Once they rammed a mid-census redistricting on the Democrats, something that had never been done before, they would cement their super-majority for decades to come.

A funny thing happened, though, on the way to the 2006 Governor’s race. First and funniest, was Kinky Friedman. Second, was One Tough Grandma, who broke with the Republican Party, and ran independent. Carole Strayhorn took with her the activists and donors (Republicans, Democrats and independents alike), who were fighting the Trans-Texas Corridor, the tollways and for political reform. Although the independents failed to unify behind one candidate, the combined votes for the two independents were 31,000 ahead of the Democratic nominee. Tragically (for all Texans), Rick Perry, aka “Governor 39%”, squeaked by while beating his chest telling us, ‘I get to govern 100% of the time’.

What’s the solution to this madness? Both parties must give up their redistricting weapons. We need a non-partisan redistricting process like the process Iowa has been using successfully since 1980. Voters need to step up and demand some truth — from both sides. The truth about the Corridor is that it has nothing to do with transportation (it just happens to be a road). It’s not even about privatization. It’s about power, influence peddling, and hundreds of billions of dollars wrapped into a scheme to put the Republican Party in complete power. Federal officials, like US Senator John Cornyn, Congressman Michael McCaul, and others, for years, have been answering constituent’s pleas for help telling them that the Corridor was either a figment of their imagination, or a “state issue” and to “call your state representative”. They all need to get on down Perry’s toll roads this November. And, we’re hoping that some of their replacements will get the independent’s story straight. Independents not only like, but also thrive on, competitive elections. End of story.

Linda Curtis, one of the founders of Independent Texans

Have YOU drunk the TxDOT Kool-Aid?

Numerous citizens along the TTC-69 route are expressing satisfaction about the recent news to the effect that “it’s over, we won”. I find that conclusion very disturbing because it is a very dangerous mirage to buy into.

Yes, the Texas Transportation Commissioners and TxDOT bigwigs have ‘told us’ that the western TTC loop around Houston has been eliminated. And they have said that “wherever possible” they will follow the existing footprint and right of way of US-59 for the 600+ mile Trans-Texas Corridor 69 as it is developed from Laredo through East Texas to points on the Arkansas and Louisiana borders.

What they did NOT remind you of include the following established facts:

1. House Bill 3588 remains law with the same design features & intent to auction off our public transportation assets to global consortiums for toll revenues.

2. The governor’s appointees on the Transportation Commission remain loyal to his transportation policies which include numerous TTC projects and the intent to assess other state roadways as toll road viable “commodities”.

3. CDAs or public-private partnerships with 50 year secretive contract terms remain the “financing tool of choice” with the Transportation Commissioners and TxDOT.

4. The moratorium that prevents TxDOT from signing CDA contracts expires after the 2009 session.

5. The TTC-35 and TTC-69 continue to go forward with a TTC-69 $5 million design contract awarded by TxDOT in June to Zachry & ACS (Actividades de Construcción y Servicios, S.A), Dragados, UBS, SICE, and Steer Davies Gleave.

6. The eminent domain realities leave all Texas property owners helpless to control their properties or receive any particular assessed value for them in condemnation.

7. No amendment exists to trigger an override session to overturn the governor’s vetoes.

8. Reforms of the Transportation Commission & TxDOT and restrictions on Trans-Texas Corridors & state toll roads will only happen if OUR legislators make changes in the laws in the 81st session of the legislature January 13 - June 1, 2009.

Does that sound as if we should declare victory and ignore the realities? In a word.. NO, unless we want to lose the ground we have worked for. It does suggest that we ALL have some important work to do to convince our legislators to protect our public transportation assets and shape transportation policy for the citizens of Texas.

Sincerely, Martha Estes, Waller County, TX

This is a biggie. Finally a great endorsements in one of the big cities here in Texas which Perry would be banking on getting his main support from.

Here is an excerpt:

The future of Texas lies with its children, yet the state is failing many of those children on almost every level. One out of every four Texas children lives in poverty. About 70 percent of these impoverished children have parents who work but receive low pay and no benefits. Too many children growing up in Texas are poorly educated — a drag on the economy that reduces tax revenue as it drives up demand for social services.

One in four children is without health insurance — the highest rate in the United States. Uninsured children tend to be unhealthy and receive care in expensive hospital emergency rooms, burdening taxpayers and employers who pick up the tab.

Texas officials have not acted vigorously to reduce toxic air pollution, particularly in the Houston area. Perhaps the politicians in Austin are too concerned with maintaining the profits of existing businesses or don’t want to offend campaign contributors — or worse, are simply indifferent to public health. Businesses have been deterred from moving here, and many residents are at increased risk for cancer and — especially with children and the elderly — respiratory disease.

Texas badly needs to change its philosophy of governing. In hopes of fostering this change, the Houston Chronicle endorses Carole Keeton Strayhorn for governor. Of the four candidates, she is best equipped to shake up the status quo in a way that balances the needs of both business and residents.

Gov. Rick Perry has missed his chance to make the kind of changes Texas needs. The other two candidates have not shown the kind of vision and leadership to do any better. The Chronicle believes only Carole Keeton Strayhorn has the experience and savvy to win election to the governorship and then use the office to improve public education and change the course of Texas for the better.

Bold added by yours truly! Read the full article HERE!

Slowly but surely the news is picking it up; the Trans Texas Corridor is a hot issue for this election AND Carole Keeton Strayhorn is one of the most vocal and steadfast opponent on this:

While wide open spaces separate the landowners in the path of the TTC, they are very much together in opposing it and have lots of company. The Texas Farm Bureau, and even the Texas Republican Party, is against the TTC.  and Strayhorn attended many of the public hearing on the TTC over the summer. “They are literally cramming toll roads down Texans’ throats; and the people don’t want it,” she said.

Read the article in full.

The latest at Corridor Watch:

  Associated Press’ FACT CHECK Wrong - OCT. 15, 2006