TOLLERS BEGIN "INDEPENDENT" REVIEW CON.
I went to the first meeting of the Central Texas "Independent Review" yesterday. The sham was a who's who of tollers, including councilmember Brewster McCracken who dreamt up this joke of an "Independent Review", and other tollers like County Commissioner Gerald Daugherty, Rep. Mike Krusee, Rep. Mark Strama, and bunch of other folks that have been pushing tolls on our funded freeways.
Can you say Enron auditing Enron con? Brewster McCracken (shown here) said yesterday, that all sides are represented, but saying it doesn't make it so. And he voted for the toll plan twice! As they spoke, the Steering Committee sat there feasting on a high priced taxpayer funded deli lunch, while they prepared to make decisions at our expense. Find this in the American Statesman today, it includes comments from Freeway Toll voting Rep. Mark Strama, trying to put make-up on this pig:
"Underlying Tuesday's hair-splitting is the charge, made by anti-toll activists originally but echoed by some officials Tuesday, that what was originally envisioned as an independent review of Austin's second wave of proposed toll roads has been co-opted by the people who conceived and pushed through that toll road plan last year.So how can the public trust an "independent review" of the same folks that have been pushing the Freeway toll plan? We can't. Because it is not independent. Brewster says, the steering committee doesn't really matter. That makes me wonder - then why is it so unbalanced?
The fear is that the coalition of local governments that pitched in $350,000 to do the study could in the end produce a dead-on-arrival report. "This process is only worthwhile if the public trusts the outcome," said state Rep. Mark Strama, D-Austin, a member of the steering committee.
And, in the meeting, another pro-toller stated the obvious, "This thing is not going to have the credibility that we want it to have in the community if we do this." said Commissioner Gerald Daugherty.
Statesman continues:
"What distinguished the Phase 2 plan of seven roads — later cut to five — was that it envisioned turning several existing highways interrupted with stoplights into expressways that would have toll charges on the main lanes and free frontage roads.My list of what is wrong with the Independent Study:
And it included three roads already under construction with gasoline tax dollars."
Secret meetings are allowed.style="text-align: center;">Read my full report from last month here.
• Toll Authority (CTRMA) is the Project Coordinator!
• One sided Review Steering Committee.
• The Committee can select to not accept the results!
• It is NOT in any way independent.
• It allows tollers to unveil a toll plan "B".
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PRESS RELEASE JUST RECEIVED:
Contact:
Wes Benedict:
wesbenedict@aol.com,
http://wesbenedict.blogspot.com/
Austin, Texas - According to a letter from the Texas Ethics Commission
dated November 8, a sworn statement by a former treasurer of the Austin
Police Association PAC (APAPAC) has been contradicted by the testimony
of three Austin City Council members.
In 2003, APAPAC spent over $40,000 on advertisements that supported City
Council candidates Raul Alvarez, Will Wynn, Danny Thomas, and Brewster
McCracken. APAPAC's treasurer, Sean Mannix, was required to send a
letter notifying the supported candidates that APAPAC had spent money on
their behalf. The candidates were also required to report that
notification on their own finance reports.
However, none of the candidates reported the notification. That
concealed the link between APAPAC and the candidates.
Candidate Wes Benedict, who ran against Thomas in 2003, filed several
complaints with the Texas Ethics Commission (TEC) when he learned of the
problem.
In response to one of the complaints, Mannix testified that it was his
practice to give affected candidates notification of any direct
expenditures made for them. This testimony allowed him to avoid TEC
penalties.
However, Alvarez, Wynn, and Thomas all testified that they did not
receive any notification from APAPAC.
Wes Benedict said, "It's pretty hard to believe that all those
candidates would commit the same violation, and lie about it later. My
hunch is that Sean Mannix lied when he said he notified them. I don't
think he ever sent the letters. If he did, I'd like him to show copies
of them. If he failed to notify four candidates, it obviously was not
his 'practice' to notify them."
Failure by a PAC to provide the notification is a Class A misdemeanor.
Failure by a candidate to report the notification is also a Class A
misdemeanor. In addition, the TEC may impose civil penalties.
Making a false affidavit to the TEC constitutes perjury.
APAPAC was fined by the TEC earlier this year because it was late
notifying candidates of direct expenditures related to the May 2005
election.
The TEC documents may be found here:
http://www.wesbenedict.com/mannixtec1.pdf
http://www.wesbenedict.com/alvareztec1.pdf
http://www.wesbenedict.com/thomastec1.pdf
http://www.wesbenedict.com/wynntec1.pdf
The earlier APAPAC fine may be found here:
http://www.ethics.state.tx.us/sworncomp/2005/250460.pdf
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