It was revealed today that CINTRA, the Spanish Corporation already in line to build a cross-state toll road, has submitted a no bid offer to build a 600-mile, $5 Billion dollar, high-speed freight rail track from the Dallas-Fort Worth area to Mexico.
Numerous details remain a secret. Based on Cintra's Comprehensive Development Agreement for a portion of the TTC last year, signed by Gov. Perry's appointed TxDOT Transportation Commission, it's sure to stay a secret.
CDAs are the special interest tool created to hold back public disclosure, public debate, legislative oversight, open and transparent government and local control. The short history of the CDAs have already proven to be rife with secrecy.
1) Attorney General opinion states Cintra must release Perry/Cintra CDA to Houston Chronicle:
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/3212402.html
2) Cintra sues Attorney General to keep CDA a secret: http://www.sanluisobispo.com/mld/dfw/11984950.htm
CDA road, land and rail development contracts hand over our tax dollars, our public highways, our right of way, and our private property to private corporations for profit. Financial reports show, many of the same corporations that profit also fund the special interest campaigns of Gov. Perry, Todd Staples and Rep. Mike Krusee.
Last November Gov. Perry, Staples, Krusee and others pushed for and helped to pass Prop 1, which, as a Constitutional Amendment allows unlimited tax dollars (and debt) to be spent on rail relocation. That would allow our tax dollars, as corporate welfare, to sweeten the Cintra/TTC pot for the benefit and profits of private corporations.
Strayhorn today reiterated her call for Gov. Rick Perry to make public the secret 50-year contract his Texas Department of Transportation signed with Cintra, a European-based company, to build and charge Texans to drive on toll roads. Cintra and TxDOT took the agreement to court on June 25th—now over eight months have passed with the public still kept in the dark as to the details—why accept a proposal from the same foreign company which does not want to release the unfair details of their first still secret agreement.
“Whether it is a foreign company running our roads, our rails, or operating our ports, it’s wrong,” she said. “What happens if ownership of these foreign companies changes hands?”
“Texas belongs to Texans, not foreign companies,” she said. “My administration will not be cutting secret sweetheart deals with foreign companies like Rick Perry has.
3/29/2006
Cintra Gravy Train: Another No Bid, Secret Deal
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THIS JUST IN:
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, March 29, 2006
STRAYHORN SAYS SECRET DEALS WITH FOREIGN COMPANIES TO TAKE TEXANS’ LAND AND TO CONTROL OUR CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE MUST BE STOPPED
Independent candidate for Governor Carole Keeton Strayhorn today said under her administration she will fight against still secret agreements for land grabs by foreign companies and foreign control of critical infrastructure and property including the new foreign controlled “Toll Rail” proposed by CINTRA.
“Our roads, our railways, our bridges, our seaports, our airports and our border crossings are vital to our economy and prime targets for terrorists,” Strayhorn said. “Why take the chance and let a private or public foreign operation control vital Texas infrastructure and property?”
Strayhorn today reiterated her call for Gov. Rick Perry to make public the secret 50-year contract his Texas Department of Transportation signed with Cintra, a European-based company, to build and charge Texans to drive on toll roads. Cintra and TxDOT took the agreement to court on June 25th—now over eight months have passed with the public still kept in the dark as to the details—why accept a proposal from the same foreign company which does not want to release the unfair details of their first still secret agreement.
“Whether it is a foreign company running our roads, our rails, or operating our ports, it’s wrong,” she said. “What happens if ownership of these foreign companies changes hands?”
“Texas belongs to Texans, not foreign companies,” she said. “My administration will not be cutting secret sweetheart deals with foreign companies like Rick Perry has.
“His $184 billion Trans-Texas Catastrophe is a boondoggle and a land grab, and this deal just adds to the land grab and is wrong” she said. “Even though the Attorney General has ordered the first secret contract be made public, Perry and his highway henchmen are fighting that ruling in court. What do they have to hide? We must have government in the sunshine.”
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