Gov. Rick Perry, otherwise known as Mr. 39% (percentage of votes received), is now flip-flopping. In the hearing last year with our organization vs. Perry, CAMPO and SAMPO, Gov. Perry claimed he had the authority to create MPO’s through federal law, and he lost his arguement. In Perry’s appeal hearing scheduled for tomorrow morning, Perry’s attorneys brief shows a clear flip-flop, and now claim he has nothing to do with the MPO’s.
The Gov. wants to bail, which leaves the MPO's all alone, and they were leaning hard on the Gov. to clear the way. Too bad.
In a nutshell, the Gov and the MPO's have been forcing tolls down our throats, and we found out they don't have ANY authority to allocate ANY transportation dollars in the whole state of Texas. Whoopsi, talk about getting caught with your pants down. Oh, yeah, and the MPO's are also unconstitutional.
Our suit began on 10/05/05. In the suit, we the People for Efficient Transportation, make the following legal allegations:
(1) Neither the governor nor the Texas Department of Transportation has authority under Texas law to create special districts like CAMPO and SAMPO;This hearing is focused on the Gov only, and his appeal. You are welcome to come, although justice moves slow and unless you enjoy legal minutiae, or watching paint dry, it’s not too sexy. I’ll report the results here soon.
(2) Legislators serving on the CAMPO and SAMPO boards violate the separation of powers provision of the Texas Constitution; and
(3) neither CAMPO nor SAMPO have authority under Texas law to appropriate the tens of millions of dollars they spend each year.
Court of Appeals, 209 W 14th St, Austin, TX, Wednesday 1/31/07 at 8:30am
1 comment:
Agenda Item 4 at the last Campo meeting should have discussed maybe reducing the members from 21 to Zero instead of 23 to 18. Hopefully these people that are ignoring the Texas constitution might get just such a reduction of board members if this legal action works. Say no to regional boards whatever they are. We already have city, county, and state governments that can handle our infrastucture planning while still being accountable to the people.
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