Former Toller Suits Up To Fight Tolls and TxDOT!

Sen. Ogden, co-author of Rep. Mike Krusee’s toll happy HB 3588, suits up to fight the good fight after he admits he was "duped" by Rep. Mike Krusee and others.

In a significant shift of the battle field, Finance Committee Chair Sen. Steve Ogden says TxDOT has gone too far. Ogden says TxDOT is “...Out of Control” via the Statesman. Here's more:

The powerful senator said the transportation department has “too many tools in their arsenal” to construct highways and the Legislature should take some of them back.

Ogden said he is concerned about the department’s plans to allow private contractors, for a large upfront fee, to build roads and charge tolls — perhaps forever. He said the department has as many as 21 projects under consideration.

“Do we really want to be turning over state highways to private contractors?” Ogden said. The irony is that Ogden was the Senate author of the bill that in 2003 expanded the commission’s powers to construct roads. “I’m trying to correct the sins of the past,” Ogden said.

And from a Texas Observer article:

Ogden now feels he was duped, and said as much at the Senate Finance Committee hearing.

The 2003 transportation bill arrived in the Senate two weeks before the session ended, Ogden recalled, and was sold as a way to get roads built quickly without any public money. (In reality, the toll roads that will be operated by private companies will still be subsidized by taxpayers through tax breaks, low-interest loans, tax-exempt bonds, outright grants and in some cases, the actual pavement itself.)

In 2003, there also was no talk of privatizing the roads, he added. “The fact that it wasn’t brought up and we never got an opportunity to chew on it has created a huge political problem for us.”

Ogden glared at the cluster of TxDOT operatives. In another time, he might have ordered them to walk the plank or had them lashed to the sails. As it was, the only punishment he had available was a tongue lashing. “It’s not what TXDOT tells you. It’s what they don’t tell you,” he complained. He chided the department for its sneakiness and encouraged its bureaucrats to be more open about what they’re doing. “Running your own plays and hiding them from us is no way to run state business.”