Reports on Today's Great Senate Hearing

I am beat. I waited all day, and didn't get called to testify, along with 100 others.

My favorite part of the day came from the State Auditor. TxDOT got caught trying to hide dozens of toll related advertising campaign costs under the rug (using our gas tax dollars they say we've run out of) . Here it is - from the Associated Press:

State auditors testifying before the Senate committee Thursday mentioned that open records dispute and cited findings from a report they released last week on the Trans-Texas Corridor. They noted that some invoices at the transportation department were coded incorrectly and listed under engineering when they were really for public relations.

"Oooohhhh," many in the audience said in unison, in disapproving fashion.

Great blog report on today's Senate hearing on Texas Observer blog, called, "Aching Assets" by Eileen Welsome. Eileen mentions how TxDOT has spent $30 million on one attorneys office. They bill out at $500 an hour (again with our gas tax dollars intended for free roads):

Williamson spent most of his time pacing back and forth in a small cloakroom adjacent to the Senate auditorium where the hearing was held. Accompanying him were the usual TXDOT operatives, along with Geoffrey Yarema, a Los Angeles lawyer who’s been retained by TXDOT to guide the department in its ambitious plan to pave the state with toll roads.

Yarema, a smallish, balding man, is a member of the Nossaman firm. At a hearing on Tuesday, Williamson revealed that the firm’s been paid some $30 million so far.

Read more HERE. And from the CBS News:

(CBS 42) AUSTIN Lawmakers chastised state transportation officials Thursday afternoon, saying a pattern of deception and lack of communication is breeding distrust. At the heart of the dispute are Texas' controversial toll road plans.

This is one of the first times the legislature has been able to weigh in on the toll road issue over the past two years. State senators admitted Thursday, Texas Department of Transportation officials caught them off guard, kept them in the dark and left them wondering what's really going on.

Tolling Texas continues generating tons of taxpayer revolt.

An overflow crowd delivered an earful of complaints to state lawmakers. Working people left their farms and ranches to blast the Trans Texas Corridor, a proposed 4,000 mile transportation plan for the future.

“I read this is a visionary plan by Governor Perry’s that will benefit all Texans,” Clare Easley said. “I am trying to see the benefit for me."

Read more HERE. And a bit of the KVUE report with VIDEO:

So many people showed up that crowds were forced into overflow rooms. The Texas Department of Transportation and toll roads have found many critics, largely because of the private companies hired to build and run them.

There are also questions about how much taxpayers pay for the roads.

Speakers sounded off about not having enough say in how state transportation dollars are spent.