TTC-69 lobby group, Alliance for I-69, takes their show on the road

By Terri Hall - TURF - Aug. 9, 2008
Alliance for I-69 is the biggest pro-TTC-69 lobby group in the state. Their chief lobbyist, Gary Bushell, is also the same lobbyist TxDOT illegally hired with taxpayer money to lobby elected officials in the path of the TTC-69. Bushell is also a notable campaign contributor to MANY politicians, Bexar County Rep. Frank Corte among them. Today, Alliance for I-69 teamed up with Zachry, who along with Spanish company ACS won the development rights to TTC-69 in June, hit Victoria with their dog and pony show, and they’ve been in Austin hitting up lawmakers, too. Their logo on the material they left with lawmakers even has a Canadian, Mexican, and U.S flag morphed together, yet TxDOT denies the Trans Texas Corridor is about NAFTA, international trade, the movement of freight/goods, or the economic integration of the three countries.

I-69 partners make presentation
Victoria Advocate - August 05, 2008

The Alliance for I-69 Texas and U.S.-owned company Zachry American Infrastruture have partnered up and are traveling across the state giving presentations on I-69. On Tuesday, they stopped in Victoria.

During the short initial meeting, city leaders met with Gary Bushnell of the advocacy group and Gary Kuhn, senior project manager for Zachry, the firm awarded the contract for the superhighway.

The Interstate 69 corridor project is a proposed multi-use, statewide network of transportation routes in Texas that will incorporate existing and new highways, railways, utility right-of-ways and toll roads. Zachry was awarded the contract for the project in June by the Texas Transportation Commission.

The presentation focused on ways Victoria could use I-69 to their economic advantage and about the potential the corridor has in terms of new transportation technology.

According to Kuhn, Zachry is working on a master plan that takes into account local projects Texas communities want to do and how the company can help improve local economic development. Kuhn also discussed Zachry’s proposal for a freight shuttle that would go alongside the existing route of U.S. 77 in Victoria. According to Kuhn, the freight shuttle combines the best characteristics of the rail and truck transportation, but is more efficient, cheaper and causes less pollution. He added that it would run on electromagnetic pulses that create motion and a freight shuttle system across Texas could be up and running by as early as 2015.

“We’ve been working with the Alliance to visit all the communities involved in the I-69 Interstate. There is a lot of collaboration that needs to take place among these communities,” Kuhn said. “It’s a kind of one for all and all for one deal.”

The meeting included Mayor Will Armstrong, Dale Fowler of the Victoria Economic Development Corp. and Lee Swearingen of the Victoria County Navigation District.

Read more in TURF and in the Victoria Advocate

TURF statement on TxDOT selecting private partner to develop TTC-69

TURF - Austin, TX, June 26, 2008

After the overwhelming public feedback preferred the “no build” option and after the Legislature made it clear it wanted time to slow down this train of privatizing our public infrastructure, TxDOT’s selection, today, of a private partner to develop TTC-69 is a total slap in the face to the people of Texas.

This proposal awarded to ZAI/ACS (Zachry American Infrastructure and ACS, based in Spain) is chalk full of egregious taxpayer exploitation. For instance, it tolls loops around Riviera, Driscoll, Corpus Christi and other cities (7 loops total) to fund non-toll improvements to Hwy 77 in yet another Robin Hood scheme. The deal gives ZAI/ACS a guaranteed 12% rate of return on their investment, and it relies heavily on public funds, like federal taxpayer backed private activity bonds (PABs) and TIFIA loans to front the vast majority of the construction costs and then gives all the profit to Zachry & ACS!


They also plan to use taxable zero coupon fixed rate bonds issued by the Corpus Christi Regional Mobility Authority and controversial Transportation Reinvestment Zone (TMZ) funds, which will essentially heist property taxes. The deal also gives ZAI/ACS cherry-picking rights (or right of first refusal) on multiple segments for the TTC-69 without being subjected to a competitive bidding process. The sham of an announcement pandering to landowners promising to use existing highways for TTC-69 wasn’t a concession at all. The private “partners” informed them the new corridor route wasn’t toll viable so they reverted back to using existing freeways (which would have been the tollway’s biggest revenue “competitor”) so as to capture more toll revenue. It was Cintra and Zachry who determined the re-route, not TxDOT being responsive to an outraged public!

“If this isn’t a wake-up call to the Legislature that it’s business as usual at TxDOT until they forcibly restrain them via state law, we don’t know what is. This removes any requirement for competitive bidding, which on its face is an absolute failure of the State's fiduciary duty to protect the taxpayers from monopolistic sweetheart deals and what's certain to be inflated costs. We must make Legislators pay at the ballot box for their malfeasance in granting the authority for such no-bid contracts and for failing to rein-in TxDOT with a GENUINE moratorium last year BEFORE this next private sweetheart deal got signed. If they don’t completely clean house at TxDOT and end this public fleecing, there won’t be enough political cover for the consequences at the ballot box. Enough is enough. End this now!” notes Terri Hall, TURF Founder.

“At today’s Transportation Commission meeting, it was a lovefest between David Zachry and the South Texas politicos pushing this nonsense. TxDOT and their buddies at Zachry/ACS found a way to follow the bare minimum of the law to sign this CDA and continue to steamroll a plan the majority of Texans don’t want. It was also evident the Transportation Commission is desperate to come up with their own alternative reforms since they’re facing an angry public demanding TxDOT be scrapped, a discontented Legislature, and scathing Sunset Commission recommendations,” observed Hank Gilbert, TURF Board member and acting President of the Piney Woods Subregional Planning Commission who attended and testified at today's meeting.

For more detailed analysis of how TxDOT can legally award a Comprehensive Development Agreement (CDA) outside the moratorium (SB 792), go to TURF’s web site here.

Companies compete for I-69 construction

Nueces County Record - Jan. 3, 2008
Companies with Texas, U.S. and international experience are competing to develop the Trans-Texas Corridor-69 - one of the state's priority transportation projects.

Two private sector groups submitted proposals and qualifications to compete for the development of TTC-69, a multi-use transportation system stretching from Northeast Texas to Mexico.

"Inviting the private sector to invest in our transportation system is one of our strategies to meet the growing transportation needs of Texas," said Michael W. Behrens, TxDOT executive director. "We are focused on these five goals: reducing congestion, enhancing safety, expanding economic opportunity, improving air quality, and increasing the value of transportation assets."

One proposal was submitted by Bluebonnet Infrastructure Investors, led by Cintra. Team members include Citigroup, Earth Tech, Blanton & Associates, Maunsell, Othon and W.W. Webber.

A proposal was also submitted by Texas-based Zachry American Infrastructure and ACS Infrastructure Development Inc. Team members include Steer Davies Gleave, UBS Securities, Dannenbaum Engineering, ACI Consulting, Sociedad Ibercia de Construcciones Electricas, Dragados, and William Brothers Construction.

These proposals include statements detailing the groups experience in developing and financing transportation projects similar to TTC-69. Also included are conceptual proposals describing how the team would finance, design, construct, operate and maintain TTC-69.

The next step is for TxDOT to complete an initial review of the proposals, which could be completed next month. Teams with experience, qualifications and innovative engineering will be placed on a short list of potential strategic partners for TTC-69.

Once this is completed, approval by the Texas Transportation Commission is needed to continue with the competitive selection process. If approved, TxDOT will request detailed proposals from the short list of potential strategic partners. A selection of a strategic partner could be made by the commission by late 2007.

With no funding set aside for construction, a public-private partnership would allow development of the entire 600-mile multi-billion dollar project from Northeast Texas to Mexico to be accelerated. Even with private sector resources to fund the project, state transportation officials stress TTC-69 will remain a state-owned project.

On a parallel yet independent track, work continues on the initial environmental study that would narrow the current study area to approximately four miles wide. Subsequent studies will be needed to determine a final route for the project.

Interstate 69 is being developed under the Trans-Texas Corridor master plan. If environmentally approved, the project would be developed as needed and as private sector resources are available.

Hold Those Tolls! Lege leaves question: How will we pay for roads?

By Larry Schooler - The Austin Chronicle - July 27, 2007

It was Dec. 16, 2004, and Rep. Mike Krusee, R-Round Rock, was sitting pretty. He was virtually a guest of honor at a meeting of the Texas Transportation Commission, across the street from his Capitol office. A little more than a year before, as chairman of the House Trans­port­ation Committee, Krusee had successfully carried the behemoth House Bill 3588. Among its many and complex provisions, the bill helped smooth the way for Gov. Rick Perry to get the Texas Transportation Commission to approve early plans for the Trans-Texas Corridor. Stretching from Mexico to Oklahoma, the corridor would be a mammoth transportation project running parallel to I-35. As conceived, it would include free and tolled highway lanes, as well as rail and utility lines, and would be built and maintained by the privately held Spanish company Cintra (an international operator of toll roads and car parks) and the San Antonio-based Zachry Construction Corp.

At the Texas Transportation Commission meeting, attended by the governor himself, Krusee didn't say much. Actions spoke louder than words -- and on this day, the commission was acting on a project he had fought long and hard to convince legislators to support. By way of acknowledgment, commission Chairman Ric Williamson duly praised Krusee for his work at the Capitol. Krusee had a flight to catch, but first he took the floor for a brief stroll down memory lane.

"I started thinking about the first time that I met Ric Williamson," Krusee recalled, according to a meeting transcript. It was 1992, and Krusee had just been elected to the House; then-Rep. Williamson invited the 32-year-old Krusee to his apartment. "So I went over there, and Ric had one of his good friends over there, and that was the night I met Rick Perry, who was the ag commissioner, and we talked long into the night about accomplishing great things for Texas, about how to be a great leader for Texas. And we weren't thinking about how to be on Texas Monthly's 10 best [list] -- but you know, Ric, I think we were talking about days like this.

"And you know, governor," Krusee continued, "A little over two years ago when you made that presentation [about the Trans-Texas Corridor] in the auditorium at the Capitol, and I was in the audience, and like everybody else out there, I didn't really fully grasp what the hell you were talking about." The audience laughed.

"You do now, don't you?" asked Perry.

"I do now," Krusee replied. "And I want to congratulate you on your vision and your leadership, and the commission and your staff on your hard work, because you have made this, I think sincerely, the most historic day in transportation, not just for Texas, but for the United States since Eisenhower." With that, Krusee left the meeting.

Flash forward nearly 21/2 years -- to May 2, 2007. Chairman Krusee stood on the House floor, without a single transportation ally. Every House member present, except Krusee alone, voted in favor of HB 1892, which included a two-year moratorium on many of the public-private partnerships such as the one the Texas Department of Transportation had developed with Cintra-Zachry to build the Trans-Texas Corridor. "Who knew that trying to reduce congestion could be such a lonely fight?" wondered Coby Chase, who monitors the Legislature for TxDOT.

Perry eventually vetoed HB 1892, but a nearly identical Senate substitute, Senate Bill 792, later handily passed both the House and Senate, and Perry signed it into law. The massive bill forbids TxDOT from negotiating a tolling agreement with a private company until Sept. 1, 2009, exempting some projects already under­ way. Even among those exempted projects, some got swept up in the post-session, anti-privatization maelstrom. For instance, at its June meeting, the Texas Transportation Com­mission awarded a contract for the State High­way 121 project (in the Dallas/Fort Worth Met­ro­plex) to the North Texas Tollway Authority -- after initially awarding the contract to Cintra.

SB 792 also states that if a company paid TxDOT money up front for the rights to build a toll road in a particular region, TxDOT must use that money on other projects in that region. It requires TxDOT to give local tolling agencies preferential treatment over private companies by giving them free right-of-way and the right of first refusal on building toll roads. In essence, the Legislature left private companies interested in transportation on the bench for the next two years.

Politics or Policy?
So what happened? How could Rep. Krusee, four years earlier, convince all but three members of the House to approve legislation that enabled private companies to build highways, only to find that entire concept rejected out of hand this year? Not surprisingly, it depends on whom you ask.

"What happened was," Krusee said after the session, "TxDOT was going not just against the traditional rural opposition to road building but against Dallas and Houston in a turf battle over who would build the roads." In Dallas, Houston, Austin, and elsewhere, public toll-road authorities were getting outgunned by private companies like Cintra, and they weren't happy, Krusee says, so they asked their legislators to give tolling authorities right of first refusal. Krusee didn't take it personally that he seemed to be the only member of the House who wanted private companies to continue building roads. "I think it was a political vote," he said. "Members thought it was necessary to vote that way to get votes back home; they felt like they'd be criticized for voting against it."

Chase agrees with Krusee and points to the larger political context. "During this last election cycle, we had a candidate for governor; she liked to campaign against foreigners and against toll roads," Chase explained, in reference to gubernatorial candidate Carole Keeton Strayhorn, who ran against Perry as an independent. "And then we had the [federal] Dubai Ports issue, and this was such a misleading discussion in the public. ... This Dubai company wouldn't own any port; they were just going to run them, and the government would lease it to them. Then Cintra becomes the successful proposer on the corridor and ... it kind of kick-started the 'no foreigners doing business in Texas' discussion."

But David Stall, of the anti-Trans-Texas Corridor group CorridorWatch, has a less benign explanation. Stall says legislators belatedly did their homework on public-private partnerships. "The Legislature did not recognize the shift in transportation policy that they were creating" in 2003, Stall said. "We started to see some handwriting on the wall in 2005, with some moratorium bills that didn't go anywhere. The reason they didn't go anywhere was we were still educating people. I think if legislators were educated in 2003 on what the corridor was, if they had understood it, they would not have voted to authorize its creation."

Looking for Consensus
Enter former Austin mayor and freshman Sen. Kirk Watson. Watson wasn't around in 2003 for the original vote on the corridor and agreements with private companies to build toll roads. But he came to the Lege with voices ringing loudly in his ear -- those of his new constituents. "Part of the reason there is this vitriolic, partisan [no-toll or toll] debate is that we haven't had a thoughtful, systematic, transparent means of analyzing what we want to do," he says. "There are clearly two agreements in this community -- one, we are too badly congested, and two, we want it fixed. When we get to three -- how to do it -- now it's not as unanimous."

Watson is unconvinced that letting a private company pay for, build, and make a profit on a new road is the best way to go. "I was skeptical of these comprehensive development agreements -- how long they were, their noncompete clauses. ... I happen to be a believer that if you're going to privatize, it should be for the stuff the public can't get done. I wasn't convinced -- at beginning or end of session -- that we weren't going to just have privatization on stuff that we couldn't get done in the public sector."

In other words, Watson didn't want profit-minded private companies building roads that could be built by government -- especially if, under noncompete clauses, the state has to pay the companies back for highways that take traffic (and potential income) away from the private toll roads. "I wanted to allow local communities to have more say," Watson explained. "It struck me that one of the things that was missing in the process was we needed more accountability in the system, and that probably meant elected officials having a role." That potentially means fewer deals with private companies and more for state tolling authorities or transportation commissions.

Watson had more than just his own rookie legislative voice to add to the discussion -- in January, he became chairman of the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (the group in charge of the region's transportation projects) and vice chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee. At his suggestion, CAMPO indefinitely postponed any talk of a second phase of toll roads until it can take more time to sort out how best to finance transportation projects.

But the Legislature's decision to halt most road-building agreements with private companies leaves Central Texas in a bind, as Krusee sees it, when it comes to decongesting traffic. "To my mind, the bad thing about what the Legislature did this session was it took that option away" -- the option to have a private company get started now on building a given road. The Legislature's action doesn't mean that Austin or the surrounding jurisdictions can't build any more toll roads, but it means they can't call on a private company to do so. So as Krusee sees it, we're back at ground zero: Lacking sufficient up-front public funding, the state, via TxDOT, had been looking toward private companies as ideally positioned to help build roads quickly and efficiently, based on the promise of future toll revenue. Now that option is off the table, at least temporarily.

With toll roads built by private companies, says TxDOT's Chase, "You [the state] give up some future revenue to get a project now. You get a guaranteed price on the project, you are guaranteed the project will be returned to you in a certain condition, and the price you pay is you say the company can realize a profit on this over a certain amount of time. Some people had concerns of unlimited company profits without ever reading what the contracts were -- the companies can't raise tolls any time they want. If the profits get to a certain point, it goes back to the region to build more roads."

Often, as was the case with Cintra and the Trans-Texas Corridor, the company pays a large sum -- generally billions of dollars -- to buy the rights to build a road, which could mean the state could get other projects started more quickly using those advance funds.

Even Watson, skeptical as he is that a private company can handle transportation any better than the state, admits that a moratorium on deals with private companies could make it harder to do anything significant about area congestion for the next couple of years. "We're going to need to be honest about limitations of financing tools," he says. "In the state appropriations bill, there was an effective decrease in transportation money, when you consider inflation. There has been more moving of funds from transportation. Many people say they want an increase in gas tax; the House approved a gas tax holiday that would have taken away gas tax money for three months out of the year [that measure died in the Senate]. The money offered to states from federal government is being decreased; we just got notice that federal money rescinded $72 million more. We're going to have to start being honest about the limitations we have on being able to meet the need to fix the problem."

Stranded on the Highway
To that end, Watson has been meeting every two weeks with a CAMPO's Mobility Finance Task Force, which includes elected officials, outside transportation experts, even the executive director of the Community Part­ner­ship for the Homeless. Meanwhile, TxDOT has given preliminary approval to a set of toll projects in the Austin area, including some "managed lanes" (for use, say, by carpoolers or during rush hour) as well as the second phase of toll roads Watson doesn't want to talk about for now. TxDOT is also holding a series of public meetings later this year to explain the ramifications of what the Legislature did in suspending many of the proposed deals with private companies.

"We're doing things that no other department of transportation is doing," says Chase. "We're learning it as we go, and we have never ever had to engage the public on this large a scale in our 90-plus years of existence. And in many cases, we underestimated that challenge."

That last sentiment could also apply to those who want to do something about Austin's traffic congestion. If the Lege managed to placate the anti-toll crowd, at least for the time being, it didn't do much to make it any easier to travel on Central Texas highways, nor to address long-term projections that show regional traffic only getting worse. More broadly, the moratorium doesn't begin to address larger questions raised by traditional highway approaches to transportation: land use, mass transit options, pollution and global warming issues, or even integrated urban planning that might make transportation issues less intractable and expensive.

Those are the kind of issues that Sally Camp­bell hoped the Legislature would consider. Campbell is the executive director of Envision Central Texas, a 6-year-old nonprofit coalition aimed at addressing regional growth. Campbell wanted to hear more discussion and action on giving counties more control over land uses around future highways and relocating Union Pacific away from rail lines that commuters could use. "When we truly want to see this multimodal transportation system develop, the next step is to look at the transit options. And right now, we're trying to figure out what will work and what's the logical system. If you can think about commuter rail from San Antonio to Georgetown by relocating Union Pacific, that makes a whole other mode within the realm of possibility."

But rail relocation, and most other proposals for broadening the state's transportation options, remained stuck at the station during the 80th Legislature. What most legislators wanted to discuss was how to pay for new roads and where to put them. Whether Krusee's interest in more privatization or Watson's desire for greater accountability in transportation policy ultimately win the day in the current discussions, it could be two years -- or more -- before getting around seems much easier, even though commuter rail could start running through the region by the end of 2008.

That will be just in time for the 81st Legis­lat­ure -- and a whole new set of political detours during the next round of transportation debates.
Read more

Follow the money - campaign contributions and policy

By Faith Chatham - July 8, 2007
DFW REGIONAL CONCERNED CITIZENS TRACED ZACHRY FAMILY CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTIONS IN TEXAS and published them during the 2006 State Election Cyle. Sal Costello of The Austin Toll Party published Top Ten Toller's Contributions to Rick Perry last year on THE MUDRAKER.

As a refresher course, we're republishing them here.
January 30, 2006, Sal Costello said...

Texans For Rick Perry: Contributions by employees and PACs of ONLY the top 10 TxDOT Bidders (up to 5/05 - Total $457,500)

7/25/02 Gafford Ronald Austin Industries $1,000
1/4/04 Teufel Carol Bracewell & Patterson $25
6/3/02 Bracewell & Patterson - PAC $10,000
11/4/03 Bracewell & Patterson - PAC $10,000
12/8/04 Bracewell & Patterson - PAC $10,000
6/28/01 Bracewell & Patterson - PAC $5,000
6/28/01 Bracewell & Patterson - PAC $2,000
6/28/01 Bracewell & Patterson - PAC $1,000
10/20/04 Yerby Philip Chiang Patel & Yerby Inc. $750
12/11/02 Yerby Philip Chiang Patel & Yerby Inc. $500
11/5/03 Yerby Philip Chiang Patel & Yerby Inc. $500
6/14/02 Fluor Corporation California Pac $12,500
6/14/02 Fluor Public Affairs Committee $12,500
9/16/04 Sweet Chad Goldman Sachs & Co. $5,000
6/13/02 Sweet Chad Goldman Sachs & Co. $1,000
4/14/04 Sweet Chad Goldman Sachs & Co. $25
3/13/02 Weisman John & Anne Hunter Industries $10,000
3/13/02 Abrams Jon F J.D. Abrams L.P. $5,000
9/3/02 Abrams Jon F J.D. Abrams L.P. $5,000
11/4/04 Abrams Jace J.D. Abrams L.P. $1,000
11/4/04 Abrams Jon F J.D. Abrams L.P. $1,000
12/11/02 Lockwood, Andrews & Newnam, Inc. PAC$1,000
11/5/03 Lockwood, Andrews & Newnam, Inc. PAC $500
10/20/04 Pate Gerry E. Pate Engineers $1,000
12/11/02 Pate Gerry E. Pate Engineers $1,000
11/5/03 Pate Gerry E. Pate Engineers $500
12/11/04 Davis Kenneth Pate Engineers Inc. $500
2/4/04 Thuss Michael Pate Engineers Inc. $500
10/2/01 Royer James Turner Collie & Braden $5,000
10/20/04 Royer James Turner Collie & Braden $1,000
6/13/02 Vinson & Elkins Texas PAC $35,000
11/17/04 Vinson & Elkins Texas Pac $25,000
11/5/03 Vinson & Elkins Texas Pac $25,000
12/12/02 Vinson & Elkins Texas Pac $10,000
10/2/01 Vinson & Elkins Texas Pac $5,000
3/13/02 Webber Wayne W. W. Webber Inc. $2,500
3/24/04 Webber Wayne W. W. Webber Inc. $2,500
5/24/02 Pitcock James D Williams Brothers Construction $35,000
2/15/02 Pitcock James D Williams Brothers Construction $25,000
3/13/02 Pitcock James D Williams Brothers Construction $25,000
5/30/01 Pitcock James D Williams Brothers Construction $25,000
12/13/02 Pitcock James D Williams Brothers Construction $25,000
6/28/04 Pitcock James D Williams Brothers Construction $25,000
6/20/02 Pitcock Roy Williams Brothers Construction $1,500
11/3/03 Zachry H.B. Zachry Construction Company $25,000
9/19/01 Zachry H.B. Zachry Construction Company $10,000
4/6/04 Zachry H.B. Zachry Construction Company $10,000
7/7/04 Zachry H.B. Zachry Construction Company $10,000
10/7/02 Zachry H.B. Zachry Construction Company $5,000
2/27/04 Zachry H.B. Zachry Construction Company $5,000
10/1/01 Zachry John Zachry Construction Company $5,000
9/19/01 Zachry Jamse Zachry Construction Company $2,500
10/29/03 Zachry David Zachry Construction Company $2,200
11/4/03 Zachry James Zachry Construction Company $2,000
9/25/01 Green Cathy Zachry Construction Company $1,000
7/30/01 Zachry H.B. Zachry Construction Company $1,000
11/4/02 Zachry David Zachry Construction Company $1,000
9/19/01 Zachry John Zachry Construction Company $1,000
11/4/03 Zachry John Zachry Construction Company $1,000
11/14/03 Zachry David Zachry Construction Company $1,000
10/7/02 Zachry John Zachry Construction Company $1,000
11/4/03 Zachry Construction Company - PAC$2,500

DFW RCC's research on the financiers behind the Texas Democratic Party was published on Grassroots News U Can Use
Titled: RECLAIMING TEXAS FOR WHOM?
By Faith Chatham - Friday, September 15, 2006

July 31, 2006 on Daily Kos we (DFW RCC bloggers - TXSHARON and FAITH CHATHAM examined the link between Zachry donations to Texas Incumbents and voting patterns). When we tabulated Zachry donations we identified the Zachry donors as:

John
H.B.
H.B. Jr.
David
H.B. Zachry Construction Co.
Tower Life Insurance
Zachry PAC
The Zachry Foundation endowed Texas A&M but I don't think they give money to political candidates.
Maybe this will help.

In 2006, although support of TTC is a strong issue in the Governor and Lt. Governor's races, some of Texas's "downticket Democratic challengers" are the heavy-hitters who are driving home the TTC sword which is proving to be the defining litmus test this year in Texas.
Rick Perry received over $146,000.00 in the past 5 1/2 yaers from Zachry family members, corporations amd PAC. Lt. Governor David Dewhurst accepted $51,000.00 last year from the same donors. Dewhurst was instrumental in smoothing the journey of TTC Toll Road Privatization of Texas Highways legislation through the Senate. Independent Governor Candidate Carole Keeton Stayhorn is assulting Perry's reconrd and support of Toll Roads, and is getting lots of applause from attendees at TxDOT Public Trans Texas Corridor Hearings, yet refuses to return the $13,000.00 she acccepted from Zachry family members and related interests when she ran for her current postion of Comptroller during the last (2004) election cycle.

I haven't cross referenced the folks who are members of the Zachry pac to see how much they have given individually to candidates. When we do that, I'm sure the amount donated by Zachry related folks will go to at least a million in the past 5 1/2 years to Texas officials.
I've only concentrated on Texas rather than Federal officials.
Here's what I was looking for campaign contributions from Zachry Construction, from Zachry family members, Zachary corporations and or their PAC.

We did not identify officers of the Corporation with other surnames. When those are included, the contributions are much higher. Looking at Zachry influence in the process, it was impossible to ignore the generous contributions of Zachry to his alma mater, Texas A&M University.

Texas High Speed Rail Corporation, NASCO CORRIDOR and other non-profit (seeded by generous corporate donors) 501s became the incubator for the "vision" to retool Texas and USA transportation.

I posted this because I've been trying to trace what is the common denominator between the local governmental officials who have been showing up at TTC hearings and bringing signed letters from their city councils and county commissioners endorsing the Trans Texas Corridor "if they incorporate our regional transportation plan." . In Fort Worth we witnessed official after official stand and endorse the TTC with the stipulation that TDOT adopt their local plan. Mayor Mike Moncrief, City of Fort Worth, Kathryn Wilomon representing the City of Arlington, Glen Whitley, Tarrant County Commissioner and County Judge elect who serves as Secretary of the THSRTC were joined by repesentatives from the City of North Richland Hills and others. Citizens were appalled to hear their local elected officials endorse the TTC. There is obviously a VAST DIVIDE between where many of the local officials are and where the people are on this issue. (Note: In Tarrant County representatives for State Rep. Mark Veasey and State Rep. Lon Burnam spoke in opposition to the TTC).

So what was the vehicle(s) which brought these local governmental leaders together?

It appears that participation in local RMA's and in organizations such as the THSRTC and seminars such as the Second Annual Southern Central High Speed Rail Symposium at DFW Hyatt Regency in January 2006 {and NASCO CORRIDOR) seems to be the common meeting ground for many of the local government reps who endorsed the TTC "with the recommendation that TDOT adopt the transportation corridors of the local planners."

In Dallas, there was less unity among local leaders in endorsing the TTC than in Tarrant County.

We traced how the TTC / CDA proponents used non-profit 501s to sell their vision and push for passage of freight friendly legislation and private public partnerships in Texas infrastructure public works projects:

Texas High Speed Rail Transportation Corporation:
The website describes members as "representing some of Texas' most densely-populated and economically vibrant areas." THSRTC website states: "Our growing membership and their designated representatives include the Cities of
College Station
Hillsboro
Houston
Irving
Killeen
Temple

Also members are:
Brazos County
Dallas County
Harris County
Tarrant County
the Port of Houston Authority
American Airlines
Continental Airlines,
Scott & White Hospital

Texas Southern University and the Texas Transportation Institute (TTI located at Texas A&M) serve as significant resource agencies to THSRTC.

The Bush School of Public Affairs at Texas A & M University recently completed a major Capstone Project for the Corporation.

These players along with Kansas City Southern Railroad de Mexico (owning 100% interest in TFM -Mexico Rail), H.B. Zachry Construction Corporation and Citras (a Spanish Corporation which operates toll roads in Canada) are the major players backing the TTC. There are probably (not proven) strong ties between some of KCS RR's Mexican partners and Cintras.

Since 1992 Kansas Southern has acquired transportation corridor rights, and or rail lines, and or major contracts which gives it major control tracks spanning from both coasts of Southern Mexico through the USA to the Pacific Rim of Canada.

In January 2006 a conference (The Second Annual Southern Central High Speed Rail Symposium) was held at the Hyatt Regency DFW in Dallas. The VP of Kansas City Southern Railroad was the dinner speaker and opened the seminar with a presentation showing the milestones the KCS RR has achieved in reaching their goal: To Concentrate and coordinate investments in capacity, facilities, locomotives to capture long-haul business grown between US, Mexico & Pacific-rim markets. They labeled their slides as "KCS The NAFTA RAILROAD" .

This powerpoint presentation is available on line.


It clearly shows that the REASON FOR THE TTC is to ship goods from Mexico straight though Texas to a terminal/hub in Kansas City Mo to Canada. They include slides showing that "Kansas City Southern has now earned its new name: Kansas City Southern de Mexico."

It shows the importance of the STRAIGHT THROUGH TEXAS line. They are currently shipping through Texas but route up to Bloomington IL and the TTC route would give them a straight shot north instead of winding around. Construction of the TTC rail/toll corridor would allow KCS de Mexico to ship directly from ports in Mexico straight through Texas non-stop to a depot in Kansas City, Missouri.

The first person who alerted me that the plan was to ship through Texas to a hub in Kansas City was Hank Gilbert. He's been up to speed on the TTC for some time. He's been traveling and alerting folks that the purpose of taking all this acreage to build this corridor is not to meet the transportation needs of Texans. It's to cut back on the expenses of entities seeking to ship goods from Mexican ports through Texas to Kansas City, Mo where it will be channeled to to points along Kansas City Southern's distribution network. KCS's goal is to dominate transportation in the US, Mexico and Canada.

In Harris County, Judge Robert Eckles who presides over the Harris County Commissioner's Court is chair of the Texas High Speed Rail Transportation Corporation. http://www.judgeeckels.org/high_speed_rail.asp


We looked at Toller's use of Academic Institutions to promote their reenginnering vision for Texas/USA Transportation:

One particular adcademic institution which was utilized by Zachry was Texas A& M.


In Tarrant, County Commissioner Glen Whitley (County Judge elect), serves as Secretary of the Texas High Speed Rail Transportation Corporation.

In Dallas, Texas Senator John Carona serves as Chairman of the Senate Committee on Transportation and Homeland Security.

From FAST FORWARD, The Monthly Newsletter for the Texas High Speed Rail and Transportation Corporation, March 2006 Newletter:
In February of this year, Senator Carona was appointed Joint Chair of the Study on Transportation Financing by the 79th Legislature. "The members I have appointed are all strong leaders representing diverse parts of the state," Lieutenant Governor Dewhurst aid. "I look forward to working with each of them as we pepare for future transportation funding needs."
The committee will reveiw the state motor fuel tax, the current sources for funding rail transportation projects, adn all other financing options for all modes of transportation. The appointment will give Senator Carona the opportuntiy to influence transportation and homeland security policy throughout the state while ensuring the approach is fair, equitable, and capable of taking Texas safely and securely into the future.

Another Dallas County Leader is Commissioner Maurine Dickey:

From the same issue of Fast Forward:
Dallas County Commissioner Maurine Dickey is a pr-active voice and member of the Texas High Speed Rail Transportation Corporation."

THSRTC MILESTONES

2002: THSRTC was created and officially incorporated by Secretary of State Gwen Shea, with Harris County, College Station, Houston and the Port of Houston as its founding members. By the end of the year the Corporation alerady had one new member, the City of Killeen. IN addition, the Corporation quickly earned the support of the Garrision Commander at Fort Hood, the largest military installation in the United States.

2003: Cities and counties continued joining THSRTC.
..Following the first executive committee meeting, a letter requesting an extension of the South Central Corridor in the reauthorization of TEA-21 was signed. A few months later TxDOT Executive Director Michael Behrens submitted an application for the extension of the South Central Corridor to USDOT Secretary Norman Mineta. A second executive committee meeting took place at the 6th Annual Texas Transportation Summit in Irving. Shortly thereafter a letter was submitted to USDOT Secretary Norman Mineta requesting the selection of the Texas T-Bone as the model for high-speed rail.

2004: 2004 was a great yaer for the Texas High Speed Rial and Transportation Corporation: the Texas T-Bone received key endorsements from the Dallas Morning News and Fort Worth Star Telegram and the U.S. House of Representatives' TEA-LU bill included the extension of the South Central Corridor. By the end of the yar the Corporation passed a resolution allowing universities to join at half the membership cost.

2005: As THSRTC and the Texas T-Bone gained recognition, several educatational institutions offered to conduct research on several high-speed rail related aspects including demographic and environmental impact studies and public policy issues. The list of resource agencies assisting THSRTC includes the George Bush School of Public Policy at A&M University, the Barbara Jordan-Mickey Leland School of Public Affairs at Texas Southern University and the Texas Transportation Institute. 2005 also saw the additon of several new members including Scott & White Hospital and the City of Hillsboro.

2006: 2006 has had an excellent start for THSRTC. The Corporation's Quarterly Meeting on February 17 at Hill College in Hillsboro was a tremendous success with over 50 attendees including 100% of THSRTC membership, representatives from U.S> Congressman Chet Edwards, Texas Senator Kip Averitt and Texas House Representative Jim Pitts. In addition, DFW Airport, Baylor University, HOTCOG, and many others were present. A fact finding mission to France to see the... TGV system is also in the works for Summer 2006.

The March Issue of Fast Forward lists:
CONGRESSIONAL SUPPORTERS: Senators Hutchinson and Cornyn
House Members: Brady, Burgess, Carter, Cueller, Edwards, Gonzalez, Green, Hall, Jackson Lee, Johnson, Marchant, McCaul, Neugebauer, Ortiz, Poe, Sessions In the January 2006 Issue of Fast Forward:

Profile: United States Congressman Henry Cueller
Representing the people of the 28th Congressional District of Texas since November 2004, Congressman Cuellar is a strong supporter of transportation improvements and high-speed rial in Texas. Durng his short time in the U.S. House of Representatives, Congressman Cuellar has already been able to secure $14 million dollars of transportation projects for his district, which goes from San Marcos all the way down to Laredo.

As a U.S. representative, Congressman Cuellar has been remarkably successful in advancing several amendments to new legislation that will protect individual property rights adn will increase security, technology and manpower at the US-Mexico, among others. He has also created a National Gang Intelligency center at the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and is a leader among Democrats, being the first in his party to support the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA). This trade agreement will have a big economic impact on the 28th District, as millions of dollars in new trade will come through Laredo and the I-35 Corridor.

Representative Cuellar currently serves on bothe the House Budget Committee and the House Agriculture Committee.
...
Prior to serving in the U.S. House of Representatives, Cuellar served as Secretary of State for the State of Texas and was a member of the Texas Legislature for 14 years.

The 28th Congressional District of Texas serves San Antonio, one of the largest cities.

Several articles -- some rather tongue in cheek were published last year on Grassroots News U Can Use. We expressed concerned over the lack of transparency in the TxDOT bidding process which prevented examination of potential ties between Zachry academic donations and resulting state contracts.

The QUESTION THAT WAS ASKED WAS when does the endowments influence the research outcome? Faith Chatham questioned the impact large corporate donations to academic institutions have on researchers.
By Faith Chatham - Sunday, July 31, 2006 Daily Kos

Does it? Even when you have very valid straight as an arrow procedures, if the Company who underwrites a large part of your department/university's budget -- and I think anyone who loses $10million from their department's budget would sqawk loudly enough about it to make that particular endowment qualify as a significant endowment --- when the endower is a candidate for contracts with the agency which decides who gets the contracts ---
Well I think it is important to throw out that question to University officials IN ALL UNIVERSITIES. When does the private endowments jeporadize the perception of the academic community and the general public about the whether the research is truly INDEPENDENT and UNBIASED.
I've worked on a number of research projects in my day. When you put heart and soul in a project, you want folks to take is seriously. If anyone WONDERS if it is less than INDEPENDENT of financial influence, you are putting the kiss of death on that institute. Right now TTI and Texas A&M need to step back and evaluate how things which are probably occuring independent of each other can raise eyebrows. ESPECIALLY SINCE TDoT IS CONDUCTING THEIR VETTING and NEGOTIATIONS IN THE DARK, NOT COMPLYING WITH PUBLIC MEETING LAWS.

That same day Faith Chatham pointed out:

TOO MUCH MONEY form sources who contract with TTIs major client (TxDOT) CAN BRING THE INDEPENDENCE of the research by TTI into question, even if there is nothing amiss in their research methodology or ethics. Becasue TxDOT is vetting proposals from potential vendors/private partners who are to be on the "short list" for the Trans Texas Corridor project in closed door meetings and rules have been passed exempting these records from discovery or disclosure even by court order and subpoena, there is less opportunity for the public to EXAMINE the records to see what kinds of influence has been exerted by whom (if any) to get Zachry to the top of the short list. When questions arise which cannot be answered easily by examination of the records, it hurts the innocent as well as the guilty.

TTI does a lot of things , Faith Chatham wrote on Daily Kos on July 30, 2006:
We don't know that there is anything amiss there. However, there is a rule of ETHICS in Government. We are to AVOID the APPEARANCE OF A CONFLICT OF INTEREST. This may merely be that a good thing (endowment) came at the same time that the endower got considered by TTI's major client (TDoT) for the biggest construction project in this century.
We have to have a dialogue in academic and governmental circles to see WHAT IS THE BEST WAY to protect the integrity of the research by institutions who are endowed.

Our assessment:
By Faith Chatham - Daily Kos - July 30, 2006

It appears that TTI has a role in selling the concept of multi modal transportation to members of the THSRTC. That organization has at least two officers who are County Judges in major urban centers. TTI was a major player in that organization. THSRTC is also closely linked to TxDOT. So it is interesting to see how this organization has influenced support for the TTC initiative.

In reengineering we are trained to identify the barriers, to identify the sponsors, to identify change agents, to identify stockholders. It appears that TTI and other organizations which promote rail within the governmental and cogs function in part as a reengineering lobby organization using education and symposiums to bring major players who can "buy into the intiative" and endorse and support it.

THSRTC also has strong ties to legislative leaders who can influence funding and change necessary parts of the transportation code. So influence with TxDOT is not the only way that TTI and the Bush School of Public Affairs can influence change to the advantage of A&M's generous corporate endower.

We hit our basic chord - Ethics and Conflict of Interest:
<

blockquote>THAT IS MORE REASON FOR EXAMINATION OF THE APPEARANCE OF CONFLICT OF INTEREST by the endowment which was accepted by the University.
The researchers don't deserve to come under any UNDESERVED CLOUD.
Right now, with the close relationship between TTI (Texas Transportation Institute), local and regional traffic planning entities who are endorsing the TTC (while most of the citizens of those communities are speaking out against it) and the relationship TTI has with the agency making the decisions about letting contributions with the major endower of the University! The point is that it is NECESSARY TO EXAMINE HOW IT LOOKS.

In ethics, we are told that it is IMPORTANT to avoid the APPEARANCE OF A CONFICT OF INTEREST. There is enough here for the APPEARANCE OF A CONFLICT OF INTEREST to do harm to the University unless the University examines it immediately and sets up guidelines to insure that the researchers remain indenpendent from influence from the endowers.

It is important that TTI not recommend a contractor to TxDOT in one way of the other. If they recommend or influence, they have violated ethical standards in this particular instance because the institution where they work benefits financially from at least one contractor who does business with TxDOT, TTI's number one client.

We pointed out:
There's more than one kind of prairie fire
1. Between elected officials and them that "brung 'em to the dance."
1. Aggie Engineers and Aggie Farmers and Ranchers
3. Historians and Legislators
4. Environmentalists and Legislators and Contractors
5. Grassroots Democrats who are looking at turn-coat money grubbing Democrats in office who are voting with big money interests on the TTX and who received donations from Zachry.
6. Grassroots Republicans who are looking at incumbent Republicans who they helped elect who are supporting TTC and who took money from toll road special interests.
7. Local governments and regional transportation planning entities who are endorsing the TTC and local voters who are mad because their officals are endorsing it without listening to the people.

We had devastating grass fires in much of this state which left thousands of acres of farm/ranch land charred. Much of rural Texas was declared a National Disaster. The TTC is the defining insulting swipe at those same peole. When it is an act of nature (or even arson which got further out of hand) it is devastating. However, the TTC is something that governmental officals are deliberately DOING to the Ranchers/Farmers/ homeowners and tax payers of Texas.

"Remember the Alamo" will be mild compared to the battle cry of "REMEMBER TTTC" before this is over.

On Texas Independence Day in March 2007, Hank Gilbert made good on his campaign promise to organize a march on the State Capitol.

TTC and CDAs are the same issue. Thousands of Texans showed up and testified at the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Transportation TTC Hearing. They brought their tractors, livestock, families and neighbors and rallied on the State Capitol during this two day march on the State Capitol. They spoke out against the TTC land grab and against mandatory animal computer chip ID (NAIS).


Now the battle front has moved from Austin to local and regional governments. Citizens across Texas are monitoring RTC meetings, sitting in on rail relocation meetings at Council of Governments, phoning local elected officials and urging them to be proactive in protecting citizens from land grabs for private development and awarding highway contracts which will cost the citizens much more to use the infrastructure than is necessary.

Diligency, transparency, ethics, and watching who takes the money and how they repay the donors is an ongoing battle. We cannot afford to sleep. Citizens must be informed, weigh the sources of information, and act.

Criticism jeopardizes Trans-Texas Corridor

By Bob Campbell - Staff Writer -Midland Reporter-Telegram - June 12, 2007

The proposed Trans-Texas Corridor system of "super highways" has become so controversial it may be discarded, a spokesman for the Texas Public Policy Foundation in Austin said Monday.

Addressing 100 people at a Petroleum Club luncheon, Research Fellow Talmadge Heflin said scathing criticism led the 80th Legislature to put a two-year moratorium on projects like the corridor that entail contracts with private companies.

Answering a question from local foundation supporter J. Evetts Haley Jr., Heflin said, "If the waves over Texas about the corridor continue, it will probably meet its demise."

Lawmakers said they were dubious about the corridor's private property impingements and probable high profits for consortium leaders Zachry Construction of San Antonio and the Cintra Corp. of Madrid, Spain.

Heflin, a former 22-year Houston state representative who was chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, praised legislators for ending the session May 28 with a $7 billion surplus.

He also commended them for thwarting North Texas representatives controlled by the Dallas Area Rapid Transit Authority who tried to increase the city sales tax ceiling to 10 percent. "We need to keep the sales taxes where they are," said Heflin.

Foundation board member Ernie Angelo opened the event by saying the group's experts not only write good policy but also maximize their influence by disseminating their analyses to the Legislature. "These folks have an impact," Angelo said.
...
Foundation President and Vice President Brooke Rollins and Mary Katherine Stout noted their organization is largely supported by private donations. Its other Midland board member is Tim Dunn, who said it is effective because "facts and truth have an impact."

Dunn said lawmakers should have dedicated the surplus to a property tax reduction above the school tax cuts enacted last year.

Wagon Wheel Ranch owner Odis Holiman of Midkiff said mineral rights owners do not adequately compensate surface rights owners for damages done during oil production. "They don't have to negotiate and they don't," he said.

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Spanish company picked for SH 121 toll contract

By Brandi Hart and Penny Rathbun, The Frisco Star
Friday, March 2, 2007 4:28 PM

Gov. Rick Perry announced Tuesday that Cintra Concesiones de Infraestructuras de Transporte, the Spanish company that is half of the partnership the state contract for the Trans-Texas Corridor, won the bid to build, operate, and maintain State Highway 121 toll lanes in Collin and Denton counties.

Perry joined officials from Collin and Denton counties on Tuesday to announce the award. On Wednesday, Texas Department of Transportation recommended that the Texas Transportation Commission grant conditional award of the CDA to Cintra - who partnered with Zachary Construction Company of San Antonio for the Trans-Texas Corridor contract - based upon the TxDOT staff review and scoring of the proposals.

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