Posted on 02/26/2011 4:49:34 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
...some Republican state lawmakers [are studying] suing the governor to prevent him from killing the long-planned project. They contend he overstepped his authority.....
..tea party members who have rallied around Scott implored him not to buckle and implied he would pay a political price for doing so.
......additional time comes as good news to one Republican state senator, Thad Altman of Melbourne, who is considering taking legal action against the governor to save the project...he believes Scott violated the constitutional limits of his executive authority by killing the project after the Legislature had voted to move forward with it.
..."There's some activity going on," said Sen. Jack Latvala, R-St. Petersburg. "There's some legal research that's been done. But I'm not sure if a plaintiff has been determined or a law firm that will handle the case has been determined. There are active efforts going to find both."...he's not participating in the lawsuit, but he supports taking drastic steps to bring high-speed rail to Florida.
"If someone else wants to step forward and do it, more power to them," Latvala said. "It's a once-in-our-lifetime opportunity to get this train built."
If Scott changes his mind, it would likely have major political fallout, raising the ire of his tea party base.
"If I was him I wouldn't run for office again. Political career? Done. He has stood up strong against this," said Everett Wilkinson, chairman of the South Florida Tea Party. "This would be a game changer in the minds of the tea party. There would be huge protests."
Karen Jaroch, a tea party activist from Tampa who urged Scott to reject high-speed rail in a meeting earlier this month, agreed.
"Our position is.....
(Excerpt) Read more at tampabay.com ...
Stand firm Governor or you will not be reelected. High Speed rail is an “experiment” that Florida cannot afford!
The train - that carries lifetime union employment to rob us blind supporting it, is dead, Jim.
so may be the careers of these noisy senators as far as elections go...
Gov. Rick Scott’s rejection of federal money for Florida’s high-speed rail unleashed the un-Iorio
TAMPA — When Gov. Rick Scott announced his intent to turn down $2.4 billion in federal grant money for high-speed rail, Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio did something very un-Iorio like.
Seldom one to level criticism — or praise — at fellow elected officials, Iorio rebuked what she called “the worst decision I’ve ever seen by a governor in my 26 years in public life.”
“I do feel the way he reached this decision was not in keeping with the standards we expect of a governor,” Iorio said this week, explaining her strong condemnation. “He did not have the facts.”
With those sharp words off her chest, Iorio put away her dagger. Before that Feb. 16 day was over, she had dispatched her top attorney to undertake a methodical, workman-like response to Scott’s concerns over the project that is more in keeping with Iorio’s style.
Some 48 hours later, the framework of a plan was in place. It aimed to respond to Scott’s main stated concern: that construction and operating cost overruns would fall on state taxpayers..........................(”indepth” companion article in St. Pete Times)
High sped rail is a great idea where it can work. Boston to NY. to DC would be a great place to build on with Mass, NY, NJ,those states picking up the tab. Don't pick my pocket so joe smoe can get to NY from Boston fast.
Tampa to Orlando high speed rail would be a ghost train going very fast.
“Stand firm Governor or you will not be reelected. High Speed rail is an “experiment” that Florida cannot afford!”
YEP...and hasn’t THE GOV. already said...
just give us the money....we have a lot of good infrastructure rehab and repair needs... we know whats needed and can put the money to practical use and still do the hiring...
....am i confused or does the gov. actually make the most sense in this matter?
Maybe if Latvala ever grew the ability to look beyond the end of his nose, or the payoffs from CSX that come along with it, he just might recognize the plain truth it will take more than a lifetime to pay for it. No matter how it goes, the state of Florida will eventually get stuck with the bill. That is why Gov. Scott nixed it in the first place.
On another note, maybe they are offering up a Tea Party challenger the perfect opportunity to run against those who are willing to "create" a legal challenge to the Governor's move to kill this wasteful monster.
I hope that Scott holds firm. But if he changes his mind, I can understand. You can only protect fools and idiots from themselves for so long.
Hang tough Governor Scott. The last thing FL needs is a rail system. NASA, however, could use some major help. What say you, Obama?
(A national travesty and tragedy, what this man has done to our Country and how his dictums are impacting our future by way of his dissing NASA. And by a myriad of others, of course.))
http://www.ronaldreaganclubs.com/New%20Rail.html
The problem is that it can't be done in such a way that it will really lead to an efficient system. I'm one of those that believes that an efficient, clean, well run passenger system is much more logical than the mess air and highway travel are now, and it will only get worse.
Florida doesn’t have the population density to sustain any sort of intrastate rail system. There just isn’t a need, not even to link Orlando (Disney World) with Miami (South Beach) for tourism purposes.
To be clear here, the idiots who call themselves Republicans in the Florida State Legislature are the small town little minded shysters who’d sell you swampland, roadside vegetables or used cars if they didn’t have gubermint jorbs.
http://www.flsenate.gov/Senators/s015
This is how sycophantic the Florida Legislators who supposedly represent the districts along the proposed line are:
http://www.flsenate.gov/Media/PressRelease/Show/Senators/2010-2012/District15/PressRelease/PressRelease20110216121515957
Senator Paula Dockery, District 15 — Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 16, 2011
CONTACT: Rachel Perrin Rogers, 850-487-5040
Senator Dockery’s Statement on the Rejection of High Speed Rail Funding
Tallahassee, FL — This morning I spoke to Governor Rick Scott who informed me of his decision to turn back $2.4 billion to the federal government. I expressed my disappointment that Floridians will lose the opportunity to have the first true High Speed Rail system in the nation and even more so in the loss of thousands of high wage jobs that it would bring. Seven teams were planning to bid on the Florida High Speed Rail project representing companies from 11 different countries including Japan, South Korea, Germany and France, all experts in building and operating high speed rail systems. Each of these teams had explicitly agreed to design, build, operate and maintain Florida’s high speed rail system for a firm, fixed price, with no cost overruns and no subsidies.
It was my hope and expectation that the governor would have allowed these teams to submit proposals before pulling the plug on this true public/private partnership that had little risk to the state and tremendous return to Floridians. It would have been more prudent for the governor to have waited for the private industry to make their offers in writing to assess the viability of this transformational transportation project. Florida is a donor state for transportation dollars receiving only 62 cents on every transit dollar and 87 cents on every highway dollar we send to Washington, and this $2.4 billion in federal transportation dollars would have brought Florida in line with other states. It appears that Secretary LaHood will direct these billions lost by Florida to California where true high speed rail has the next best opportunity to succeed.
That’s why I put “battle for and against!”
There are good member in the GOP and there are the profiteers.
He needs to be sent the LINK in Post #3 and TOLD we're ANGRY he's involved in this swindle.
PLEASE watch the video in Post #3. You will COMPLETELY understand why this is being fought for so hard (and not just in FL).
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