Posted on 08/28/2006 2:09:42 AM PDT by FFforFreedom
Governor Perry, Conservative and Good for Texas
I’m writing this especially for my friends here at FR. I’ve been reading a lot of back and forth about our Governor on here lately. There seem to be a group of folks that don’t like him or at best barely tolerate him. It’s America and that’s the American way. Lord knows, Freepers don’t have a problem expressing their opinions. It just surprises me considering the conservative foundation of this web site. I’m a working class conservative, like so many others on here. I don’t have deep rooted political ties to the administration, I ‘m not an Elitist, and I don’t ever plan to run for office. I guess I’ll be on here when I can defending the Governor for the next couple of months. I’m going to start by posing a question to all these Freepers who oppose Perry.
WHAT GOVERNOR IN THE COUNTRY CAN VOUCH FOR A CONSERVATIVE RECORD SUCH AS THIS?
Reduced the Texas budget for the first time since WWII
Came into office with a 10 billion dollar deficit, went threw a recession, and now we have an 8.2 Billion dollar surplus.
Is openly Pro Life
Is openly Pro sanctity of marriage between a man and a woman
Has pushed for and signed legislation for Tort lawsuit reform making Texas a state that Doctors are moving back to and businesses can thrive.
Yes, he is criticized for the Special sessions that cost us 11 Million dollars. I couldn’t be prouder of him. All a governor has to force action is his Bully Pulpit. These special sessions led to redistricting to help fix a system that had been gerrymandered by Democrats for decades. It led to school finance reform. It led to a 33% cut in our school property taxes. It helped defeat the Robin Hood Act that is redistributing our wealth, It put standards in place for teachers to hold them accountable, It provided teachers financial incentives for performance based standards, which the NEA hates by the way. Yes, it closed a loophole in the Franchise tax which is going to require many businesses to ante up, and yes there is a 1 dollar cigarette tax, which I can hardly defend. The fact of the matter is, this Governor took a strong and courageous political stance as legislators on both sides resisted positive CONSERVATIVE change. We had to suck up some compromise actions which is the nature of our government, like it or not.
He’s an Air Force vet who was quick to put in place a bill banning protests at military funerals.
We passed Eminent Domain legislation protecting private citizenx months after the Supreme Court made their supremely unconstitutional decision about this subject.
He’s been overseas to visit our Fighting Men and Women.
He’s put the full weight of his office behind border security and millions of our dollars. Our border is getting stronger and more secure in Texas. It’s a priority for him. He scheduled to push for another 100 million dollars to be released to fund border security and he’s fully behind our National Guard supporting the effort.
He’s taking a lot of heat for the Trans Texas Corridor. I know I could make an argument against this using the broad swath of Eminent Domain seizures, governments responsibility to provide roads, and the fact that we’re already taxed at the state and federal level to provide these roads. There’s going to be plenty of time to fight over this one. I’m going to put it in a new light. I’m a Texan, I travel the I35 corridor to get to work, and I personally have and will continue to pry dead bodies from those vehicles as an emergency worker. Texas has done such a good job at providing a friendly business atmosphere that we are growing at a pace that far exceeds our freeway capacity. Here’s a plan where by bidding was put out to the world to come up with a plan to build this road, and BRING YOU MONEY. Three conglomerates took a shot. A company in Spain and a local San Antonio Construction Company won the bid. They’re bring over 6 Billion dollars to the table and their resources to build this toll way from San Antonio to north of Dallas. There are projected to finish the job five years from the start date. They are ahead of schedule and under budget on their preliminary project Hwy 130. This is a plan that allows for us to build the road with out interrupting traffic on our only major Hwy north and south. It will be years if not decades quicker because we won’t be dodging traffic. This is going to be a 1200 ft swath that will not only provide for a new road, but it will provide for a new rail system, a new power grid, and the possibility of new underground transportation of fuels. The rail system will allow for millions of gallons of HAZ MAT materials to skirt our cities and towns instead of moving right threw them. The speed limit will be 85 miles per hour with no toll booths. It’s all electronic tolling. We end up with a power grid that will keep us from having the same problems the north east and the west are struggling with. There is no way I can sell this to someone loosing their property. It stinks, but there’s not a road in Texas that didn’t used to be someone’s property. Constitutionally our Four Fathers understood the need for Government to do certain things for the benefit of society. That was written into the Constitution and I believe those men to be pretty damn conservative.
So now I guess you folks who like to refer to our Governor as Good Hair, Stupid, Anti Conservative, All we got, can get your fingers moving against me. I’m not sure exactly who you are and why you attack him the way you do. If you’re really conservative it’s hard for me to believe your going to support Strayhorn who is far more liberal and is being funded by trial lawyers and left wing activists. Maybe you want Kinky in there so he can fix our problems with Casinos, Cigars, Beer, and a few stupid slogans. If you want to find him he’ll be at Willies keeping Sheehan’s bed warm. What a damn joke!
Maybe Chris Bell is your choice. Better yet split the vote in protest and get Bell in there to send a message to Texas about what you really want in a Governor. Then maybe explain to me what the hell that really is that you’re not already getting.
If you’re a conservative Texan, you’d better get your head pointed in the right direction. This is going to be a tough race.
Do you honestly believe that taxpayers should loan foreign corporations money? Whatever happened to private lenders like Goldman Sachs? This should be capitalism and not socialism. Private funds not taxpayer funds.
That's a good question. I would argue that if the Federal government is to loan money for development (for economic reasons that the propriety of which should be debated), then it should get the most bang for the buck it can get.
There should be one he!! of a debate on loaning taxpayer money to foreign corporations. But it looks like a "done deal".
Once this is started, it will be hard to stop. It is highways now but next year it could be "hot dog stands". Dare we even mention default?
Somehow I missed your post. We, the taxpayers, will be financing foreign corportations. Check post #116.
corporations not corportations.
Ping.
Too true.
I'm afraid we'd never really like *any* plan approved by any govt, cuz it will have corruption, favoritism, stupid errors, flat out lies, etc.
But something has to be done about building new roads. So for now, I'm okay with this plan.
I did understand that. That was my point -- all you seem to be talking about is a critique of the deal in place.
But I'm asking for alternatives. I believe we *need* to build the roads. We've already waited too long. Any deal put together by the govt is going to be full of corruption, stupid errors, and the like. So pointing those out isn't enough to make me turn against it.
Merely criticizing this deal isn't enough to kill it. Unless you have another solution for getting these roads built quickly.
So please, help me out here. What is the alternative?
So you are OK with loaning taxpayer money to private foreign corporations? Socialism?
I wonder why Cintra couldn't get a private from a bank? Remember capitalism.
That would be fair. The amount of misinformation thrown-about on these threads simply led me to believe that some of the opposition is purely political.
Well I'm so impressed with Perry that I'm voting for Strayhorn. This property tax cut is a sham........the 1.00 a pack for cigarettes is outrageous! I'm glad you go to bat for him FF......but he's not gettin' my vote again.
No matter how you want to slice it when a sitting republican governor who is close friends with a sitting republican President from the same state and that state is as red as TX is and he can't get over 35% to 40% in an election. He is in trouble and is damaged goods.
"LOL Is that the best you can do? I posted some information from th FMCSA, and you question my motives? How pink of you." |
Are you aware that Cintra tried to buy the toll roads in Houston? The toll roads are such "cash cows" that Houston refused to sell.
Go here for an alternative to Cintra:
http://www.ctchouston.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=98
excerpt....
"However, this deal is NOT about Harris County finding a private outfit to operate the toll road system more cheaply. It's about selling off the taxpayers' financial interest in the toll system to a private investor. "Monetizing" the toll road system means finding a way to trade the future cash revenue of our toll road system for cash today. The problem is, no private entity can afford to pay the County what it's really worth. Here's why:
The Harris County Toll Road system generated ~$318 million in toll revenue during the last fiscal year. This cash cow currently belongs to Harris County taxpayers. As Harris County tax payers, we are essentially shareholders of HCTRA. We taxpayers already receive the financial benefits from public investments like the Sam Houston Toll Road, and we will for years to come. Some of that revenue is spent servicing HCTRA’s $1.8 billion in debt, and the rest is spent to improve and expand the toll road system.
In order for the County to receive up front today as cash the benefit of 30-75 years of future toll revenue -- the "multi-billion dollar windfall" referred to by Judge Robert Eckels -- taxpayers will have to pay a significant premium, either in the form of increased borrowing costs, increased tolls or both.
Harris County is already in the business of borrowing against future toll revenue (i.e. floating toll-backed revenue bonds) to get cash today to pay for road projects. As long as the county's bond rating remains investment grade, the county enjoys a lower cost of capital than that of any U.S. for-profit entity (e.g., bank, hedge fund, toll consortium, etc.).
An investor (i.e. Cintra/Zachery) will be interested in this deal based on the profits they expect to be able to extract from the toll roads, which must more than cover the price they pay to Harris County and whomever is providing the capital to purchase the tollroads.
Harris County, as a public entity, can borrow at a lower rate of return than a private borrower can achieve. Given that a private investor will have a higher cost of capital than Harris County does, then basic finance says that the present value of the cash flows from our toll road system will be worth less to them than they are to Harris County. Since the cash flows are worth less to a private investor than the County, that means no private investor can afford to pay the County what the flows are worth to taxpayers.
Further, this “deal” is a once-only proposition. If we sell our interest in Harris County's toll revenue to a private investor, we can never again borrow against it. We will have to borrow against other, less-desirable assets, which will affect the County's bond rating. So, this "deal" may have the effect on Harris County taxpayers of raising our cost of borrowing to 3-5 times the current rate. It would suddenly be as if we had built the toll road system and then decided to pay for it with high-rate credit cards instead of the low-risk bonds for which the taxpayers voted."
Houston made a good decision not to sell. If this road is going to be taxpayer funded, I would much rather see each county build their section and reap the profits. There will be profits.
:-) I didn't say that, did I? There are certain to be provisions I don't like in this -- or *any* -- govt contract.
You seem to have missed my question.
To repeat myself, is there any alternative on the table that will get these roads built?
It is not enough to point out fault in a proposed solution. If you don't have a superior solution, then the bad choice is the only choice.
It amuses me that my responses challenging those outfits call my loyalties and motives into question, yet the ones citing to them believe they are above reproach.
I think we have our posts crossed. Read post #136 for an alternative.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.