Posted on 07/06/2005 4:57:39 AM PDT by Jarhead1957
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday,July5,2005
STRAYHORN JOINS TEXANS IN CALL FOR STATE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT
AND URGES GOVERNOR TO ALLOW 2006 PRIMARY VOTE ON TOLL ROADS
(AUSTIN) – Texas Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn, Republican candidate for Governor in 2006, today joined Texans in urging Gov. Rick Perry to allow Legislators to adopt a state constitutional amendment protecting property owners.
“Farmers and land owners everywhere were indeed dealt a devastating blow when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that eminent domain used for private business development is a legal use of condemnation authority,” Strayhorn said.
“Lawmakers are meeting now so it won’t cost taxpayers a dime more than the money the Governor is already spending on this special session and Texas needs to be a leader in the fight against this latest land grab,” she said. “The Governor needs to let Texans’ voices be heard on Nov. 8.”
Strayhorn, who has said as Governor she will fight for Initiative and Referendum, also said Republican Primary voters in March 2006 should be given the opportunity to vote on a nonbinding referendum that would measure the support, or lack thereof, for Perry’s Trans Texas Corridor.
“Perry’s Trans Texas Catastrophe is the cornerstone of his administration and the biggest land grab in history,” Strayhorn said. “If he is so proud of his scheme, as the head of the Republican Party in Texas, he should get the Party to let the people vote for or against it. If it goes down, he should stop this boondoggle now.”
Because Texas currently does not allow Initiative and Referendum, the people could not vote on the massive toll road plan in the general election in November. The Republican Party does allow people to vote on nonbinding referendums during Primary elections. The Republican Party Platform opposed the Trans Texas Corridor.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled June 23 in the Kelo v. New London case.
“Only the Governor can set the agenda for a special session and I am calling on him to let the people vote,” Strayhorn said.
Am I the only one who likes the idea of this super highway? I mean, I honestly don't know all the details, but anything that gets giant Mac trucks out of the same lanes I use trying to go down 35 or 45 makes me happy...and might help me live longer...
Initiative and Referendum would be a god-send to Texans, who are kept in the dark about legislation until it passes in the dark of night on the last night of each session.
And since the legislature is meeting in special session at the moment, there is no excuse for not passing a law protecting private property from government theft. There are properties being seized in Texas since the moment the SCOTUS ruled in Kelo, and this needs to be done NOW.
I'm not a McCullough-Keaton-Rylande-Strayhorn fan, but these are good ideas.
Of course I realize that some of these owners will be happy to take the money and run--but then, there's some who are on their ancestral land and don't want to sell out.
I agree, the citizens need a voice, and we sure have not had one with this or many previous sessions of the Texas Legislatures. IMHO Those guys (Republicans and Democrats) get to Austin, and think they represent only the Texas Employees. They just forget about the people that sent them there. It appears that applies to local governments also.
The Tenth Amendment should not have to be used to counter Bizarro world SCOTEUS decisions. If the Court continues the States will have to do what Texas is doing and compensate for the bad decisions until such time as we get the nerve to get out from under the thumb of what now even has a name; judicial tyranny.
There are other ways of getting speeding or unsafe trucks off the road or making them safer/slower.
It seems ironic to me that, in a day of high fossil fuel costs, probably shortages looming, we're even considering paving large areas of the state to encourage such transportation.
Kind of boneheaded, like sinking our dollars into the horse-and-carriage market a century ago. Why aren't we pouring money into alternatives?
Like high speed rail.
No, you're not the only one who likes the idea of a true "superhighway," but if it's to be a for-profit undertaking, then the builders should have to offer a fair price for the land, and buy it on the open market, not through the gummint's power of eminent domain.
And the reason we don't have "referendum and recall" is so that we won't become the sort of populist catastrophe that California is.
OH MY WORD! I thought I was all alone. You mean a time tested proven system that could get the job done with way less fuel, less pollution, less traffic.... I don't know why we would even bother to think of it!!!
I have no opinion on the highway, but it really has nothing to do with Kelo. A highway IS a legitimate public use.
Right, but she does call on the Gov to let the citizens decide on Nov 8th. This was in reference to HJR19. Now held up because the Gov. will not let it be a part of this special session.
I'm not going to post HJR19 again, it is all over Free Republic and the news.
In fact it is hard to tell what they did last session, and many before that.
We do agree on one thing Californis is a catastrophe, but I never could bring myself to compare the citizens of Texas to the masses in California.
Bump. Thanks for this post.
For those of us who are deeply concerned with protection of Private Property from improper application of Eminent Domain in contravention of the Original Intent of the Founders in the 5th Amendment's Takings Clause, I am registering a warning or a concern:
I think AG (& potential USSC Nominee) Alberto Gonzales is very weak on Private Property Rights and lacks an understanding of orignainl intent of the 5th Amendment's Takings Clause (Eminent Domain) based both upon some cases when he ws at the texas Supreme Ct. (e.g., FM Properties Operating Co. v. City of Austin, 22 S.W.3d 868 (Tex. 2000))
and, more recently and significantly, upon his NOT having joined in the Kelo case on the side of property owner. My understanding ws that he had sided with the League of Cities against Kelo while WH Counsel.
As some have frequently observed, he certainly believes in a "Living Constitution" and is NOT a strict constructionist or an Originalist, but rather tends toward the Activist side, per National Review Online and others.
He has been sharply critical of Priscilla Owen in some Texas Supreme Ct. decisons when they were both on that Ct. as Justices, and he has been quoted as being sharply criticial fo Janice Rogers Brown, including being quoted by People for the American Way in their ultra-leftist propaganda.
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