Posted on 08/14/2006 3:13:03 PM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
ST. HEDWIG, Texas – From the parking lot jammed with pickups, past the tables with campaign T-shirts and into the overflowing high school auditorium, Carole Keeton Strayhorn works the linoleum aisle as if it's her own political rally.
And she has Gov. Rick Perry to thank.
Mrs. Strayhorn has become a regular fixture at the federally mandated public hearings on the Perry-backed Trans-Texas Corridor – a wide network of toll roads, railways and pipelines to parallel Interstate 35. And she has used the almost nightly occasions to thump the governor and bring hundreds of potential supporters to their feet.
So far, she's addressed more than a dozen of the 54 scheduled hearings.
"I wish they'd do 54 more," she said with a laugh.
In rural Texas particularly, the corridor threatens to dissect farms and ranches, leaving wide and potentially impassable swaths across cropland and pastures. In many small towns and cities, including Temple, Gainesville and Waco, more than 1,000 grim-faced landowners have wedged themselves into the Texas Department of Transportation hearings.
The high school stadiums, county coliseums and rural school cafetoriums have become the stage where the independent candidate for governor is practicing a kind of under-the-radar, retail politics rarely seen by statewide candidates in a place as big as Texas.
Her barnstorming strategy harkens back to Pappy O'Daniel, a flour company owner who used his radio program and band – the Light Crust Doughboys – to woo rural voters in 1938.
"I'm intrigued," said Greg Thielemann, director of the Center for Texas Politics at the University of Texas-Dallas.
With such a crowded governor's race, the few percentage points of voters from these rural meetings could make a difference, he said. "And you're probably not going to reach these people any other way," he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at dallasnews.com ...
Trans-Texas Corridor PING!
4 years ago Carole...Strayhorn as Comptroller wrote glowingly in support of the Trans-Texas Corridor concept and that we need to turn more to toll-financing of roads.
I guess back then she hadn't yet recognized it as an opportunity for grandstanding.
Ya know, that isn't a secret, it is part of her official record in office and has been pointed out numerous times to Texas news media like the Dallas Morning New. So why on earth would that info be left out of an in-depth article about her current opposition to the TTC? Media bias is alive and well, and the media/left is behind her. Kinda like McCain...
Didn't she also accept 29,500 dollars from the Zachry Construction Company?
Honestly, she's carries around a big bag of nothing.
What else is someone who's 4-11 going to do?
LOL!
Today [6-13-06] Democratic gubernatorial nominee Chris Bell announced a new leg of the Strayhorn Reality Tour along the Trans-Texas Corridor to highlight Carole Strayhorn’s advocacy for building more toll roads as recently as 2001.“She can change her name, and she can change her positions, but she can’t change history,” said Bell, a Houston Democrat. “As Comptroller, Carole Strayhorn was a forceful advocate for toll roads until it was no longer politically useful. It’s just another example of how Strayhorn and Perry are two sleeves of the same empty suit. Depending on Carole Strayhorn to stop these toll roads is like expecting an arsonist to put out a fire.”
• “Comptroller Rylander's performance review recommends TxDOT adopt innovative financing tools, such as Grant Anticipation Revenue Vehicles (GARVEEs), build more toll roads, and tap into a new line of credit through the Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA).” (Press release, Office of the Comptroller, Jan. 12, 2001)
• “Some of Rylander's proposals would make it easier for Texans to register their cars, and others would consolidate operations at various department offices. She also supports building toll roads and ensuring that representatives from every region of Texas, including the border, serve on the Transportation Commission.” (Austin American-Statesman, Jan. 13, 2001)
• “Building highways through toll financing, rather than pay-as-you-go financing, dramatically speeds the time it takes to complete a given project. We estimate that if tolls made possible the immediate construction of a $320 million project that would otherwise not be built for another 15 years, the project would economically benefit the state some $411 million more, over 30 years, than if the road was delayed and built as a free road under a pay-as-you-go system.” (Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. “Paving the Way: A Review of the Texas Department of Transportation.” Jan. 2000)
Although I had to think about it.
BTTT
This is a hot button issue, she's running for office.......nuff said!
She changes position as often as she changes her name.
bump.
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