MoDOT (Failed Tax Plan; Prop B) as canary

St. Louis Post-Dispatch ^ | 8-08-02 | Editors

[FairWitness]

UNTIL LAST Friday, the committee backing the statewide transportation tax plan known as Proposition B was paying Zogby International Inc. to conduct daily "rolling track" polls statewide. By Friday, the numbers showed that whatever support there was for Prop B (the best it ever showed was 37 percent) had collapsed. The Time for Missouri Committee sent the pollsters home and cut its losses.

[FairWitness]

Following are letters to the Editor in the same edition of the paper: Defeat of Prop B sends wake-up call

In defeating Proposition B by a huge majority, the people of Missouri have sent a wake-up call to our state government. It isn't that we don't understand the issues and problems. It's that we don't like the proposed solutions or the causes that led to the problems in the first place.

We don't like the lack of accountability. We voted for a massive road and bridges proposal before -- with little tangible proof of any progress. Where did that money go?

In the wake of Enron and WorldCom, people are paying more attention to the accounting practices of state governments as well as business. Tuesday's vote shows that the people of Missouri don't like what they see.

Do Missourians want sub-standard roads and rotting bridges? No. But neither will they impose onerous taxes on themselves to remedy government mismanagement.

It's been reported that the downturn in the economy has hit Missouri harder than most other states. It took a lot of gall for state officials to even propose Proposition B, let alone expect it to be approved.

As MoDOT, the governor's office and state officials ponder the failure of Prop B, they should first consider how out of touch they are with the majority of Missouri's citizens.

The people have spoken. Is anyone listening?

Marcia W. Deering

Manchester



Let the vote on Prop B be a signal that when you try to deceive the voters -- as in advertising that tried to play on our support of the Highway Patrol -- the voters will figure out what you are attempting to do.

This ill-conceived plan was supported by Gov. Bob Holden. One can only wonder if the governor has any idea what he is doing.

Marc Schoenfeld

Chesterfield



I might have voted for Proposition B had a few changes been made:

(1) Drop the sales tax. That part of the proposal made no sense.

(2) Lay out specifically what repairs and improvements will be made so that the projects will begin and end. Vague ideas and reassurances are not enough, considering MoDOT's track record.

(3) Word the bill so that collected gas tax revenues can not be diverted for any other purpose.

Everyone agrees that our roads and bridges need repair. But sending piles of money to Jefferson City with no accountability is a bad idea.

Don Sonderman

St. John

[FairWitness]

I admit I hadn't been paying much attention to this issue and was surprised at how badly it failed. I hope the governor and Jeff City politicians "get it", that responsibility and accountability are what's needed.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Perhaps MO-dot can say why Missouri road use taxes do not go toward building roads.

[Lancey Howard]

I wonder how many of this "72.5 percent of voters" vote for Democrats? The same Democrats who confiscate more and more money from them in order to grow the parasite class, thereby giving them an excuse to grow government and confiscate even more?

[FairWitness]

Perhaps MO-dot can say why Missouri road use taxes do not go toward building roads.

A targeted tax should go to a targeted use? What a concept! Seems simple enough even for a politician.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

From my experience, the roads in Missouri are second rate. There is no clear explanation from MO dot as to how they got this way or what they plan to do about it.

[KC_Conspirator]

John Zogby, whose Utica, N.Y., polling firm is one of the most respected in the country, says it's more complicated than that. "I polled the hell of out of this baby, and ran two focus groups," he said. "The focus groups worked themselves into a tizzy. Why? One word: accountability."

MODOT is one of the worst run state agencies. They continually get the most funding and then have all their projects go on cost overruns and never complete a project on time. Furthermore, and despite being funded all the time, the roads in Missouri are still one of the nations' worst. The reason that MODOT gets all the funding is that the end result is that unions get paying jobs and then they return the favor in votes. So when it comes time to make cuts, departments like Mental Health get slashed because they don't have the union votes.

Of course, to his credit, the only person who campaigned on this issue was Jim Talent in 2000. It did not resonate with the voters, but many realize he was right.

[KC_Conspirator]

Bump

[Dave S]

I think Zogby missed the boat in his focus groups. Yeah, the main thing is accountability but it doesnt really have much, if anything, to do with Enron, Tyco, or the Catholic Church scandals.

Several years ago, these same government officials came to the state and requested a tax increase to pay for these same improvements in roads and bridges. It passed and the money was squandered, no one knows where. Then these same idiots passed legalizing gambling based upon the concept that x% was going to go to support public education. Okay that passed, what happened, the crooks in Jefferson City, quit spending the money they would have been spending on education and replaced it with the new funds from the casinos. Did we get the increase that we supposedly approved? No. How dumb do they think we are that they can come back for third time in a row and pull the same stunt on us.

If I was the Democrat govnernor of this state I would be real nervous. The failure to past this indicates how most citizens feel about state government. At the same time his liberal base has to be pissed that government revenue has been down this year and the states been forced to cut back on programs and employment. Aint it a bitch to be a governor these days? LOL

[Wright is right!]

Dave, have they ever finished that mammoth project on I-70 in STL? Seemed like that job was running at about the same pace as Boston's Big Dig.

Michael

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Two new bridges on HW 7, near Edwards, Missouri, are good examples of poor MO-dot planning.
The bridges replaced "low water crossings" but were built as two lane bridges, only slightly wider than the existing highway. Guess this means HW 7 in the Ozarks area will never be a 4 lane, like it is from KC to Clinton, MO.

[YOMO]

A few years ago MoDot resurfaced I-70 from the Arch Downtown to the Air Port) only to start a rebuild project on the same strech within 18 mos. Although some progress is being made on 70 MoDot in their wisdom started many other projects in the St. Louis area in effect constricting many of the alternative routes at the same time. (Duh)
It would have made too much sense to concentrate on one major project at a time and reduce the lane restrictions before going to the next one.
As far as the tax proposal goes there were too many promises made on where the money was going. The tax issue should have been broken down into smaller, specific projects with a definite TAX EXPERATION DATE when the project was over. They promised everything from mass transit, to Highway Patrol, to kissing your babies. As far as cost overruns go acountability is the key. Assign a project manager or director and when the project goes over budget have the Personnel Dept. look for another Dirctor who can hold feet to the fire.

[Wright is right!]

"Although some progress is being made on 70 ..."

From this, I take it that the answer to my question is, "Nope, they're not done yet. Still working on it." Right?

Michael

[YOMO]

You got it right. They are still working on it.

[rface]

I cannot help but sense that there is some kind of foreshadow for the Nov. elections -

There is great disappointment with Gov. Holden

Many "liberal" issues have lost at the voting booth this year...
- the Columbia nickle deposit on cans (big defeat for Columbia liberals)
- Prop. B highway looses
- cellphone 911 tax looses

I wonder if I can think of any other examples....

But....I just cannot determine what this means for for Talent v. Carnahan. What do you think?

[KC_Conspirator]

I am not sure people will make the connection that "not all was well" when Mel was governor and transpose that upon his ex-wife. However, the people of MO do blame Holden even though much of the state budget and state economy problems were brewed when Carnahan was in office - so Holden's toast. There is a reason that people already call him "One Term Bob". I don't know if the Republicans have a candidate to run, but I would bet that Bob might have a primary opponent.

[KC_Conspirator]

Wright, you must be referring to the pi$$ poor planning on fixing up I-70. I remember about 18 months ago they shut down I-70 somewhere by airport. They literally shuffled cars onto the offramp and then made them go down the other side. What a mess!

Here in KC, there is a conflux of highways known as the "Grandview Triangle". They have been working on it for 15 years. Its a total clutter****. I'm convinced its a perpetual payoff from the state to the democrats who hold office in the area and the state unions. All thanks to MODOT.

EITO, what's the weekend weather supposed to be at the lake?

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Somebody said 30-40 percent chance of rain, but that just means more humidity. When lightning starts zaping around you know its time to get out of the water and up on the dock.
Come on down !

[o_zarkman44]

The reason that MODOT gets all the funding is that the end result is that unions get paying jobs and then they return the favor in votes

What do you have against good paying jobs? Compare the hard labor of a highway worker to an assembler at Boeing and see who gets paid more? I bet it isn't the highway worker out in 100 degree heat.

It has nothing to do with who gets paid how much for what, as much as it has to do with who (MoDOT) is getting all the money, and WHERE it is all going to be spent. I for one see many dangerous highways I have to travel over to get to work in rural Missouri. but when I visit KC or St Louis I see ongoing projects continously to help people get to stadiums and parks, while disregarding rural Missouri completely.

Trusting government accounting at this point is hard to do when we were told the State was very healthy just prior to the 2000 election. And giving them more money to cover for the States overzealous predictions of tax income that did not materialize is rewarding inefficiency. And saying NO to the tax increase was our wake up call. Be more efficient is the only to regain the trust. This is indeed a wake up call to politicians.

[KC_Conspirator]

Nothing is wrong with good paying jobs, but there are projects that go on forever exactly for the reason I mentioned before. What does this have to do with the poor quality of Missouri roads? How about taking that "good job" and do a good job on roads in the state. I just have a big problem with the pathetic waste going on a MODOT at the expense of our safety. There is a reason that the state tax got voted down 3 to 1.