Transportation

20080916
Sarah Palin - Don Young - Money - Politics - Federal - Transportation - Construction - Animals - Environment - Alaska - 2008 Election
"Palin supports $600 million 'other' bridge project." ... "[Alaska Republican Governor] Gov. Sarah Palin may eventually have said "no thanks" to a federally funded Bridge to Nowhere [after supporting it even after Congress had stopped it]." ... "But a bridge to her hometown of Wasilla [Alaska], that's a different story." ... "A $600 million bridge and highway project to link Alaska's largest city to Palin's town of 7,000 residents is moving full speed ahead, despite concerns the bridge could worsen some commuting and threaten a population of beluga whales." ... "Local officials already have spent $42 million on plans to route traffic across the Knik Arm inlet, a narrow finger of water extending roughly 25 miles northeast of Anchorage toward Wasilla. The proposal exists thanks to an earmark request by Republican [Alaska Representative] Rep. Don Young, whose son-in-law has a small stake in property near the bridge's proposed western span." ... ""This is basically an incredibly expensive project that doesn't help commuters, doesn't help create jobs and may drive whales to extinction," said Justin Massey, an attorney advising environmentalists opposed to the proposal. "It is also a project that serves the area where the governor is from, which is near and dear to her heart."" ... "Palin still supports the second bridge, officially named Don Young's Way in honor of the congressman." -By Garance Burke -AP via -Yahoo

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20080913
Sarah Palin - Ted Stevens - Don Young - Money - Politics - Federal - Transportation - Construction - Architecture - Alaska - Nevada - 2008 Election
"Palin Administration Still Pursuing ‘Nowhere’ Project." ... "[2008 Election Republican Vice Presidential Candidate and Governor of] Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has portrayed herself as a foe of pork-barrel spending, pointing in particular to her role in killing the $398 million "Bridge to Nowhere” between Ketchikan (pop. 7,400) and its airport on Gravina Island (pop. 50). I "told the Congress, 'Thanks, but no thanks,'" she said in her speech accepting the Republican vice presidential nomination. "If our state wanted to build a bridge, we were going to build it ourselves."" ... "But Gov. Palin’s administration acknowledges that it is still pursuing a project that would link Ketchikan to its airport -- with the help of as much as $73 million in federal funds earmarked by Congress for the original project." ... ""What the media isn't reporting is that the project isn't dead," Roger Wetherell, spokesman for Alaska’s Department of Transportation, said. In a process begun this past winter, the state’s DOT is currently considering (PDF) a number of alternative solutions (five other possible bridges or three different ferry routes) to link Ketchikan and Gravina Island." ... "The DOT has not yet developed cost estimates for those proposals, Wetherell said, but $73 million of the approximately $223 million [Alaska Republican Senator] Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK [Republican-Alaska]) and [Alaska Republican Representative] Rep. Don Young (R-AK [Republican-Alaska]) earmarked for the bridge in 2005 has been set aside for the Gravina Access Project." ... "In an interview that aired Friday night, ABC’s Charles Gibson challenged Palin about the fact that she’d initially supported the “Bridge to Nowhere” during her 2006 run for governor. “I was for infrastructure being built in the state,” she said, but repeated her line that Alaska would “find a way to build [the bridge] ourselves."” ... "The massive $398 million "Bridge to Nowhere" was to replace ferry service from the airport to Ketchikan (departing every half-hour), a 15-minute ride -- meaning that air travelers are assured of reaching Ketchikan in no more than 45 minutes. It would have done so in grand style: the planned structure would have been nearly as long as the Golden Gate and higher than the Brooklyn Bridge." -By Paul Kiel -ProPublica.org

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Sarah Palin - Money - Politics - Federal - Transportation - Construction - Alaska - Nevada - 2008 Election
"Palin's 'Bridge to Nowhere' line returns." ... "In her first solo campaign rally outside of Alaska, [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate and Alaska Governor] Gov. Sarah Palin drew an enthusiastic crowd at the Pony Express Pavilion [Carson City, Nevada] Saturday and returned to a familiar refrain about the “Bridge to Nowhere.”" ... "Palin has come under fire in recent days for misleadingly saying she told Congress “thanks but no thanks,” refusing an earmark for a bridge to a sparsely inhabited island in her home state. Independent groups and media fact-checkers have said Palin advocated for the federal earmark before opposing it, only ended after Congress had essentially killed it, and kept the $223 million for the appropriation after the project was killed." ... "She reiterated a line that she put the governor’s luxury jet on eBay. While accurate, the jet wasn’t sold on eBay." ... "Nevada [Lieutenant Governor] Lt. Gov. Brian Krolicki said on stage that 10,000 people were in the crowd, but parks officials said the pavilion held only 3,500 people." -By Matthew E. Berger with contributions by Mark Murray -MSNBC

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20080906
Sarah Palin - Money - Politics - Sports - Roads - Construction - Land - Alaska - 2008 Election
"Palin's Hockey Rink Leads To Legal Trouble in Town She Led." ... "The biggest project that [2008 Election Republican Vice Presidential Candidate and Alaska Governor] Sarah Palin undertook as mayor of this small town [Wasilla, Alaska] was an indoor sports complex, where locals played hockey, soccer, and basketball, especially during the long, dark Alaskan winters." ... "The only catch was that the city began building roads and installing utilities for the project before it had unchallenged title to the land. The misstep led to years of litigation and at least $1.3 million in extra costs for a small municipality with a small budget. What was to be Ms. Palin's legacy has turned into a financial mess that continues to plague Wasilla." ... ""It's too bad that the city of Wasilla didn't do their homework and secure the land before they began construction," said Kathy Wells, a longtime activist here. "She was not your ceremonial mayor; she was in charge of running the city. So it was her job to make sure things were done correctly."" ... "Litigation resulting from the dispute over Ms. Palin's sports-complex project is still in the courts, with the land's former owner seeking hundreds of thousands of additional dollars from the city." -By Michael M. Phillips -WSJ.com

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20080904
Sarah Palin - Money - Politics - Federal - Transportation - Construction - Alaska - 2008 Election
"Palin Also Supported The "Road To Nowhere" (And May Still)." ... "While a debate rages over how honest [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate] Sarah Palin has been in stating her opposition to the infamous Bridge To Nowhere, another massive, widely-criticized transportation project is lingering in Alaska." ... "The "Road To Nowhere" is a $375 million "mega-project" designed to connect Juneau [Alaska's capital] to the [Alaskan] towns of Haines and Skagway via 50 miles of new road along the steep slopes of an avalanche-battered canal, ending at a ferry terminal at the Haines river." ... "As of 2005, Haines had a population of 2,400, while Skagway had 870 residents." ... "According to the Alaska Transportation Priorities Project, a group promoting "sensible transportation systems in the state," the Road to Nowhere is an irresponsible waste. The project has received more than $100 million in federal and state funding. This includes a $15 million dollar federal earmark and approximately $24 million in federal dollars passed through to the state. But it remains far from completion - hampered by opposition, environmental and safety concerns, and general wariness over its utility." ... "Palin has been anything but a steady fiscal hawk on the matter. The Governor came into office saying she supported the road, which was started under her predecessor Frank Murkowski. In an October 2006 questionnaire by Anchorage Daily News, she simply wrote "Yes" when asked "Do you support building a road from Juneau to Skagway?"" -By Sam Stein -HuffingtonPost.com

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20080902
Sarah Palin - John McCain - Don Young - Ted Stevens - Illegal - Federal - Money - Politics - Alaska - Transportation - Construction - Arizona - 2008 Election
"Palin's Small Alaska Town Secured Big Federal Funds." ... "Alaska [Republican Governor] Gov. Sarah Palin employed a lobbying firm to secure almost $27 million in federal earmarks for a town of 6,700 residents while she was its mayor, according to an analysis by an independent government watchdog group." ... "There was $500,000 for a youth shelter, $1.9 million for a transportation hub, $900,000 for sewer repairs, and $15 million for a rail project -- all intended to benefit Palin's town, Wasilla [Alaska], located about 45 miles north of Anchorage [Alaska]." ... "In introducing Palin as his running mate on Friday, [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate and Arizona Senator] Sen. John McCain cast her as a compatriot in his battle against wasteful federal spending." ... "As mayor of Wasilla [Alaska], however, Palin oversaw the hiring of Robertson, Monagle & Eastaugh, an Anchorage[ Alaska]-based law firm with close ties to Alaska's most senior Republicans: [Alaska Republican Representative] Rep. Don Young and [Alaska Republican Senator] Sen. Ted Stevens, who was indicted in July on charges of accepting illegal gifts. The Wasilla account was handled by the former chief of staff to Stevens, Steven W. Silver, who is a partner in the firm." (1, 2) -By Paul Kane -WashingtonPost

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20080901
Sarah Palin - Federal -Money - Politics - Alaska - Transportation - Construction - 2008 Election
"Palin Received Millions In Earmarks, Clouding Reformer Image." ... "The presentation of [2008 Election Republican Vice Presidential Candidate Sarah] Palin as an anti-earmark, fiscally conscious pol is challenged by a review of recent political records. As mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, she hired the firm of Hoffman Silver Gilman & Blasco to help secure spending projects for her town. The expenditure apparently paid off. From 2000 through 2002, Wasilla received more than $5.5 million in federal cash for transportation and social service projects." ... "The use of the earmark system that -- as a vice presidential candidate -- Palin now criticizes continued into her tenure as governor. As the Los Angeles Times reported, the state of Alaska requested 31 earmarks worth $197.8 million for next year's federal budget. And according to Citizens Against Government Waste, Alaska received $379,669,715 in pork during fiscal year 2008, nearly $100 million more than any other state." -By Sam Stein -HuffingtonPost.com

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20080831
Sarah Palin - John McCain - Ted Stevens - Money - Politics - Government - Alaska - Transportation - Construction - History - Ohio - 2008 Election
"Palin backed 'bridge to nowhere' in 2006." ... "In her nationally televised speech accepting the job as [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate] John McCain's running mate, Alaska [Republican Governor] Gov. Sarah Palin said she "championed reform to end the abuses of earmark spending by Congress" and opposed federal funding for a controversial bridge to a sparsely populated island." ... "[However] While running for governor in 2006, though, Palin backed federal funding for the infamous bridge, which McCain helped make a symbol of pork barrel excess." ... "And as mayor of the small town of Wasilla [Alaska] from 1996 to 2002, Palin also hired a Washington lobbying firm that helped secure $8 million in congressionally directed spending projects, known as earmarks, according to public spending records compiled by the watchdog group Citizens Against Government Waste and lobbying documents." ... "Wasilla's lobbying firm was headed by Steven Silver — a former chief of staff to Alaska [Republican Senator] Sen. Ted Stevens, a key proponent of the bridge project." ... ""We need to come to the defense of Southeast Alaska when proposals are on the table like the bridge, and not allow the spinmeisters to turn this project or any other into something that's so negative," Palin said in August 2006, according to the Ketchikan Daily News."" -By Ken Dilanian -USATODAY

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Sarah Palin - John McCain - Federal - Money - Alaska - Transportation - Construction - 2008 Election
"Palin touts stance on 'Bridge to Nowhere,' doesn't note flip-flop." ... "When [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate] John McCain introduced [Alaska Republican Governor] Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate Friday, her reputation as a tough-minded budget-cutter was front and center." ... ""I told Congress, thanks but no thanks on that bridge to nowhere," Palin told the cheering McCain crowd, referring to [Alaska's] Ketchikan's Gravina Island bridge." ... "But Palin was for the Bridge to Nowhere before she was against it." ... "The Alaska governor campaigned in 2006 on a build-the-bridge platform, telling Ketchikan residents she felt their pain when politicians called them "nowhere." They're still feeling pain today in Ketchikan [Alaska], over Palin's subsequent decision to use the bridge funds for other projects -- and over the timing of her announcement, which they say came in a pre-dawn press release that seemed aimed at national [Eastern] news deadlines." ... ""I think that's when the campaign for national office began," said Ketchikan Mayor Bob Weinstein on Saturday." ... "Alaska's congressional delegation endured withering criticism for earmarking $223 million for Ketchikan and a similar amount for a crossing of Knik Arm at Anchorage [Alaska]." ... "Congress eventually removed the earmark language but the money still went to Alaska, leaving it up to the administration of then-[Alaska Republican Governor ]Gov. Frank Murkowski to decide whether to go ahead with the bridges or spend the money on something else." ... "In September, 2006, Palin showed up in Ketchikan on her gubernatorial campaign and said the bridge was essential for the town's prosperity." -By Tom Kizzia -ADN.com

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Sarah Palin - John McCain - Political - Investigation - Attorney - Government - Transportation - Construction - Money - Alaska - Oil - Global - Climate - 2008 Election
"What McCain Didn't Know About Sarah Palin." ... "They've [the 2008 Election Republican Presidential campaign of John McCain] bragged that [Alaska Republican Governor Sarah] Palin opposed the famous "Bridge to Nowhere," only to learn that Palin supported the project and even told residents of Ketchikan [Alaska] that they weren't "nowhere" to her. After the national outcry, she decided to spend the funds allocated to the bridge for something else. Actually, maybe it's more fair to say that coincident with the national outcry, she changed her mind. The story shows her political judgment, but it is not a reformer's credential." ... "Likewise, though she cut taxes as mayor of Wassila [Alaska], she raised the sales tax, making her hardly a tax cutter." ... "She denied pressuring the state's chief of public safety to fire her sister-in-law's husband even though there's mounting evidence that the impetus did indeed come from her. Ostensibly to clear her name, Palin asked her attorney general to open an independent investigation—the legislature had already been investigating. (I am told that the campaign was aware of the ethics complaint filed against her but accepts Palin's account.)" ... "McCain's campaign seemed unaware that she supported a windfalls profits tax on oil companies and that she is more skeptical about human contributions to global warming than McCain is." ... "They did not know that she took trips as the mayor of Wasilla to beg for earmarks." ... "They did not know that she told a television interviewer this summer that she did not fully understand what it is that a vice president does." -By Marc Ambinder -TheAtlantic.com

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John McCain - Joe Biden - Barack Obama - Hillary Clinton - Hurricane Katrina - Weather - Emergency - Investigation - Legislation - Politics - History - Federal - NY - New Orleans - Louisiana - Communications - Funds - Children - Transportation - 2008 Election
"McCain To Katrina Victims In 2005: You're On Your Own." ... "It doesn’t really come as a surprise to those of us who have watched [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate] John McCain over the years that he's about to make a campaign stop in New Orleans [Louisiana] after Hurricane Gustav hits this week. After all, he's been exploiting the troops for years, what's a few hurricane victims after that?" ... "What does seem odd is that McCain thinks Gulf Coast residents will forget how he, [Republican President] George W. Bush and the then-Republican Congress turned their backs on them so many times in the months after Katrina thundered ashore in 2005." ... "Too bad he spent the months to follow leading the Republican charge against every Senate bill that would have actually helped Katrina victims or mandated investigations on how the Bush administration could have blown disaster response so thoroughly." ... "[2008 Election] Democratic Vice Presidential nominee Joe Biden jumped immediately to the aid of hurricane victims in the week after the 2005 disaster, authoring S.Amdt. 1661 "…to provide emergency funding for victims of Hurricane Katrina."" ... "Biden's legislation would have provided many things including money to purchase interoperable communications equipment to help first-responders dealing with the disaster, $10 million "to find, unite, and transport children impacted by Hurricane Katrina to their parents, legal guardian, or next of kin" and funding to assist victims of domestic violence in affected areas." ... "But with John McCain's help, the Republican-led Senate shot down the funding on a 41-56 vote with McCain voting against, while Biden and Democratic Presidential nominee Barack Obama voted for the funding." ... "When [New York Democratic] Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY[ Democratic-New York]) proposed the creation of a Congressional Commission to "examine the Federal, State, and local response to the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina.. and make immediate corrective measures to improve such responses in the future," John McCain was once again exactly where [Republican President] George W. Bush wanted him to be: On the "nay" side of a straight party-line vote (44-54) that killed that legislation." ... "And lest you think it was McCain taking a stand against what might become a Democratic witch hunt on the failures of his bosses in the White House, the bill called for a wholly bipartisan panel, stating specifically of the 10-member group that "not more than 5 members of the Commission shall be from the same political party."" ... "Unlike McCain, Barack Obama was one of the cosponsors of that bill and both he and Biden voted for immediate oversight on the bungled Katrina response." ... "But that's not all." -By Bob Geiger

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20080805
John McCain - Rick Davis - Foreign - Corporate - Politics - Airport - Transport - Jobs - 2008 Election - Obama - Ohio - Ky - Arizona - US- German
"McCain had role in original Wilmington DHL deal." ... "When [2008 Election] Republican presidential candidate John McCain meets Thursday with citizens and officials in Wilmington, Ohio, he won't need a playbook to understand why they're worried about deep job losses at the local freight airport." ... "Little known to those citizens, McCain and his campaign manager, Rick Davis, played roles in the fate of DHL Express and its Ohio air park as far back as 2003. Back then, however, their actions that helped DHL and its German owner, Deutsche Post World Net, acquire the Wilmington operations resulted in expansion, not retraction." ... "In a private meeting Thursday, Wilmington residents will ask McCain for help in stopping DHL's proposal to quit using the airport as a hub, which could cost more than 8,000 jobs. DHL says that it wants to stay in the freight business but that it can stem financial losses if it can put its packages aboard the planes of a rival - United Parcel Service - before delivering them in DHL trucks. UPS flies out of Louisville, Ky. [Kentucky], so the proposed change would render the Wilmington airport unnecessary." ... "None of that was anticipated in 2003, when McCain and Davis, who was a Washington lobbyist before managing the presidential campaign, first got involved. Several Wilmington civic leaders said that what happened in 2003 created an economic gain for their community, lasting several years." ... "But because that gain, and now the prospective loss, came from the decisions of a foreign-owned corporation, look for some Democrats and labor to seek to tie Wilmington's current troubles to McCain." ... ""Those jobs are on the chopping block because [Arizona Senator] Sen. McCain and his campaign were involved in a deal that resulted in control of those positions being shifted to a foreign corporation, and there's no getting around that," said Joe Rugola, president of the Ohio AFL-CIO." ... "Isaac Baker, a spokesman for [2008 Election] Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, said, "This episode represents everything that's wrong with Washington, D.C." " -By Stephen Koff -PlainDealer

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20080706
Don Young - Ted Stevens - Tom DeLay - Federal - Investigation - Legislative - Politics - 2008 Election - Alaska - Texas - Virginia - Florida - Transportation - Construction
"When Alaska's Young needed help, lobbyists ponied up." ... "Facing bad publicity and a dwindling campaign account, [United States Alaska Republican Representative] U.S. Rep. Don Young last year turned to the "AK Wolfpack," a group of more than 20 lobbyists, including former Young staffers and retired former congressmen, with close ties to the Alaska Republican." ... "Young's chief of staff, Mike Anderson, sent the Wolfpack an e-mail to tell them that national Democrats planned aggressive fundraising and claims of misconduct by Young to topple the 35-year incumbent congressman and his fellow Alaska Republican [Senator], U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens." ... "If they succeed, Anderson warned, "you and your clients will be impacted."" ... "They include Rick Alcalde, the lobbyist at the heart of a Young earmark that is under federal investigation. They also include lobbyists Colin Chapman, Anderson's immediate predecessor as Young's chief of staff, and Randy DeLay, the brother of former Republican House Majority Leader Tom DeLay of Texas. Randy DeLay lobbied on a Virginia highway project before Young's transportation committee." ... "Anderson e-mailed his note a day after The New York Times ran a front-page story about Young's earmarking $10 million to study a Florida interchange that would benefit a developer who had raised money for an earlier Young campaign. The paper described the earmark as an "obvious" trade of campaign contributions for legislative favors." -By Sean Cockerham and Erika Bolstad -McClatchyDC.com

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20080531
• David Lee Hobson - Ohio - Real Estate - Politics - Lawmaker - Federal - Airport - Transportation - Construction - "Rep. David Hobson steered federal money to projects near properties he owns." ... "U.S. [United States Ohio Republican Representative] Rep. David Hobson of south-central Ohio has directed millions of taxpayer dollars to two Ohio projects near real estate he owned, a Plain Dealer review of congressional, personal-finance and real estate records shows." ... "One project used federal money to build a freight transfer center at a Columbus [Ohio's capital] airport to help move goods to and from central Ohio. Hobson co-owns an office building near the project, and his tenants -- among them U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and several freight companies, including FedEx -- use that freight center." ... "Since buying into the building in 2001, records show, Hobson has used his position in Congress to obtain more than $30 million in federal transportation money to build the freight transfer station, part of a conversion involving the old Rickenbacker Air Force Base outside Columbus." ... "In a separate project, Hobson obtained nearly $2 million from Congress to widen a road in Beavercreek [Ohio], near Dayton [Ohio], in front of a condominium development in which he was an investor, the review of records shows." ... "Neighbors of his investment properties say area real estate values rose, at least partly as a result of the projects he funded through Congress. Hobson is a senior member of a committee that determines how to spend federal money." ... "Members of the budget-writing committee decide in closed meetings which lawmaker-requested earmarks will get tax money and typically give themselves a greater share." -By Sabrina Eaton -PlainDealer

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20080501
• Don Young - Connie Mack - Money - Investigation - Road - Construction - Florida - Alaska - Federal - Law - "‘Liar’ comment cranks up Coconut Road earmark controversy." ... "Two U.S. [United States] congressmen who spent a day touring Southwest Florida roads three years ago — sharing the same car for a drive up Interstate 75, attending the same town hall meeting at Florida Gulf Coast University and going to the same fund raising party in Estero [Florida] — are now trading insults." ... "At issue is who deserves the blame for how and why $10 million in a 2005 federal highway bill got assigned to a Coconut Road [Fort Myers, Florida] interchange study after the $286.4 billion bill passed Congress, but before the president signed it into law." ... "There’s now a dispute over who’s telling the truth and who’s ducking between [Florida Republican Representative] Rep. Connie Mack, R-Fort Myers, the congressman who had invited a more senior house colleague to visit Lee County in February of 2005, and [Alaska Republican Representative] Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, who took the floor of the House on Wednesday to defend his support for the Coconut Road interchange study." ... "Young said he backed the project because it was what people from the area told him they wanted, and those were views he heard at Mack’s invitation." ... "“It was supported by the congressman from that district,” Young said of the $10 million earmark to study a new place to access the interstate. “And there’s letters to back that up.”" -By Elizabeth Wright -NaplesNews.com 

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20080430
• Don Young - Connie Mack - Money - Politics - Law - Alaska - Michigan - Florida - Road - Real Estate - "Young blasts Mack over Coconut Rd.." ... "[Alaska Republican Representative] Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska) on Wednesday defended changes his staffers made to the notorious Coconut Road [in Florida] earmark, the third time in a year he took to the House floor in an attempt to justify one of his suspect pet projects." ... "Young also accused his GOP [GOP=Grand Old Party=Republican] colleague, [Florida Republican Representative] Rep. Connie Mack (Fla.[Florida]), of first supporting the earmark in 2005, and then distancing himself from it once watchdogs and the media began raising concerns." ... "Ethics watchdogs have raised red flags over the Lee County, Fla., road project, the language of which was changed after that measure passed the House and the Senate but before it reached the president’s desk. Such a change may have violated House rules, which prohibit substantive alterations to bills during the enrollment process, the formal procedure in which a measure is recorded before it moves on to be signed by the president." ... "The earmark has been tainted by controversy. Lobbyist Rick Alcalde represented both FGSU [Florida Gulf State University] as well as the company owned by Daniel Aronoff, a real estate developer who owned 4,000 acres along Coconut Road and helped organize a fundraiser for Young during one of his visits to the area in 2005. Both entities requested the Coconut Road earmark." ... "Young flew to FGSU for a town hall meeting in 2005 on a chartered plane owned by a Michigan company; the owner told the Naples Daily News that the Aronoffs were among his biggest clients." ... "After the town hall, Young went directly to a fundraiser at the Hyatt Coconut Point, which Aronoff helped organize." ... "Young said Mack invited him to the town hall meeting." ... "Young also posted documents and photos on his website in an effort to demonstrate that Mack was deeply involved in the earmark. In one letter in March 2006 to FGSU’s president, Mack supported it." -By Susan Crabtree -TheHill.com

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• Clinton - McCain - Obama - Infrastructure - Auto - Transportation - North Carolina - 2008 Election - Oil - Companies - Politics - "Clinton-McCain gas tax holiday slammed as bad idea." ... "The [gas] tax is used to fund the Highway Trust Fund that builds and maintains roads and bridges." ... "Economists said that since refineries cannot increase their supply of gasoline in the space of a few summer months, lower prices will just boost demand and the benefits will flow to oil companies, not consumers." ... ""You are just going to push up the price of gas by almost the size of the tax cut," said Eric Toder, a senior fellow at the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center in Washington." ... "[2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate Barack] Obama criticized the plan as pure politics and said the only way to lower the price of gas is to use less oil." ... ""It would last for three months and it would save you on average half a tank of gas, $25 to $30. That's what Senator Clinton and Senator McCain are proposing to deal with the gas crisis," he said on Tuesday in Winston-Salem, North Carolina." ... ""This isn't an idea designed to get you through the summer, it's an idea designed to get them through an election."" (1, 2, 3) -By Alister Bull with contributions by Bill Trott -Reuters

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20080429
• McCain - Clinton - Obama - Transportation - Infrastructure - Federal - Money - Arizona - New York - Illinois - 2008 Election - Labor_Day - Memorial Day - Consumer - Car - Gas - Politics - "What a gas: Candidates seem far less presidential when they talk about 'gas tax holidays' rather than the nation's ongoing needs." ... "[2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate and Arizona Senator] Sen. John McCain's idea to give Americans a summer holiday from federal gas taxes is about as weighty as a Barbie Dream Car, yet he can't stop driving it into the ground." ... "Neither can [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate and New York Senator] Sen. Hillary Clinton. The two presidential contenders can't resist the chance to pander to voters and, as a bonus, paint [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate and Illinois Senator] Sen. Barack Obama as an elitist. By doing so, they're missing an opportunity to show leadership on some major long-term challenges -- such as updating the nation's crowded roads and aging bridges." ... "In a speech on April 15, McCain proposed that the federal government suspend the 18.4-cent-per-gallon gas tax and the 24.4-cent-per-gallon diesel tax between Memorial Day and Labor Day. ... "McCain's idea is problematic on several levels. First, it would begin and end several months before the next president takes office, so it's more of a thought balloon than a plan. Second, the tax relief would save the typical American family only about $40 per car, while also siphoning $10 billion from the cash-strapped federal highway fund." ... "What's more, leading economists say the tax break would do little to lower the prices at the pump. More likely, the slightly lower prices would lead to higher demand, which would push the prices back up, allowing oil companies to make more money while federal tax coffers go hungry." ... "This is an election-year sop, not a plan for the future." -Oregonian

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20080423
• Safety - Politics - I-35W Bridge Disaster - Investigation - Transportation - Construction - Minnesota - "Congressman, NTSB chairman clash on bridge investigation." ... "A Democratic congressman on Wednesday urged the National Transportation Safety Board to reverse its decision not to hold an interim public hearing on last year's deadly bridge collapse in Minneapolis [Minnesota]." ... ""In the greater Minnesota area, there is huge skepticism about the objectivity of the board in conducting this inquiry," [Minnesota Democratic Represenative] Rep. Jim Oberstar, D-Minn. [Democratic-Minnesota], told NTSB [National Transportation Safety Board] chairman Mark Rosenker at a congressional hearing. "And I'm not asking you, I'm telling you, that a public hearing will dispel, go a long way to dispel, the questions raised and the lack of trust in the board's actions."" ... "The board's three Republicans, including Rosenker, voted against a public hearing, while the two Democratic board members voted to hold one." ... "Oberstar, the chairman of the House Transportation Committee, said at a subcommittee hearing Wednesday that he's more concerned with a thorough investigation than a timely one." ... "A final cause on the [August] Aug. 1 bridge collapse, which killed 13 people and injured 145, won't be determined until later this year. But NTSB memos point to undersize steel plates and heavy loads of construction materials as the likely cause of the deadly collapse. In January, Rosenker called the undersized plates, known as gusset plates, "the critical factor" in the bridge collapse." ... "That early pronouncement has angered some Democrats, especially Oberstar, who has argued that it could commit the board to conclusions that will be difficult to change in light of further investigation. Meanwhile, the state's Republican governor, Tim Pawlenty, has viewed it as some vindication because the initial focus by critics had been on maintenance and upkeep." -By Frederic J. Frommer -AP via -SeattleTimes

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• Mary Peters - Covert - Language - Law - Politics - Greenhouse Gases - Clean Air Act - Environmental - Transportation - Auto - Makers - Fuel - Economy - San Francisco - California - Massachusetts - US - Global - Climate - "Bush fuel economy rules swipe at California." ... "When the [Republican President] Bush administration announced proposed regulations Tuesday to raise fuel economy standards for cars and trucks to 31.6 miles per gallon by 2015, even some environmentalists applauded. But then they read the fine print." ... "Tucked deep into a 417-page "Notice of Proposed Rulemaking" was language by the Transportation Department stating that more stringent limits on tailpipe emissions embraced by California and 17 other states are "an obstacle to the accomplishment" of the new federal standards and are "expressly and impliedly preempted" by federal law." ... "California Attorney General Jerry Brown called it a covert assault on California's rules. Environmentalists said the language will be used by automakers in their legal challenges to two recent federal court rulings that sided with the states." ... "The language showed that beneath the bipartisan veneer of support for new fuel economy standards - approved by [the Democratic controlled] Congress and signed by [Republican] President Bush in December - the conflict is still raging between the White House and the states over who will set the nation's first limits on greenhouse gases." ... "Transportation Secretary Mary Peters, who announced the proposed rules Tuesday, acknowledged that the preemption language was included in the document." ... "The Supreme Court ruled in the Massachusetts vs. EPA case last year that the Transportation Department's authority to set fuel economy standards should not impede other efforts under the Clean Air Act to reduce greenhouse gases." ... "[California Democratic Representative and] House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D[Democratic]-San Francisco [California], responded: "The administration is continuing to block climate change progress by asserting that California doesn't have the right to move forward with its own global warming regulations. That is completely unjustified."" -By Zachary Coile -SFGate.com

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