Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate Barbara Ann Radnofsky met with concerned citizens, the advanced Project Development Director of the Texas Turnpike Authority Division Dieter Blick, listened to testimony of Rockwall residents and other spearkers, and gave testimony against the Trans Texas Corridor Thursday evening at the Freshman Center August 17 in Rockwall. She remains in Rockwall for two additional days of study, discussions, and receptions for her U.S. Senate campaign, as she reached her 480th campaign trip.

"Rockwall certainly has a big voice for the smallest Texas county, and the impassioned objections of its citizens should be heeded," Radnofsky said.

"Why are we undertaking a project which, if finished in fifty years, will be obsolete, with no studies as to the modes of transportation we'll actually be using at that time? Why are we trying to fund Private, massive pofits for foreign corporations, paid for by tolls that are charged to the public, on roads that will be tolled forever?

"The reason is not science, technology, traffic congestion, or public need. The reason is generating profit for private companies. Texas lacks the Money to finance such a project, and no thinking taxpayer would willingly fund it. TxDOT claims and concedes that Texas lacks the resources, the tools, to fund the estimated 184 billion dollars the project will supposedly cost. The vast majority of the toll money collected will end up in the pockets of foreign corporations.

"Why does Texas lack the money for highways and public transit development, and rail? Why are communities pitted against each other, fighting for scarce federal highway dollars generated by our gas tax dollars?

"The answer: Texas leaders want to fuel private schemes proposed by their big donors and can only justify wasteful private companies reaping huge profits at our expense, charging Texas drivers tolls to pay for private profits if they have an expensive proposal and no money to find it. It's a perfect storm of circumstances, since we Texans donate nearly ten cents of every gas tax dollar from Texas to the rest of the country. Now, TxDOT can rightly claim that Texas is underfinanced for our transportation dollars, giving statewide elected officials a convenient excuse to turn to private financing. The lack of public money has been used to justify a boondoggle project to utilize private industry, to be repaid with money out of the pockets of ordinary Texans."-excerpt from official Press Release by Barbara Ann Radnofsky 8/18/06. Received via email to RGV Politics. For the complete press release, follow the link to Barbara Ann Radnofsky's home page provided on the side bar.

That's the wisdom for today, everybody. Bottle it up and keep it close to your hearts because lightning like that never strikes twice. Especially in a political landscape that has seen more than it's fair share of corruption. What Radnofsky's words do, and should do, is echo the sentiments of every living, breathing citizen this side of the Falfurrias checkpoint. The battle lines are drawn, my friends, what we do now will affect us for the rest of our lives. Something to think about when our commissioners, and mayors want a Republican governor in Austin for the next four years. A governor who has all but sold his soul in promises of better roads and livelihoods for all Texans to ensure that the Trans Texas Corridor becomes a reality. The problem with making those types of promises, is that inevitably, you take a lot of people down with you. The sad fact is, those people have become the everyday working man and woman struggling to provide for their families and themselves. Those are the people who least deserve it.