Texas politics: Why I won’t be voting for Tom Craddick
Oct 21, 2008 politics
Not too long ago, I spoke at the La Entrada al Pacifico townhall style meeting held at the UTPB CEED building here in Midland, Texas. One of the points that I made was that the La Entrada al Pacifico corridor (as a section of the larger Trans Texas Corridor) was an encroachment on our state and national sovereignty, because the TTC (but not La Entrada al Pacifico, as pointed out by James Beauchamp) it is not only giving taxing/tolling authority to foreign entities, but using Texas taxpayer money to subsidize the importation of foreign goods. As it turns out, Craddick’s wife, Nadine, is a co-founder of MOTRAN (Midland Odessa Transportation Alliance), an organization that is spearheading La Entrada al Pacifico.
Tom Craddick lists the “Driver Responsibility Program”, a program which imposes a surcharge on driving offenses such as not physically carrying your license with you while driving (even if it is valid and you forgot your wallet at home) or any moving violation(s) which result in 6 points on your driving record. A portion of the revenues from these surcharge fees (49.5% to be exact) are going to TXDOT’s “mobility fund”, which funds highway projects, including the trans-Texas corridor and La Entrada al Pacifico, since TXDOT is currently performing a $1.5 million study of the La Entrada al Pacifico corridor in Texas.
Not to mention, the “Christi Craddick Bill” – a bill which gave Craddick’s adult daughter state funded health care, despite his criticizing legislators who pay employees who do little to no work for the state of Texas with taxpayer dollars. His daughter works for his PAC and provides no service to the State of Texas.
Craddick was also involved in a money laundering scheme in 2002.
Tags: christi craddick, driver responsibility program, la entrada al pacifico, midland, MOTRAN, nadine craddick, odessa, tom craddick, trans-texas corridor, TXDOT
October 21st, 2008 at 8:49 pm
I wonder where you got your information at?
La Entrada al Pacifico is a designated trade corridor that consists entirely of existing U.S. roadways. The one exception is the SH 349 Reliever Route in Midland, which had to be constructed to keep industrial traffic (most of it locally generated) off of Loop 250 which was designed for passsneger traffic. As a side note, around 70% of the right-of-way for the relief route was donated by landowners because it would increase the value of their property and allow access for development of their property.
There is no tolling and there is no taxing or tolling authority given to foreign entities associated with the La Entrada al Pacifco corridor. In addition, there are no subsidies for imported foreign goods as part of this corridor.
La Entrada al Pacifico has not been a recipient of any “mobility fund” dollars either. The only regional usage of those funds has been the Marsha Sharp Freeway in Lubbock. (Maybe you should go after the folks up in Lubbock while your at it.)
We believe in the USA and we’re against the North American Union, drugs, illiegal immigration, and terrorists.
However, we believe in COMMERCE and the ability of people to create business and jobs. From 2005 through 2006, the Permian Basin saw exports to other countries increase by $178 million dollars, helping grow and diversify our economy.
Please feel free to vote for whoever you chose, after all, it is a free country….but next time check your facts.
October 24th, 2008 at 3:38 pm
well, to begin with, the front page of the MOTRAN site says, “[M]eanwhile, TXDOT and HDR Engineering are performing a $1.5 million dollar study of the La Entrada al Pacifico Corridor in Texas.” Since that is TXDOT money, wouldn’t it be coming from the mobility fund?
Also, the Texas highway 349 project received $2 million from the $11.6 million the permian basin was given from congress’ $286.4 billion highway bill, and $10 million from the Texas Transportation Commission. Since the Driver Responsibility Program has been in existence since 2003, and the Texas Transportation Commission administers the mobility fund, which is intended to “provide a method of financing … [for] costs of any necessary design and costs of acquisition of rights-of-way”. So you can see why it would be easy to assume that the reliever route would receive funding from the Mobility Fund. If I am wrong, then I have no problem with someone proving me wrong.
The reason I made the connection between La Entrada and the trans texas corridor (which will give tolling authority to foreign entities) is because in this document [http://www.senate.state.tx.us/75r/Senate/Commit/C640/downloads/testimony/050504/Eckels.pdf] La Entrada is listed as one of the trans texas corridors (see page 5). Even if there are no current plans to turn sections of the corridor into a toll road, since it is part of the larger trans texas corridor system, is there the possibility of that happening in the future?
I believe you when you say you are for the USA, anti-NAU, and anti-illegal immigration. However – do you think that the entire corridor concept, whether it be La Entrada or the trans texas corridor system as a whole, is creating a monster that will compromise the values that you hold? Personally, I think that the possibility is there.
October 24th, 2008 at 4:11 pm
Oh by the way, I am not voting for Bill Dingus, but rather Sherry Phillips (libertarian).