03.22.07

Update on Sen. Carona And The Privatization Moratorium

Posted in 80th Legislature, Privatization, Road Issues at 11:17 pm by wcnews

CorridorWatch has put out bulletin tonight explaining how they were sandbagged into not bringing the power of their activists to bear on the Senate committee hearing on Wednesday because the hearing was a mere formality.

CorridorWatch got sandbagged Wednesday.

We were led by Transportation and Homeland Security Committee staff to believe that Wednesday’s hearing was a formality. CorridorWatch was requested not to have more than one speaker. Shame on us. Instead of bringing a room full of elected local officials in support of SB1267 we sent one representative with a brief prepared statement. Meanwhile, local officials in opposition filled the room and testified against the bill, many inspired by TxDOT pressure and scare tactics.

Then when calling Sen. Carona’s office they were lied to about Sen. Carona’s being miquoted, later admitting he wasn’t, and were also told the Senator would give them a call and they’re still waiting for that call.

Information, misinformation and spin.

Dozens, if not hundreds, of CorridorWatch members were told this morning by Senator Carona’s office that the Senator was misquoted in this morning’s Austin American-Statesman report.

CorridorWatch however confirmed today that nothing in news reports that were attributed to the Senator will be challenged as incorrect. A source close to the Senator was clear and unequivocal that nothing was wrong, inaccurate or misleading in Ben Wear’s story.

Despite the clarification Carona’s office was still telling callers this afternoon that the story was misleading because the reporter didn’t get all of the information.

“I’ll call you!”

Sounds familiar doesn’t it. That’s what Senator Carona’s office told David Stall of CorridorWatch at 10:38 a.m. this morning. The actual message was, “I will call you when I get a chance this morning.” As this is written it is after 5:00 p.m. and the morning is long gone.

Instead of a call we received word after lunch that the Senator is working on a formal statement that would be sent to us as soon as it was available. It arrived at 3:28 p.m. We never did get that call.

The Stall’s are better people than I. They still believe that Sen. Carona, despite his dissembling and evading, “..is [in] the best position to do our cause the most good”.

Please read the whole bulletin and take action. Call Sen. Carona, call your Senator, the Lt. Gov and any other elected representative that you feel needs to know your feeling on this issue. They’re all listed in the bulletin.

1 Comment »

  1. salcostello said,

    March 23, 2007 at 3:22 am

    Bravo! The Stalls are amazing selfless people. Great post.

Leave a Comment

You must be logged in to post a comment.