03.25.07
“Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world….”
On Friday the The Texas Observer Blog put up this post, Toll Road Roller Coaster (thanks to Sal for the tip). The tone was sorta weird, like a bad file noir kind of take, with the talk of “devils sweet nectar” and all. But as far as the content goes It’s pretty silly.
It portrays Rep. Mik Krusee as a willy-nilly, happy-go-lucky legislator that doesn’t care if he gets reelected, he just wants to build roads for the good of society, and if it’s takes raising the gas tax then that’s OK too. And to even allude to the fact that Krusee may, in some way, be on the side of those opposed to his style of toll roads is a little out there.
But the worst part is the end where we get a glimpse into the altruistic Mike Krusee, who’s just trying to make it easier on those in the inner-city and his plan, no matter how unfair, is only soaking the rich Republicans. Those are the people that live in the suburbs that will be paying for these roads.
As for the raising the gasoline tax, Krusee said he was okay with that. But he added that he was going to make sure his colleagues knew that it was one of the most “regressive taxes†on the planet. He said most of the toll roads on the drawing board will benefit people living in the suburbs, who for the most part are affluent Republicans. “When we do a fuel tax, people in the inner city are not only subsidizing people who live in the suburbs, but they’re also subsidizing NAFTA trucks carrying goods from Monterrey to Chicago.â€
It was thirsty work, trying to explain the benefits of toll roads to doubting Thomases. Krusee drained his second glass of nectar and stood up to leave.”I give this talk twice a week all over Texas. I haven’t met anybody who hasn’t been persuaded that it isn’t a fair way to proceed.”
Of course preaching to the choir, giving this speech to Chambers’ of Commerce and other business friendly groups, doesn’t really get him many converts. But we all know that Rep. Krusee won’t bring his message of hope into hostile territory. Not only would he not show up in Coupland, (Rep. Krusee Leaves Constituents Thinking He Doesn’t Work For Them). He also didn’t show up at any of the TxDOT hearings last summer. I’ll bet he would have met somebody he couldn’t persuade in those two places.
To say that Krusee is not feeling any pressure is, more than likely, true. He’s such a lightning rod on this issue I doubt anybody would go looking for him to support their plan any longer. If the GOP in this state wants to move on this they’ll do it, and there’s probably not much Krusee can do to stop it.
Also check out OffTheKuff today, he’s got a great post on To toll or not to toll, dueling editorials, in the HChron today.