Plain Dealer wants Ohio to "lease" the Ohio Turnpike for 99 years

[Kolesar]

An increasing number of states are raising large sums for in frastructure by leasing or selling their turnpikes to private operators.

Illinois and Indiana recently leased their toll roads for billions in lump-sum payments. And last Friday was Gov. Ed Rendell's deadline for private operators to submit proposals for assuming control of the Pennsylvania Turnpike.

Ohio would be remiss not to explore a similar proposition for its 241-mile toll road. During the gubernatorial campaign, Republican Ken Blackwell touted a 99-year lease plan that he said would raise $4 billion to $6 billion for public investment. It was an intriguing idea that his Democratic opponent, Ted Strickland, dismissed as a gimmick.
http://www.cleveland.com/editorials/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/opinion/1167643840234000.xml&coll=2

[liberal N proud]

1. Ken Blackwell is involved

That would make it a questionable deal.
What is in it for Kenny?

[geiger]

2. There is plenty of evidence that leasing is a bad idea

Commissioner Ted Kalo of Lorain County has got a lot of facts and figures about this issue. I will try to get a hold of them for purposes of publishing them on this forum.

[samplegirl]

3. This just should not happen

The Ohio Turnpike belongs to the citizens of Ohio. The plan of candidate Ken Blackwell to lease the turnpike is not his decision to make.

Any lease of the turnpike is "illegal taxation without representation," which is one of the reasons our ancestors fought the Revolutionary War. Income from a lease would be carelessly spent for someone's agenda. Since any company is in business to make money, they would have the option of raising fees, which would put the normal drivers and truckers back on the state roads and increase the expenses for the state and local communities.

A private company would never make the necessary repairs and improvements to the turnpike. Toward the last 20 years of the contract there would be few repairs, as it is too easy to delay work with a lawsuit. Present employees would be terminated and new hires could be paid considerably less money and benefits. The lease managers could raise their pay to spend any profit and thus raise the operational cost of the turnpike.

Since the turnpike is the only main east/west road across Ohio, it must be kept under direct control of the state. I demand that the current Legislature and all governments pass a resolution to express displeasure with this scam and pass laws to prevent this type of action.

[mtnester]

4. Yeppers, Ole Ken will NOT be the next Governor and an IMPORTANT reminder

so he will not be the decider on this, and Taft will do nothing for the next 18 days.

So, unless Ted approves this (which I doubt), this is old and done news.

OH, BTW, I have to mention this....a reminder of glee to all...and In CAPS because it matters so damn much...

BY THE END OF JANUARY, KEN BLACKWELL, BOB TAFT, MIKE DEWINE AND MANY OTHERS ARE SIMPLY OUT OF A JOB....THANK GOD, ALLAH, YAHWEH, THE GODDESS OR KARMA, WHICHEVER YOU DO OR DO NOT WORSHIP, THESE ASSHATS WILL BE GONE GONE GONE GONE!

I can hardly wait. I could pee my pants with antci...pation

[Kolesar]

5. This "Libertarian" fantasy was busted in Mother Jones

good article linked in this thread.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=103&topic_id=252148

[ohio2007]

6. State wants to cut pensions,don't want to pay retirement

lease it and the turnpike jobs become min wage.

[GOTV]

7. I don't understand how this can work?

You lease to a private company for more money than the fees and tolls generate for you directly?

[BillORightsMan]

8. The Highwaymen @ MoJo

News: Why you could soon be paying Wall Street investors, Australian bankers, and Spanish builders for the privilege of driving on American roads.

By Daniel Schulman with James Ridgeway
MotherJones
January/February 2007 Issue

The Highwaymen

The one thing everyone agreed on was that the Indiana deal was just a prelude to a host of such efforts to come. Across the nation, there is now talk of privatizing everything from the New York Thruway to the Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey turnpikes, as well as of inviting the private sector to build and operate highways and bridges from Alabama to Alaska. More than 20 states have enacted legislation allowing public-private partnerships, or P3s, to run highways. Robert Poole, the founder of the libertarian Reason Foundation and a longtime privatization advocate, estimates that some $25 billion in public-private highway deals are in the works—a remarkable figure given that as of 1991, the total cost of the interstate highway system was estimated at $128.9 billion.

~BIG snip~
Perhaps the most tireless of the privatization advocates is Mark Florian, the chief operating officer of Goldman Sachs' municipal finance division, who advised Chicago and Indiana on their toll road deals and says he has personally visited more than 35 statehouses to "help spur the market." Florian was a speaker at the Waldorf conference, and after his remarks in the hotel's lavish ballroom, the Goldman Sachs executive—who bears a mild resemblance to Stephen Colbert—was instantly mobbed, rock star style, by delegates, all of whom seemed to be on a first-name basis with him.

"I at times tell my colleagues that I kind of feel like a missionary—out trying to sell the religion," Florian told Mother Jones. "We have been heavily invested in this."

Florian's employer isn't just any old Wall Street firm. It is one of the nation's most active and most profitable investment banks, and top Goldman Sachs officials have served in numerous administrations. Last summer, President Bush tapped its ceo, Henry "Hank" Paulson, as secretary of the treasury. Another former Goldman Sachs ceo is New Jersey governor Jon Corzine, who in September commissioned an analysis of whether state assets, including the New Jersey Turnpike, should be turned over to private companies. In addition to advising Indiana on the Toll Road deal, Goldman Sachs has worked with Texas governor Rick Perry's administration on privatization projects, and according to Schmidt, the former adviser to the Chicago mayor's office, it was a Goldman Sachs representative who first pitched the city on the idea of leasing out the Skyway.

That deal, which yielded $9 million in fees for Goldman Sachs, was "an eye-opener" for the company... much more

The lawmakers are too chicken to raise taxes to pay for our critical infrastructure; the federal gas tax has been stuck at 18¢/gal for nearly 20 years and the Federal Highway Administration's budget will be underfunded and in the red by 2009. They're selling off large chunks of America for a quick infusion of money and privatizing everything in sight. I posted this over at the DU-PA forum when word leaked Gov. Rendell is "interested" in privatizing the PA turnpike LINK

Don't even get me started on the NAFTA Superhighway BS

:patriot:

[Ninga]

9. Thanks for posting this...any chance you would be willing to write a LTE and send it to the PD?

[BillORightsMan]

10. My LTTE about Turnpike Privitization

Good Idea, Ninga! I think we need to ALL write LTTEs, especially if this gets any traction in the still-GOP-controlled Ohio Congress.

PD Editorial: A turnpike paved with gold? -Monday, January 01, 2007
QUOTE: "With the election safely behind him, we hope Governor-elect Strickland will reconsider. Turning such a valuable asset into ready cash could boost the state's transportation funding and its overall economy."

As was outlined in Mother Jones Jan/Feb 2007 Issue "The Highwaymen", big business interests like Goldman Sachs are promoting selling off US highway assets in nearly every state and "the privatization model has the full backing of the Bush administration." The Indiana Toll Road privitization was done behind closed doors with virtually no public hearings or input. The law passed by a party-line 51-48 vote in the legislature.

In "The Highwaymen" Dave Menzer, an organizer at Citizens Action Coalition, an Indianapolis-based advocacy group that also joined the anti-privatization suit (which ultimately failed) said, "The public was ignored on this; public opinion was ignored on this. I think that increasingly the public feels like what's driving politics, what's driving these decisions, is multinational corporations and deal-makers like Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch, and Morgan Stanley. They're the ones making tens of millions of dollars ultimately at the public's expense."

One reason for Ken Blackwell's landslide defeat was his advocacy for the privitization of the Ohio Turnpike. Highway privitization seems like an appealing quick-fix for politicians who are afraid to raise taxes to maintain our infrastructure, from Texas to Oklahoma to New Jersey and Pennsylvania. This ties in neatly for the big business interests pushing for the NAFTA Superhighway currently being planned. Who wins? Mulitnational investment firms. Who loses? The public at large. There's no reason states cannot implement the same funding mechanisms these private corporations are proposing and keep a valuable public land assets in the hands of the public. Strickland is correct: privitization of the turnpike is "a gimmick", a sham "policy" to benefit the few, free to raise tolls and not be mandated to deliver services to the public. They only need to answer to their shareholders, not the citizens of the United States.

imbillorightsmanandiapprovethismessage
:patriot:

[ohio2007]

11. Plaine dealer 'wants' ohio to do --? who owns the PD ? nt

[Kolesar]

12. I think it's a wealthy E Coast family named Eggers

..but you best look it up if you want to know for sure.