Gubernatorial candidates discuss transportation

DMN interviews candidates

Steve Hawley, Feb 05, 10.

Texas gubernatorial candidates Kay Bailey Hutchison, Debra Medina, Rick Perry, and Bill White sat down with the Dallas Morning News to discuss their views on transportation, and the DMN Transportation Blog posted the transcripts. The Transportation Blog divided the interviews into two sections - Republicans and Democrat Bill White. The DMN did not interview any of the other Democratic candidates.

Hutchison, a US senator, spent most of her time criticizing the state government, while Perry, the current governor, criticized Washington. According to Hutchison, the state’s transportation problems, including congestion and a lack of funding, can be attributed to poor management at the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT). She said she will rearrange the agency if she wins the election. Perry, on the other hand, said that Congress has continually shortchanged Texas, sending the state just 70 percent of the gas tax revenues it generates.

White, the former Houston mayor, said that the state needs more effective long-term transportation planning and accused Perry’s administration of being preoccupied with the now-defunct Trans-Texas Corridor concept at the expense of other transportation projects. Medina also criticized TxDOT, saying that the agency does not use all of its money on transportation.

Both Perry and Hutchison called for an end to so-called “diversions” from the state gas tax. According to the Texas Constitution, 25 percent of gas tax revenue must go to the Available School Fund, with the remaining 75 percent funding transportation projects.

White expressed support for “local option” transportation financing, in which local entities, with voter approval, could raise money to build transportation projects. The Texas legislature considered such a measure last year but ultimately rejected it. Local option financing would primarily benefit large urban areas. Hutchison also expressed tentative support for the idea, saying that she would not support extra taxes or fees unless local voters had approved them. Perry and Medina opposed the local option, indicating that they would not support any tax increases.

Hutchison supported high-speed rail, noting that soon 75 percent of the Texas population will live in the Texas Triangle megaregion formed by San Antonio, Austin, Dallas-Fort Worth, and Houston. White called high-speed rail “an exciting concept and one which I think deserves study,” but said it would not be one of his top priorities. Medina said she opposes government-subsidized high-speed rail and that any alternative transportation should be developed through the private marketplace. However, the Texas Department of Transportation notes that every road in the state is also highly subsidized, and not just transit.

Perry said he supports rail, but that “it would be premature to to ask voters to set up a fund for high-speed rail before we even know whether it would work.” Around the same time as the interview, the Perry administration blasted the Obama administration for “shortchanging” the state by giving it just $4 million in high-speed rail funding. The Obama administration countered by saying that Texas was woefully unprepared for high-speed rail and that rail did not have enough political support from Perry and other state officials, a claim supported by the Dallas Morning News editorial board.

Below is the DMN Transportation Blog’s take on the four candidates:

Hutchison—Sticks with the politically safe position of blasting the condition of the highway system while not saying what she would do about it—except for studying the problem.
...
Medina—Reading from KBH’s script: roads in bad shape, study is what’s needed. But she doesn’t want to advocate for elections on local transit issues or high-speed intercity rail. That would get her too chummy with taxes.
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Perry: Firm against taxes, dumping the nuance of the past. Amnesia, suddenly? ... Perry’s position has change[d] from what looked like being “open” to indexing [the state gas tax to inflation] to a hard-line against any tax increase.
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Both White and Hutchison hate the [Trans-Texas Corridor] and like the idea of letting locals vote on raising transport taxes, under certain conditions. Both are “multi-modal,” although White isn’t diving headlong into high-speed rail. Both want “bottom-up” decision-making and better planning. White opposes “tolling existing roadways,” which has been a trademark [Hutchison] issue (although I can’t find it on her website now). ... There are slight differences between White and [Hutchison], but they are wonkish ideas on governance. ... White doesn’t call for any reorganization of [TxDOT].

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