Interesting.... :-\
QuoteProject's OK Could Help Dockery
By Bill Rufty
Ledger POLITICAL EDITOR
LAKELAND | State Sen. Paula Dockery gained statewide attention in 2008 and again this spring by putting together a coalition that stopped SunRail, a proposed Orlando-area commuter-rail system, which she argued would cost the state in purchase price and future liability.
It spurred a drive that convinced her to run for governor, but now House and Senate leaders from her own party say they are going to get it through in a special session of the Legislature that starts today and runs into next week.
If it does pass, could it be seen as a failure in her run against Attorney General Bill McCollum for the Republican nomination for governor next year?
Two political science professors say not necessarily and Dockery says it might even help.
Although it is Dockery's major claim to fame statewide, losing the SunRail battle in itself may not be harmful, said Susan MacManus, political science professor at the University of South Florida.
"The question is whether there will be a single issue," MacManus said. "She has obviously made a lot about her success (in defeating SunRail), but it is too early to say if another issue will take its place.
"Right now for voters, it is jobs, not rail," MacManus said.
"I think what I am seeing this election cycle is a lot of new faces running for new positions. It is sort of reflective of a dissatisfaction with incumbents," MacManus said. "And in a way, Dockery is a new face.
"I have also been struck by the number of Republican women running for office this time. Voters will be very attentive to new faces; the polls show voters want someone new," she said.
Florida Southern College political scientist John Santosuosso said a defeat on the commuter-rail issue will hurt Dockery, but it is not fatal.
"Any time you take a very decided stand on a highly divisive issue and the ultimate outcome is not what you worked for, you receive a wound," he said, "but wounds heal.
"There are many other issues, especially the economy, so, in order to win the fight, you don't have to win every round, just the most," he said.
There are issues of helping debt-ridden Tri-Rail in South Florida, the state's only commuter-rail system, and getting high-speed rail money from the federal stimulus money.
Opponents of the current CSX/SunRail deal say the Orlando commuter rail is being tied to the others to win support.
Dockery said, however, that the deal still does not make CSX Transportation liable for damages to nonrailroad property or for injuries to non-CSX employees, with the state paying for railroad negligence. The liability issue was a major weapon she used to stop the deal twice before.
She said a win by the SunRail supporters using an agreement that includes high cost and liability to the taxpayers would help her campaign for governor, not hurt it.
"When such powerful and manipulative forces and their lobbyists are able to get their way, it can only be stopped by a governor's veto," she said. "I think that's what people are going to want in the future if this passes in this secretive manner."
Senate President Jeff Atwater, who suddenly this fall has become a major advocate of the Orlando project, still may not have the 21 votes in the 40-member Senate needed to push through the deal.
"But in a special session when the focus is on one narrow issue, the pressure will be tremendous," she said.
Still, Dockery says she is being besieged by her coalition of senators opposed to the SunRail deal asking her what is in the bill. She can't tell them because the legislative leaders have not made it public.
"It's terrible. There is no language out there where we can read what they are doing. This goes right back to the problem I had four or five years ago, when everything was done in secret with the collusion of the Department of Transportation and hidden from even the legislators, and this kind of governing has to stop," she said.
http://www.theledger.com/article/20091202/NEWS/912025073/1134?Title=Project-s-OK-Could-Help-Dockery
Well .....us poor protected taxpayers suffer from the same affliction! I never know what the hell language is in a Bill before the State Legislature...........really lucky if I can find out about the City end! What irritates me is no matter what is passed.....taxpayers will still get to pay for it! It is nice that there is a vision.......but it would be nicer if the funding were an integrated part of that vision!
Paula has some very odd perspectives....she thinks that pasage of SunRail will help her campaign....just like she thinks that defeating SunRail actually helps her husband's dream of high speed rail.
Quote from: CS Foltz on December 03, 2009, 07:09:53 AM
I never know what the hell language is in a Bill before the State Legislature
try going to the Legislature's website...every version of every bill is posted on-line!
Paula? Kan u spel DUM?
OCKLAWAHA
Passing Sujnrail could be a win for her if because of her the state gets. a better deal on the liability front.