Eagle Forum: No To Trans Texas Corridor

No doubt, this headline in the Midland Reporter-Telegram has Rick Perry and his campaign banging their fists and saying, “Oh, Shit!:”

Texas Eagle Forum president: Fight Trans-Texas Corridor, North American Union

Yep. Chalk that up in your “More Conservative Backlash for Governor Perry” files, which is by no doubt by now in need of its own file cabinet, if not an entire little garage down at the local Public Storage.
Of course, the Eagle Forum (and its eaglet, the Texas Eagle Forum) are the butter on the bread of the Conservative movement in Texas. And a “no TTC” statement from the Eagle Forum is significant because a lot of Texas conservatives drink the Eagle Forum/American Family Foundation/Christian Coalition Kool-Aide like it was the water of life.

Eagle Forum President Cathie Adams spoke to some 54 people at the Petroleum Club. Formed by Phyllis Schlafly in 1972, the St. Louis, Mo., and Washington, D.C.-based Eagle Forum is pro-family, pro-life group.

She said those attending should keep their eye on the 2008 presidential race, ask their state representatives and senators to support eminent domain legislation in 2007, back keeping tolls from the Trans-Texas Corridor in-state and redirect the Texas Mobility and state highway funds to build roads.

Get your water, sugar and ice, because here’s some of Cathie’s Kool-Aide:

Adams said Texas Highway Fund money is now paying for Medicaid ambulances, state employee raises and some was approved to spend on education.

The Trans-Texas Corridor is a 600-mile superhighway that would be run by a Spanish company called Cintra Concessions de Infraestrcturas de Transporte, S.A. It would be operated and tolls collected by Cintra for 50 years, she said.

When state legislators in 2003 approved House Bill 3588 creating the Trans-Texas Corridor, it was thought to be a superhighway built by and for Texans.

But Adams said it has “morphed” into a NAFTA superhighway set to become a 4,000-mile $184 billion international entity called North America’s SuperCorridor, regulated by “international bureaucrats,” according to a story Adams wrote in the September issue of “Torch,” published by the Texas Eagle Forum.

I think I just heard another “Oh Shit!” from Perry Campaign HQ on that.
But, of course, Adams then tries to jump back into the fold with this:

Personally, Adams, of Dallas, is behind Perry and wants to go after eminent domain and putting the two state highway funds toward building roads. “I don’t like the aspect of the (Trans-Texas Corridor) contract where we have the money, but we’re not building or collecting,” she said.

She added if Perry is re-elected “maybe we need to rework the contract.”

Two notes to note, though: the “if Perry is re-elected” and “maybe we need to rework the contract.”

With conservative leaders on the backlash path, Perry’s in trouble. This is also the first time I’ve heard of a Texas conservative leader use a conditional term like “if” when talking about Perry’s re-election.

Of course, it’s also important to note that the Kool-Aide drinkers may only hear the former part of Adams’ argument (the TTC sucks part) and not the latter, which does not bode well at all for Perry.

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