Is Craddick Holding Up State Railroad Funds For Political Reasons?

A new document has revealed that Texas House Speaker Tom Craddick is ignoring recommendations from the real state budget experts in continuing to deny funding for the Texas State Railroad:

At issue is about $2 million for the railroad that the Legislature approved during this year’s session but that the Legislative Budget Board, on which Craddick holds a key position, continues to block. The money is to be matched with $10 million in federal funds.

“This doesn’t pass the fairness test,” said state Rep. Byron Cook, the Corsicana Republican who sponsored the railroad legislation. Cook was also one of Craddick’s most outspoken critics this year.

Cook said the funding delay is a subversion of the will of the Texas House and Senate.

“If this railroad was in Midland, they probably would have added another 100 miles of track right now,” Cook said. “There is no question that what is being done is not being done in the best interest of Texas.”

Lawmakers agreed to the cash infusion after funding shortfalls threatened to permanently end the railroad’s operation. Lawmakers also approved Cook’s legislation to create the Texas State Railroad Authority, charged with overseeing a private company that is to operate the train.

Alexis DeLee, a spokeswoman for Craddick, denied that internal House politics have played a role in the delay.

She has said the speaker’s office remains concerned about details of the contract with the private company and delayed funding to protect taxpayer interests. DeLee said other lawmakers had similar concerns, though she declined to name them.

In holding up the money, Craddick is ignoring advice from an expert at the Legislative Budget Board, which oversees state expenditures, according to a Sept. 14 memo obtained by the Star-Telegram.

The letter from analyst Tina Beck to Craddick’s office and others indicates that the Texas State Railroad Authority “had taken adequate steps to protect itself.” She recommended the release of the money and warned that if the funding does not become available in a timely fashion, the private operator could terminate its agreement with the rail authority.

DeLee downplayed the significance of the letter, saying it was a staff recommendation from an agency that only “studies fiscal issues and not legal ones.”

Oh, Alexis, you tease. Clearly, the folks who have put together the budget for decades and have examined similar contracts for decades simply stand by and blindly approve anything that is stuck in front of them, according to the Speaker’s logic.

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