"We covet our seat at the table."
Group opposes Perry's transportation plan but endroses him
02/03/2006
By JIM VERTUNO
Associated Press
Copyright 2006
Despite ardent opposition to Gov. Rick Perry's Trans Texas Corridor transportation plan, the political arm of the Texas Farm Bureau has decided to endorse Perry's bid for re-election.
"It's not just about the corridor. We will continue to oppose it, and will kill it if we can," farm bureau spokesman Gene Hall said Friday. "(But) the farm bureau is not a single-issue organization."
Perry, the son of West Texas tenant farmers, has worked well with the farm bureau on other issues such as water rights and the government seizure of private property known as eminent domain, Hall said.
Officially, the endorsement comes from the Texas Farm Bureau Friends of Agriculture Fund, the bureau's political action committee, which can donate money to a campaign. Hall said a donation would be made to Perry's campaign but declined to say how much, noting that such information will later be available to the public.
"There's a lot that happens (at the state Capitol) and we have a stake in most of it," Hall said. "We covet our seat at the table."
The Trans Texas Corridor is Perry's sweeping $184 billion vision of thousands of miles of highways, railways and utilities crisscrossing the state.
Perry has said the corridor project, a 50-year project that hinges on the development of new toll roads, is necessary for Texas to meet its transportation needs of the future. Spanish consortium Cintra-Zachary is already developing a plan for the first phase, a 600-mile traffic and trade route from Oklahoma to Mexico to run parallel to Interstate 35.
Farmers and environmentalists worry that landowners and small towns will pay the greatest cost. The Texas Farm Bureau had resisted the corridor project because of worries that farmers could be forced to give up land without adequate compensation.
Opponents have rallied at the state Capitol. A rally in May drew Perry's opponent, Carole Keeton Strayhorn, a Republican who is running for governor as an independent.
Writer and musician Kinky Friedman is also running for governor as an independent.
Democrats Chris Bell and Bob Gammage will face off in the Democratic primary on March 7.
Perry spokesman Robert Black said Perry, a former state agriculture commissioner, welcomed the endorsement and would continue to work with farmers.
"Gov. Perry is someone who has a deep understanding of how important agriculture is in Texas," said Perry campaign spokesman Robert Black.
© 2006 The Dallas Morning News Co www.dallasnews.com
02/03/2006
By JIM VERTUNO
Associated Press
Copyright 2006
Despite ardent opposition to Gov. Rick Perry's Trans Texas Corridor transportation plan, the political arm of the Texas Farm Bureau has decided to endorse Perry's bid for re-election.
"It's not just about the corridor. We will continue to oppose it, and will kill it if we can," farm bureau spokesman Gene Hall said Friday. "(But) the farm bureau is not a single-issue organization."
Perry, the son of West Texas tenant farmers, has worked well with the farm bureau on other issues such as water rights and the government seizure of private property known as eminent domain, Hall said.
Officially, the endorsement comes from the Texas Farm Bureau Friends of Agriculture Fund, the bureau's political action committee, which can donate money to a campaign. Hall said a donation would be made to Perry's campaign but declined to say how much, noting that such information will later be available to the public.
"There's a lot that happens (at the state Capitol) and we have a stake in most of it," Hall said. "We covet our seat at the table."
The Trans Texas Corridor is Perry's sweeping $184 billion vision of thousands of miles of highways, railways and utilities crisscrossing the state.
Perry has said the corridor project, a 50-year project that hinges on the development of new toll roads, is necessary for Texas to meet its transportation needs of the future. Spanish consortium Cintra-Zachary is already developing a plan for the first phase, a 600-mile traffic and trade route from Oklahoma to Mexico to run parallel to Interstate 35.
Farmers and environmentalists worry that landowners and small towns will pay the greatest cost. The Texas Farm Bureau had resisted the corridor project because of worries that farmers could be forced to give up land without adequate compensation.
Opponents have rallied at the state Capitol. A rally in May drew Perry's opponent, Carole Keeton Strayhorn, a Republican who is running for governor as an independent.
Writer and musician Kinky Friedman is also running for governor as an independent.
Democrats Chris Bell and Bob Gammage will face off in the Democratic primary on March 7.
Perry spokesman Robert Black said Perry, a former state agriculture commissioner, welcomed the endorsement and would continue to work with farmers.
"Gov. Perry is someone who has a deep understanding of how important agriculture is in Texas," said Perry campaign spokesman Robert Black.
© 2006 The Dallas Morning News Co
posted by Porkus Maximus Tex: at Friday, February 03, 2006
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