Guv Race Heats Up w/attacks on Carole - she fights back!

Dear Independent Texans:

        Read the press Carole Keeton Strayhorn's proposed transportation  
plan filed with TxDOT today, including scrapping Rick Perry's Trans-
Texas Corridor and "double-tax" urban toll schemes.  Scroll all the  
way down at the end of this message & enjoy!

        The Corridor is now recognized by press and pundits as one of the  
top three issues in the hotly contested Governor's race.  What's  
more, they acknowledge that Carole is leading the fight against it.  
But let us be clear.  This is happening because of the combined  
efforts of 14,000 ordinary people coming to the hearings, with a  
fury, to stop the Corridor, your work as the organizers for the  
Triple R, and the Grandma, who has not just talked the talk, but  
walked the walk, and who now has at least $8 million in her war chest  
to reroute Rick Perry and his Corridor in November!

        This weekend, we began having followup meetings to the 56 Corridor  
hearings and had three successful meetings, in Farmsville with 220  
people, and small but solid meetings in McKinney and Rockwall, with  
CorridorWatch.org co-founder, David Stall educating us on the myriad  
policy nightmares involved in the TTC.  Then, we moved to the  
"political section" to talk about why Carole Keeton Strayhorn is the  
solution in this hotly contested gubernatorial race.

        And now, as Carole and the anti-Corridor movement are gaining  
significant traction, come the expected attacks on the Grandma --  
from all camps.  Bell is still trying to pawn himself off as fighting  
the Corridor -- the same guy who couldn't manage to get himself to  
one of the 56 hearings.  Even Kinky, the "non-politician", jumped on  
the Grandma calling on the Travis Co. DA to investigate her.  When  
the DA explained that he doesn't investigate candidates' charges  
during elections (a good policy), it took Kinky a week to take it  
back, in a snide way.  Bell and Kinky, have now declared themselves  
politically broke.  They could have tried to build a united front  
with the Grandma and us, but that's not what they're all about!

        More importantly, you have the Governor, launching daily attacks on,  
incredibly, the Grandma's so-called "ethics" problems.  This takes  
the cake.  Isn't this the same guy who is trying to sell off our  
state's infrastructure to foreign companies in a secret contract  
signed 16 months ago -- and counting?!  Here's the Dallas Morning  
News lead article on Friday, which went statewide, that must have  
given Perry bad dreams, exposing his ex-aide's new job with CINTRA:

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/metro/4126395.html

        Then there are the press attacks.  Yesterday's Houston Chronicle  
goes after Carole for switching parties and switching positions.  Now  
hear this-- Grandma never switched positions on the tolls and  
Corridor.  In 2001, she wrote about tolls as a possible way to help  
pay for NEW roads.  We have never objected to tolls on new roads,  
with a vote of the people.  And yes, thankfully, she HAS switched  
parties and, as she says, "I will die an independent but not anytime  
soon!"  She is, in this case, following the people, who have also  
been switching parties and are now a growing independent plurality of  
at least 35% (with Dems at 32% and Repubs at 33%).  Of course, the  
press never covers that!

        The statewide press is also doing its job getting plenty of swipes  
in on the Governor, revealing his backroom deals on the Corridor.  
The evidence that this is hurting Perry?  Kay Bailey Hutchison's  
distancing of herself last week on the Corridor:

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/4122629.html

        Mrs. Strayhorn is helping to lead our cross-partisan independent  
movement, which will reach full tilt when her massive ad campaign  
hits soon.  So we better be ready!

        LOOK AT THE LIST BELOW THIS NOTE.  Sign up to help on one or more of  
these events -- and feel free to create your own, if there's nothing  
on the list in your area.  And, please keep checking the Independent  
Texans' calendar for updates.

        I hope to hear from you all -- the fall political season is going to  
be quite a ride, so hold on to your hats!

Independently yours,

Linda Curtis, founder
Independent Texans
http://indytexans.org
PO Box 14294
Austin, TX 78761
512-535-0989

Follow Up Meeting Schedule and Other Relevant Corridor/Anti-Urban  
Freeway Toll Events:

Day/Date/Time/Place/Organization/Speakers/Organizer

Thurs., Aug. 24, 6:30-8:30 pm, Waller County Event, Waller County  
High Auditorium,  N of Hwy 290 at 20950 Field Store Road, sponsored  
by Citizens for a Better Waller County, Mrs. Strayhorn will be  
speaking with Linda & David Stall, and Linda Curtis (Indy Texans).  
Call Martha Estes, 979-826-2715 or send an email to bentfork"RE@MOVE"pdq.net

Thurs., Aug. 31, 2:00 pm-2:30 pm.  "Let Texans Ride Free Press  
Conference".  Carole Keeton Strayhorn with Stop121Tolls founder,  
Randy Jennings, stop the tolling of freeway 121 in the DFW area.  
Bring a sign like "Mr. Perry, what part of the word FREEway don't you  
understand", or be creative, not crude.  For more details go to the  
Events Calendar on the Indy Texans' site at http://indytexans.org.

Sat., Sept. 2, 7 pm-9 pm, The Blackland Coalition meets at Seaton  
Hall, 10842 State Highway 53, Temple, Texas. Call Agnes Voges at  
512-721-3161 or email her at AgnesV"RE@MOVE"access4less.net.  David & Linda  
Stall, among others, will speak.

Sat., Sept. 9, Marlin, 6:30 - 9 pm, Marlin High School (tentative),  
(to include Groesbeck, Waco, McGregor and any Temple overflow from  
Sep. 2), Carole Stone.  Charles Whitaker, can you help?

Thurs., Sept. 14, 7- 9:30 pm, Ennis Followup, Sixth Grade Center  
Cafeteria, 2200 W Lampasas St, Ennis, TX, (to include Waxahatchie &  
Corsicana area folks).  Now we have the place, anyone want to take  
the lead?

Sept.15 (or so)  Ft. Worth (to include Weatherford, Dallas, Decatur,  
Cleburne, and Denton)- Bruce Deramus, Jeff Harper & Pedro Colon.  No  
venue yet.

Sept. 15 (or so) Hillsboro (to include Granbury and Cleburne).  Still  
need a lead organizer here.

Thurs., Sept. 21, Taylor Followup, 6 - 8:30 pm, Knights of Columbus,  
2201 East 4th, which is really on Hwy. 79, (to include Giddings).  
Carole Keeton Strayhorn and David Stall, CorridorWatch.org founder  
scheduled to speak.  Contact Susan Garry at susan_garry"RE@MOVE"hotmail.com,  
but please do so after Aug. 31.  In the meantime, you can contact  
Linda C.  Mrs. Strayhorn is tentatively scheduled to speak.

Sat., Sept. 23 (or there abouts), Manor/Austin followup.  Lynn  
Foster, Russ Doyle, Mary Anderson and Fancy Fairchild are searching  
for an eastside venue.  Contact Lynn Foster at:
  lynnfolynnfo"RE@MOVE"yahoo.com

Tues., Sept. 26, Gainesville Followup, 7 -9:30 pm, they have a  
location secured soon to be posted on the calendar (to include  
Sherman, Bonham, Denton folks)

Lockhart - we can pick a date in around Sept. 20, preferably Sat.,  
Sept. 23 at 10 a.m, 2 pm or 5 pm.  Peggy McConnell at  
pmcconnell6611"RE@MOVE"esagelink.com.

Bastrop - same as above dates for Lockhart, to include Smithville and  
Flatonia.  Kathy Collins, are you willing to help?

Seguin -same as above dates, to include Gonzalez and San Antonio.  
Agnes Voges & Terri Hall?? Do you want to help?

Floresville - possible date, Sept. 18,  to include Pleasonton &  
Yorktown.  We need an organizer for this one.

Pearsall - possible dates around Sept. 18, Jan Elliott, are you  
willing to do this??

Alice - including Falfurrias, Kingsville, Calallen, George West and  
Beeville.  This would be a big area meeting down there.  Perhaps this  
could be done with Pearsall too -- again, Jan Elliott and we have  
some volunteers who signed up at George West, Kingsville and Beeville.

McAllen - week of Sept. 25 (the earlier, the better), Harlingen,  
Brownville, Mission, Charlotte Rogers & Pat Hagarty

Bandera area - sometime the same week as the San Antonio meeting.  
Looking for an organizer to help in Bandera.  If we draw from the  
area, we might get the Grandma to speak.

Strayhorn Outlines Transportation Plan

Expand Existing IH 35, Implement Ports to Plains, Telecommuting  
Expansion,

Appoint Inspector General over TxDOT

On the final day the Texas Department of Transportation accepted  
comment on the Trans Texas Corridor, Texas Comptroller Carole Keeton  
Strayhorn, Independent Candidate for Governor, today told the agency  
her administration will expand IH-35 using existing rights of way,  
implement the ports to plains initiative, expand her successful use  
of telecommuting and appoint an inspector general to oversee the  
agency and a transportation ombudsman to talk to Texans.

“This agency is not listening to the people,” Strayhorn said. “At 56  
hearings over 21 days, TxDOT ignored the overwhelming majority of  
people who testified against the Trans Texas Catastrophe. They even  
went so far as to tell Texans that they could not stop this  
boondoggle – even if they elected a new governor.

“Well, they are dead wrong. I will blast this corridor off the  
bureaucratic books and replace it with a common-sense plan to address  
our transportation needs.

“My plan is a better approach than the Governor’s secret agreement  
with a company based in Madrid, Spain, to seize more than half a  
million acres of private Texas property and build toll roads across  
the state,” she said. “The Governor said if someone has a better idea  
then lay out that plan. Today, I am outlining a better plan – one  
that puts Texans first, not special interests.”

Strayhorn’s plan includes protecting Texas farm and ranch land,  
improving coastal evacuations, increasing capacity of existing  
freeways and railways, encouraging family-friendly telecommuting, and  
appointing an independent inspector general over TxDOT as well as an  
ombudsman to listen to the people.

“Texas property belongs to Texans, not foreign companies,” Strayhorn  
said. “To meet our transportation needs we need freeways not toll  
ways, and we must use existing rights of way and increase efficiency  
of existing roadways and ports. We must not destroy our precious farm  
and ranch land.”

Strayhorn testified against the Trans Texas Corridor at 14 public  
hearings held by the TxDOT, at which she detailed revenue sources  
available to the state instead of tolls. The Governor refuses to back  
off his Trans Texas Corridor plan, despite widespread opposition from  
Texans at the hearings.

“I stood with Texans from the Rio Grande Valley to the Red River who  
oppose the Governor’s attempt to seize land and build toll roads  
across Texas,” Strayhorn said. “I listened to the people of Texas and  
the people of Texas are overwhelmingly opposed to this $184 billion  
boondoggle.

“Texans deserve to hear the truth,” she said. “And the truth is much  
of the work to help Texans get from here to there has already been  
done.”

Strayhorn submitted three reports to TxDOT – their own 1999 state  
analysis calling for the expansion of IH 35 using existing rights of  
way, the Ports to Plains study that will relieve existing congestion  
by improving transportation from South Texas through West Texas using  
existing roads, and her recommendation to expand telecommuting.

“Family friendly telecommuting is up to 15 percent in my agency,”  
Strayhorn said. “The employees love it, it keeps folks off the road,  
and it works,” she said.

Strayhorn will:

· Increase capacity on IH-35 using existing rights of way without  
tolls and prioritize the West Texas Ports-to-Plains highway system;

· Appoint an independent inspector general and an ombudsman at TxDOT;

· Increase the use of Texas ports from Orange to Brownsville and  
improve rail and road systems from the coast to the interior of Texas;

· Improve and increase efficiency of the state’s rail system along  
existing rights of way; and

· Use telecommuting and staggered work schedules to ease traffic  
congestion and decrease pollution.

“Texas once had and can again have a freeway system that is the envy  
of the nation,” Strayhorn said. “I am adamantly opposed to any toll  
roads in Texas.”

Strayhorn’s transportation plan is part of her Texas First Agenda, a  
series of initiatives and solutions that she will be releasing in the  
coming weeks.

Statement of Carole Keeton Strayhorn August 21, 2006

· This is the last day the Texas Department of Transportation is  
accepting comments on the Trans Texas Corridor and I am outlining my  
transportation plan and submitting three documents I hope they will  
consider as they review this ill-conceived project.

· The documents show how we can expand IH-35 using existing right of  
ways, implement the ports to plains initiative and expand my  
successful use of telecommuting.

· As part of my plan, I am also announcing today that I will appoint  
an inspector general to oversee the agency and a transportation  
ombudsman to talk to Texans.

· This agency and the Austin establishment are not listening to the  
people. At 56 hearings over 21 days, TxDOT ignored the overwhelming  
majority of people who testified against the Trans Texas Catastrophe.  
They even went so far as to tell Texans that they could not stop this  
boondoggle – even if they elected a new governor.

· Well, they are dead wrong. I will blast this corridor off the  
bureaucratic books and replace it with a common-sense plan to address  
our transportation needs.

· My plan is a better approach than the Governor’s secret agreement  
with a company based in Madrid, Spain, to seize more than half a  
million acres of private Texas property and build toll roads across  
Texas. The Governor said if someone has a better idea then lay out  
that plan.

· I went to the hearings and I listened to the people and today I am  
outlining a better plan – one that puts Texans first, not special  
interests.

· My plan includes protecting Texas farm and ranch land, improving  
coastal evacuations, increasing capacity of existing freeways and  
railways, encouraging family-friendly telecommuting, and appointing  
an independent inspector general over TxDOT as well as an ombudsman  
to listen to the people.

· Texas property belongs to Texans, not foreign companies. To meet  
our transportation needs we need freeways not toll ways, and we must  
use existing rights of way and increase efficiency of existing  
roadways and ports. We must not destroy our precious farm and ranch  
land.

· I testified against the Trans Texas Corridor at 14 public hearings  
held by TxDOT, where I detailed revenue sources available to the  
state instead of tolls.

Four points -- 4 billion dollars in Texas Mobility Bonds

An additional 3 billion dollars in revenue bonds

Increased federal dollars

And increased tax collection at the state level

· The Governor refuses to back off his Trans Texas Corridor plan,  
despite widespread opposition from Texans at the hearings.

· I stood with Texans from the Rio Grande Valley to the Red River who  
oppose the Governor’s attempt to seize land and build toll roads  
across Texas. I listened to the people of Texas and the people of  
Texas are overwhelmingly opposed to this $184 billion boondoggle.

· Texans deserve to hear the truth. And the truth is much of the work  
to help Texans get from here to there has already been done.

· Two of the reports I am sharing with the people of Texas and that I  
am sending to TxDOT are their own -- a 1999 state analysis calling  
for the expansion of IH 35 using existing right of ways, let me make  
very clear, using existing right of ways without tolls, and the Ports  
to Plains study that will relieve existing congestion by improving  
transportation from South Texas through West Texas using existing  
roads, and without tolls, and my own recommendation to expand  
telecommuting.

· Family friendly telecommuting is up to 15 percent in my agency. The  
employees love it, it keeps folks off the road, and it works.

· My plan -- I will:

· Increase capacity on IH-35 using existing right of ways without  
tolls and prioritize the West Texas Ports-to-Plains highway system;

· Appoint an independent inspector general and an ombudsman at TxDOT;

· Increase the use of Texas ports from Orange to Brownsville and  
improve rail and road systems from the coast to the interior of Texas;

· Improve and increase efficiency of the state’s rail system along  
existing right of ways; and

· Use telecommuting and staggered work schedules to ease traffic  
congestion and decrease pollution.

Texas once had and can again have a freeway system that is the envy  
of the nation. I will make that happen.

· I am adamantly opposed to any toll roads in Texas.