Feds say must have answer by 9AM Friday, 3/4
3/4/11, "Challenge to (Governor) Scott's rejection of high-speed rail is in court's hands," St. Petersburg Times
"Sens. Arthenia Joyner, D-Tampa, and Thad Altman, R-Melbourne, filed suit Tuesday after Scott last month rejected a $2.4 billion federal award to build the Tampa-Orlando line. Lawmakers in December 2009 voted to build the line and appropriated $130 million in federal money to make it happen.
- They say Scott is ignoring a state law and, in effect, issued a veto he is not entitled to.
Attorneys on both sides have asked for a ruling today. That's the deadline set by U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood to resolve the issue. After that, he has said, he will give the money to other states. Scott's schedule says the governor will speak to LaHood
- by phone at 9 a.m. today.
Trippe's assertion that Scott has done no wrong prompted peppering from justices Peggy Quince and James Perry.
"Isn't the governor mandated by the Constitution to carry out the statutes and laws of the Legislature?" Perry asked. "The Legislature said, 'Let this be.' The governor said, 'No.'
- Isn't that in fact a veto?"
After additional questioning about whether Scott inappropriately took over the legislative task of appropriations, Trippe said that $110 million has already been spent on the project, and the governor
- had no intention of using the remainder for anything else.
Clifton McClelland, attorney for Joyner and Altman, argued that the Florida Rail Act passed by the Legislature and approved by
- then-Gov. Charlie Crist obligates Scott to allow construction of the line.
"We have an articulated state policy to develop a rail line between the Tampa Bay area and Orlando," McClelland said.
The justices, though, hammered McClelland with questions about whether the $130 million appropriation would extend to the full $2.4 billion award, which would cover nearly all of the rail line's construction costs.
"The project cannot go forward without further appropriations by the Legislature. Isn't that correct?" asked Chief Justice Charles Canady. "This is a project that is still very much in expectancy.
- It's not something the Legislature has fully authorized."
The complaint against Scott refers to a court ruling in South Carolina that compelled the governor there to accept federal stimulus money. But Canady noted in that case, the legislature approved the award, the governor vetoed it, and the
- legislature overrode the veto.
"The governor here has not done anything that looks at all like that," he said.
Justice Barbara Pariente expressed confusion about exactly what law McClelland believed the governor had violated.
"What you're telling us is that we have to piece together about 10 different statutes and exhibits and do it by 9 o'clock tomorrow morning," she said. "I cannot clearly see the legal way. I see the frustration that those in favor of this rail system have. It's clearly frustrating to have the governor come in and do this."
- The question, she said, is should the court interfere.
"It's up to the Legislature to decide whether they want a continuing appropriation or not," she said.
- Perry seized on that.
"Isn't that your point?" he asked McClelland. "That the Legislature can turn it down or they can keep it, but the governor can't?"
- McClelland answered yes.
Later in the hearing, Perry suggested that the Legislature could take up the matter next week, when the legislative session begins.
After the hearing, Joyner said she felt her team gave the effort "our best shot."...
Hours before the oral arguments began, a consumer advocacy group
- and environmental organization
delivered to Scott a petition signed by nearly 3,000 people urging Scott to change his position on the rail money.
And the mayors of Tampa, Lakeland and Orlando held a news conference to announce they had received
- assurances from the U.S. Department of Transportation
that Florida would not have to pay back $2.4 billion if the high-speed rail project failed.
That, along with concerns about Florida taxpayers being on the hook for construction cost overruns and operating losses due to low ridership, has been cited by Scott as a reason for rejecting the money.
"If there is one point that I would like to get across to every single Floridian who is concerned about this issue, it is this: There is absolutely no risk to the Florida taxpayer in moving forward with the high-speed rail project," Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio said. "If the governor continues to maintain that there is risk to Florida taxpayers, it is inaccurate."
Stuart Rogel, president and chief executive of the Tampa Bay Partnership, which represents more than 180 businesses in eight counties, said his group has been working with counterparts in the other cities to urge Scott to build the rail line.
- Elsewhere, though, Scott received support for his stance.
Sen. Mike Bennett, R-Bradenton, on Thursday officially withdrewhis name from a letter chastising the governor for the manner in which he rejected the federal high-speed rail money. The missive originally had 26 senators' signatures on it, a veto-proof majority.
- But that has dissolved.
"I am afraid that my signature on this letter has been misconstrued as support for a high speed rail project in Florida," Bennett wrote to Scott. He also told the governor he does not support the lawsuit filed by Altman and Joyner, calling it "misguided."
And Rep. Jeff Brandes, R-St. Petersburg, showed support for Scott, too.
"I think the governor should be applauded for what he's doing," Brandes said."
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Points: Verbal assurances by transient federal bureaucrats are meaningless. Lectures by the incompetent Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio are even moreso. I lived in Tampa for several years recently. It has regressed like other towns in Florida, but the passive, wimpy, Pam Iorio made it worse.
- There is no industry in Tampa, and it's just as well.
Few people who live there want to work. I saw this myself and heard it constantly from small businessmen who could not get reliable help. The many people I dealt with working for the city of Tampa had no idea what the word work meant, were slovenly and rude. Florida needs many things but not high speed rail. If it were to happen at all it should go north to south, such as Jacksonville to Miami with a stop in Orlando. ed.
via Sharon Calvert, Tampa citizen group email list
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