Top Florida Republican accuses Jeb Bush of brokering the harmful CSX deal...

[madfloridian]

the one that is going to bring changes to Central Florida without the citizens and leaders there having much say. It appears it was a done deal as early as 2005.

The man who wrote this letter to the editor is the husband of Florida State Senator, Paula Dockery, one of the more moderate and sensible Republicans here. Needless to say they are not much loved by Jeb and his cohorts such as Marco Rubio, House Speaker.

First the harm of this deal which came out several months ago. CSX was practically given carte blanche for all their rail plans, no matter how disruptive to the area.

CSX told they can start building railroad center before any planning reviews are done.

WINTER HAVEN - State planning officials have told CSX it can begin building a rail transfer center before planning reviews of the massive project are completed. In a letter sent to CSX this week, the state Department of Community Affairs said it would consider an agreement with the company that would allow CSX to begin construction on the Winter Haven project while a comprehensive planning review known as a development of regional impact is under way."

..."Pat Steed, executive director of the Central Florida Regional Planning Council, said it is not uncommon for nonresidential projects to enter into pre-development agreements, but developers may be taking risks by beginning construction."

.."But John Ryan, a Sierra Club activist and a member of the Polk County Planning Commission, said the state's decision is a blow to local groups who want a thorough review of what impact the 1,250-acre rail center will have on traffic, the environment and other growth-related concerns.

Allowing construction to begin will give the project so much momentum that it could be difficult for local planning agencies to later force the railroad to modify its plans, said Ryan, who emphasized he was speaking for the Sierra Club, not as a planning commissioner

It will be devastating in many areas across this 1-4 corridor region. Do it first, then plan it.

Here is the letter to the editor today from C. C. (Doc) Dockery, the husband of the GOP state senator.

CSX Profited From Having Jeb Bush Broker State-Paid Rail Changes

Whether it is the good fortune of having your buddy Gov. Jeb Bush honchoing a deal for you or whether CSX CEO Michael Ward is simply a good negotiator, it pays handsome dividends.

In November 2004, CSX executives made a half-billion-dollar pitch to Bush's Florida Department of Transportation. That pitch is now being played out in an impending agreement to pay CSX $491 million of taxpayers' money to move some of its freight trains off what they call the A Line, running down the east central part of Florida to Orlando over to the S Line, running down through west central Florida: Gainesville, Ocala, Plant City and Lakeland. The terminus is Winter Haven, where CSX wants to build a huge intermodal logistics center.

The payoff for CSX's Ward was $36 million in salary and benefits paid to him in 2005 and 2006.

Much of the funding for the $491 million, a first-of-a-kind deal for a private company, was accomplished in the 2005 session of the Florida Legislature. The Tampa Tribune reported in its Nov. 28 edition that few legislators knew of the Bush-backed Senate Bill 360 where the funding was inserted just before midnight on the last day of the legislative session, May 6.

Perhaps it's worth knowing that Ward's CSX predecessor was John Snow, who left CSX to head up theU.S. Treasury Department for Gov. Bush's brother, President George W. Bush.

It helps to have friends in high places.

If there were more Florida Republicans like these folks, Florida would not be in such a serious condition as it is. They are after all, loyal to their party. But they see the dangers and speak out.

[madfloridian]

1. There is a lot at stake....historic homes, private property...

just being bulldozed by this plan.

Local Florida officials who enabled developers and businesses fight back against CSX.

..."Furr, a former city commissioner who has spearheaded the push for downtown residential development, was uncharacteristically terse regarding CSX. She said CSX sees the downtown dilemma from the perspective of it owning the tracks and Lakeland building around them.

"CSX is arrogant in my personal view," Furr said.

And if by some chance CSX doesn't get its way here...it already has an alternative site.

WINTER HAVEN - If the deal for a CSX rail yard fails in Winter Haven, the Jacksonville-based railroad company has a backup location close to two major highways. In 2005, the company purchased 690 acres for $9.2 million south of Wildwood near Interstate 75 and the Florida's Turnpike in Sumter County, about 65 miles north of Winter Haven.

[whistle]

2. The only good republicans are dethroned republicans, take away their power

...and authority until they learn to use it more responsibly for the general welfare of the people. Enough of this small special interest group shit!

[seafan]

3. Jeb! Bush's Florida, an intricate web of micromanaged profit for himself and his political cronies

CSX Profited From Having Jeb Bush Broker State-Paid Rail Changes, December 6, 2007



Jeb loves his railroad buddies.


Jeb Bush's former business partner Armando Codina takes $255 Million from FEC stock sale in buyout, September 11, 2007

[madfloridian]

6. Now that is one business partner I had not heard about.

Heading to read that now. Florida is a truly amazing web of corruption and most trails lead to the Bush Family...with a few leading to Florida's Blue Dog Dems who supported Jeb for governor.

Florida's Blue Dog Dems supported Jeb Bush as governor...

"With Florida Republicans outnumbered by Democrats by more than 345,000 voters, Republicans cannot win statewide elections unless Blue Dogs cross party lines to support them. By the same token, Democrats cannot win unless they can keep Blue Dogs in the yard. The decisive role of Northwest Florida voters was made patently clear in 1994, when Jeb Bush lost his first bid for governor because Blue Dogs supported the reelection of self-proclaimed “Florida Cracker” Lawton Chiles. After Chiles stepped down at the end of his second term in 1998 and the Democrats failed to nominate another Southern populist, Blue Dog Democrats supported Bush, who won by a solid margin with their backing"

[freebrew]

4. One sentence fixed for you.

'It helps to have fiends in high places.'


Better now?

[madfloridian]

5. Hey, sounds pretty good.

leave out one letter for better meaning. :hi:

[madfloridian]

7. The players in the CSX push.

From Tampa Bay Online:

The Players

JEB BUSH:

Elected Florida's governor in 1998 and 2002, he received support and campaign contributions from CSX Transportation and Marty Fiorentino, a former CSX executive who's now a lobbyist representing CSX. Bush helped lead the 2004 campaign that killed the Florida high-speed rail plan.

Denver Stutler:

The governor's chief of staff was picked to lead the state Department of Transportation in June 2005, just as serious talks were beginning on the CSX deal. He has said getting the deal done was a priority for Bush.

ARMANDO CODINA

The South Florida real estate developer supported George H.W. Bush's presidential bid in 1980. After Bush became vice president, Codina took Jeb Bush into his development company, gave him 40 percent of the profit and named it the Codina-Bush Group. Florida East Coast Industries acquired Codina's company in early 2006.

ADOLFO HENRIQUES:

The South Florida banker financed many of Codina's development projects. A member of the board of FEC Industries, he was named FEC's chief executive officer in early 2005, leaving an executive position at Regions Bank.

MICHAEL WARD:

The CSX CEO replaced John Snow in 2003, when President George W. Bush appointed Snow to run the Treasury Department.

Cashing in, Jeb?

[williesgirl]

8. k&r

[bobthedrummer]

9. It's not just Florida-look at the CSX/Carlyle Group/BP related corruption in Alaska

here's a cross-post from an informative archived parent thread about the career of Ken Privratsky since he left the Pentagon. Then look at VECO and see the pattern of the BFEE locally regardless of what State we live in.

"Former US Army Major General Kenneth L. Privratsky of Horizon Lines" (posted 3-10-2007)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x360539#384013

[madfloridian]

11. My first thought when I read that was "corporate rule".

What they are doing here in Florida, snuck by in the legislature quietly...is a power play that no one can really stop now.

[The Backlash Cometh]

10. Well, well. Always good to see a Floridian step up and put the state before the party.

[madfloridian]

12. Trouble is....they step up and speak out...and then

they still vote Republican.

[The Backlash Cometh]

13. But, meanwhile, we can use what they said to whittle away the corrupt

practices that are rotting away at both parties in Florida.

We need to start thinking in threes. Pit the bad of the Republican party against the bad in the Democratic party, and maybe in the end, you'll end up with a good Democratic party and a failed Republican one.

[1932]

14. I'm surprised CSX is actually building railroads somewhere. I thought they made

all their money by selling all the public land that made up railroad rights of way piecemeal to private entities so that it would be impossible to ever put the pieces back together again to have a national rail system to compete with fossil-fuel based transportation?

Or maybe this is what the plan was from the start - they sell it all off (pocketing the profits) knowing that someday they'd have to buy it all back (with public money?) at a huge markup on the prices they sold at (probably pocketing a commission?).

[madfloridian]

15. Now I had not looked at it that way....but you are right.

:hi:

[riverdeep]

16. A Bush involved in corruption?

Where did this poor black sheep lose its way?

[madfloridian]

17. A city learns it is a "done deal"....Senator says it did not come up for vote

in the legislature. Sounds like CSX owns our state now...they do what they want when and where they want. The party that empowered corporations and developers are now finding they are helpless to stop them.

http://www.theledger.com/article/20071208/NEWS/712080420/1039

""Is this a done deal?" asked state Sen. Paula Dockery, R-Lakeland.

"We believe this is important to the state," Kopelousos said. "We do not hope to go back on this (agreement)."

...'The Downtown Lakeland Partnership is doing its best to put pressure on Tallahassee. It distributed contact information for state, federal and local politicians Friday at the meeting run by Dockery and Rep. Dennis Ross, R-Lakeland.

"This project never came before the Legislature for a vote," Dockery said.

Even Mayor Buddy Fletcher, who typically is more of an ambassador than adversary, spoke his mind.

"We know what this rail is going to do to our city," Fletcher said. "I can't believe DOT or whomever, the Legislature or whomever, would destroy a city for a private enterprise and have us pay for it."