Gov. Rick Scott still being challenged on his rejection of high-speed rail. Politifact: He lied.

[seafan]

Gov. Rick Scott says rail would have cost state taxpayers $1 billion to build




AP (via St. Petersburg Times)


Gov. Rick Scott is still being asked about rejecting $2.4 billion in federal money for high-speed rail. Recently he said the project would have cost state taxpayers $1 billion. Turns out, that's not true.

On his second month on the job in February 2011, Florida Gov. Rick Scott wrote a letter to the U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announcing he had decided to reject about $2.4 billion in federal money for a high-speed train line between Tampa and Orlando. Scott said at the time that he was worried Florida would ultimately be on the hook for costs. Democrats and some Republicans criticized Scott's move, which killed a project that had been in the works for decades.

Florida's high-speed rail debate kept the Truth-O-Meter running at full speed ahead for some time as members of Florida's congressional delegation, several state lawmakers and local officials scurried to try to circumvent Scott. Supporters pitched a new plan to the governor in which cities would take over the project and a private company would assume the risk of cost overruns -- but Scott remained steadfast in his argument that the state could get stuck with huge costs.

Several months after Scott squashed the project, he still faces questions about why he put the brakes on it -- as he did during an interview on Tampa Bay's local CBS affiliate Aug. 5.

"Here is the deal. I offered it to everybody and nobody wants to do this and that's why I'm not doing it. They offered, the federal government, here's the deal. ... I'm going to give you $2.4 billion -- that sounds nice right? You've got to put up a billion dollars to finish the project. And you are going to lose money every year. And if you decide, gosh I'm tired of losing that money, you've got to give the $2.4 billion back. It's a bad deal."

.....

So, where did Rick Scott get his "one billion" that he claimed it would cost Florida taxpayers?

Here's the short version:



In 2009, Governor Charlie Crist and the Florida Legislature planned for the state to provide $280 million for a high-speed rail line connecting Orlando and Tampa.

The FL Dept. of Transportation in 2010 stated that the federal government would pay for the majority of the project, ~$2.4 billion, with the state's portion about $280 million. Transportation officials further stated in 2011 that private companies would be responsible for paying for cost overruns, and there would be an explicit guarantee that taxpayers would not be on the hook for the overruns.


But Rick Scott didn't use numbers from the Department of Transportation. He used numbers from a dubious study put out by the libertarian Reason Foundation.


Among the problems with the Reason Foundation study:


1. The author of it is a known rail skeptic. Another name listed on the report was on Scott's transportation transition team.


2. The faulty cost overrun calculations were based on a list of 258 projects based in Europe, that included not only rail projects, but bridges, tunnels and highways as well. This effectively obscured the true numbers just dealing specifically with Florida rail projects alone.


3. The flawed Reason study didn't account for the low prices for construction and building materials currently in effect in Florida (a result of the lagging economy in the state).

As Scott's own DOT secretary Ananth Prasad said on Aug. 8, 2011, in advocating for more road-building projects: "This is kind of like a buyer's market."

4. The Reason study falsely assumed that Florida taxpayers were going to be saddled with cost overruns.




But, these "findings" by the Scott-friendly Reason Foundation were all he needed to peddle his lies that completely destroyed Florida's anticipation of the nation's premier high-speed rail line, a project that has been in the works for decades. Now, it is no more.



After 7 months in office, the destruction Rick Scott has brought to Florida is beginning to rival that of Jeb Bush.


And Jeb had eight years.

[gratuitous]

1. Boy, the Florida media will be all over this, right?

*Crickets*

[RockaFowler]

2. I'll send it to my guys downstairs

But it will do no good. You won't believe how many Right-Wing wackos are in local media. It is astounding . . .

[seafan]

3. The St. Pete Times is doing a yeoman's job. Best investigative paper in the state.

Also, Howard Troxler certainly picked a terrible time to retire. Hope you're well and happy, Howard.

[gratuitous]

4. Yes, the Times does a wonderful job

Whenever I see a story about political corruption in Florida, it's even money that the link is to the St. Petersburg Times. I wish their voice wasn't quite so lonely in the Florida mediaverse.

[MisterP]

5. Reason--now there's a misnomer