from the Infrastructurist:
After Florida Governor Rick Scott refused $2.4 billion in federal funding for the Tampa-Orlando high-speed rail line, state lawmakers challenged his authority to make such a decision. The state Supreme Court ruled in Scott’s favor, but it now appears that ruling was based on inaccurate information supplied to the court by Scott’s lawyer. The error had a big impact on the court’s decision, writes the Palm Beach Post politics blog:
In a two-page letter to Chief Justice Charles Canady, Scott’s general counsel, Charles Trippe, acknowledged that last month he misrepresented a central fact in arguments supporting the governor’s rejection of $2.4 billion in federal funds for the project linking Tampa with Orlando. …
In the letter, Trippe admitted he was wrong when he told justices that $110 million of the $130 million authorized by the Florida Legislature for the project approved in 2009 had already been spent.
Instead, Trippe said only $31 million had actually been spent — a major gap that appears to have shaped the court’s decision that sided with Scott.
Indeed, Justice Barbara Pariente responded to Trippe’s claim during the hearing that Scott’s move against high-speed rail seemed to involve little remaining money. If so, Pariente suggested, the governor was likely empowered to stop the project. …
Trippe agreed, suggesting lawmakers were arguing over a trifling amount of cash.
Trippe says he received the flawed information from the Florida Department of Transportation. Thad Altman, the state senator who took Scott to court over the decision to cancel the line, may try to re-open the case, according to Transportation Nation, although “he thinks there’s little chance to get the federal money back.”
http://www.infrastructurist.com/2011/04/18/rush-hour-read-governors-lawyer-misled-florida-supreme-court-in-high-speed-rail-case/
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