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Crist's Veto Of Turnpike Bill Will Raise Costs Of Food, Gas

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 26, 2008

Here's how things are supposed to work in Tallahassee: lawmakers set direction and bureaucrats make it happen.

The distinction has disappeared, however, at the state Department of Transportation. There, leaders want lawmakers to stop suggesting strategy for how it should award billions of dollars in contracts for new roads, bridges and transit services.

And with a stroke of his veto pen, Gov. Charlie Crist sided with DOT's brush-back of lawmakers, no matter the cost to consumers.

At issue is a proposed $265 million contract to provide gas and food concessions at the Florida Turnpike's eight service plazas. Two companies presently manage the plazas: HMSHost on the food side and Martin Petroleum on the gas side.

But DOT wants to award a 30-year contract to a single vendor, believing the state could charge more and use the fees to renovate existing toll plazas.

What its leaders fail to mention - or seem to realize - is that those higher fees will be passed on to motorists buying gas and food.

Outgoing House Speaker Marco Rubio of Miami heard about DOT's plan to bundle the contract from a friend who had hoped to bid on a piece of the business. Rubio pushed a policy change that would have required DOT to break up the contract. The Senate agreed, knowing that greater competition generally leads to lower prices.

Crist, however, vetoed the bill last week. In his veto statement, Crist said he was defending taxpayers from politics in procurement. "I believe that we must protect the confidence citizens have entrusted to their public servants," he said.

If Crist spent time listening to Floridians these days, he'd know that people in this part of the state lack confidence in DOT's ability to negotiate a contract that protects our pocketbooks or considers our community's needs.

Remember, this is the same DOT that secretly negotiated an exorbitant contract with CSX railroad to provide commuter rail in Orlando, a deal that would put taxpayers on the hook for any accident, no matter who caused it.

Remember, too, that DOT invited railroad insiders - people who would personally profit from side contracts - to help draft the CSX deal.

But here's the point: DOT continues to create policy without input from lawmakers.

Yet lawmakers are supposed to set policy.

By vetoing this bill, Crist didn't protect anyone from Rubio's friend, as news reports suggested. He simply made clear that when it comes to deciding how DOT should spend billions of taxpayer dollars, elected representatives should butt out.

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