California ' s High-Speed Train Has Done a Lot More Good for Big Consultants than for Taxpayers or Riders

The ongoing saga of California ’s high-speed bullet train may end up being as classic a story of Democratic politicians’ hubris as theSolyndra debacle. The difference is that the bullet train is still going – well, not the train itself, but the taxpayer spending on the planning – despite some optimism earlier this year that Gov. Gavin Newsom was going toput the project out of its misery. ALos Angeles Times story last week by Ralph Vartabedian is a deep dive on the consulting companies that have been intimately involved in the whole process. Here ’s the most revealing nugget:The rail authority ’s consultants are hardly household names, but they are politically powerful and made major contributions to support the 2008 political campaign for the bullet train bond. They have staffed their ranks with former high-level bureaucrats, and their former executives have occupied key government pos ts….The consultants, however, have played a key role in the political success of the project. Along with labor unions, consultants helped fund the campaign for the $9-billion bond that is paying everybody ’s salaries, including their own.Engineering and construction firms contributed $837,000 to the bond campaign, second only to the $1.6 million spent by various unions, according to a Times review of campaign filings. WSP put $107,000 into the campaign. There was no organized opposition to the bond measure. It passed with 52.7% support, but its popularity has dropped in public o...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - Category: American Health Authors: Source Type: blogs