Friday, September 21, 2007

"Toll road foe sues over TxDOT ad campaign"

You didn't have to be a political activist to be aware of the controversy that was a recent buzz (or, for many, buzz-kill) here in Austin over whether or not tolls should be put up on local highways. Many were indifferent, plenty were enraged, a good amount were frustrated, and then there were the politicians who were oh-so pleased to get the green light on putting those big-boy money gobblers up all over town. Whether or not you chose to stand on one side of the fence on this issue, or fell into the category of "indifferent's," you can see how the volatile issue of Texas tolls could arrive TxDOT in the position that the below mentioned article reveals....

The title of this article pretty much says it all; a Texas activist names Terry Hall is suing TxDOT over what she claims is inappropriate spending of state transportation funds. Ms. Hall is a San Antonio activist who is arguing in court that TxDOT's "Keep Texas Moving" campaign violates a state prohibition on state officers or employees using their authority for political purposes. From her perspective, the advertising promotes toll roads; an issue she contends is very much unsettled, and thus those ads give an unfair advantage to the success of that one point of view prevailing. Her main point; state transportation money should not be funding this multi-million dollar, one-sided campaign.

TxDOT defends that the campaign is intended to be educational and to insight further participation from the public in helping solve the issues of transportation in Texas.

I found the article to be quite interesting; though brief. I would recommend reading it, if not for sheer entertainment (TxDOT's defense seemed to evade the true premise...kinda funny, no?), then at least to broaden your perspective. I wonder if I would have watched one of these ads, before reading the article, and thought, "Where did the money to pay for this come from? Is that sage?" If TxDOT is using our state funds to promote one agenda, I should probably be ticked too! Read on, and decide for yourself if this should turn into a "class action suit"...get it, "class" action?!! Just read the article!!!

~Jacqueline

P.S. I also looked up the "Keep Texas Moving" campaign on their website, and have to say I left the site feeling like Ms. Hall has some excellent points. Here's the link:

http://www.keeptexasmoving.com/

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