Joe Brimmeier dodges debate with lease rep & new anti-PTC website

Turnpike Commission CEO Joe Brimmeier has declined a challenge from the lease representative Jim Courtovich to debate the lease in public forums. He said in a hand delivered letter to Pennsylvania Transportation Partners that he wouldn't debate because the state legislature would decide the issue.

Courtovich responded that he wasn't surprised: "The Turnpike Commission has consistently ducked and dodged public discussion, instead using a toll-payer funded Web site to spread its misinformed talking points. We think the opportunity to inject $12.8 billion into Pennsylvania to help fix roads and bridges and support mass transit is worthy of public discussion. It’s a shame the Turnpike Commission is refusing to be part of it."

He continued: "It’s now clear the Turnpike Commission feels comfortable with public meetings to obfuscate the benefits of the lease, but when it comes to an open discussion with the PTP, the answer is a big 'no'."

The Commission hasn't made any public comment.

TurnpikeFacts.com

In another development today the pro free market Commonwealth Foundation in Harrisburg has launched a website which they say is part of a major educational and advocacy campaign.

Matthew J. Brouillette, president and CEO of the Commonwealth Foundation said in a statement: "For more than a year, the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission has been spending millions of dollars in toll-payers' money on lobbyists and self-promotional advertising campaigns with the express purpose of thwarting any consideration of a Turnpike lease. TurnpikeFacts.com is the first phase of our statewide effort to counter the misinformation coming out of the Turnpike Commission’s toll-payer funded propaganda machine."

In addition to features including "Turnpike Lease: Fact & Fiction", "I-80 Tolling vs. Turnpike Lease", and "The Turnpike Watch", the website includes the first installment of PIKE TV on YouTube.

Pike TV is narrated by 'Bethany' - see nearby.

"The Turnpike Commission’s Family Tree" looks at Turnpike Commission CEO Joe Brimmeier's nepotism - the hiring of family and political friends. Additional installments of PIKE TV on YouTube will be released on a weekly basis to shed light on the power, patronage, and politics at the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission.

"TurnpikeFacts.com is just the beginning of our effort to encourage Pennsylvania to adopt the best transportation funding policy possible based on the facts, rather than the Turnpike Commission’s fictions," says Brouillette.

The state legislature is expected to make a decision on the lease in the fall session beginning in August. The Rendell Administration and the selected concessionaire last week formally extended the $12.8b offer for a month.

see http://turnpikefacts.com or http://turnpikelease.info/

for the Turnpike Commission's fighting website see

http://www.paturnpike.com/straighttalk/

for the concessionaire's website see

http://www.penntransportation.com/

TOLLROADSnews 2008-06-23