pennnsylvania turnpike commission

The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission says that the state secretary of transportation Allen Biehler "was recently named chairman..." We looked at Governor Rendell's news releases to see if he'd named Biehler. Nothing. Apparently the Commission "names" its own. In this case Biehler as state secretary of transportation was already an ex-officio commissioner.

Governor Ed Rendell is nominating A Michael Pratt, a partner in the Pepper Hamilton law firm in Philadelphia to take the place of Thomas Rubin on the board of the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission. He removed Rubin this morning on the basis that that he was involved in the corruption for which ex-state senator Vincent Fumo was convicted.

Pennsylvania Governor Edward Rendell says in a letter released this morning that he is removing the chairman of the Turnpike Commission, Mitchell Rubin as a commissioner because of his links to corruption. Rubin had asked Rendell for a "leave of absence" from the chairmanship, but instead the Governor today fired him from the Commission.

The Governor gives four reasons in his letter to Rubin:

Opponents of the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission (PTC) are calling for the contending presidential candidates to come out against the handover of I-80. Evidence of this comes in a commentary by Nathan Benefield of the Commonwealth Foundation thinktank and Ryan Shafik of the Lincoln Institute for Public Opinion Research.

The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission is running up way larger debt to fund I-80 lease payments to the state than so far disclosed, according to calculations by the Commonwealth Foundation, a Harrisburg thinktank which is doing major research and publicity in favor of the private sector lease.

Turnpike Commission supporters in the Pennsylvania legislature made an odd move Wednesday - introducing a measure which if passed would have instructed the Governor and state ("Commonwealth") officials to execute the Concession and Lease Agreement announced May 19th. The move was easily defeated by 185 to 12.

See a text nearby.

We asked a senior official in the Rendell Administration recently: "Why does the Governor put up with having his plan to lease the Turnpike trashed every day by the Turnpike Commission? Why did he appoint these guys only to let them stomp all over him?"

There was a silence on the line and then he said: "I'm tempted, I'm tempted...If I answered that question however..." and that was about it.

Governor Ed Rendell said Monday that the Turnpike Commission "can't win this by stalling." In a memo to Turnpike CEO Joseph Brimmeier, as reported by Brad Bumstead in the Pittsburgh Tribune this morning, the Governor wrote: "I believe it is time for the Commonwealth (of Pennsylvania) to get an answer one way or the other from the US Department of Transportation regarding whether tolls on Interstate 80 will be allowed."

Penn Pike chief Joe Brimmeier is saying the Turnpike Commission is planning to issue Requests for Proposals shortly for toll concessions to build elevated toll express lanes on:

- (1) the Parkway East (I-376) east of Pittsburgh

- (2) the Schuykill Expressway (I-76) northwest of Philadelphia (pronounced 'skookull' with appropriate Dutch/Philly gutterals. REVISED)

Pennsylvania Turnpike CEO Joseph Brimmeier is provoking fierce attacks on the Turnpike Commission. His hometown newspaper the Pittsburgh Tribune Review's editorial this morning is an example. Under the headline "Turnpike termerity: stop the games" they denounced the Turnpike demand that US Congressman John Peterson from northern Pennsylvania provide ID and proof of residency before they would consider his request for details of the Commission's spending on lobbyists.