governor

2013-01-30: Kansas Governor Sam Brownback wants to abolish the Kansas Turnpike Authority and put operations of the Turnpike under the secretary of transportation. In his recent 2013 State of the State speech to the legislature Brownback said:

"My administration has worked to restructure and reform state government to be more efficient and more effective.  But there is a lot more we can do.

"Poor management" of the Maine Turnpike occurred under the former chief executive Paul Violette, according to the state governor Paul LePage. In an interview with the Bangor Daily News the governor said: "There are good reasons why Paul Violette is gone and we put in Peter Mills to run the turnpike."

Actually it wasn't his management that caused Violette to "go," though perhaps it should have been.

2012-06-13: There were moves in the Michigan legislature today intended to prevent a rogue state Governor doing his much predicted 'end run' around it on the new toll bridge Detroit to Windsor. A state house appropriations committee approved language explicitly barring use of monies of a Michigan Strategic Fund for a new bridge and barring the Fund from committing to any new contract related to planning or construction of a new bridge.

Michigan Governor Rick Snyder is sponsoring a bill to establish a New International Trade Crossing (NITC) Authority to form a partnership with the Canadians and allow the financing of a new Detroit River toll bridge to Canada downriver of the Ambassador. The bill does not give the new state authority a name but we'll call it the NITCA ('nitka') using the Governor's office naming of the project NITC.

Maine Governor Paul Le Page told a town Hall meeting in Westbrook ME Friday that he wanted to do away with the Maine Turnpike Authority and transfer responsibility for the turnpike to the state department of transportation. His statement was received with applause.

The new Michigan Governor Rick Snyder (Republican) has transformed himself in his short few weeks in office from a bridge skeptic to a bridge booster - for the new public-private toll bridge downstream of the Ambassador Bridge. The Governor's press office has taken to putting out statements of support for the new bridge by outside groups and keying them to Snyder's new advocacy line.

Governor Tom Corbett "went ballistic" last week on hearing that the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission had made two senior appointments  without consulting his office. We heard this from two separate sources today. They said independently that Corbett is very angry that the Commission made the appointments before his representative, Barry Schoch could take his position at a Turnpike Commission meeting.

Likely next governor of Maine, Republican Paul LePage favors all-electronic tolling (AET) at the crucial southern leg of the Maine Turnpike (I-95).

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie (Repub) today racheted up pressure on the Delaware River Port Authority - a bistate toll bridge operator in Philadelphia with no port but a hemorrhaging suburban rail line PATCO and a variety of 'economic development' rackets - holding a press conference outside its head offices to announce more vetoes of its 'minutes' and to denounce its board of commissioners for fake reforms.

The new Republican administration in Trenton is clashing with the New Jersey Turnpike Authority in a sharp change from years of quiet and harmony under Democrats. Governor Chris Christie today made use of a veto power to block five professional services contracts approved by the Turnpike and issued a strong reprimand: