"As if our governor wasn’t already having a bad hair day..."

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Flattened by a (Two-Party) Mack Truck

3/14/07

Fort Worth Weekly
Copyright 2007

As if our governor wasn’t already having a bad hair day last week, just as the Weekly was putting to bed its latest story on the Trans-Texas Corridor (“Brake Lights,” March 7, 2007), rookie State Sen. Robert Nichols, a former state transportation commissioner, was introducing two bills that should have made that famous coif turn white.

• The first would prohibit any non-toll road or bridge from being converted to a toll facility and stipulates that if toll lanes are added to a non-toll road, the number of free lanes cannot be reduced.

• The second would put a two-year moratorium on all toll roads not already under contract, during which time their potential impact would be studied. Can you say “kill the TTC”?

Oh, and by the way, Nichols is a Republican, just like State Rep. Lois Kolkhorst, who introduced an identical bill in the House earlier.

And Nichols’ bill was co-signed by 24 of the Senate’s 31 members.

Don’t look now, governor, but your troops are dropping like doves on the opening day of hunting season.

None of the three bills, nor any of the other dozen or so anti-TTC measures introduced in the last month, are guaranteed to pass, of course, and Perry would no doubt veto any that did. But they are a pretty good indication that this Republican-dominated legislature is in open revolt.

© 2007 Fort Worth Weekly: www.fwweekly.com

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