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Democratic candidates
get support from Clarke
WASHINGTON Former
counterterrorism aide Richard
Clarke called himself a regis
tered Republican in criticizing
President Bush, but his only
listed political contributions
during the two most recent
election cycles have gone to
former colleagues running as Democrats for
Congress.
In 2002, Clarke contributed $2,000 to
Steven Andreasen, who headed arms control
policy in the Clinton administration's National
Security Council (NSC) and was running for
Congress in Minnesota. Andreasen was defeat
ed by Republican Rep. Gil Gutknecht.
This year, Clarke has given SI,OOO to Jamie
Metzl, another Clinton-era NSC staffer. Metzl
is running for the House seat from Missouri left
vacant by the retirement of Democratic Rep.
Karen McCarthy and so far has raised far more
money than any other candidate.
Conferring with Clarke
Prior to his testimony Wednesday before the
independent 9/11 commission, Richard Clarke
conferred privately with one of its Democratic
members, according to commission sources.
These sources say Clarke huddled with Tim
Roemer, a former Democratic congressman
from Indiana.
Roemer’s subsequent questioning of Clarke
contained a few barbs but consisted largely of
open-ended questions giving the witness a
chance to criticize President Bush. Roemer
confirmed he had met “a couple of times with”
Clarke, as he said he had with Defense
Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and CIA Director
George Tenet. “Nobody coaches Dick Clarke,"
Roemer added.
One reason why House Speaker Dennis
Hastert unsuccessfully tried to curtail the com
mission’s activities on schedule was the pres
ence of Roemer, his former congressional col
league. Hastert regards Roemer as a partisan
who attempts to project a bipartisan image.
Kerry’s dividends
Sen. John Kerry’s campaign Web site has
wiped out past information about his record,
including a 2002 speech opposing the income
tax on dividends. He changed his position after
President Bush in January 2003 proposed
repeal of the dividends tax.
In a speech prepared for delivery to the City
Club of Cleveland on Dec. 3, 2002, Kerry said:
“We should attempt to end the double taxation
Robert *
Novak yr
ending double taxation of dividends.”
However, Kerry never has actually voted to
end double taxation of dividends. Last May 23,
he voted against partial repeal of the dividends
tax pushed by Bush.
Newt’s warning
Called on for advice by a group of conser
vative Republican House members, former
Speaker Newt Gingrich suggested a coming
political disaster on Medicare unless the GOP
launches “an entirely new dialogue.”
Gingrich’s one-page summary to his former
colleagues warned that the increased estimates
of Medicare costs caused by President Bush’s
recently enacted legislation “are going to cause
an explosion among fiscal conservatives and
give the Kerry campaign new ammunition.”
To counter this threat, Gingrich called for a
“transformation” of heath care that would cut
by SSOO billion the estimated $5 trillion to be
spent by the federal government over the next
decade. He advocated “preventive care, early
detection and best outcomes-based practices.”
Big money weekend
Big money fund-raisers for the Bush-
Cheney campaign have been invited to a luxury
resort in Georgia owned by George W. Bush’s
national finance chairman, to golf and to dine
with the president and vice president on succes
sive evenings, April 1 and 2.
It will take place at the Ritz-Carlton Lodge,
Reynolds Plantation, in Greensboro, Ga., an
hour and a quarter driving time east of the
Atlanta airport. Co-owner of the property is
Mercer Reynolds, the former Bush business
partner who resigned as ambassador to
Switzerland to head the Bush-Cheney cam
paign's fund raising.
Invited, along with their spouses, are
Rangers (who have collected at least $200,000
for the campaign), Pioneers ($100,000) and
Mavericks ($50,000 raised by people under age
40). That amounts to about 500 people dining
with Vice President Dick Cheney April 1 and
with President Bush April 2.
Robert Novak is a nationally syndicated
columnist.
! /
Numbers don’t justify state railway
By Benita M. Dodd
Georgia Public Policy Foundation
There are three ways to
spend a lot of money, goes the
saying: high living, gambling
and maintaining a railroad. The
first is the most fun; the second
is the most exciting; the third is
the most sure.
The current headstrong rush
to romance rail in Georgia is
evidence that the expression
isn’t familiar to transit propo
nents, transportation leaders
and community leaders who
continue to insist that commuter
rail between Lovejoy and
Atlanta, and eventually on to
Macon, is a ticket to cost-effec
tive congestion relief.
Gung-ho mayors have
pledged that their constituents
will cover any shortfall in the
proposed service's operating
and maintenance costs; the
Georgia Department of
Transportation has estimated a
$4 million to $5 million annual
operating shortfall. An enthusi
astic House Transportation
Committee member recently
told the DOT board’s inter
modal committee, ”The only
problem we have is we don’t
think you’re moving fast
enough." This month, a DOT
board resolution ordered the
department to begin negotia
tions with the rail corridor
owner, Norfolk Southern,
which also is willing to discuss
operating the service.
State leaders need to put the
brakes on this project and insist
that transportation officials take
the necessary time to re-evalu
ate the questionable expecta
tions of the proposed service,
including cost estimates; rider
ship assumptions; time efficien
cy and congestion relief.
Such questions are not
unique to this commuter rail
proposal: Costs are underesti
mated in nine out of 10 trans
portation infrastructure projects,
according to a 2002 study
reported in the Journal of the
American Planning
Association. For rail projects,
of dividends.” That position by
the prospective Democratic
presidential nominee goes back
to 1990 during his first Senate
re-election campaign in
Massachusetts, when he
claimed pro-business creden
tials by saying: “I supported
actual costs are on average 45
percent higher than estimated
costs.
"The key policy implication
for this consequential and high
ly expensive field of public pol
icy is that those legislators,
administrators, bankers, media
representatives and members of
the public who value honest
numbers should not trust the
cost estimates presented by
infrastructure promoters and
forecasters,” the authors warn.
In the case of the Lovejoy-
Atlanta line, the assumption is
that by the anticipated startup in
September 2006, rail propo
nents will have persuaded
motorists within a five-mile
radius of the Lovejoy,
Jonesboro. Morrow, Forest
Park, East Point and Atlanta sta
tions to give up driving and ride
instead in used coaches pow
ered by used locomotives on an
upgraded freight line shared
with Norfolk Southern. The
one-way fare for the 26-mile,
46-minute trip from Lovejoy to
Atlanta will be $5.60 or a
round-trip cost of $9 per day
with a monthly pass —a high
price for metro Atlanta com
muters.
It’s an attractive proposition,
according to the DOT's Georgia
Rail Passenger Program
(GRPP), because by 2005 the
auto trip between Lovejoy and
Atlanta is expected to take 58
minutes in peak-hour travel
time, while the train ride would
take 46 minutes.
And by 2030, GRPP says,
the auto trip will take 81 min
utes. Nothing is said about trav
el time to and from stations.
Timeliness should be a con
cern to prospective commuter
rail passengers, who will be
competing with Norfolk
Southern’s profitable industrial
freight customers for track time.
Norfolk Southern states in its
2003 annual report: “Overall
on-time train performance
improved to 84.3 percent in
2003.” In other words, about 16
percent of its freight trains were
late. Chicago’s Metra runs 700
I 11C; | Section
in A P r *l’ The Forsyth County
News will publish it's Spring Home
improvement Special Section.
I ’ .. . x ■< ■
Tlie special section will feature
I fresh ideas and practical tips for "jump
starting" spring spruce-ups for the g
home and garden, including down to
earth, easy ways to enhance home
I decor and sensible, easy to follow • *
advice for adding a new flair of spring
to a tired looking winter landscape.
* '
i . Tentative topics include: S
• Gardening ’ | ‘ '**
• "Quicker Fixer Uppers" - How To's and
Repair Tips
• Spring Maintenance
• Decorating Details ,
K ? Household Organization Tips
I
r fMU Mb F - r
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Materials: Tuesday, April 6
Publishing Sunday April 11 WF •
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FORSYTH COUNTY NEWS - Wdn—ctey, March 31,2004 -1
passenger trains and reported
96 percent on-time performance
in 2002. That year, Amtrak
blamed one-third of delays on
freight trains, even though
Amtrak passenger trains have
priority over freight trains.
Cost considerations are
another concern: Negotiations
with Norfolk Southern have
only just been authorized and
estimated costs are sure to
change, yet already GRPP
excludes any rent payments to
Norfolk Southern, “in consider
ation of investment in track
structure.” GRPP has also inex
plicably reduced its 2009 daily
ridership projections by 15 per
cent, to 3,080 passengers daily.
Mayors who graciously
offered to cover the estimated
shortfall should be aware that
the loss of those projected pas
sengers may just have raised the
ante another half-million dollars
a year.
Not only is the ridership
projection changing, the
assumption that the farebox will
cover 45 percent of operating
costs by 2011 is far higher than
all new start commuter lines
except Virginia’s. GRPP also
estimates that the 770.000
annual rail trips will result in 21
million fewer vehicle miles
driven by 2009, which suggests
that every rail passenger would
otherwise have been driving a
single-occupancy vehicle.
But the Regional On-Board
Transit Survey by the Atlanta
Regional Commission found
that 65 percent of metro area
transit users don't even have a
vehicle available for use; in
Gw innett and Clayton counties,
that figure is 51 percent.
Traditionally, new train rid
ers are former bus riders, negat
ing much gain in transit users.
Part of the problem, espe
cially in Atlanta, was pointed
out by Denise Starling, execu
tive director of BUC, the 3-
month-old free Buckhead shut
tle: “Everybody wants a stop,
and everybody wants an express
route,” Starling told the DOT
intermodal committee this
month.
Adding a sense of urgency
to the commuter rail project is
the warning that unless Georgia
picks up the pace, it will lose
SB7 million in federal funds
earmarked for the 26-mile line,
for which GRPP says start-up
costs are $lO6 million. Os
course, there is no real urgency.
The federal government is
unlikely to take back these obli
gated fiinds; Congress would
face a political upheaval if ear
marked money is withdrawn
from states without giving them
the opportunity to negotiate and
justify retaining the funds.
Georgia’s commuters
deserve to know that their tax
dollars federal, state or local
are being used wisely, cost
effectively and efficiently.
Macon's express bus service
died from lack of support; rail
service is hardly the solution.
The Georgia Regional
Transportation Authority is
planning express bus service
from Lovejoy; it’s a prime
opportunity to gauge potential
rail ridership for the line. Critics
argue that bus service is not
proxy for rail ridership because
buses are subject to the same
traffic jams as cars. An attrac
tive option is to place buses in
dedicated HOV or HOT lanes.
Commuter rail may well be
in a growing Georgia’s future,
but first, there's another expres
sion that state leaders need to
share with commuter rail pro
ponents:
Y’all come back now. With
some real numbers.
Benita M. Dodd is vice pres
ident of the Georgia Public
Policy Foundation, an inde
pendent think tank that propos
es practical, market-oriented
approaches to public policy to
improve the lives of Georgians.
Nothing written here is to be
construed as necessarily reflect
ing the views of the Georgia
Public Policy Foundation or as
an attempt to aid or hinder the
passage of any bill before the
U.S. Congress or the Georgia
Legislature.
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