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Bates: Fishy

Posted by Alex Brant-Zawadzki in 241 Toll Road

October 10, 2006 6:10 PM

Permalink | Comments (4)

If only it were a smile contest...

I thought the Transportation Corridor Agencies were getting desperate when I saw their ads on cable. But now it looks like they're going so far as to cobble together campaign mailers for supporters.

I say this because Pat Bate's latest mailer, which uses TCA endorsements, graphics and basic formatting, looks like it could have come straight from the toll road agencies. It lists her supporters from the Senate and Assembly Transportation Committees, OCTA, and both boards of the TCA. All told, Supervisor Bill Campbell's name appears three times; he likes to refer to Bates as "my former colleague in the Assembly."

The mailer identifies Bates as the only candidate for County Supervisor who supports the 241 (Foothill-South) toll road extension. This extension is the same environmental disaster that would pave through the Donna O'Neill Land Conservancy, San Onofre State Beach and a Juaneno Indian burial ground, while at the same time worsening the county's traffic problems and souring our relationship with San Diego County.

No wonder she's the only candidate supporting it.

It's ridiculous that anyone can claim the 241 extension will relieve traffic and keep a straight face. A decade ago the 73 (San Joaquin) toll road opened, and what happened?

"At one section of I-5 below the infamous El Toro Y, the average number of daily vehicle trips increased by more than 8,000 from 1996 to 1998. "That's really shocking," a Caltrans official said after double-checking the agency's traffic count. "You wouldn't think that would be the case, would you?"

Recently the TCA put forth a study which cites all sorts of fanciful figures for time, money and gas saved thanks to the toll roads. Of course it was full of crap - but don't take my word for it. Survey says?

Not so fast, says Dr. Michael McNally of UC Irvine's Institute of Transportation Studies. He says the study contains 'very misleading statements,' and, what's more, evidence says OC toll roads don't make traffic better and may actually make it worse.

Perhaps the most irksome part of Bates's mailer is the following sentence: "Not only will the Foothill South extension help relieve traffic on I-5, it will also provide South County residents with an important evacuation route in times of emergency."

Not only is that awful grammar; not only will Foothill South NOT help but in fact hinder traffic relief, but it will also serve as a relatively insignificant escape route.

Months back I spoke with Ray Golden, PR guy for San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station:

"…and he made it clear that SONGS has no position on the toll road. He did point out that residents ought to know they already have alternative routes. 'You have PCH. You have the 74,' he said, dispelling the illusion of 175,000 evacuees clogging up I-5 while radioactivity cooks the stragglers in their lifted pickups and SUVs like Atkins meals in microwaves"

Why would SONGS fail to endorse the toll road if it was such an important emergency escape route? After all, it meets I-5 practically across the street from the titanic tit-like reactors.

The more pertinent question to ask is this: why does Pat Bates feel she needs to lie to the voters in order to get elected?

 

Comments (4)

1. Comandante Agi says:
   October 11, 2006 14:10

   put a pink wig on her and she can earn extra bucks on TBN's prime time show

2. The Blotter » Who's Propping Up Prop 90? says:
   October 13, 2006 12:10

   [...] Rich isn't the only piggy bank greasing Prop 90's wheels; in fact, some of its main supporters are from right here in Orange County. Two notable names on the list of are Assemblywoman Mimi Walters, the resolution's co-sponsor (whose election committee has dropped $50,000 into the kitty), and OC supervisor candidate Pat Bates. Walters is honorary state chair of the "Protect our Homes Coalition". She is also one of the biggest cheerleaders for the extension of the 241 (Foothill South) toll road. The project, run by the Transportation Corridor Agencies, would pave through Donna O'Neill Land Conservancy, San Onofre State Beach and a Juaneno Indian burial ground. Bates markets herself as the only candidate for county supervisor who supports the extension of Foothill South. [...]

3. The Blotter says:
   October 14, 2006 08:10

   [...] Ahmanson was probably duped into supporting Prop 90 by Mimi Walters. After all, Fieldstead and Company gave her campaign committee $1000 back in January - long before her own eminent domain initiative (AB 590) died in committee - and pumped another grand into her on October 4. Incidentally, along with her failed initiative Walters also initiated a Private Property Rights Task Force, and who did she choose as its head? Former Assemblywoman Pat Bates, her fellow 241 (Foothill South) toll road supporter. [...]

4. The Blotter » DeYoung and De Restless says:
   October 25, 2006 13:10

   [...] Today we spoke with Cassie DeYoung, candidate for Orange County Supervisor. She has an uphill battle against Pat Bates, a former Assemblywoman and cog in the Republican Party machine. Bates has the support of Congressmen Ken Calvert and Gary Miller, the OC GOP, the Transportation Corridor Agencies, Assemblywoman Mimi Walters and pretty much everyone else who makes me nauseous. DeYoung on the other hand has earned her party's enmity for courting Democrats and detailing certain aspects of the lock-step party politics against which she is campaigning. Her most notable disadvantages stem from her opposition to Calvert and Miller's beloved tunnel, and also her more recent assertions that the 241 (Foothill-South) toll road extension is a pathetic excuse for traffic relief, one which will in fact make traffic worse. Who would have thought? [...]