McCollum Should Scrutinize State's Close Ties With Railroads

Published: Jan 25, 2008

Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum should scrutinize the cozy relationship between state transportation officials and the railroad industry that is being given hundreds of millions of dollars in state funds.

The state Department of Transportation, which is championing a controversial Polk County railroad hub, appears to have been consulting with railroad executives on key financial decisions without regard for the potential conflicts.

As state Sen. Paula Dockery of Lakeland told the Tribune's Lindsay Peterson, "DOT doesn't seem to get it that morally, this isn't the way they should be behaving. It seems like we're getting into a slippery slope as to what does and does not constitute a conflict of interest."

Peterson discovered that during the state's 2006 negotiations with CSX Transportation on the hub, former DOT Secretary Denver Stutler turned to rail executive Earl Durden, a member of the Florida Transportation Commission, for advice.

State law prohibits transportation commissioners from taking part in specific DOT operations, including awarding contracts. The law also bans commissioners from having a financial interest in any DOT contract or from benefiting from state contracts during the commissioner's term.

Stutler, who acknowledges talking to Durden about the CSX package five or six times, said no specific issues were discussed. But an e-mail by a DOT official about one of the talks recounts discussions about federal funding, property tax arrangements, access to the hub and other particulars.

Durden had chaired the commission when, as Peterson reports, "it approved a DOT plan that set aside money for CSX - a plan that also contained more than $6 million for a railroad Durden owned."

Durden was a major supporter of Gov. Jeb Bush. After being named to the commission in 1999, Durden had pushed for a program that would fund roads, rails and ports important to commerce. The Legislature approved the "strategic intermodal system" five years ago.

The new program allowed state dollars, which had previously gone mostly to crossing safety, to be spent on rail improvements. Among the railroads that benefited was Durden's railroad, Bay Line, which was awarded $6 million in 2005. Months later he sold Bay Line and 13 other railroads for $243 million.

The legislation also enabled DOT to strike a deal - with virtually no public scrutiny - with CSX Transportation that could change the landscape and economy of Central Florida.

CSX agreed to give up 61 miles of track near Orlando to commuter rail in exchange for $491 million to expand freight operations in Polk and elsewhere in the state.

The arrangement virtually eliminates the possibility of a similar commuter rail being developed in the Tampa Bay area and will result in heavy rail traffic through downtown Lakeland.

A CSX executive sat on one of the transportation advisory committees that supported the deal.

Dockery and other lawmakers are demanding an explanation of why they were not told key details of the deal. She says most lawmakers were led to believe the 2005 legislation that set aside money for the CSX package was intended for road construction.

The entire process is suspect. At the very least, the state is giving the appearance of doing the railroad industry's bidding, without regard for the costs or consequences on the public.

The state's heavy and mostly secret collaboration with the industry merits objective scrutiny. McCollum should investigate and let citizens know if anything is amiss.