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News Digest, 2/7/08: Fiscal (ir)Responsibility, TxDOT Edition

Exactly how do you miss on a three-billion dollar budget estimate by over a billion dollars?

The Texas Senate got a chance to ponder that question Tuesday, as they heard testimony from the Texas Department of Transportation that the agency's estimate of $4.2 billion in lettings had been overestimated by $1.1 billion due to an accounting error.

The agency came under fire four months ago for declaring a cash flow shortage and requesting an $8 billion loan from the Legislature, threatening that planned infrastructure projects across the state may suffer otherwise. The move was seen by many as a political ploy to loosen restrictions on private toll road contracts that were planned last legislative session but scrapped due to opposition from Democrats combined with a strong grassroots push against the move.

Yesterday's revelation that TxDOT had counted a $1.1 billion bond sale as revenue twice was, therefore, a double whammy for the agency: firstly, it comes across as a grossly incompetent accounting flub; and secondly, much to the agency's chagrin, it hardly makes a dent in the accusations that the agency was playing political gains with taxpayer dollars. Even a $1.1 billion error can hardly explain an $8 billion loan request, and the timing of that loan request remains suspect, having come a month before last year's constitutional amendment election.

In campaign news, the results of Super Tuesday became clearer and clearer as the day went on yesterday. Mitt Romney, who is seen as struggling to maintain a credible shot at the nomination, made news yesterday for trying to poach delegates pledged to other candidates, a move that can't possibly make him popular with Republican Party higher-ups. The DNC floated a compromise plan where Florida and Michigan could regain their DNC delegates if they hold caucuses later in the primary season to comply with DNC rules. And Hillary Clinton's campaign had some unfortunate timing as far as news releases and leaks went, as her personal loan to her campaign of $5 million came out at the same time as reports that some key campaign staff was choosing to voluntarily go without pay.

Nope, we're not done with news of money problems yet: the National Republican Congressional Committee's fiscal woes we reported on a few days ago which prompted a visit from the FBI seem to have stemmed from a possible forged audit during the 2006 midterms, and there is suspicion that these have been going on for several years. In a year that has seen Republican credibility on fiscal responsibility tank on multiple fronts, this blow to the core of the Republican leadership is a heavy one.

Senate Republicans blocked the passage of the economic stimulus plan yesterday, as they tried to remove provisions extending unemployment benefits for 13 to 26 weeks and add provisions that would extend the rebate checks to all elderly and disabled veterans — demographics that would apparently already be covered under the current bill unless they report over $150,000 in income.

And finally today, Josh has an interview with State Representative Stephen Frost, who discusses Texas primary politics and leadership problems in the Texas Republican Party. Check it out at the link.

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