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Lois Henry: Accountability concerns fuel Ashburn's high-speed flip-flop

BY LOIS HENRY, Californian staff writer
lhenry@bakersfield.com | Tuesday, Aug 12 2008 6:05 PM

Last Updated: Wednesday, Aug 13 2008 7:30 AM

Here I was all set to blast State Sen. Roy Ashburn, R-Bakersfield, for letting politics get in the way of progress, when common sense and fiscal responsibility got smack in my way.

His, not mine.

I’m talking about high-speed rail, of which I’ve been a proponent since I first wrote about the prospect of clean-fuel trains zipping people up and down the Golden State way back in 1995.

That’s a long time to wait for the Legislature to get off its duff. They first approved a ballot measure back in 2002 to bond for about $10 billion to actually build this thing. In fact, Ashburn cast one of the deciding votes to approve the ballot measure.

Then it was put off to 2004 because of bad budget times, then delayed again until 2006, and then again until this year.

Face it, there IS no good time to borrow $10 billion. But if we continue to do nothing, we’ll continue to have nothing and our air and freeways will simply continue to get more polluted and more crowded. Sometimes it costs money to achieve what’s called “vision” and that takes something called “leadership” — sorely lacking in politics today.

But here we were earlier this month, with Proposition 1 solidly on the ballot asking voters to invest in California’s transportation future.

Finally! I thought.

Then Ashburn, seemingly out of the blue, tried to kill the proposition. When that didn’t work he made a list of demands to a bill that would amend, or “fix,” the proposition. (The bill is now the birdie in a game of badminton between the Legislature and Gov. Schwarzenegger over the governor’s refusal to sign legislation until a budget is passed. We’ll have to see if the fixes make it on the ballot depending on whether the Secretary of State extends the deadline. Sheesh. Kids in a sandbox!)

But back to Ashburn. Being the jaded gal I am, I chalked up his apparent Luddite ways to his plans to run for the Board of Equalization when he’s termed out in 2010. No one has a prayer of winning that office with out the blessing of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association and I’d just seen an editorial in the Orange County Register by the Jarvis group repeating Ashburn’s points nearly word for word.

Ah HA! I thought. This is just Ashburn feathering his future nest by dumping on the constituents in his current nest. The first phase of the 800-mile train corridor, after all, would be built from Bakersfield to Merced, giving us access to clean rapid transit before the rest of the state.

What the heck was Ashburn thinking?

Actually, he was thinking about making sure this project comes to fruition responsibly by not getting caught up in the emotion and instead sticking to facts.

Facts such as the High Speed Rail Authority’s business plan was last updated in 2000 and they didn’t plan to do a new one until October, meaning anyone voting absentee might not have a chance to dig into the particulars until after their ballot was cast. Under the fix Ashburn advocated, the business plan must be updated by Sept. 1.

And facts such as, under the existing proposition, the authority could stick its hand in the cookie jar and spend that $10 billion willy nilly with little or no oversight. Under Ashburn’s amendments, the authority must request money through the budget process, which means a lot more public scrutiny.

I’d vote for the proposition either way. California must solve our ever worsening air and traffic conditions. But I’m glad Ashburn is asking some tough questions and keeping an eye on the bottom line.

I do disagree with Ashburn’s take that the authority has only a vague idea of how the train would operate, its ridership numbers, proposed fares, alignment and technology.

Almost all of that has been ironed out in painstaking detail, according to documents on the authority’s Web site ( http://www.cahighspeedrail.ca.gov/) and according to Mehdi Morshed, executive director of the authority.

“It was a real surprise and mystery and disappointment to us,” he said of Ashburn’s opposition.

He said they know exactly how many miles of new track must be built, the exact station locations and the alignments coming in and out of towns. They have the technology picked out (steel wheels on rail/electric trains), they’ve estimated fare costs, done engineering and even have environmental clearances.

“If right of way was in danger and we had the money, we could buy it right now to preserve it, that’s how far we are,” Morshed said.

He felt the proposed changes to the proposition were fine. More fiscal accountability is perfectly acceptable, he said. And other changes create more flexibility, such as allowing the first phase to extend to Anaheim, rather than Los Angeles’ Union Station, which he said studies showed was more efficient and cost effective.

But he was still stunned by Ashburn’s about-face.

“It’s exactly the same as what people voted on in 2002,” he said.

I think Ashburn’s point was that’s what the problem was. And on that point, Ashburn and I agree. (Just don’t tell Inga, I’ll never live it down!)

Opinions expressed in this column are those of Lois Henry, not The Bakersfield Californian. Her column appears Wednesdays and Sundays. Call her at 395-7373 or e-mail lhenry@bakersfield.com.