What do you think about this commentary written by State Rep. Phil Krinkie, sent out by the Taxpayers League of Minnesota, and originally published in the St. Paul Legal Ledger?

During President Eisenhower’s 1961 farewell address to the nation, he famously stated, “in the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for this disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.”

Any public official, let alone a President, knows the dangers of unwarranted influence, i.e. the power and influence of money. And the reason to mention the Eisenhower quote is to bring attention to another “military industrial-like complex” that currently threatens Minnesota and continually wields unwarranted influence in the halls of our State Capitol – the transportation-industrial complex (or TIC, acting like a parasite with blood-sucking tendencies).

Whether it is orchestrating the yearly kabuki dance that local government officials perform for legislators while they demand increased funding for far flung roads and bridges, or the transit advocates that beg for more and more trains while simultaneously cannibalizing an existing bus system, it is the endless need to satisfy TIC that threatens to rob Minnesota taxpayers and let Twin Cities drivers languish in ever growing congestion. 

For proof, one has to look no further than the transportation omnibus bills passed by the House and Senate to recognize the influence of this group. The Senate passed a $10 billion funding package over ten years with the House in a close second with a $9 billion outlay. A reasoned individual has to ask why there is the need for such an enormous chunk of money for a highway system that has been in place for decades? Is the answer crumbling infrastructure that must be replaced; or is it the need to greatly expand the system? Yes, it is true we need to maintain our highway system and make improvements, but isn’t the $2 billion a year we currently spend enough? The TIC answer is no. The highway hogs and transit pigs that have come together to form the TIC need the ever-increasing sums of money to justify their existence.

An existence that includes hundreds of businesses from engineering firms and public relations companies to equipment suppliers and trucking businesses all united with one purpose – huge government contracts. With consulting contracts in the tens of millions of dollars and construction contacts in the hundreds of millions – is there any doubt about the growing power and greed of the TIC?

In 2005 they were successful in passing legislation to raise the gas tax along with a constitutional amendment to dedicate all motor vehicle sales taxes to transportation. Even though the governor vetoed the gas tax, the constitutional amendment remained. And last fall, the TIC spent millions of dollars persuading the public to dedicate even more money to transportation and transit. The public was duped once again by the TIC and the constitution was amended to dedicate another $300 million to transportation with at least 40 percent going to transit and no more than 60 percent for roads.

The ink was barely dry on the ballots before the TIC began their next quest – an even larger raid on the state treasury. Their plan: a 50% increase in the state gas tax along with indexing, a $20 per axel wheelage tax, increases in auto registration fees, a metro wide half-cent sales tax, and the always available “impact fee” (but this time for transportation). A bold and aggressive objective to be sure, but even more so because of the competition from the education and health care groups.

But to the amazement of all, the TIC was able to accomplish the unthinkable and pass 95 percent of their plan before the end of March. Now the only person who stands in their way is that pesky governor who has stated he will veto any tax increase legislation this session. Not to be outdone, the TIC is putting enormous pressure on legislators to override the governor’s veto. Regardless of who wins the next round, it seems that little can be done to prevent taxpayers from being bilked of billions of dollars by the ever-growing Transportation Industrial Complex. We should heed the warning of President Eisenhower’s…beware of any group seeking only to further enrich itself at the expense of the public.