Why Is It So Hard For The Sentinel To Say “CSX”?

The Ocala Star-Banner took a hatchet recently to the state’s $1.2 billion CSX/Orlando freight expansion and dump deal, both in a straight news story and in an editorial.

Versions of the editorial promptly appeared in The (Lakeland) Ledger and the Gainesville Sun. Two of several money paragraphs:

“Why aren’t the fiscal conservatives, or just the fiscally responsible, in Tallahassee asking why the state of Florida is paying a national corporation that made a record $2.2 billion profit last year – up 26 percent from the year before, incidentally – so much for a project that some observers say could be done for one-third or less than the current projected price tag? When a recent study declared the Orlando commuter project the costliest railroad acquisition in U.S. history – $10.5 million per mile – where were our representatives in Tallahassee demanding a reassessment of the project’s scope and cost?

DOT officials say that since the CSX money was appropriated by the Legislature in 2006 for the commuter line, hence, for CSX, it does not need the Legislature’s approval to move forward with the project. That, of course, begs the question: Who, exactly, is running state government, and what happened to checks and balances?”

That’s a damn good question.

Ah, and then there’s The Sentinel editorial board and its latest bout of rail teen angst. I made a note to myself a while back to mock them every time they write one of these hissy fit “Paula Dockery is mean” eddies. However, I’m sorry to say, I fell down on the job and missed one a week or so ago. No worries. The 17-year-olds were back at it yesterday. They’re nothing if not predictable.

In reading these two pieces – the Star-Banner’s and the Sentinel’s – side-by-side, a curious juxtaposition grabbed me: The Star-Banner referred to CSX, directly and indirectly, 18 times by my count. The Sentinel? Once, in passing. CSX is the Sentinel’s Lord Voldemort of freight quadropolies. It must not be named.

This reluctance to talk about CSX is key to maintaining the fiction that this is a commuter rail deal. It’s not. For the 60 billionth time. It’s a freight deal. It’s the state-funded implementation of CSX’s Florida business plan, which focuses on cash, not commuters, I promise you. If you understand nothing else about this deal, understand that. Freight deal, freight deal, freight deal. Did I mention it’s a freight deal? Orlando’s commuter rail plan is the teeny little loin cloth barely keeping this bloated naked body of corporate welfare from being so obscene that Polk Sheriff Grady Judd would arrest it. (Sorry. Got a little graphic there.)

Anyway, the Sentinel’s latest makes one other thing clear: THE ORLANDO CABAL IS WORRIED. Brave Sir Charlie may well rescue them. We’ll see. But pleading for his intervention is a far cry from last year’s “Shut up hicks and assorted little people and take what’s good for you,” isn’t it?

There are couple of specific paragraphs below I want to highlight and respond to:

Commuter rail’s remaining opponents are trying to use the ailing economy as an excuse to win over state senators skittish about spending money on new projects (especially outside their districts).

They’re doing so even though the $432 million the state has agreed to pay CSX for the rail line sits in a transportation trust fund that can’t be used to pay for, say, non-transportation projects in other regions of the state.

Like say, the Lawton Chiles trust fund couldn’t be used to fill budget holes.

Anyway, I find it peculiar that the state has $432 million earmarked to pay CSX for the rail line when its original press release said it was buying the 61 miles of the A-line for $150 million. It would be fun to read how the Sentinel explains the disparity between those two figures. But that would require them mentioning CSX. So I’ll tell you. It’s for the funding of the robustly profitable CSX’s business plan to become a de facto freight monopoly in Florida. Did I mention it’s a freight deal?

And they’re doing so despite the fact that commuter rail has few equals in its ability to stimulate the weakened economy. It’s expected to generate thousands of construction jobs and help rejuvenate retail, commercial and housing sectors.

A few temporary construction jobs at the Winter Haven, which CSX says it will build with its own money if it loses the state’s contribution. And then 110 permanent jobs. That would be $600,000 per permanent job if my math is correct. Don’t know what other jobs they’re talking about. They manage never to be specific. And rejuvenate retail? Not so much in downtown Lakeland.

But several senators outside our region remain concerned about how their support for commuter rail in Central Florida could be used against them by rail opponents. Last year, egged on by Paula Dockery, the Senate’s leading commuter rail foe, trial lawyers threatened to run attack ads against senators who supported the trains for Orlando.

The correct phrase is corporate welfare foe. But, of course, correctness doesn’t matter.

Elected to serve all the state’s residents, the governor could promise senators outside Central Florida that he’d work next on getting similar systems for Tampa and Jacksonville. And he could promise that he’d help deflect any false or misleading attacks aimed at them for supporting a system that, despite what opponents might say, would bring Florida more jobs and better transportation options.

Indeed, Gov. Crist does represent all Floridians, including those who are not CSX shareholders, in the Orlando Cabal, or JD Alexander (Another name you’ll never hear in a Sentinel editorial. All those conflicts are incovenient.) Crist could insist that the deal be renegotiated, with an eye towards rewarding inclusion and fairness, not raw power. But since he’s never bothered to address a single question about the impact of this deal on the communities it harms, I’m banking more on the People’s Governor’s political antennae and self-interest than his concern for the People. Let’s make it clear: As of now, Charlie Crist supports spending at least $600 million – depending on how you look at it – on implementing CSX’s business plan. That should prove great comfort to the teachers not getting raises – or getting laid off.

And finally, “he could promise that he’d help deflect any false or misleading attacks…”

Two words: Bring it. The Sentinel is big on citing “misleading information” without ever citing what’s misleading. Maybe the Sentinel, so confident in its position, should sponsor a debate for the benefit of the governor. I volunteer. I’ll show up anywhere, anytime, with anyone. I would love to have a civil, rational discussion of misinformation. Somehow I doubt Gov. Crist will participate. But the offer still stands for whoever’s writing these works of art. Let’s have at it, in front of people. I’ll come to you. We can do it in Jacob Stuart’s living room. Or for the assembled legislative and lobbyist alumni of GrayRobinson. We could fill the DeVos Arena. I’m easy to reach.

Did I mention it’s a freight deal?

photo credit: Chuck Welch for Metro i4 News