OOIDA Call to Action - Indiana Members
January 20, 2006

Dear Indiana Trucker,

As I write this message to you, representatives of Gov. Mitch Daniels are likely opening and reviewing bids received to operate the Indiana Toll Road for the next 75 years.

Those entities reported to be bidding on the road include Cintra and Ferrova infrastructure groups from Spain and Cheug Kong Infrastructure from China.

The governor hopes to receive bids as high as $3 billion for the road. This money would be used for various transportation projects in the state including extending Interstate 69 from Indianapolis to Evansville with this section, too, being a privately owned toll road.

Hearings were held on the Governor's plan on Tuesday and Wednesday this week before the Ways and Means Committee. The Tuesday session was for supporters of the plan. The Munster Times reported the full committee sat through the three-hour session led by the governor's top aides, but they largely skipped the Wednesday session set up for opponents.

This committee will vote up or down on the measure on Tuesday, Jan. 24.

Based on what we're hearing, the Ways and Means Committee is pretty likely to vote in favor of the governor.

The lure for supporters is having a hand in or sharing in the billions that will be raised up front with little or no thought to where the state will be just a few years down the road. It's credit card mentality. Quick and seemingly easy cash is always tempting, but it often comes at a hefty cost.

We think this is more than a lousy idea. It's an outrageous one for the state, for truckers and for the nation.

The toll road isn't the governor's to sell. It belongs to the people of Indiana and to the highway users who have paid for it and continue to pay for it with their tolls and taxes.

Despite public statements to the contrary, documents produced by the governor's office show that the toll road is a moneymaker for the state right now. Even at the toll road's existing toll rates, the road netted nearly $12 million in income in 2005. Increasing the tolls as planned by the governor - 120 percent for big trucks - could likely net $100 million a year over expenses.

The toll road is an integral part of the National Interstate Defense Highway System - and the governor wants to sell it to a foreign country! This isn't thinking outside the box. It's thinking outside the planet!

We've yet to hear a peep about this from our nation's capitol. That's not really a surprise. Public/private partnership mania has gripped them securely and the temptation for quick cash is seldom refused. That kind of thinking is at the heart of our nation's $8 trillion (and still climbing) national debt.

Truckers have even more at stake than anyone else. If the heavily traveled Indiana road can be auctioned off so can every other route in the nation.

Everything's on sale.

In addition to highways, this legislation also gives the governor the authority to lease other transportation infrastructure including river ports and airports. You can bet they'll be sold off, too, if there is a buck in it for somebody.

If this legislation passes I have a suggestion for what should be sold first - that domed building in Indianapolis.

Contact your state representative immediately and repeatedly. Urge everyone you know to do the same. This initiative is very much on the fast track.

Once the House Ways and Means Committee votes it out of committee, it could go to the full House within minutes.

You can find your state lawmakers and get their contact information by going to http://www.vote-smart.org and inputting your 9-digit zip. If you don't know the full 9-digit zip the site does provide a link to assist with getting the last 4 digits.

You can email your lawmaker by going to the following Web site:

http://www.in.gov/legislative/legislators/listing.html

You can also call the OOIDA Membership Department at 1-800-444-5791 and they can pull up the information for you.

Gov. Daniels' telephone number is (317) 232-1198.

Sincerely, Todd Spencer
OOIDA Executive Vice President