El Tinklenberg dang near tripped over his tongue the night the 35W bridge fell, racing to TV news sets to shill for gas tax increases. His career of increasing funding for transit projects is now starting to make sense, it is in his best interest. Let’s take a look, shall we?

There has been a push from social engineers to replace the once failed Minneapolis to Duluth passenger rail line for a few years now, like since the Ventura administration. Well, maybe before that, it is one of Jim ‘Porker’ Oberstar’s (D MN8) priorities when not building bike trails. He has been trying to restore public subsidies for the rail line since it failed in 1985.  And that is where Tinklenberg has found a way to make money, for himself.

The next step for the Rush Line Corridor Task Force is to prepare a comprehensive feasibility analysis to give legislators, Task Force members and the public a definitive assessment of ridership potential, costs (initially estimated at $100 million) and whether the project is cost effective.

[...]

The $750,000 comprehensive feasibility study for the Rush Line will be financed by $600,000 in federal money that Oberstar also earmarked for planning the Rush, Red Rock and Central Corridor lines. The remaining $150,000 match will be contributed by municipalities along the proposed line, including Duluth. Another is the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe which operates Grand Casino in Hinckley, a presumed major destination within the Rush Line corridor.

The company tapped to perform that study is The Tinklenberg Group, and surprise surprise, guess who is running around Minnesota trying to con Cities and Counties into ponying up money to pay his company to perform the study, that will of course come to the predetermined conclusion that it makes perfect sense Federal funds be used to build the rail line.

Elwin Tinklenberg from the Tinklenberg Group has attended several meetings regarding forming a passenger rail system, and said the idea has been very well received.

“It’s really interesting to be a part of a project that within six months went from a discussion phase to being talked about among the most powerful folks in Washington,” Tinklenberg said. “There is a lot of interest in this and a lot of support for it.”

Oh what a difference having a pork loving Transportation Committee Chair who stands to benefit from having the rail line in his District makes.

Tinklenberg said a proposed budget of $585,000 is being looked at to form a joint powers board for the rail system. The most expensive portion of the budget is $385,000 budgeted for a technical feasibility study.

That $385,000 for the study would basically go directly to Tinklenberg’s company. Must be rough.

Tinklenberg said the cost of the feasibility study may be reduced by working with Amtrack and the Burlington Northern Railroad through in-kind donations.

Note that AmTrak is a Federally subsidized company, and it is a kin to a taxpayer in-kind donation to Tinklenberg.

Since a few corridor participants have committed funding toward the $585,000, Commissioner George Larson asked Tinklenberg what kind of funding would be expected from Isanti County.

Tinklenberg said Isanti County may be asked to contribute $15,000 toward the $585,000, but ultimately the county’s contribution will be decided by the joint powers board.

Once again, Tinklenberg stands to financially benefit from these Cities and Counties throwing money into this program.

Tinklenberg said once the feasibility study is completed, the process can enter into a preliminary engineering phase and environmental assessment work can take place.

In other words, give me the money up front, just in case.

“I look forward to participating in this exciting effort with you,” Tinklenberg said. “I believe this is something that can happen quickly . . . this is not a decade-long project. This is something that can happen in a few years.”

That’s code for: with a pork lover like Oberstar at the helm of the Transportation Committee in Congress it has the best chance of passing now, before common sense and fiscal responsibility return and people realize there are much more critical projects that should be taken care of first or worse….. this project be funded locally by those who stand to benefit from the project.

The Other Conflict

It would be interesting to see what will happen to this project being lobbied for/coordinated by The Tinklenberg Group since El Tinklenberg is running for Congress in a District that the rail line runs through. Tinklenberg said in his announcement that it was the 35W bridge collapse that spurred him to break his promise and run again for the 6th District in 2008. You may remember he was rejected by Democratic grassroots activists when they selected Patty Wetterling to be their candidate in 2006.

Tinklenberg is, like many Democrats, trying to pull the wool over the public’s eyes on the subject of partisanship, and true Government priorities by blaming everything on Republicans and portraying personal desires as ‘public good’. Oh, and in his announcement, he got a bit nasty.

Alluding to inaction on issues of most importance to the working families of the sixth district, Tinklenberg said even more new faces are needed in congress.

“Clearly,” Tinklenberg went on, “our current representative from the sixth district did not get the message that people want action and accountability—not acting.  They want facts—not fiction.  They want production—not pandering.  They want hope—not hassle.  And they want it now—not later.”

He can claim inaction all he wants, but the truth is that it is his Democratic Party that is behind the wheel. The 35W bridge funds could be on the way thanks to Reps. Bachmann and Kline, but it was his Democratic party, led by Oberstar, that tied those funds to controversial projects and a pork filled bill which was destined for a veto.

I just have an incredibly difficult time trusting a man who is a clear partisan, has a history of capitalizing on tragedies, and is getting rich on the backs of taxpayers. We don’t need Twin Porkers in Washington.

Inspiration: Anti-Strib

This entry was posted on Monday, November 26th, 2007 at 10:04 am and is filed under 2008, Know Thy Enemy, MN 2nd - Kline, MN 3rd - Paulsen, Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.