In what could be an ominous decision for the future of federal transportation funding, Florida Governor Rick Scott got out of the way of SunRail, a costly commuter-rail project in Orlando. While his Tea Party supporters strongly opposed the project, Scott said that he didn’t have the authority to kill the project.
As reported in the New York Times a few days before Scott’s decision, the main backer behind SunRail is Representative John Mica, who chairs the House Transportation Committee. Mica has a history of supporting pork barrel for his district, but after the 2010 election he at least paid lip service to fiscal conservatism. When Governor Scott killed the Florida high-speed rail, which Mica had supported, Mica got with the program and quietly joined the Congressional coalition that effectively killed the entire high-speed rail program.
The SunRail project will eventually cost $1.2 billion, more than a third of which will be spent buying right of way from CSX. CSX is one of Mica’s big supporters, and the Times openly accuses Mica of supporting the project as a favor to the railroad. By vetoing the project Scott could have given Mica cover for its failure.
