Seems not everyone's as appalled by David Dean's lobbying contract with the city as the mayor and council member Mitchell Rasansky. Today, Texas Senator John Carona posted on Harvey Kronberg's The Quorum Report a heated defense of Dean's work on the Trans-Texas Corridor on behalf of the city, insisting, "Transportation issues in the Metroplex and beyond do not begin and end with the Corridor, which is why TEX-21, the River of Trade Corridor Coalition, and Dean International are so important to the area's transportation future."
TEX-21, the abbreviation for Transportation Excellence for the 21st Century, and River of Trade Corridor Coalition are nonprofits set up by Dean as part of his lobbying work. Council member Bill Blaydes, Dean's staunchest defender at council, is the treasurer of TEX-21, which, according to its 2004 tax returns, made $578,139 in total revenue for that year, with $555,000 coming from "membership dues and assessments." Blaydes, Mayor Pro Tem Don Hill and council members Ron Natinsky, Ed Oakley and Steve Salazar are the city's representatives on the ROTCC public-sector board, which includes at least one elected official from danged near every city from Farmersville to Los Angeles. And it says here that Blaydes is chairman of the ROTCC.
Writes Carona, the senator from District 16 in Dallas County, "It was the vision and initiative shown by David Dean and his staff that enabled these organizations. Other Dean International efforts are now laying the groundwork for major developments to come. I welcome their participation in the policy-making process."
In what I am sure is totally unrelated news, Texas Ethics Commission records show that on May 25, 2006, Dean International contributed $10,000 to John Carona. --Robert Wilonsky
