A top GOPer in Florida is alarmed that a secret deal protects CSX from liability.

And puts the liability on the state instead.

Florida Representative Dennis Ross said today that he was very alarmed in learning more details about a "secret" deal believed to have been brokered by Jeb Bush. Ross said many lawmakers knew little about this deal.

CSX offered protection from lawsuits in railway freight accidents



Frost did not name his client. Here is Ross's reaction to this deal.



I am alarmed as well. This was a deal which other Florida Republicans say is a harmful deal brokered by Jeb Bush in secret.

This is from an op ed written by C. C. (Doc) Dockery, the husband of Paula Dockery, a Florida senator.



This deal should be brought out into the bright sunshine right away. It is going to disrupt several cities in Central Florida, and CSX was given the freedom to start their project even before municipalities had a chance to do planning for it. It was done by the state in that secret deal.

CSX told it can begin its project even before any regional planning is done.



I have often said we will likely never know the impact of all that Jeb Bush did to this state...not for a very long time. It will come out in pieces just like this CSX deal.

There are plenty of other agreements out there for operating rights that can be researched for comparison. At the least they should follow the standard agreement guidelines from pre-deregulation days. There's really no good reason to throw away the standard legal guidelines.

Heck most of those agreements are based on transportation law from the days before Abe Lincoln was president. Lincoln specialized in transportation law before he was president and most regulations today were based on his work. WTF? What happens if there's a derailment w/ a toxic spill? Deregulation has gone too far.

then it is one pretty bad deal. Done covertly. We keep finding out stuff about it daily.

Amtrak is stuck with the same deal with CSX for using their tracks. If there's an accident and CSX loses a lawsuit, CSX hands Amtrak and the taxpayers the bill. Classic big business socialism; privatize the profit, socialize the risk.

against the American People.

'President George W. Bush nominated John William Snow to be the 73rd Secretary of the Treasury on January 13, 2003. The United States Senate unanimously confirmed Snow to the position on January 30, 2003. He was sworn into office on February 3, 2003 and served until June 29, 2006. As Secretary of the Treasury, Snow worked closely with President Bush to strengthen economic growth and create jobs.

Snow was Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of CSX Corporation, where he successfully guided the transportation company though a period of tremendous change. During Snow's twenty years at CSX, he led the Corporation to refocus on its core railroad business, dramatically reduce injuries and train accidents, and improve its financial performance.'>>>

http://www.whitehouse.gov/government/snow-bio.html

your damn trains are not supposed to be, carrying things they are not supposed to carry into places they have no business going, and are carrying things that are unmarked, unregulated, and traveling in populated areas that have no assessment.

Are they upwind of a school? Down wind of a hospital? What do we need to know that stuff for?

You irresponsible apologist for the most money grabbing family and friends of family that have ever darkened the doorstep of this country

Skulls and crossbones indeed. Very appropriate as you are all TOXIC!

are you suggesting that I am an apologist?

I was providing information which might, at some time, prove useful.

using this approach.

Now that these good men and true are aware of this secret deal, what are they going to do about it? Will they let Chessie back out of the deal, no harm, no foul? Will they try to change the terms of the deal? What if CSX says, "Suck it. The deal's done." Will they demand any accountability from their former governor Jeb! Bush? Or will they hang the people of Florida out to dry with a rueful shake of their little pin heads saying it's too late to do anything and go ahead with the deal as written?

Railroads are great! But they are DANGEROUS. They carry toxic and explosive material. Where are these tracks being placed? What is the projected freight on this line meant to be? Why? How can you be sure of that? Check all this out? take no one and nothing at their word or for granted.

One spill. One explosion. Near a school, a hospital, a water source. And they want to go ahead "without the ususal assesments" LIKE HELL!!!

Hide the shovels. Lie in front of the bull dozers. Get the information your state NEEDS.

This kind of play is right down his alley. I don't know if enough would be alarmed to do anything about it.

Our Democrats here are not known for their fighting spirit except against their own....and there are not that many of them.

I would say the deal will probably happen.

unless the mainstream media wants it so, that is.

The repubs will blame everything wrong on the incumbent Democratic president, and run Jeb on a nostalgia platform.

the name "bush" is going to be political poison for a few generations or so.

Where have I been? Doesn't CSX pay for anything?

http://www2.tbo.com/content/2008/jan/24/na-proposal-axes-pay-for-csx-flagmen/?news-nationworld

"TALLAHASSEE - State Rep. Ed Homan said Wednesday that he plans to file legislation to stop Florida from paying CSX Transportation for railroad crossing maintenance and flagmen on public road projects.

The Tampa Tribune reported last year that CSX charges state and local governments millions to station flagmen on road projects near the company's rails. The flagmen are there to monitor train traffic and warn road workers when trains are coming, even when the workers are far from the rails for weeks at a time.

The Tribune also reported that the state pays CSX hundreds of thousands every year for routine crossing maintenance, despite federal laws that require rail companies to maintain their own crossings. The laws spell out in detail the railroads' responsibility to make sure that lights flash and gates go down when trains approach a public road crossing.

Homan, a Tampa Republican and chairman of the House Committee on Audit and Performance, questioned the spending, especially at a time when lawmakers are facing a $2.5 billion shortfall this fiscal year and next."

"Florida pays half of what the railroads say it costs them to keep up their crossing signs, gates and lights, Wise told Homan's committee. That came to more than $625,000 last year, with most of the money going to CSX, the state's largest railroad.

The state also hires its own inspectors, in addition to federal inspectors, to make sure crossing signals work.

"That's another responsibility we take very seriously," Wise said. "It's something the Legislature weighed in on in the mid-1970s" because of railroad companies' lack of attention to maintenance.

In addition to the state, some local governments pay for maintenance on the crossings over their city and county roads. Hillsborough County, for instance, paid more than $250,000. Officials said they were following the state."

http://www2.tbo.com/content/2008/jan/24/na-proposal-axes-pay-for-csx-flagmen/?news-nationworld

Absolve the telco's from liability and instead put the liability on the gov't.

Make sure you frame it that way to all of your pissed-off Florida friends, neighbors, and relatives.

I am very angry about the way Reid is handling this issue.