NORFOLK RAILROAD, CHANNEL 3 AND DONATIONS There has been some action recently with the railroad. The Citys Law Director Joe Diemert has been meeting with the railroad attorneys since the federal lawsuit was filed. From what I understand some progress has been made. Meanwhile, Channel 3 has continued to keep the spotlight on the railroad by looking deeper into a point I made several weeks ago on air. That point being this is no longer about Norfolk Southern, their arrogance and refusal to fix a crumbing 100 year old bridge. It is about agencies that exist (the PUCO, Federal Highway Administration, and Federal Railroad Administration) to protect the public and their lack of assistance in this matter. Channel 3 reporter Chris Tye found quite a few congressmen receive money from the railroad. In fact, he learned there is a 31-member Congressional Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines and Hazardous Materials that oversees the Federal Railway Administration -- a mix of Republicans and Democrats. Twenty-six of those 31 members of Congress have received campaign donations from Norfolk Southern -- one of them as much as $20,000 in 2014 alone according to his source. He went on to indicate our Congressman David Joyce received $5,000 from Norfolk Southern but Joyce is not on that particular subcommittee. Chris Tye also indicated Congressman Joyce stated the railroad has been responsive to his requests on this matter. That may be the case because the Congressman Joyce did manage to get the railroad to sit down at the table with us before, he managed to arrange a meeting in Washington between the Mayor and several higher ups in the railroad, and several months ago the railroad agreed to hire an outside engineer to study the bridge and provide said report to the City sometime in December. I think Chris Tye pointed out one of the major flaws with our current government, donors control votes in Congress not the people. That being said, Dave Joyce is not on the railroad subcommittee, yet he has forced the railroad to move on some issues and has done many positive things for Macedonia so you cant lump all congressmen into one pot.
Posted on: Thu, 13 Nov 2014 16:33:10 +0000