Out in the West Texas Town of El Paso
May 16th, 2007 at 1:08 pm
A bill making its way through the Lege, SB 893, would allow all the border counties in Texas – except for El Paso County – to enter into agreements to acquire or build railroad toll bridges.
State Sen. Judith Zaffirini of Laredo, who is sponsoring the bill, said that Eliot Shapleigh, the Democratic state senator from El Paso, added the amendment that would effectively exempt El Paso from the legislation. Shapleigh declined to respond to both oral and written questions about the measure.
Joe Pickett, a state representative from El Paso who sits on the House Border and International Affairs Committee, said Shapleigh’s position is inconsistent, explaining that Shapleigh supports toll roads but doesn’t support tolled railroad bridges. “It doesn’t make sense that El Paso would not have the ability to do a private railroad toll bridge in the future.”
Pickett speculated that Shapleigh’s efforts to block El Paso County from building or acquiring a tolled railroad bridge was designed to help developers in neighboring New Mexico. “If you were applying for a presidential permit or talking to the federal folks about where to do a bridge, it would seem to me it would help your cause in New Mexico if there was some statute or some language that said it couldn’t be done in El Paso County,” said Pickett. “To have something like this is very suspect.”
Verde Corporate Realty Services, established by El Paso billionare Bill Sanders, owns approximately 20,000 acres adjacent to New Mexico’s Santa Teresa Port of Entry, which is about a 30-minute drive from downtown El Paso. Sanders is also a leading force in El Paso’s downtown redevelopment plan.
There’s a been a lot of talk of relocating rail lines to Santa Teresa, which would obviously benefit Sanders’ business parks. One 2003 study, which was prepared for the city of El Paso, recommended moving many regional urban rail facilities to Santa Teresa, including the Union Pacific and Burlington Northern Santa Fe’s rail yards in El Paso, as well as the Ferromex rail lines in Juárez.
In addition, Union Pacific Corp’s planning a $150 million terminal just four miles west of Santa Teresa that may process as many as 100,000 container units per year, according to news reports.
May 17th, 2007 at 11:48 am
Why would Shapleigh be working on behalf of Bill Sanders, when he and other employees of Verde Realty gave nearly $5,000 to Shapleigh’s Republican opponent last year? Not defending the senator, geniunely curious.
May 18th, 2007 at 2:02 pm
Response to One Response to “Out in the West Texas Town of El Paso”
Bill Sanders also happens to be Beto O’Rourke’s (from El Paso’s City Council) father in law. Beto is a democrat and a supporter of Shapleigh. Sanders has supported his son in law. Politicians will side with anyone who supports them or who offers to support future campaigns. The wealthy will lobby both parties to pass favorable bills.