Author
WSQT Guerilla Radio 87.9 in DC
The notorious Inter-County-Connector(ICC) highway in MD is planned to break ground this very year.
Unless, of course, we can delay it past the election-and defeat both MD Governor Erlich(R) and one of his Democratic Opponents. Montgomery County Executive Doug Duncan is a rabid supporter of development runing on a pro-ICC platform.
The name of Baltimore mayor O'Malley, running against Doug Duncan for the Democratic slot, has yet to figure promiantly in the ICC debate. This means he is the candidate who for whatever his other problems are has yet to make a major public commitment to the developers on this issue.
A poll was relased today contrasitng Democratic voter responses if people are told the truth about the highway vs if they are not. The issue there is the fact that the toll road will not reduce traffic on the Capitol Beltway, I-270, or I-95. If people are NOT told that, the road gets 65% support, but this support plunges to an unspecified figure if voters are informed of this fact.
Corporate radio stations like WTOP are NOT mentioning the figure the poll numbers plunge to, so it could be as low as, say, Bush's approval ratings or even Cheney's and they won't tell us! This is of course becuase their corporate owners want the highway, won't give up a news scoop, yet don't want to kill their pet project. They did admit the study would "stir up major controversy," implying very low poll numbers when voters are told the truth.
Typical Republican bullshit to build suport for a $3 BILLION dollar toll road that nobody will be able to afford, as it will cost $6 to $8 a day to use it. Not only that, by the time it is finished gasoline could be as high as $5 a gallon or higher due to Peak Oil.