The 'Smart Road' Scam

That's the title of the new article that just came out today in Regulation magazine, which is published by the Cato Institute. I co-wrote it with my old friend Peter Samuel, the long-time publisher of TollRoadsnews.com. I've known Peter at least a dozen years.

Even though our article in Regulation is brand new, Peter has already received some interesting feedback from his own contacts. One well-known transportation consultant sent him a note that said: "Very interesting piece Peter. I hope it will get picked up more broadly. But don't expect a Xmas card from the ops office."

There's actually an interesting "back story" related to the publication of this article, which I'm writing right now in Chapter 21 of "Outing Traffic.com." That story involves Traffic.com's successful efforts to threaten another magazine that had already accepted our article for publication with legal action should they publish it. The working title of Chapter 21 is "Intimidating the Trade Press."

I imagine that Traffic.com will be quite surprised when they find out that the article has been published in a different magazine that is particularly well read among DC policymakers. (My guess is that they especially won't like Regulation's cute custom graphic very much.)

Yesterday morning I finished the draft of Chapter 20, "Pay-to-Play," which details Traffic.com's connection (lobbyists, political donations) to key legislators, particularly to Cong. Don "Bridge to Nowhere" Young. This chapter explains how Cong. Young helped sustain the company's monopoly over the years when their original lead benefactor, Cong. Bud Shuster, "retired" after being the subject of an expose on 60 Minutes and a rebuke from the House Ethics Committee. It details the interesting proximity in time between Traffic.com's and its lobbyists' contributions to Young's reelection campaign and PAC, and his actions on the company's behalf. (Hence the "Pay-to-Play" title.)

Jerry