The Political Whore

You may recall from this blog earlier in the year that the state was considering, to be quite blunt about it, selling the stretch of I-75 known as Alligator Alley (across the Everglades and Big Cypress Swamp) to the highest bidder, who would pay the state upfront and then collect the tolls on it for decades to come. (Technically, it was a long-term lease, but the net effect is the same.)

The plan sucked. And now, one South Florida lawmaker tells the Fort Myers News-Press, it is dead, at least for now:

Alligator Alley will remain in the hands of the state, for now. The Florida Department of Transportation received no bids to lease the 78-mile section of Interstate 75 by Monday’s deadline.

Sen. Dave Aronberg, D-Greenacres, said he hopes the state’s efforts to lease the alley are over.

“This idea was ill-conceived from the very beginning. It was sped through the process with minimal public input, and it deserves to be dead and buried forever,” said Aronberg, whose bill to bar foreign companies from leasing state roads did not pass during session.

“It was a bad deal for taxpayers, a bad deal for the state of Florida and would have set a dangerous precedent.”

Here’s the bad news:

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Ever wonder what the department store lingerie scene in National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation would play like in German? Yea.

• Cheney admits OK’ing waterboarding.
• Cockamamie scheme to lease Alligator Alley to private interests is put on hold.
• How to cut $2.3 billion from the state budget without laying anyone off.
• Stop driving right up my ass, or the FHP will target you over Christmas.
• Friendship Trail proponents aren’t giving up.
• Fewer Christmas shoppers = less crime at the malls.
• Obama’s “success tax.”
• The battle for green jobs in Obama’s economic stimulus package.
• Check out Congress’s 2008 voting scores.
• Oh, and Obama and Rahmbo did nothing wrong with Blago. At least that’s what they say.