Do you see the destruction of our freedoms yet! Not to mention our natural resources!

http://www.wcmessenger.com/newsbindata/ ... nbad.shtml
Tuesday, August 22, 2006


Eminent domain bad

By Richard Forsythe

Published Sunday, August 20, 2006

Highway contracts have poured more than half a million dollars into Gov. Rick Perry’s bank account since he became governor in 2001.

Chris Hammel of the Bell County group Blackland Coalition, formed in April 2005 to oppose the Trans-Texas corridor plan, said the group opposes the proposal in part because it would use eminent domain to acquire private property for the corridor when existing right-of-way is already available along I-35.

Libertarians have been warning us about the problems and danger of eminent domain abuse for decades, but especially since the New London, Conn., case where eminent domain seizures were given iron-clad absolute legitimacy by the Supreme Court for “public benefit.”

In that eminent domain decision involving Connecticut, then justice Sandra Day O’ Connor (one of the dissenters) stated, “Today the court abandons this long-held, basic limitation on government power. Under the banner of economic development, all private property is now vulnerable to be taken and transferred to another private owner, so long as it might be upgraded – i.e., given to an owner who will use it in a way that the legislature deems more beneficial to the public – in the process. To reason, as the Court does, that the incidental public benefits resulting from the subsequent ordinary use of private property render economic development takings ‘for public use’ is to wash out any distinction between private and public use of property and thereby effectively to delete the words ‘for public use’ from the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment. Accordingly I respectfully dissent.”

George W. Bush it seems has been familiar with the use of eminent domain to condemn properties such as those in Arlington, Texas. The Arlington Sports Facilities Development Authority (ASFDA) was set up by the city to condemn land for, and administer, the Ballpark at Arlington project Bush headed. He ultimately was paid $10 to $14 million. Bush and his partners used Arlington’s powers to condemn the land for the stadium and relied on taxpayers to repay the bonds sold to build the Ballpark – receiving what amounts to a direct $135-million subsidy. He’s making millions because the Ballpark at Arlington is a gigantic, taxpayer-supported, cash machine.

Now, after tripling the amount they paid for the Rangers, Bush and his partners won’t repay the city a measly $7.5 million debt it says the Rangers now owe because a Tarrant County jury ruled it didn’t pay a fair amount to the Mathes family when it condemned their property.

The Arlington City Council authorized use of eminent domain proceedings against as many as 19 properties needed for a new Dallas Cowboys stadium last year and approved resolutions that paved the way for 33 more condemnations. Some homeowners supposedly were not paid enough to pay off their mortgages.