Friday, November 9, 2007

Clueless Mike


Funny, my Congressman Mike Conaway can't figure out why President Bush vetoed the water bill? At least that's what he told a Standard Times reporter in a piece on the veto override. It didn't take me long to find a possible explanation.

The Carlyle Group just announced a $1.15 billion infrastructure fund, targeted in part, to water projects. Well, here's a thought. Like health care, George doesn't want government provided infrastructure, but instead prefers projects financed by the private sector. Consider the BizJournal news report:

"Carlyle's Team co-head Robert Dove said: “US public infrastructure requires $1 trillion in funding over the next five years. The private sector has a role to play, as seen in Europe, and can be a proven means of helping to satisfy such dramatic funding needs. We are grateful to our investors for the confidence they have placed in us and we look forward to expanding the use of public-private partnerships in the US and Canada.”

One would expect a CPA who gets donations from other Carlyle affiliates' PAC's (like Vought Aircraft Industries) to speak intelligently on this. But this isn't the first time Mike's tried to pull the wool over West Texans' eyes. And George W. Bush served as a Board member of a Carlyle affiliate in the 1990's.