It's not always the crime. Sometimes it's the cover-up. The cover-up reveals bad faith. It shows that the people in charge are deliberately lying to you.
When a Spanish firm submitted a bid last year to help build the California bullet train, it cautioned that taxpayer money probably would be needed to keep the system operating.
Having reviewed data on 111 high-speed train lines around the world, construction giant Ferrovial said, it found that all but three could not make ends meet.
“More than likely, the California high speed rail will require large government subsidies for years to come,” the proposal said.
That warning, however, was expunged from the version of Ferrovial’s proposal posted on the state’s website. The only record of it was on a data disk provided to The Times and others under a public records act request.
The state rail authority repeatedly has asserted that it will not need a subsidy and that every high-speed system in the world operates without taxpayer assistance — despite significant evidence to the contrary. A number of projects around the world have failed financially, others require direct operating subsidies and many more benefit from government taxes and regulations on competing airline and highway systems, according to audits, studies and interviews.
How relevant was Ferriovial to the process?
At the time, Ferrovial was bidding to build a 22-mile segment of the rail system south of Fresno. In January, the rail authority announced that the company had submitted the low bid of $348 million and it was later awarded the contract.
So in fact the company that submitted the low bid, which was accepted, had warned that subsidies would be needed. There was nothing binding in the warning. Censoring it was an act of bad faith and basic insecurity. It's the sort of thing that a desperate and dishonest government does.
It's just the tip of the iceberg.
That famous golden spike takes on a whole new meaning with the nearly 1 billion dollar rail to nowhere contract that clocks in at a truly golden 35 million dollars per mile.
And its recipient, Mr. Diane Feinstein owner of Tutor Perini, just happens to sit in a warm position near the top of the state's political heap.
California will need to double down on support of the bullet train by digging deeper into the state's wallet and accepting a three-year delay in completing the project's initial leg, a new business plan for the 220-mph system shows.
The costly and geologically complex crossing of the Southern California mountains cannot be completed by 2022, as the rail authority had long contended.
"If we had started with all the money in the world, this program would have probably proceeded differently," Richard said in an interview.
Oh so if only they had all the money in the world... then this would have worked.