Pat Robertson gets his payback from smirk

[donsu]

http://home.hamptonroads.com/stories/story.cfm?story=90202&ran=98102

GOP pays tribute to Pat Robertson

-snip-

Thanks to the work of U.S. Sen. George Allen, as well as U.S. Reps. Thelma Drake and J. Randy Forbes, the new $286 billion transportation bill includes a particularly curious $10.8 million for an I-64 exit leading to City Line Road, which doesn’t exist.

Robertson is planning a $300 million collection of houses, shops and offices. It sounds promising, but that’s really beside the point.

The behavior of the Robertson Trinity isn’t. Since 2002, they have received $16,000 in offerings from the televangelist. That investment — arguably one for the record books — secures an interchange for a development-to-come, while the traffic problems in the here-and-now go begging for pennies from Washington. If you’re Pat Robertson, you have earned the right to jump to the head of the line.

-snip-

Right now, the Christian Broadcasting Network is paying for a $500,000 study to determine whether the interchange can be built safely. Given how close it would be to existing exits, that’s not a sure thing. But assuming the study OKs the project, and it gets regulatory approval, part of the $30 million or $40 million expense will be covered by CBN. Given that the exit would first serve a CBN project, that represents a welcome recognition of financial obligation by Robertson.
-snip-
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what a racket!

[frankly_fedup2]

1. Well, isn't his profits from his diamond mines in Africa enough?

He reminds me of Rush Limpballs. I look at Pat Robertson and his greed and then wonder if he has ever read the Bible, especially since he seems to preach from it all the time. I asked Limpballs yesterday if he ever read the Ten Commandments that he fights so hard for a lump of marble to sit in a courthouse? I asked him because he talks so much about it but he sure doesn't live by them.

Oh, by the way, was he involved in the OxyContin ring that was busted yesterday? I wonder (hope) if his name gets brought up.

[noonwitch]

2. It sounds like he's building a compound

Someplace for his biggest donors to hide during the rapture?

[AmandaRuth]

3. a great opportunity for the area progressives and dems

to get earworms out to the community.

Keep calling it the Pat Robertson Exit. Especially if this exit gets built well in advance of the development. Everytime anyone passes or refers to the exit to no where, it is the pat robertson exit.

[AntiCoup2K4]

4. Believe it or not, this isn't unprecedented.

Here in Washington State, there's a freeway interchange that was financed not with state dollars, but entirely by the Weyerhauser corporation, which owned the land where a large industrial/residential area was under development. Weyerhauser knew they would get their money back since they had already had an Intel plant and State Farm Insurance office complex under construction on the property.

There was an existing interchange 1/2 mile up the freeway, but expanding it would have been next to impossible, and that interchange already served a small residential community and the south end of the Ft. Lewis military base as it is, so further demand on that intersection would have been a bad thing.

I think Pat should offer to pay the whole thing rather than just part of it, as Weyerhauser did, but I have no objections to corporations spending money on things like this, as it frees up taxpayer dollars to be spent elsewhere.

[Ian David]

5. Calling my congress-critters right now

on edit: Sen. Kennedy's office was already aware of this issue.

[Catchawave]

6. If anyone's familiar with this area.....

...this is definitely a SHOCK ! Many more road projects should be well ahead of Jesusland.