Specter denies stripping I-80 toll ban amendment

In a Nov. 9 post, I picked up an article from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reporting that Pennsylvania Republican U.S. Senator Arlen Specter had joined Senate Democrats in removing from pending legislation an amendment sponsored by two northwestern Pa. Republican congressmen banning tolls on interstate highways in an effort to defeat a plan to impose tolls on Interstate 80.

U.S. Representatives Phil English of Erie and John Peterson of Venango County have led the fight against the tolls, successfully amending a transportation appropriations bill last summer to ban tolls on all interstate highways. But last week, according to the Post Gazette article by Reporter Ed Blazina, Specter and Senate Democrats, at the request of Governor Ed Rendell, removed their amendment.

But in a letter to the editor published in the Post Gazette today, Senator Specter’s chief of staff in Washington, D.C., Scott Hoeflich, flatly denied Specter helped remove the amendment. Here’s a verbatim copy of his letter:

“The Nov. 10 article 'I-80 Backers Outmaneuver Foes in Congress' wrongly accuses Sen. Arlen Specter of stripping language out of an appropriations bill, thereby enabling tolling of I-80. To the contrary, Sen. Specter did not strip anything out of the bill because the bill contained no provision to prevent tolling I-80.

“This inaccurate description of events was started by a comment by U.S. Rep. John Peterson. Travis Windle, Rep. Peterson's communications director, retracted that assertion when he told The Associated Press that Sen. Specter was not responsible for removal of the language. Additionally, Mr. Windle told the Centre Daily Times that House Democrats prevailed on the House leadership to remove the amendment before moving the bill to the subcommittee. In short, the congressman's assertion is unfounded.

“Sen. Specter has consistently stated that the tolling of I-80 is a matter that should be left up to the states and not people in Washington who do not represent Pennsylvania," Hoeflich said.

At the urging of Governor Ed Rendell, Pennsylvania's General Assembly recently adopted legislation authorizing the collection of tolls on I-80. However, it cannot go into effect without the concurrence of Congress and the Federal Highway Administration.