The Collin County Observer

Editorial: Voice of Reason is Needed
Keith Self needs to learn from Tuesday's voter repudiation

Thursday, November 8, 2007 / The Dallas Morning News Suburban Editorial Board

Rookie Collin County Judge Keith Self was selling nonsense with his campaign to defeat a ballot proposition for road building. Voters, to their credit, weren't buying.

In approving $235.6 million in bonds for road projects in Tuesday's election, the public proved capable of discerning between good sense and rank sloganeering. Good sense argued that the state's fastest-growing county needs aggressive transportation investment to keep pace.

Mr. Self, in his lone-wolf effort to sabotage years of open and balanced planning, tried in vain to slap the "pork" label on the proposition.

Politicians in Washington (and those who wish they worked there) may try to score points by tossing around that word. But county voters who know what it's like to sit through two or three cycles of a stoplight understand the polar difference between pork and an obvious need.

The conservative residents of Collin County have a keen instinct for the value of basics. That's why they want good schools and a safe community. They want open space for recreation, as evidenced by approval Tuesday of a separate proposal for parks.

They also know that traffic congestion wastes time, hurts business, fouls the air and contributes to a second-class quality of life. The public, in essence, rejected Mr. Self's naive counterproposal to concentrate investment on only a few "backbone" roads.

His concept to have cities pay the full freight for 113 proposed smaller projects disregarded the county's tradition of shared responsibility and helping to connect communities.

Yes, U.S. Highway 75 is choked with traffic and needs urgent attention. Regional transportation experts and officials continue to work on finding the best approach to getting the job done.

Mr. Self now should apply his zeal and remaining credibility to helping secure all the state and regional money possible to improve that highway and other backbone roads.

The effort needs allies, people of influence and voices of reason. The county will benefit if Mr. Self can develop that voice.

DMN Suburban Editorial Board
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