SACRAMENTO – After the California Transportation Commission ok’d a flawed spending plan to make ports more accessible, Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez (D-Los Angeles) sent a letter to the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transportation Authority Board of Directors asking that the CEO of the MTA resign.

Text of the letter:

April 10, 2008

Dear Board Chair Pam O’Connor and Members of the Board;

As you know, the California Transportation Commission (CTC) today ratified a decision on allocating bond funds related to goods movement that will effectively shortchange Los Angeles County by approximately half a billion dollars.

Not only is this action unacceptable, it is my strong belief that it was preventable -- if Roger Snoble, the Chief Executive Officer of the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transportation Authority, had performed his duties in a manner consistent with the needs and best interests of Los Angeles County.

I believe that he did not, and what seems to be no more and no less than a dereliction of duty can only be remedied by Mr. Snoble’s immediate separation from the MTA.

I do not make this statement lightly. After several frustrating months of efforts to ensure Los Angeles County and Southern California as a whole received its fair share, however, efforts Mr. Snoble has consistently appeared to undercut, I believe there is no choice.

In November 2007, Mr. Snoble agreed to what was almost universally recognized as a bad deal for Southern California.  His agreeing to that deal has made it impossible for those of us who opposed the deal to succeed in repairing the damage.  More recently, Mr. Snoble has apparently made it clear to allies of our cause that this is “no big deal” for the MTA and not worth fighting for.  Both actions can only harm Los Angeles County’s interests and no doubt helped set the stage for the CTC’s decision today.

We need and deserve the Chief Executive Officer of the MTA to be someone who will go to the wall on behalf of the millions of Los Angeles County residents whose traffic congestion and air quality problems could have been improved with the extra $500 million funding the county deserves. Our ports are of paramount importance to the state’s international trade and economic development efforts–they should not be shortchanged when it comes to the distribution of bond funding and their fate should not be in the hands of anyone whose incompetence or indifference would do them harm.

Sincerely,

Fabian Núñez

Speaker of the Assembly