Mike Turner and the Real Estate/Development Interests

Mike Turner has received significant contributions from a cluster of donors best described as the real estate/development special interest community. This includes PAC and individual donors from real estate, contracting, construction, engineering and architecture, and building trades unions.
In fact some of the largest individual contributors are associated with this special interest donor base.
And there is overlap. Note that RG Properities is one of Turners largest contributors. This development firm is a regional partner with Wal-Mart in shopping center development. The Wal-Mart PAC has contributed $12,500 to Turner.

But so what?

The set of top contributing developers are key players in contributing to urban sprawl in northern Warren/Southern Montgomery County. Even smaller contributors are involved. Individuals associated with developer active in that area, Design Homes, have contributed $5,700 to Turner. Individuals associated with Kendall Construction have also contributed.

And the big infrastructure project in the area that would materially benefit these developers is the Austin Road Interchange.

Has Turner done earmarking for the Austin Road interchange?

Lets look at the latest big infrastructure bill, authorizing appropriations out to FY10.

And that would be SAFETEA-LU, AKA known as Public Law 109–59, enacted by the 109th Congress. The bill made famous by that Alaska “bridge to nowhere”.

Here is the Congressional Research Service statement on earmarks in this bill:

SAFE, ACCOUNTABLE, FLEXIBLE, EFFICIENT TRANSPORTATION EQUITY ACT: A LEGACY FOR USERS Order Code RL33119 Oct 18 2005

Earmarking
The level of earmarking in SAFETEA is exponentially larger in terms of both
numbers of projects and dollar terms then was the case in TEA-21. For starters,
SAFETEA contains at least 5,092 separate earmarks for congressional high priority
projects (HPPs) with a value of over $14.8 billion (there are several additional blank,but nonetheless numbered earmarks in the conference report). This compares with 1,849 similarly labeled earmarks in TEA-21 with a value of $9.4 billion.

Then looking at the OMB Earmark List we see that there are two earmarks for Austin Road.

And, finally, looking at the Congressional Record here they are, in the pork-laden High Priority Projects list.

H.R.3

TITLE 1 FEDERAL AID HIGHWAYS

SUBTITLE G HIGH PRIORITY PROJECTS

SEC. 1702. PROJECT AUTHORIZATIONS.
Subject to section 117 of title 23, United States Code, the
amount listed for each high priority project in the following table
shall be available (from amounts made available by section
1101(a)(16) of this Act) for fiscal years 2005 through 2009 to carry
out each such project:

And the two Austin Road line items on the list:

2404. OH Construction of I–75 Austin Road Interchange,
Montgomery County, Ohio .............................. $6,000,000

4630. OH Construct full movement interchange on I–75
at Austin/Miamisburg-Springboro Rd. and
widen Miamisburg-Springboro Rd. from
Wood Rd. to SR 741, Dayton, OH .................. $750,000

So, a total of $6,750,000 earmarked.

Chickenfeed compared to the projected construction cost. But note that these authorizations extend to 2010, and can be reauthorized at a higher amount. And Turner is jockeying for a position on the House Appropriations Committee, where he would be in a position to earmark more money for this project as well as others.

But is this a Turner earmark?

This report from the Springboro Sun of 9/5/2007 implies that it is:

Congressman Turner Answers Questions

....Congressman Turner works with Congressman Dave Hobson, Ohio 7th District, matching line items and funding. So far $350 million extra has gone to WPAFB, with other local gains going to transportation projects such as the Interstate 75/ Austin Road interchange and economic development projects such as Middletown Regional Hospital's new facilities.

So it sounds like Turner is involved somehow, based on the article .

Putting it together graphically:


…one can see how some of Turners large contributors would stand to benefit from improved interstate access, as the interchange would make Social Row a major artery, and improve access for the lower reaches of OH 48 below Centerville. The benefit would be greater, of course, for property adjacent to the interchange, which is held or being aquired by RG and Miller Valentine.

Yet, this is all just circumstantial. There is no way to prove a quid pro quo. Contributions could be based on shared ideology as much as Turners ability to earmark infrastructure improvements.

Taking a larger view, for what its worth, here is what various construction industry lobby/PAC groups give Turner on their Congressional scorecards. I wasn’t able to find any for the real estate or homebuilder industry.

There is a larger public policy issue around the Austin Road interchange, due to the impact this will have on the city housing market, the downtown office market, and redevelopment of old inner-city industrial sites.

Maybe not a big deal if this area was growing, but its not.

This could also be the reason that there is minimal emphasis on downtown revitalization by top level groups like the Dayton Development Coalition (the leadership are Turner donors) compared to other cities.

In any case one can infer Turner, though touted as a GOP urbanist, really represents a suburban/exurban growth coalition.