Wednesday, November 07, 2012

Greedy Millionaire Loses

Last night a greedy millionaire lost an important election vote.

No, I'm not talking about Mitt Romney. I'm talking about a little-noticed ballot measure -- little-noticed, that is, if you don't live in Ontario or Michigan.

Believe it or not, one of the most important crossings between Canada and the United States -- Ambassador Bridge -- is privately owned by a guy named Matty Moroun. For years people have wanted another bridge, because the existing one can't support the traffic. Canada has even offered to pick up all the cost of the new bridge, so it will be essentially free for the US.

Moroun can't stand the competition, and he's tried in every possible way to block the new bridge. Who cares if the bridge will benefit millions of people on both sides of the border? The only thing that matters is Moroun's profit.

He spent $33 million to back a statewide ballot measure intended to block the bridge, but lost badly, 60% to 40%.

Maybe now this important bridge will get built.

1 comment:

andrew said...

That ballot proposal was shockingly blatant. Came just short of calling it the 'keep my monopoly' proposal. Very proud to have voted against it.