Lawmakers to CTA: Take The Fuel!

Bob Roberts Reporting

CHICAGO (WBBM) -- A trio of legislators have a warning for the CTA: think twice before bypassing an offer from Citgo Petroleum Corp. to provide it with cut- rate diesel fuel.

WBBM Newsradio 780's Bob Roberts reports CTA President Frank Kruesi indicated through a spokesperson last week that he would "bypass" the offer because he found it "inappropriate."

State Rep. Marlow Colvin (D-Chicago) said the CTA must be doing well if it can bypass an offer that would save it millions, and said CTA's attempts to get new funding sources may be derailed if Kruesi stands fast.

"Frank Kruesi, we're sending a warning to you today," he said. "When you come down with that hat, there'd better be a check for $15 million in it."

The CTA has said that Citgo is offering the wrong type of fuel, that accepting it could endanger existing contracts, and that Citgo's demand that it provide free farecards to poor riders as part of the deal would break state law.

Colvin and State Reps. Cynthia Soto and Larry McKeon (D- Chicago) said they will move to change the Metropolitan Transit Authority Act, that governs the CTA, if necessary, and said the
farecard and contract issues have NEVER come up in discussions on the offer.

They said Citgo has also assured them that it can supply the low- sulphur diesel fuel the CTA uses.

The legislators issued their warning during a raucous, hour-long news conference in Chicago's Loop during which aldermen, legislators and U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.) criticized the CTA's position for a variety of reasons.

The CTA spokesperson told WBBM that Kruesi believed dealings with Citgo, which is owned by the Venezuelan government, would be "inappropriate" given the tensions between the Bush Administration and the government of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

Gutierrez cited a Dec. 8 State Department briefing in which it voiced no objections to Citgo's offers, made not just to the CTA but to a variety of agencies and housing groups in U.S. cities, as well as statements from the Energy Department endorsing the offers.

"If the people of Venezuela are ready to give this gift, a public gift, to the people of the city of Chicago," he asked, "who is Frank Kruesi to stand in the way?"

He then mockingly suggested that the City of Chicago shut down the hundreds of Citgo service stations if it's so concerned about Citgo and diplomacy.

"Obviously I say that in a rhetorical tone because everyone would say I'm loco," Gutierrez said.

Transit advocates also called on the CTA to accept the offer, and said they would demand at the Jan. 11 meeting of the CTA's board that it roll back the fare restructuring, which is intended to bring in $17 million in revenues to the CTA this year.

Kruesi planned a response at a 2:30 p.m. news conference.