TurnpikeFacts.com Exposes Turnpike Commissions Fiction

Commonwealth Foundation educational campaign explores the costs, benefits, and potential pitfalls of a Turnpike lease
 

HARRISBURG, PA — In anticipation of the upcoming debate in Harrisburg about the merits of leasing the Pennsylvania Turnpike, the Commonwealth Foundation announced the unveiling of TurnpikeFacts.com, a website dedicated to helping inform citizens about this critical transportation policy issue. The website launch marks the beginning of a major, statewide, multi-faceted educational campaign for the Commonwealth Foundation.

“For more than a year, the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission has been spending millions of dollars in toll-payers’ money on lobbyists and self-promotional advertising campaigns with the express purpose of thwarting any consideration of a Turnpike lease,” said Matthew J. Brouillette, president and CEO of the Commonwealth Foundation. “TurnpikeFacts.com is the first phase of our statewide effort to counter the misinformation coming out of the Turnpike Commission’s toll-payer funded propaganda machine.”

In addition to features including “Turnpike Lease: Fact & Fiction”, “I-80 Tolling vs. Turnpike Lease”, and “The Turnpike Watch”, the website includes the first installment of PIKE TV on YouTube. “The Turnpike Commission’s Family Tree” looks at Turnpike Commission CEO Joe Brimmeier’s hiring practices of family and political friends. Additional installments of PIKE TV on YouTube will be released on a weekly basis to shed light on the power, patronage, and politics at the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission.

“In the coming weeks, we’ll be announcing additional means by which the Commonwealth Foundation will be communicating with the public about the costs, benefits, and potential pitfalls of leasing the Pennsylvania Turnpike,” said Brouillette. “TurnpikeFacts.com is just the beginning of our effort to encourage Pennsylvania to adopt the best transportation funding policy possible based on the facts, rather than the Turnpike Commission’s fictions.”

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The Commonwealth Foundation (www.CommonwealthFoundation.org) is an independent, non-profit public policy research and educational institute based in Harrisburg, PA.

TurnpikeFacts.com is an educational project of the Commonwealth Foundation designed to help educate and inform citizens about the costs, benefits, and potential pitfalls of leasing the Pennsylvania Turnpike.

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