Editorial: High-speed rail plan needs more transparency

Publisher’s note: This editorial is from the Nov. 13, 2015, San Jose Mercury News.

If a sunny outlook and the ability to ignore bad news were the only attributes needed to run a huge enterprise, California’s high-speed rail project would be rolling along.

Because there’s no doubt that Dan Richard, the California High-Speed Rail Authority’s chairman, and Jeff Morales, the authority’s chief executive, excel on both counts.

Richard’s irrational exuberance was on full display when the bullet train bosses solicited companies worldwide to form a partnership with the authority and got no takers — at least none willing to risk any of their own money.

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