The California High-Speed Rail Authority’s CEO has resigned over the project’s misuse of funds. If only the Democratic politicians who have continued to pour money into the project would do the same.
Ian Choudri, who had led the project since 2024, stepped down on Wednesday to focus on “important personal and family priorities.” His resignation comes amid the latest news of $600,000 in wasted money, which the authority spent treating consultants to nightclub visits, rides to the gym, and escape room sessions. The authority also spent $118,000 on international travel for consultants despite such funding being explicitly prohibited by their contract.
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Choudri’s resignation is good news, but it will do very little to move the needle. After all, California Democrats knew for years that Choudri and the authority were missing both construction deadlines for portions of the project and deadlines for financial updates and disclosures. According to the state’s inspector general for the project, the state will need to spend at least (i.e., almost certainly more than) another $108 billion, on top of the $18 billion it has already spent, and the project is projected to run out of money as early as December 2027.
California Democrats have not held the High-Speed Rail Authority’s feet to the fire, though, despite its constantly ballooning budget and missed deadlines. There has been no introspection, no indication from state Democrats that they would do anything other than pour as much taxpayer money into the project as needed. The most damning fact is that California Democrats could have removed Choudri as the authority’s CEO whenever they wished, and yet the only reason Choudri is no longer in the position is that he chose to resign.
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In other words, either Choudri was the problem, and California Democrats refused to do anything about him, or, as is actually the case, Choudri was simply the most high-profile figure in a project infected with incompetence and wastefulness.
The High-Speed Rail Authority is going to continue to waste money with or without Choudri because the project itself is a waste of money. It was poorly planned from the beginning, and state Democrats don’t care enough to provide oversight and ensure that the project is ever actually completed. Replacing Choudri as the project’s CEO is a lot like replacing the captain of the Titanic while the ship is halfway underwater, taking hundreds of billions of California taxpayer dollars with it to the ocean floor.
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[ H/T Washington Examiner ]
