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Original letter (in reply to Terror attacks raise tension between Obama and GOP):

Under the Obama administration, there have been several attacks within the homeland, many of which have failed not because of intelligence but out of sheer luck.  Suspected “Christmas pants” bomber Umar Abdulmutallab was allowed on the plane with explosives in his underwear, while many of his fellow passengers had to discard their water bottles.

The Ft. Hood Massacre, regardless of whether you call it a terror attack, happened on a military base where there was evidence of Maj. Nidal Hasan’s instability and the army did nothing.

Times Square terrorist Faisal Shahzad was thwarted because his detonator did not work.  What’s worse is that he was able to buy a plane ticket in cash despite being on the “Do not fly” list.  His plane was minutes from taking off when someone realized he should not have been allowed to board.

The first job of any president is to provide for the safety and security of the citizens of the United States.  It is NOT providing health care, regulating markets, or even providing jobs for citizens.  If the president cannot keep his citizens safe, all of the mentioned policies will be for nothing.

Obama needs to get his priorities straight.

Author’s note: This letter was published in an abridged form on May 11, 2010 in the Washington Examiner.

It’s been well over a month since I sent WMATA my initial PARP request.  And it’s been over four weeks since I sent them my follow-up e-mail.  And now, WMATA’s interim General Manager Richard Sarles is calling for an additional fare hike and service cuts!

The public needs to know where this money is going before any additional fare hikes are enacted.  I’m okay with a fare hike IF AND ONLY IF the AFL-CIO isn’t bullying for more money.

Original letter:

I am disappointed with the Examiner’s coverage of WMATA and it’s bloated budget.  In today’s paper, it reported that over 70% of the comments received by WMATA indicated that they did not want service cuts.  What I believe is missing from the coverage is where is the money currently going.

After WMATA’s last 10-cent increase, I started my own investigation.  I found that in 2008, WMATA spent over 77% of it’s expenditures on salaries and benefits while only spending 3% on preventative maintenance.  These figures are available to the public via WMATAs web site.  I also found out that the industry with the highest salaries-to-expenditures ratio is the health care, which comes in at 55%.  Since finding this out, I submitted a Public Access to Records request to WMATA, asking for salary information of it’s unionized workers.  My guess is that much of the WMATA force is grossly overpaid when compared to the open-market and it’s the ATU that is forcing these fare increases.

I only have so much influence as a private citizen.  I’ve been working on my investigation on my own time for two months, negotiating slowly with WMATA’s legal council to release these records.  As a major news outlet, I expected much more from the Examiner.

I am covering my investigation on my website: http://www.mikesoh.com/tag/wmata

All of my figures and facts have been sourced.

Author’s note: This letter was published in an abridged form on April 12, 2010 in the Washington Examiner.

A couple of weeks ago, I introduced my “private investigation” of the WMATA system here in Washington, DC.  Initial results were that WMATA was spending more than 75% on salaries, which seems awfully high considering that they have one of the worst safety records. Only 3% of their expenditures account for “preventive maintenance.”

As a result of this, I sent WMATA’s legal counsel a Public Access to Records Policy request, which is similar to a Freedom of Information Act request.

Here is the e-mail I received this morning:

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