People working on California's high speed rail have reportedly been told to keep their mouths shut and not openly talk about about any bad news related to the project.
Several high-profile members of the construction management team in Fresno said the company overseeing the project told them not to say anything about why the project has repeatedly fallen behind schedule and why the cost has exploded, according to a report in the Los Angeles Times. However, that supervising company claims the article is wrong.
California Assemblymember Jim Patterson-- a longtime opponent of the project-- believes this is further evidence of wrongdoing within the High-Speed Rail Authority.
"This is something that I think is so serious that it calls into question criminal behavior," said Patterson.
Patterson added that he's never seen anything that's so obviously purposefully deceitful that involves billions of taxpayer dollars. He noted that the federal government has warned the HSRA about cost overruns, and he suggested federal intervention could go much further soon.