By Robert Price, Associate Editorial Page Editor -

One participant called it a “come to Jesus” meeting. Another referred to it as an “ass-chewing.” Virtually everyone agreed that the temperature in the room went up several degrees when Bill Thomas, the retired 14-term congressman from Bakersfield, paid a recent visit to his old district to check on the progress of his millions.

Well, not his millions. Ours. The bundle Thomas secured for Kern County from the 2006 federal transportation bill: a windfall of $726 million, give or take, that is ours to spend on long-overdue freeways and other assorted asphalt amenities. All we have to do is come up with a few million in local matching funds and reach some consensus on where and how to spend it all before it evaporates.

In other words, cooperate. That part hadn’t been going so well.

The various parties with stakes in the proceedings — the County of Kern, the City of Bakersfield, CalTrans, the Kern Council of Governments and others — were, by some accounts, making precious little progress in route-planning.

Things reached the critical stage Aug. 20 when the three city representatives on the Joint City/County Transportation Task Force staged a coup of sorts, electing one of their own — Councilman Zack Scrivner — as permanent chairman (rejecting county representatives’ call for a rotating city/county chair arrangement) and then moving to place a higher priority on city road improvements than on regional needs. County committee representatives Ray Watson and Mike Maggard bit their lips and went with the flow.

Congressman Kevin McCarthy did not. McCarthy, Thomas’ successor in the 22nd Congressional district, told The Californian’s editorial board the following day that the two competing jurisdictions would need to develop “greater synergy” if the southern valley is to get the most out of the Thomas millions. Thomas might have to get involved personally, he warned.

I trembled when I heard those words, and I’m not even on dad’s — er, Thomas’ — “spank list.” At least I don’t think I am.

McCarthy and Thomas convened a three-hour meeting of the principal parties Aug. 30 in McCarthy’s office and Thomas, by several accounts, carried on animatedly for the first two. That may be putting it mildly. “He ranted and raved for two hours,” one participant said. “Basically (he asked), ‘What the hell is going on?’” The gist of his message: Stop the squabbling, find common ground and get moving.

Bakersfield City Manager Alan Tandy bore the brunt of Thomas’ tirade, some said.
Tandy agreed that Thomas was Thomas, pointing out that the retired congressman — once overwhelmingly voted “hottest temper” in the House of Representatives — was never one to tiptoe. Would you characterize him as fiery, Mr. Tandy?

“Are you referring to the last 26, 27 years (in office)?” Tandy joked. “Let’s say he was ‘involved.’”

Afterward, McCarthy, who played good cop to Thomas’ bad cop, was more interested in talking about the results than the gathering itself.

“What happens in the room stays in the room,” said McCarthy, expressing a sentiment that probably explains why attendees were willing only to speak off the record in characterizing the tenor of the meeting. “None of that discussion is healthy. What I look at is the final end result, and the final end result is that we’re moving forward.”

A followup meeting Wednesday among just staff folk was said to have been highly productive. People seem to have gotten the message from Thomas (who did not return a call seeking comment).

“It was wild to get that much distance (covered) in one meeting,” Craig Pope, director of the county’s roads department, said of the Thomas-led sit-down.  “Bill Thomas was able to get us to the same page. He was incredibly powerful. … I’m fired up and I’m sure others are fired up.”

He expects to see real progress when the Bakersfield City Council and county Board of Supervisors hold their joint meeting later this month. Others have the same expectations.

“I’m very optimistic,” said Ahron Hakimi, a CalTrans engineer who’s assigned to the Thomas Roads Improvement Program task force. “The parties involved are heading in the right direction.”

“It’s all good,” agreed David Price, who heads the county’s Resource Management Agency.

But what happens if it starts going bad again?

“I’m going to continue to come back (from Washington) and have these facilitation meetings,” McCarthy said. “Why not stay on top of it?”

And beware. He might bring dad along too.

Contact Robert Price at 395-7399 or rprice@bakersfield.com.