Recreational Trail Advocates (RTA)/Friends of the Rock Island Trail Vice President David Pittman has resigned, according to an e-mail released by Merle Widmer on his blog, Peoria Watch. Why? Because the group tacitly endorsed the $140,000 payment to the cunning Kellar Branch Corridor Corporation (KBCC):

I feel that our group silence worked well for KBCC, allowing them to get $140,000 with NO PUBLIC scrutiny or audit or previous public agreement. Even though I asked our group leadership to raise these concerns in public, the email exchanges of the past weeks made it clear that I am a minority of one; don’t ask, don’t rock the boat, and speak publicly only to praise the KBCC for its success. I am alone in my dismay and I cannot reconcile continuing in this group without violating my internal sense of right and wrong. As an officer of RTA /Friends of the RI Trail I felt obligated to keep silent, per the majority will of the leadership. Now, with the deed done, I can step away….

We as taxpayers and activists were not allowed to see how the KBCC justifies $140,000 for their expenses. Why not $120,000, or $180,000? No one knows. KBCC gave the cities a bill for services rendered. But our elected representatives never signed a contract, never made a deal. I believe this is very wrong…. I have chosen to keep silent for the sake of my friends and out of respect for their long, long struggle to make the Kellar into a trail. But I am ethically challenged beyond my limits and will step away from the tainted odor.

You can read the whole e-mail at Merle’s site. Pittman and I have been on opposite sides of the Kellar Branch issue since the beginning. We even debated it once at a meeting of the Neighborhood Alliance. But on the issue of the Kellar Branch Corridor Corporation, we’re in agreement. I have the same deep concerns about the lack of public oversight and the improper obligation of public funds without any kind of contract beforehand.

While I publicly stated my concerns on my blog, in e-mails to the Council, and on the public record before the Council’s vote (not without criticism, I might add), my concerns were easily dismissed because I’ve “long opposed the rails-to-trail conversion,” as the Journal Star put it. I tried to explain in my remarks that I was not complaining about the project in this case, but the process, but I’m sure the distinction was dismissed as tactical — an eleventh-hour effort to derail the project once again.

But had Mr. Pittman spoken up, too, he might have been able to make a difference. Pittman has long been and continues to be a huge advocate of the trail project. If he had raised questions about the KBCC, I think he could have affected the outcome. Perhaps the process would have ended up being more transparent. Speaking up would have been risky — in essence the effort to buy out the rail carriers and shippers was pitted against the pursuit of good public policy.

It’s interesting that only Pittman felt any pangs of conscience among the members of the RTA on this issue. Nevertheless, he submitted to the group and kept silent, allowing the deceitful process to prevail. It’s a surprising irony that a group who once decried inappropriate legal maneuverings from Pioneer Railcorp became willing participants in legal chicanery themselves.

Pittman’s resignation is really more of a confession. I think he fears he may have been wrong to put his principles of loyalty ahead of his principles of transparency and proper public procedure. I have no standing or desire to judge his decision. But I have no qualms about judging the rest of the organization for selling their integrity for a trail. Pittman did the right thing by resigning in protest, however belatedly.