> transportation funds--not to mention the bonds?

Rhetorical question, of course. Using bonds to raise funds for other projects is a popular game. It's usually scammed for schools, where they issue bonds to take care of maintenance projects. They then take the original maintenance funds that were freed up to run the projects you'd never OK for bonds. No additional funds are spent on maintenance, of course, most likely less since if the bond is bigger than the original budget, they siphon that excess off too. Texas two step. The fun thing is that it's the schools that teach the voters, so they can be sure you'll never figure it out... :-)