Wisconsinites Rally Against Governor's Rejection of Rail Funds

It has become pretty clear by now that the Republican party has become the "party of No." Can you think of anything the Republican party is actually for, other than tax cuts for the rich?

A few newly-elected Republicans even ran on an anti-high-speed-rail agenda this year. Seriously, what political leader opposes better transportation that creates hundreds of thousands of jobs, improves the economy, and aims to keep the U.S. from being the last country in the developed world without high-speed rail?

Governor-elects Scott Walker of Wisconsin and John Kasich of Ohio carried their anti-rail torches to the finish line this election season, vowing to send over one billion dollars of federal stimulus funds back to Washington. Wisconsin had been awarded $810 million for a 110-mph line connecting Milwaukee and Madison, and Ohio had been awarded $400 million to build a Cincinnati-Columbus-Cleveland route.

The U.S. Department of Transportation wasn't going to sit on the money forever and just last week redirected $1.195 billion from these projects to 13 other states (and to a separate, smaller project in Wisconsin). It didn't take long for the first business to move out of Wisconsin in response. Spanish-owned Talgo Inc., which recently set up shop to build the new trains, announced that it would shut down its manufacturing operations in Wisconsin by 2012 and move most of its operations to one of the states receiving Wisconsin's forfeited money. There go some good jobs for Wisconsin residents, jobs incidentally that Walker said he would be increasing not killing.

Other state leaders, members of the labor group AFL-CIO, and concerned working class citizens have spoken up in response, participating in a rally in the Milwaukee City Hall rotunda sponsored by Citizen Action of Wisconsin (watch the video here and here).

Sheila Cochran, secretary-treasurer of the Milwaukee Area Labor Council, tore into Walker's decision to reject the funding, saying, "I don't know how you declare victory when you turn back $810 million," money that would have helped stimulate thousands of new jobs. "Where in the recesses of his mind does he find a victory in this kind of defeat? His political ambitions have gotten in the way of the job he was elected to do."

Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett and other elected officials also condemned Walker's decision. "I cannot think of another incidence in the history of this state... where we have ever turned back a competitive grant this large,' said Barrett.

I think it is great these leaders and activists got together and held this rally. The results of this kind of illogical political thinking needs to be brought out into the open.

Why did Walker pull the plug on this great high-speed rail project? Because he didn't want the state government to have to fund operational costs, which would have come to less than a million to a few million dollars a year (note: The state has a $5 billion biennial transportation budget). As one local official at the rally, Nik Kovac, said, Walker's decision was "fiscally insane."

Citizen Action of Wisconsin had been spreading this message as much as it could prior to the election and following Walker's win, calling the move "economic treason," but it and others on its side were unable to keep Walker from canceling the project (which was already under construction). In addition to the rally, a bipartisan group of local communications professionals has gotten business leaders to sign a letter to Walker expressing their frustration and disappointment over this matter, as well as a request for "greater thoughtfulness, civility, creativity and compromise in the future."

In all honesty, I don't think they can expect much of that. Cancelling the high-speed rail project in Wisconsin is actually going to cost the state considerably more than operating the line would have cost it, strictly looking at direct funds (not even considering the jobs and economic growth that were lost).

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