Republicans say they believe in austerity and fiscal responsibility.
Bunk.
Deep into this story about the return of an Amtrak maintenance facility in Milwaukee which had been part of the entire Amtrak expansion which Walker killed in 2011 after campaigning against it and former Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle's productive employment stimulus partnership with President Obama in 2010 is a key statistic:
$50 million.
That's the amount of state money - - our money - - which Wisconsin under Walker had to pay to Talgo, the train manufacturer which built the trains which were supposed to run between Milwaukee and Madison and then westward to join midwest rail all the way to the Pacific Ocean, after breaking a contract with a private company which was to assemble the trains in a high-unemployment Milwaukee neighborhood.
Plus, the trains went to Talgo as part of the settlement, so Wisconsin ended up with exactly zero new train service, or train assembly jobs, along with 50 million bucks - - thanks to Walker's need for partisan, self-serving headlines and anti-Milwaukee suburban votes which helped him win the 2010 gubernatorial election.
All of which looks worse, as I pointed out the other day, since the potential opening of a mega-factory in Racine County cannot offer high-tech workers lure to factory from Madison an easy, road congestion-free ride to Racine County's Sturtevant Amtrak station.
Nor can Chicago residents perhaps hired at the plant catch a Metro commuter train with a transfer to Racine at the end of the existing line in Kenosha, because Walker and Assembly Leader Robin Vos killed Wisconsin's coordinating regional transit authorities and a commuter train from Kenosha to Racine and Milwaukee.
A summary post, here.
And here.
Amazing how many good ideas and solid services these anti-transit Republicans have derailed.
Bunk.
Deep into this story about the return of an Amtrak maintenance facility in Milwaukee which had been part of the entire Amtrak expansion which Walker killed in 2011 after campaigning against it and former Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle's productive employment stimulus partnership with President Obama in 2010 is a key statistic:
$50 million.
That's the amount of state money - - our money - - which Wisconsin under Walker had to pay to Talgo, the train manufacturer which built the trains which were supposed to run between Milwaukee and Madison and then westward to join midwest rail all the way to the Pacific Ocean, after breaking a contract with a private company which was to assemble the trains in a high-unemployment Milwaukee neighborhood.
Plus, the trains went to Talgo as part of the settlement, so Wisconsin ended up with exactly zero new train service, or train assembly jobs, along with 50 million bucks - - thanks to Walker's need for partisan, self-serving headlines and anti-Milwaukee suburban votes which helped him win the 2010 gubernatorial election.
All of which looks worse, as I pointed out the other day, since the potential opening of a mega-factory in Racine County cannot offer high-tech workers lure to factory from Madison an easy, road congestion-free ride to Racine County's Sturtevant Amtrak station.
Nor can Chicago residents perhaps hired at the plant catch a Metro commuter train with a transfer to Racine at the end of the existing line in Kenosha, because Walker and Assembly Leader Robin Vos killed Wisconsin's coordinating regional transit authorities and a commuter train from Kenosha to Racine and Milwaukee.
A summary post, here.
And here.
Amazing how many good ideas and solid services these anti-transit Republicans have derailed.