Curmudgeon's Corner

The Heavy Hand of a Lame Duck Governor

Posted by Al Campbell on Aug. 19, 2010

Economy, Political, Quality of Life, Taxes, U.S., Wisconsin

The lame-duck government in Wisconsin has used its increasingly heavy-handed tactics to let Oconomowoc know that it can’t ask questions if it wants a railroad station in the new “high speed” system between Milwaukee and Madison.

As the city queried the state on just where the funding would come from and what, if any, financial assistance might be available, the Department of Transportation announced that it no longer planned for a stop in Oconomowoc.  It seems that we all are simply to tow the party line and forget about what the various and sundry machinations of the Doyle government on its way out will cost us citizens.

The rush to spend money that it feels will irrevocably cause us to have to engage in using trains for transportation to Madison is ridiculous.  This was spawned, of course by several things.  Governor Doyle decided to buy some train sets from a Spanish manufacturer…all without any oversight but his own.  He then lobbied the dickens out of the Obama Administration to gain some funding, and then, when that floodgate opened, plunged headlong into the final steps.

The ‘final steps’ are designed to make sure that, if there is a Republican governor next time around, there will be no ability to change the course he has decided we all must follow.  The money he is squandering now will have to be repaid by Wisconsinites if the state were to back away from the rail plans Doyle has concocted.   Doyle appears to actually believe that trains are where it is at for our future.  There was no debate over the feasibility or the likely usage of such a rail line.  There were no state-wide public hearings before the train sets were purchased.

The idea that a Governor can simply pull out the state’s check book and write a $47 million check for trains that we don’t need and for a system that most likely will not be able to sustain itself financially, is beyond belief.  The idea that this same Governor can irrevocably bind us to an action he decreed is ridiculous.  How could he get away doing something like this?  That was easy.  He had no opposition party with any clout with which to slow him down, and he has no sense about him that would tell him this wasn’t right.

Then, Oconomowoc has the audacity to ask about where the money will come from if it agrees to have a stop in its community, and the roof caves in on the city.  The state, of course, denies it pulled the rug from under Oconomowoc; it says Oconomowoc decided against the stop on its own.  There is a lie being told somewhere and I’ll bet it isn’t on the part of Oconomowoc.

What a splendid parting gift from this Governor to the citizens of Oconomowoc…and to the citizens of Wisconsin.

We can be very thankful that Germantown doesn’t sit on a line between Milwaukee and Madison.  But, there is still talk about a train between Milwaukee and Green Bay, so we can’t rest easy just yet.