Walker & Davis throwing out Tommy!s legacy; seek to reverse Tommys efforts to promote commuter rail in WI on behalf of wealthy GOP campaign donor

If Davis wanted Tommy!’€™s endorsement for his bid for Lieutenant Governor, he should have thought twice about introducing a bill to reverse a 13-year old statute that Tommy! created, along with Scott Walker and the Republican controlled legislature back in 1997.

And the RPW might have thought twice about throwing stones at a no-bid provision created by their most revered member to promote railroads in Wisconsin.

Yes, in fact it is Tommy!, Scott Walker and the rest of the GOP-controlled legislature who, in 1997, put into the state budget a loop-hole eliminating the need to collect bids for commuter train projects.

Contrary to RPW claims, it’s Walker’€™s standing up for one of the RPW’€™s biggest campaign donors, that reeks of cronyism.

Tommy! has been a big Amtrak proponent after all, sitting on the national board and even getting a train named after him, and must have thought that loop-hole would give him the opportunity to expand commuter train in Wisconsin.

Tommy’€™s words in November 2001:

But America’s railway system is not just a matter of history. America still needs a strong passenger rail system. Without it, we discourage economic growth in urban areas. Passenger rail – and specifically, high- speed rail – is important to the economic growth of our cities and our overall transportation system in a nation of nearly 300 million people.

In Wisconsin and in eight other states, work continues on the Midwest Regional Rail Initiative. In Wisconsin, the goal is to have high-speed service from Madison to Milwaukee by the end of 2003.

How disappointed Tommy! must be in Walker and Davis who are so crassly spurning his past efforts to bring high-speed rail to Wisconsin. Rather it’s Doyle and Barrett acting on Tommy!’s vision for high-speed train service connecting Madison and Milwaukee.

Time for Tommy! to call out Davis for pandering and Walker and Luber for their lies.

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