Walker Vows to Stop Madison Train

By Mick Trevey

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BROOKFIELD, Wis - Republican candidate for governor Scott Walker held a news conference Tuesday morning to reiterate his opposition to a high-speed train line being built between Milwaukee and Madison.

The Wisconsin Department of Transportation is currently working on the project and accepted a federal government grant to pay for construction costs.   However, according to a state estimate, Wisconsin will have to pay $7.5 million dollars a year to operate the train.  Walker maintains the figure will likely be higher.

"This is a classic example of runaway government spending, it is fundamentally what is wrong with Washington DC, and it's fundamentally what is wrong with Madison,"  Walker said while speaking at the site of a proposed train station along the route in Brookfield.

However, Democratic Party spokesman Graeme Zielinski said Walker voted for the train when in the state legislature.

 "Scott Walker voted for high speed rail in 1993 and again in 1996, what was the point then when he voted to set aside 50 million dollars in state money to attract federal infrastructure spending, which we got," he said.
 
Walker's campaign manager Keith Gilkes released a statement saying, "In the legislature, Scott Walker voted for a budget because it included the largest property tax cut in state history, not because he supported rail.  Tom Barrett and his cronies are using lies and distortions on Scott’s position to distance themselves from Barrett’s support of a boondoggle train.”