Randy's Ramblings: Who’ll stop the train?

Talk about it

The Republican sweep in last week’s election will make for interesting times in the Dairy State.

Like President Obama and the congressional Democrats learned after their heady ascent to power in 2008, Governor-elect Scott Walker and the Republicans in the Legislature will find putting their promises into deeds more difficult than making them.

First, there’s the matter of the state’s estimated $3.1 billion structural budget deficit. Then consider that Walker has offered $3.8 billion in tax cuts, shifts and loopholes to big corporations, high earners and others over the next two-year budget (2011-13).

He’ll need the skills of David Copperfield to make that budget balance without inflicting serious pain.

Unfortunately, the poor are likely to feel most of the hurt. More than 750,000 state residents are on BadgerCare, the state’s popular health insurance program for low-income people.

Some people are opposed to government health insurance unless they’re on it. I’m curious to see if the new Legislature opts to leave the state insurance plan for a private, high-deductible plan with health savings accounts.

Fifty-five percent of state spending goes as aid to local school districts and governments. Medical assistance and other social programs account for 19 percent of the spending. The university system gets eight percent.

It will be tough to balance the budget without cuts in those areas. That could mean teacher layoffs, larger class sizes, less money for street repairs and less help for troubled families.

The Star-Observer reported last week that the Hudson School District was able to maintain its 2010-11 tax levy at $27.8 million, the same amount levied in 2009-10, because of $810,000 in federal stimulus money it received.

The district got a total of $1.5 million from the federal Education Jobs Fund, but it’s going to run out eventually. With a possible cut in school aids, too, the board of education could be left with the unpleasant choice between property tax increases or staff layoffs.

Job approval ratings will take a hit if that happens.

Let it roll

The most shortsighted promise by the new class of Republicans, in my opinion, is their pledge to kill a Madison-to-Milwaukee high-speed rail line that the federal government has funded to the tune of $810 million.

During the campaign, Governor-elect Walker said he would shift the money to highway projects.

Whether he can do that remains to be seen. Gov. Jim Doyle has said the money will go to a rail project in another state if Wisconsin rejects it, and that the state will have to repay the federal money already spent on the project.

The weekend before the November election, the Doyle administration signed contracts with Canadian Pacific Railway and Wisconsin Southern Railroad committing the state to finishing the project.

Walker protested bitterly and called the Doyle administration “corrupt.”

The name-calling was unfair. Doyle is still the elected governor empowered by the state constitution to conduct business on the state’s behalf.

Bowing to pressure, Doyle on Friday halted the project — temporarily, at least.

Secretary Frank Busalacchi said the Department of Transportation would take a few days to “assess the real world consequences” of stopping the project, including “the impacts to people and their livelihoods.”

I suppose it’s puzzling why a small-time newspaperman from northwestern Wisconsin cares about a rail line between Madison and Milwaukee.

I like trains. In the early 1960s, my third-grade class at Luck Grade School rode the Soo Line to Webster on what was one of the last passenger train trips from St. Paul to Superior.

A few years ago, my wife and I rode the rails through Norway and Sweden. We’ve traveled the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) underneath the San Francisco Bay from Berkeley into the city. We’re recently back from a trip to Washington, D.C., which is served so well by subway, commuter and Amtrak lines.

Each experience has been a sweet ride.

There isn’t a more efficient, comfortable way to move people than by train. And trains move on ribbons of steel instead of land-gobbling, multi-lane highways.

Completion of the Madison-to-Milwaukee route is exciting because it’s part of a planned Midwest Regional Rail System that will one day connect the Twin Cities, Madison, Milwaukee, Chicago, St. Louis, Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Detroit, Cleveland, Pittsburg and points beyond by high-speed rail. Milwaukee and Chicago are already connected by the highly successful Hiawatha line.

After the Madison-to-Milwaukee line opens, the plan is to start work on the Madison-to-Minneapolis/St. Paul segment.

The West Central Wisconsin Rail Coalition has been pushing since 1999 for a route through Eau Claire and Hudson — the track the famous Chicago and North Western “400” train traveled.

The coalition is a group of business people, government officials and interested citizens promoting the return of passenger rail largely for economic development. It’s a subcommittee of Momentum West, a 10-county regional economic development organization.

It’s odd for Republicans to be opponents of economic development, but that’s clearly the case on this issue. They say the line will be too expensive to operate. The rail coalition debunks the claim, pointing out that the annual operating subsidy would be less than 0.2 percent of the state’s annual $3.4 billion transportation budget.

In case after case, the opening of passenger rail service has generated building construction, new businesses, new jobs and increased property values.

The same doomsday complaints about low ridership and high costs were made about the Hiawatha light-rail line in Minneapolis. Neither proved to be true, and the line has proven to be an economic boon.

Since then, Minnesota has added the Northstar commuter train and is working on a light-rail line between downtown St. Paul and Minneapolis.

Now that the election is over, let’s hope our new leaders in Madison do some sober thinking about what high-speed rail will mean to Wisconsin. They need to be reminded that our state’s motto is “Forward!”

Democrat Tom Barrett, the mayor of Milwaukee, delivered the best line in the final gubernatorial debate. He said the $810 million allocated to Wisconsin would be used for high-speed rail, but if Walker was elected, the train would be in Florida and named after Walker.

For more about the plans for passenger rail service in Wisconsin go to the West Central Wisconsin Rail Coalition’s website at http://westwisconsinrail.wordpress.com or the Midwest High Speed Rail Association’s website at www.midwesthsr.org.

Tags: opinion, columns, government