Lessons from the Corelone Family and the Doyle Administration
“You do not come to Las Vegas and talk to a man like Moe Greene like that!” –Fredo Corleone (1972).
“Whether we have these intermediate stations or not is irrelevant. We can do this without those stations if we have to.” –Wisconsin Secretary of Transportation Frank Busalacchi (2010).
Attention residents of communities between Madison and Milwaukee. The 79-mile per hour rail plan designed to enhance connectivity with the city of Chicago has absolutely nothing to do with you.
Got that?
So now the truth can be told. The Milwaukee to Madison 79-mile per hour rail route that connects Madison to Milwaukee has everything to do with eventually connecting Minneapolis to Chicago rather than enhancing the transportation options for Wisconsin residents.
But Badger state residents need not feel left out. If the Doyle Administration has their way, local property taxpayers will still be footing the bill for annual maintenance, increased road traffic and police protection associated with any stations that are built.
Oh, and then there is the annual multi million-dollar state subsidy that will be required tokeep the rail line operational (Some officials have estimated that subsidy could be as high as $16 million each year).
There are a lot of questions surrounding this 79-mile per hour DoyleLine between Milwaukee and Madison.
When local officials in Southeast Wisconsin recently began asking questions regarding the station-related costs for which their local property tax payers would be on the hook, Wisconsin’s DOT provided threats, not answers.
A refusal to accept the responsibilities and costs associated with the construction and maintenance of a rail station is not the act of a friend, you see.
No word if Oconomowoc Mayor James Daley woke up today with a horse head in his bed, but Busalacchi carried out his threat and sent Oconomowoc’s would-be rail station to sleep with the fishes. That’s all we know. However, the MacIver Institute has filed open records requests for information that should shed some light on the Oconomoc decision, if and when the Governor’s office and the DOT comply.
Busalacchi’s dismissal of local communities’ interests came on Mike Gousha’s statewide public affairs program this past weekend. During the same interview, he boasted that a major contract would be let this October and that state officials would spend upwards of $300 million dollars by the end of the year in their attempt to force the hand of the next governor to continue with the project.
Federal subsidies that necessitate long-term support of state taxpayers…
Strong-arm tactics against political opponents…
Out of control spending…
Secretive deals…
Contempt for the public…
Retribution to those who refuse to submit…
This DoyleLine rail plan is the legacy of Jim Doyle in a nutshell.
By Brian Fraley
A MacIver Perspective