Top Ten 2012!

H/T Julie Lassa!  

As I am preparing to celebrate the New Year, I had the chance to reflect on everything that has happened this past year.  2012 - what a year!  It was a difficult task limiting myself to just ten but here it is  - my list of "Top Ten GOP Lowlights of 2012".

10)  GOP Senator Glenn Grothman, who became mildly famous (or infamous) for calling Wisconsin protestors and union members "slobs", named Senate Labor Committee Chairman.

9)  Gov. Walker declared "Wisconsin Open for Business" then reneged on Wisconsin's multi-million dollar contract with Talgo which cost Wisconsin good jobs and damaged the state's credibility in honoring its contracts.

8)  Tea Partiers encouraged retaliation against citizens who signed recall petitions against Governor Walker and GOP Senators.  Many of these same Tea Party "patriots" had no problem targeting Senate Democrats for recall after we had the courage to stand up and fight for working families.

7)  The GOP's newly created Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation fails to track tens of millions of dollars in business loans for over a year.  Gov. Walker responded by, of course, blaming it on former Democratic Gov. Doyle and his administration.

6)  GOP Senator Alberta Darling claimed Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney would have won Wisconsin if not for thousands of fraudulently cast votes.  Shockingly, she can't back up her statement when asked to provide proof.

5)  Gov. Walker showed how much he cares for foreclosure victims when he siphoned tens of millions of dollars from the state's foreclosure settlement to "balance the budget".

4)  Gov. Walker claimed his administration created nearly 100,000 jobs since he took office - Politifact broke out the extinguisher when they rated his claim, "Pants on Fire".

3)  GOP Senator Glenn Grothman commented that, "Money is more important to men," after he voted to eliminate equal pay for women.  This is after the GOP said "there is no war on women" and they confirmed it when they also eliminated funding for women's health centers.

2)  GOP Representative Roger Rivard, when asked to respond to a question about sexual assault, said his father told him that, "Some girls, they rape so easy." 2012 Highlight: Voters easily voted him out of office.

1)  Gerrymandered district maps give the GOP control over both the Senate and Assembly, even though Wisconsin went "blue" in re-electing President Obama and electing to the US Senate progressive Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin. 

What did she miss?    

Talgo Open House

From the inbox:

Be among the first to see the improvements awaiting riders on Amtrak's Hiawatha line at the Talgo Open House this Sunday.  Our Machinists brothers and sisters built the trains which Gov. Walker has foolishly sidelined and mothballed to stay off the tracks.

The trains, which would travel from Milwaukee to Chicago are newer, faster and have wireless internet access for all.   

What:       Talgo Open House 

When:      Sunday, May 20 from Noon until 3 p.m.

Where:     3533 North 27th Street, Milwaukee
                    Off-street parking available

Train tours, children's activities and refreshments will be provided.  The event is free and open to the public.  Click here for an event flyer.

In Solidarity,

Phil Neuenfeldt, President

Stephanie Bloomingdale, Secretary-Treasurer

How Much Is This Round Of Bad Faith Going To Cost Us Now?

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel is reporting that the state is going to kill the maintenance contract with Talgo. The state is claiming that when the state killed the maintenance base for the trains, which they already spent tens of millions of dollars on, they also effectively killed the maintenance contract.

Talgo isn't taking it laying down:

As a result of the legislative action, the Transportation Department no longer can afford to make the payments required under the maintenance agreement and must terminate the deal, department attorney Kathleen Chung wrote in a letter to Talgo President Antonio Perez and his attorneys.

Talgo Vice President Nora Friend said the state can't back out that easily.

"The department is putting politics ahead of legality," Friend said. She said the state was "acting in bad faith . . . in order to advance an agenda to kill the train project, regardless of the damage it inflicts upon Talgo, the state and the taxpayers."

Talgo will initiate the contract's dispute resolution process, Friend says. That provision calls for mediation, but litigation could follow if mediation fails.

Bad faith bargaining isn't anything new for Scott Walker.

As Milwaukee County Executive, he was regularly being dinged for bad faith bargaining with the unions. As a result of his bad faith bargaining, Milwaukee County taxpayers have been socked for tens of millions of dollars in lost savings which would have been realized if Walker had the leadership skills to sit down and negotiate a contract instead of the smoke and mirror grandstanding that he gives us in its place.

The most recent example of Walker's bad faith bargaining, the illegal imposition of excessive furlough days because he failed to negotiate with the unions, is adding millions more to the taxpayers bill.

I can't wait to see how much Walker's Talgo fiasco is going to cost. And that bill won't include the lost jobs as companies see how Walker really deals with businesses and decided to not come to the state, or even worse, flee the state if they are already here.

The Walker Budget Is Already Working! Part C

It's rather appropriate that this, the 100th citation of the "success" Scott Walker's budget and ideology has rained down upon our state, makes it full circle to where he started.

Even before he was sworn into office, Walker was showing the state what kind of job creator he was by killing any chance of high speed rail coming through the state and keeping Wisconsin from becoming an economic hub.  His complaint was that it was too expensive, even though the cost would have been only $2.10 per person, almost the cost of a half gallon of gasoline.

Without the federal funds that would have come with the high speed rail, it turned out that the cost of necessary repairs and modifications were exponentially higher.  So Walker killed that as well.

And now we see how much Walker's ideological idiocy is going to cost us:

As many as 35 jobs would be lost at Talgo's Milwaukee facility June 3 because of a decision by the state to decline federal funding for passenger rail that would have prompted Talgo to build more trains for Wisconsin. Barrett said a decision by Republican lawmakers last month could put another 30 maintenance jobs at risk. 

In a letter dated Monday, the Spanish train maker notified unions that it would start laying off employees involved in building two trains for Wisconsin. That layoff does not affect employees who would be involved in maintaining the trains, but the maintenance jobs are also in jeopardy because of a decision by state lawmakers last month to cut off funding for a study on building a maintenance facility for the new trains. The company sent a similar letter to state officials Tuesday. 

Despite Walker's decision to decline a $810 million federal grant to extend passenger rail service from Milwaukee to Madison, the governor's administration supported borrowing $2.5 million for planning a new maintenance base for two trains Talgo workers were building in Milwaukee. The new trains would have replaced 20-to 30-year-old Amtrak equipment that's used on the Hiawatha line from Milwaukee to Chicago. 

A legislative committee led by Republicans voted to cut off that funding last month after the state Department of Transportation estimated that using the Amtrak equipment would be $10 million a year cheaper than using new state-owned trains. Talgo says the state would save $12 million a year by using its equipment, including $260,587 in fuel costs.\ 

Walker signed off on a legislative committee's decision, with his administration saying the governor could not have overturned the panel's vote. 

The vote could force the state to mothball two brand-new trains on which it has already spent $71.8 million. Talgo has argued that the state could maintain the trains by using Talgo's facility on Milwaukee's north side as a temporary maintenance facility. State Transportation Secretary Mark Gottlieb said in March his department is pondering options but cannot put the trains into service on Amtrak's Milwaukee-to-Chicago Hiawatha line without plans for a permanent maintenance base. 

Barrett told Talgo workers Wednesday that Walker's administration had "stacked" the numbers by inflating the cost because of an ideological opposition to public transportation.

And those are just the existing jobs that Walker directly killed.  There is no way to count how many people won't find the jobs they desperately need because Walker killed off the thousands of support jobs that would have been created from high speed rail.

With job creators like Walker, who needs job killers

Walker's Pyrrhic Victory

Well, Scott Walker did keep one of his campaign promises, after a fashion. Then again, he clearly broke another one.

As everyone who isn't a hermit already knows, Walker's idiocy has caused the federal government to pull most of the $810 million that was supposed to go to high speed rail and will be giving it to other states you don't have turnip-headed weasels for Goobernator-elects. Walker, being as dishonest and hypocritical as ever, called it a victory for the tax payers.

In a word: Bullshit!

The feds have stated that they might let the state keep up to $2 million of the dollars, which is a pittance compared to what is needed:

Wisconsin also was allowed to retain up to $2 million to fund unspecified upgrades on Amtrak's existing Milwaukee-to-Chicago Hiawatha line. But that won't cover all of the $19.4 million cost of renovating the train shed at Milwaukee's downtown Amtrak-Greyhound station or the $52 million cost of building a new maintenance base for two newly purchased trains, two projects that would have been paid for out of the $810 million in federal funds.

Outgoing Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle had suggested Walker's stand also would jeopardize a separate $12 million grant for upgrades to a Hiawatha crossing and the Mitchell International Airport station platform, but the federal announcement made no mention of withdrawing that money.

Walker isn't even saving us any money, so I don't know how he can call it a victory. He didn't stop the train, he only managed to get the feds to reroute it. That means that Wisconsin tax payers still shelled out $140 million dollars for a train but have nothing to show for it.

Walker claims that that part that he was concerned about was the operating costs of the train. Again, that is complete nonsense:

Taxpayers' yearly support for the rail line was estimated at $4.7 million. According to the Census Bureau, in 2008, there were 2,236,518 households in Wisconsin. This equals roughly $2.10 per year, per household. As Bill Sell posted, 2 cents of every $10 of our transportation budget would go toward the rail line. Presently $9.20 of every $10 goes toward roads. Transportation expenditures breakdown thusly: 92% on roads; 4.4% on mass transit; 3.4% for railroads, harbors, and airports; and the proposed line would have gotten .2%.

$810 million in infrastructure, jobs, and development for $2.10 per year, per household, or for .2% of the transportation budget - sounds like quite a deal. Too expensive? Nonsense! This is a sad day for Wisconsin.

Wow, that $2.10 won't even buy a full gallon of gas. Thanks, Scooter!

The millions of dollars that Walker just squandered isn't the only cost to Wisconsin. It's also going to cost us jobs (and the tax revenue from said jobs) in the thousands, if not more. One such area of jobs is Talgo, which already announced that they would be pulling out of Wisconsin in 2012 and headed for a more business-friendly climate. But they aren't leaving without making it known what a true loss this is for our once great state:

"In our view, this is even more tragic for the state of Wisconsin than it is for Talgo," Friend said in a written statement. "This is the rejection of creation of direct and indirect jobs, of added tourism, of the increase in state income taxes with permanent employment and . . .  lost opportunities (from) the establishment and growth of the vendor supply chain, among many other benefits."

Cory Liebmann has compiled a list of some of the companies that just had their futures put on hold and their employees continued employment jeopardized by Walker's "job-creating" agenda. It should be noted that these are only the companies directly impacted by Walker's rejection of the train. It does not include the other companies and businesses, like the grocers, gas stations and other stores where the employees would have spent the money they now are no longer going to get.

And to round it off, the City of Milwaukee is looking at its options of suing the state in order to recoup the money spent on fixing up the Talgo plant. Walker should pay for it, but out of his campaign purse, since it was his political aspirations that caused this debacle in the first place.

But it's not all bad news. California is ecstatic, if somewhat bemused, with our Goobernator-elect's incompetence and idiocy:

Why would they do such a thing? Because it would cost taxpayer money to operate the rail lines after they're built.Scott Walker, Republican governor-elect of Wisconsin, fretted that his state's train would cost $7.5 million a year to operate. As train supporters pointed out to the New York Times, this is sort of like turning down a free car because you don't want to have to pay for gasoline and insurance. Not only did Walker and Ohio Gov.-elect John Kasich, also a Republican, ignore the construction jobs the projects would have created, but they ignored the positive impact on their states' economies, freeways and environment that the trains would have brought to future generations.

In summary, Walker not only didn't save us any money, but cost us a lot more than what would be needed in operating costs for generations to come. Not only did he squander this money, he killed existing and potential jobs and made damn sure that Wisconsin is left behind during the nation's economic resurgence. What Walker did manage to do is make the state into a laughing stock for the rest of the county.

It's not a good sign that we already can't afford Walker's foolishness and it's still three weeks before he even takes office. Now that is some high level incompetence.

If Walker has any more of these "victories," they will be resurrecting the billboards asking the last one out of the state to please turn off the lights.

I have a feeling that January 3, 2012 will be a momentous date in Wisconsin history.

Talgo Turns Up The Heat

A few weeks ago, Cory Liebmann raised the question of where was MMAC on the whole high speed rail question. He rightfully considered their silence on HSR rather confusing since they've been strong advocates on how essential transit is for businesses to succeed.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel is reporting that Talgo, whose future, as well as the future of the jobs they are bringing to Milwaukee, are hanging by a very tenuous thread, is asking much the same questions. Goobernator-elect Scott Walker is apparently choosing political rhetoric over keeping his campaign promise of bringing jobs to Wisconsin, which could very likely lead to Talgo reconsidering whether they stay in this state or go to one that is more prone to economic development.

Talgo is not just asking where is MMAC, but they are also calling out to M7. Both organizations were instrumental in bringing Talgo to the Milwaukee area. And they point out that it is not just them that will be hurt if Walker continues down this path of fiscal irresponsibility:

[Talgo vice president for public affairs and business development, Nora] Friend said a range of additional local vendors will be needed for such things as cleaning and catering, as well as producing electrical components and mechanical parts.

Earlier this month, the firm acknowledged it would consider moving the operation out of Wisconsin if Walker killed the high-speed train. Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn sent a letter to Talgo and invited the firm to move to his state.

"We are interested in going to whatever state has rail business," Friend said. "Illinois seems to be going forward with their rail plans. That's a possibility obviously. We have to stay open as a business entity. No one can expect us to stay where there is no business. It's a very difficult position."

I also have to say I find it rather ironic that Paul Ryan, whose district has been one of the hardest hit in this economic upheaval, apparently isn't that interested in improving his communities economy or having some these outside vendor jobs end up there.

It's becoming increasingly apparent that the Republican's idea of how to save the economy is to destroy it.

Walker's Lack Of Real Job Plan Becomes Painfully Evident

During the campaign, Scott Walker talked a good game on how he was going to create 250,000 jobs by attracting all sorts of new businesses. Many observers on both sides of the aisle questioned the realism of such boastful claims, especially in light of the fact that Walker didn't really have a plan on how to go about keeping this promise.

But now that it's time for Walker to put our money where his mouth is, his lack of a real job plan is becoming painfully obvious.

During the campaign, the one plank platform that Walker kept hammering and yammering on was that taxes were too high and that was making Wisconsin an unfriendly business environment. But that is not really true, but just common rhetoric from his usual campaign donors, like WMC.

In reality, even in 2007, Wisconsin was below national averages in business taxes:

Ernst & Young provides two methods for calculating Wisconsin's business tax rank compared with other states. One calculates total business taxes as a percentage of total personal income. The other takes total business taxes as a percentage of private-sector gross state product ' that is, the total value of private business activity.

In 2005, Wisconsin ranked 31st among the states using the first method and 33rd using the second. This approximates Forward Wisconsin's claim, based on data from the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, that Wisconsin's business taxes are 'lower than those in 35 other states.'

Indeed, if corporations in Wisconsin were paying taxes simply at the U.S. average, this would annually generate nearly one billion dollars in additional revenue for state and local governments.

This would be enough to reverse statewide service cuts, which range from bus routes and library hours to road repair and school staffing. Or it would more than plug the state's $1.6 billion two-year budget gap.

The article also cites a comment from Edward Zore, CEO of Northwestern Mutual Life, who said at the time that if they were looking at a new location, their current one is not anywhere being a top contender. The problem wasn't taxes, but lack of college graduates for their workforce.

Of course, the brain drain for Wisconsin is a continuing problem, which stems mostly from the relatively low wages that are paid in Wisconsin as well as a generally lower quality of life level.

So far, the only things that Walker has done to attract new businesses his continue with his empty campaign rhetoric and set up a web site inviting businesses to bad mouth Wisconsin's business climate and tell him how to attract new businesses.

It is more than a little scary that only now after he has won the election he is admitting he doesn't know what to do and needs help.

But that is a very true statement, especially when one considers all the things he has done to deter business from wanting to stay in the state much less relocating to Wisconsin.

As county executive, he has refused to make Milwaukee County, the state's most populated county, increasingly unattractive. He has continuously cut mass transit services making it harder for businesses to get workers or customers. He has also decreased our quality of life to the point where county-owned buildings are actually falling on people, our parks are trash dumps and public safety is becoming very unsafe.

Along the same lines, two years ago when there was a big push to have a dedicated sales tax be created to support our parks and transit systems, Walker actively opposed businesses and pro-business groups, like the Greater Milwaukee Commission, who were asking the state to allow this to go through.

Walker also has shown a complete disregard for any sort of economic development by using those positions to give his campaign workers and cronies cushy jobs. Then, after they proved to be uniquely unqualified for the job, he eliminates the positions altogether so that even if a business wanted to come to Milwaukee County, there was no liaison to smooth their way.

But even worse than that is the way he has been treating businesses here as well as groups meant to attract new businesses.

It was Walker that called the efforts of M7, the group that was working so hard to bring companies to the Milwaukee area, like Talgo and Ingeteam, as "putting lipstick on a pig."

During his campaign to end jobs by killing high speed rail in Wisconsin, Walker ignored the jobs that have already been created as well as the thousands of other jobs that would have come with the project. Then when Talgo threatened to pull up stakes and leave, Walker tried to sweet talk them into staying, but then turned around and stabbed them in the back by asking the feds to cut their sales in half.

If you think that other business aren't paying attention to how Walker is already treating companies like Talgo, you are only kidding yourself. Walker's habit of putting his ideology before the public interest will also have a very negative ripple effect, with Talgo being a prime example.

Talgo is already making noise about leaving the state if Walker follows through with his threat to kill high speed rail. Governor Quinn of Illinois has already sent them an invitation to come to his state if they chose to relocate. At least one Talgo official has said that such a move is under consideration.

Now if Talgo goes, the companies that were supplying them with materials will lose their orders, causing them to either lay off workers and/or look at relocating somewhere else as well. Likewise, the businesses that were benefiting from the workers spending their paychecks at their establishments will suffer and so forth. Much like the scare that was produced in Fond du Lac when Mercury Marine threatened to pull up stakes and move out of state, the loss of income and jobs would be devastating.

Furthermore, other companies will see what is going on and wonder if they could expect the same type of treatment from Walker's administration. This could cause them to reconsider coming to Wisconsin if they aren't already here, and if they are here, make them reconsider if they want to stay.

To add to this self-induced miasma that Walker is about to create is the fact that without all of these jobs, state revenues will drop and this will lead to Walker making more cuts to services that directly affect our quality of life and making the state even less attractive.

I am sure the reader can see how this would start a very nasty downward spiral.

And to think, we could have elected someone like Tom Barrett, who had a real job plan. Again I ask, is it too early to say "I told you so?"

Walker Is Already On The Wrong Side Of The Tracks

Yowza! I take a few days off to do some work up north, only to come back and find that in just days after winning the election on his false promises of saving money and creating jobs, Scott Walker has already tied himself to the railroad tracks in front of an oncoming high speed train.

Because of his tantrums over the high speed rail that was going to make Wisconsin part of a nationwide system, all work on the rail has stopped as Governor Doyle said that he will leave it to his successor to work out how he is going to fix the problems that Walker himself created.

Walker's grandstanding on an issue that he clearly doesn't understand, there has been a lot of fallout in such a short amount of time.

Talgo, the company that came to Milwaukee to build the trains, has threatened to pull up stakes and move elsewhere. Walker quickly responded to this threat and begged Talgo not to go, saying that no decisions to kill HSR in Wisconsin were written in stone. Needless to say, this caused quite an uproar among his base. True to his nature, Walker flip-flopped again saying that he was again opposed to HSR in Wisconsin and was going to kill it.

Meanwhile, Andrew Cuomo, Governor Elect of the State of New York, has already called dibs on the federal funding that would have come to Wisconsin. Showing that Cuomo's efforts might not be in vain and to reinforce what the Democrats have been saying for months, Transportation Secretary LaHood had to explain to Walker that he could not use the rail funding for other purposes, like giving it to the road builders who donated so generously to Walker's campaign.

To add to the misery, if Walker gets his way and the train is stopped, it would immediately cost Wisconsin tax payers $100 million up front for the broken contracts, maintenance of train sheds and a new facility to maintain the Hiawatha trains. Just as, if not more importantly, Walker's conniption fit could lead to the loss of 400 jobs. In a larger picture mode, killing HSR would cost an estimated 5,500 construction jobs.

Before adding to his self-induced pain, perhaps Walker should consult with his hero and good buddy, Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey, whose Walkeresque grandstanding has just nailed his overburdened state's budget for a whopping $271 million due to his pulling out of a rail program in the Garden State.

The truly frustrating part of all this is that Walker is willing to throw away all of this money and all of these jobs for a lousy $750,000 a year. Any self-respecting business person would jump at the chance for that kind of turn around on an investment.

Either way, Walker will end up already breaking one of his campaign promises. Either he is going to set the state backwards by refusing the jobs and inflow of money or he is going to allow the train to go through and rile up his TEApublican base.

No one should be surprised that Walker has already made such a mess of things. All one had to do was take a honest look at this history to know that he is all show and no substance. Why do you think that he got his clocked cleaned in Milwaukee County last week? It's because we already know him all too well.

But I have to ask: Is it too soon to say, "I told you so!"?