State Reps Ask Feds To Delay Possible Train Wreck

Last week, I reported about Scott Walker flaunting his corruption by having a model of a Wisconsin and Southern Railroad train going around the holiday tree in the State Capitol.  W&S is operated by William E. Gardner, the first person to be charged and convicted in the ongoing John Doe investigation into Walker and his campaign, commonly known as Walkergate.

As I reported then, W&S was being sold to a company called Watco Transportation Services, who actually brag about how their biggest customer is Koch Industries.

Because of the questions regarding the railroad and it's corrupt president and his ties to Walker, five state representatives - Brett Hulsey, Fred Clark, Louis Molepske, Kelda Helen Roys and Terese Berceau - have written a letter to the federal government's Surface Transportation Board to delay the sale of the railroad for sixty days while certain questions regarding the sale is investigated:

This 60 day delay would give legislators and the public time to explore these questions:

1. Would Wisconsin farmers, manufacturers, and rail shippers be hurt by a change in a rail carrier as they were with the sale of the Wisconsin Central line?
2. Is the buyer willing and able to work with state and local officials to improve
freight and restore passenger train service to many parts of Wisconsin?
3. Could the State of Wisconsin get a better deal on the more than $60 million
taxpayers have invested in train tracks with a more open bidding process like an
RFI for sale?
4. Is this sale a political payback for illegal campaign contributions made to the
Governor by WSOR officials?

As Hulsey points out, the state has invested $60 million into the rail system that W&S enjoys. They need to be responsible advocates for the tax payers by making quite certain that their investment is protected.

The question which should be most closely examined is the fourth one.

Given the things that we have learned about the way Walker and the Koch Brothers operate, it would be all too conceivable that the purchase of the railroad would include a large reward for Gardner.  You know, for taking one for the team, so to speak.

Likewise, the sale could very well be a way for the Koch Brothers and Walker to remove a potential problem.  While it's true that Gardner already admitted to the crime and was sentenced, what's to say that he doesn't know more than what he's already said?  Given the amount of people from that company that have been given immunity in the Walkergate investigation, it's not hard to imagine that Gardner might know more than he's said so far.

For these reasons as well as the other ones listed in the Representatives' letter, the feds should grant the delay for at least 60 days and conduct a full investigation.  It's a shame innocent people could be adversely impacted by the delay, but due to the level of corruption in this administration, it really is the only way to keep the tax payers safe.

And my commendations to the Representatives for standing up for the people of Wisconsin, as they have been doing all along.

Walkergate: The Christmas Train Wreck

A few weeks ago, Scott Walker made a big stink about putting a Christmas tree up in the rotunda, even though this has happened every year with every other governor.  Walker was hoping to get some positive attention from his base by making some phony stand about defending Christmas.  That's not surprising in itself, since Walker loves to showboat and is desperate to look good as the recall forces are not even slowing down (latest count is over 600,000 signatures!).

Walker might have been better just doing it quietly though.  It has now brought some attention he's not going to want.

Around the base of the tree, Walker had a toy train set set up.  This caught the attention of the editorial board of the Cap Times, which used it, and the anniversary of the death of high speed rail coming to Wisconsin, to hammer home the point that Walker was an idiot for killing the train, and subsequently, all of the jobs and the boost to the state's economy.

While those erudite editors are absolutely correct, and I agree fully with them, they had an even bigger story right under their noses, in my humble opinion.

I would have you, gentle reader, take a close look at the picture they have accompanying their piece:

Photo courtesy of Larry Tamiso, via The Cap Times

The editorial board already pointed out the little decal of Walker's derision-worthy slogan of Wisconsin being supposedly open for business.

I would point out the logo on the left of the picture - the one that has a "W" and a "S" with what looks like an inverted "T" over them.

No, that does not stand for "Walker, Scott."

That logo, my friends, is the one for Wisconsin and Southern Railroad.

The president and CEO of Wisconsin and Southern Railroad was William E. Gardner.  Gardner is the first person to have been charged and convicted in relation to the ongoing John Doe investigation, commonly referred to as Walkergate, which is looking into Scott Walker and his campaign for illegal activities.

Gardner was convicted of making illegal campaign donations, to the tune of $70,000, using the railroads money, laundered through family members and employees.

Incidentally, if the gentle reader was not aware, Wisconsin and Southern is in the process of being sold to a Kansas-based company named Watco Transportation Services.  And the folks at Watco are mighty proud of the fact that their biggest customer is Koch Industries.  The folks at Watco deny that there is any kind of correlation, which must be true, since no one connected to the Koch Brothers or Walker has ever lied to the public, right?

Almost every Wisconsinite is well aware that Walker is every bit the arrogant and pompous ass, but it is simply beyond the pale for him to have a replica of a Wisconsin and Southern Railroad, a company whose CEO was convicted of making illegal and excessive donations to his campaign, set up in the middle of the People's House, the state Capitol Building.  He is making a mockery of the justice system, the election laws and of this historic building.

That train needs to be removed immediately!

Then Walker, who has done nothing but embarrass the state in front of the world as he blatantly flaunts his corruption, can take the next train out of the state and stay gone.