Conservatively Speaking

UPDATE: New Jersey says no, so should Wisconsin

Posted by Mary Lazich on Oct. 30, 2010

A few weeks ago, I blogged about comparisons between the proposed  $8.7 billion commuter rail Hudson River tunnel project in New Jersey to and from New York City and the $810 million half fast train between Milwaukee and Madison. I quoted New Jersey Governor Chris Christie from October 7, 2010:

“I have made a pledge to the people of New Jersey that on my watch I will not allow taxpayers to fund projects that run over budget with no clear way of how these costs will be paid for. Considering the unprecedented fiscal and economic climate our State is facing, it is completely unthinkable to borrow more money and leave taxpayers responsible for billions in cost overruns.”

Christie said the tunnel costs “far more than New Jersey taxpayers can afford and the only prudent move is to end this project.”

For any tunnel supporters holding out the faintest of hopes that Christie would reconsider, those hopes were dashed October 27, 2010 as Christie said, reported by National Public Radio, “I can’t do it and I’m not going to do it.” NPR reports NJ Governor Christie’s decision to kill the nation’s largest public works project is final.

As I blogged, “NJ Governor Christie may have set a precedent with his bold and fiscally responsible move to reject an unaffordable project because his state is broke, he fears cost-overruns, and he knows his state would be responsible for the additional costs. Sound familiar, Wisconsin?”

New Jersey’s move to back off a monstrously unaffordable project could give Scott Walker impetus as governor. In a series of election preview reports aired by WTMJ Radio, Walker says Wisconsin’s train can be derailed:

"The bottom line is the train that Jim Doyle and Tom Barrett want, that the Obama Administration is pushing, is something we don't want and can't afford. As the Journal Sentinel pointed out in it's fact checks of late, we can stop it.  Unlike what the politicians are saying, we can stop it, as money that still has to be let through contracts by the state of Wisconsin. We can stop it by stopping the contracts.  In doing so, my next step would be to do what Tommy Thompson did in 1998 and that is go to our congressional delegation - lobby them to change those funds, so we can spend them to fix our crumbling roads and bridges right here in Wisconsin."

You can see Scott Walker’s entire statement here.

Scott Walker has my complete support in that effort.