Wis. Gov. Doyle leaves high-speed train to successor

Outgoing Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle said Monday he is leaving the future of Wisconsin's high speed train line to his Republican successor, who has vowed to kill the project.

Minutes after Doyle made his comments in an interview with The Associated Press, Gov.-elect Scott Walker said he remains opposed to the $810 million project.

"My position remains the same," Walker said. "I don't see anything that would change my mind."

Walker made opposing the train a key part of his successful campaign against Democrat Tom Barrett, the Milwaukee mayor who supported the project to extend the existing line running from Chicago to Milwaukee about 80 miles west to Madison.

While building the line would be paid for with federal stimulus money, Walker objected to the state being on the hook for up to $7.5 million a year in ongoing operational costs.

"For us the bottom line is I don't believe long-term the state taxpayers can afford to have the high speed line between Milwaukee and Madison," Walker said.

Train advocates argue it doesn't make sense to stop a project that's projected to create 5,500 construction jobs over the next three years and 55 permanent jobs after it's up and running.

Doyle, who last week put the project on hold, said he still thinks it is a good idea. Stopping it will cost Wisconsin $14.25 million in money already spent, and put the state on the hook for about $83 million in upgrades to the existing line, the governor said.

But after Walker won election last week, Doyle said the prudent thing to do was to leave the project's future up to him.

"I could play brinksmanship with this issue and I could just plow forward and put people out at job sites," Doyle said. "We could spend or obligate hundreds of millions of dollars between now and the time I leave office. And while obviously part of me says, 'Just do that,' I really have to actually consider what the practical consequences of this are."

The state could spend between $250 million and $300 million before Walker takes over Jan. 3, Doyle said. But moving ahead could result in future lawsuits, force layoffs of people not yet hired, and cause undue disruption, Doyle said.

"I don't think that's in anybody's best interest," he said.

The only way the project can succeed is if both the governor and U.S. Department of Transportation are strong partners, Doyle said. The DOT has said the money will go to other states if Wisconsin doesn't want it.

Gov.-elect Andrew Cuomo in New York already sent DOT a letter saying his state will be glad to take the money if Wisconsin rejects it. And trainmaker Talgo Inc. said it couldn't promise it will stay in Milwaukee or create the 125 jobs it had projected if Wisconsin bails on the project.

Doyle, who was meeting privately with Walker later Monday, said he wouldn't push the issue with him.

"Obviously I would love to see the train go forward," Doyle said. "I'm not going to give advice. ... My job isn't to tell him how to be governor."

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)