As you know, I've been begging someone to add up all the money Scott Walker has wasted bringing all his ideological fantasies to life. Well, it has finally happened.
The following list could probably be added to, but this is a great start. Who would have thought that taking back so much of our federal taxes would be so bad? Thank you, James Rowen, at Political Environment:
7 Walker moves which cost, or lost, Wisconsin $2.6+ billion
Here are the 7 biggest financial fails by our fake fiscally-conservative Governor:
* $11 million in forfeited Federal Medicaid fraud award eligibility.
* $20.6 million and counting for settlements and payments traced to the youth prison crisis he ignored for years at Lincoln Hills.
* $23 million in forfeited Federal broadband expansion funding.
* $50 million in settlement awards and equipment losses over the Amtrak train set assembly facility contract broken by Wisconsin under Walker.
* $750 million to build an extra 19 miles of Milwaukee freeway lanes which planners had recommended against, but which Walker championed.
* $810 million in Federal Amtrak Milwaukee-to-Madison rail construction funds Walker forfeited.
* $1+ billion in Federal Medicaid expansion funding Walker has refused to accept through the end of the 2017-'19 state budget.
These forfeited programs or awards would have added jobs, taxable property, public revenues and spin-off development.
Who knew we had the luxury to reject all that? But wait, this UPDATE-10/4/2018:
* That $900+ experts say are added to a Wisconsin resident's annual driving costs in maintenance and repairs traced to poor condition of Wisconsin roads.
Scottholes take money right out of your wallet because Walker has deliberately underfunded road aids, bridge repairs and other state transportation functions..
* The legal fees and lost personal time drained fighting state agencies which have enabled brown tap water, wetland losses and other capitulations to Walker donors big business by a deliberately weakened DNR.
* Including costly multiple battles for land rights, clean air, wetland preservation and Lake Michigan water kicked off by Walker's pet project - - Foxconn.
* And similar fights over the Menominee River shoreline mining plan, the Meteor sand mine, the Kohler golf course, thePenokee Hills iron ore proposal, and CAFOs from Kewaunee County to the Central Sands.
* Don't forget the costly legal work to get rid of voter ID and overturn blatant, partisan gerrymandering, and to fight limitations on early voting hours - - key elements in the Walker/GOP blueprint to use state power and public resources to remain in charge.
* And some portion of the hundreds of millions of dollars in personal and public losses in flooding still happening right now across the state can be laid at the doorstep of a Governor who ignored and deleted expertise and warnings that climate change was real and would hit property hard, including infrastructure paid for by taxpayers.
These costs need to be labeled "Walker taxes," all.
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