Voters are wising up Scott Walker odd opposition to transportation!!?
Even criticism from a former Republican legislator and DOT secretary don't mean anything when it comes to Scott Walker's backward hatred for transportation. Not all of us have airplanes to scoot around Wisconsin in Scotty. Keep this in mind as well, Walker's transportation funding shortfall forced the DOT to stop picking up roadkill carcasses. Yup, it's that bad here.
Based on nothing and backed up by pure political nonsense, Walker backhands criticism:
Gov. Scott Walker is dismissing fresh criticism from his former transportation chief, who says Walker isn’t leveling with Wisconsinites about the consequences of his approach to funding ... Mark Gottlieb, a Republican who led the state DOT from 2011 to 2017, said Walker is “fear-mongering” by claiming his campaign opponent, Democrat Tony Evers, could raise the gas tax by as much as a dollar per gallon.
Yet Wisconsinites were supposed to go along with Walker's "trust me" approach to union busting, tax cuts, DNR deregulation, the loss of local control, and rejection of alternative energy?
Walker fired back at the Milton event: “What’s ridiculous is Tony Evers is just expecting the voters to take a ‘trust me’ approach when it comes to taxes.”In one of the most surreal moments of his tenure as governor, Walker bashed his own DOT report and all those subsequent "special interest" studies that factually counter his ideological position.
“The reports that many people allude to are reports they paid for, overwhelmingly, by the same special interests that are running ads attacking us on transportation,” Walker said.Walker Blames Himself? Even worse, Walker asked for and got his own fact-based state/taxpayer-funded DOT report, what I guess he now calls "special interests."
Gottlieb said Walker's claims wrongly implied that decisions ... were made by outside groups. He noted state and federal laws require extended review of such decisions and officials take into account public input ... "is profoundly disrespectful to the professionals in the private and public sector who are trained to design and build safe and efficient highways for all to use."
A commission championed by Walker and created through legislation signed by him, (which) had eight Republicans and two Democrats, chaired by a transportation engineer by trade Mark Gottlieb, then-secretary of Wisconsin’s Department of Transportation, released an 176-page report, affirming what at least two other commissions led by both Republicans and Democrats over the last decade had found: Wisconsin’s highway system and local roads were rapidly deteriorating and there was not enough money to fix or maintain them.
A question for Walker, just what study(s) are you relying on...editorial musings from right-wing sources like the Wisconsin Watchdog, MacIver Institute, or talk radio callers passing along their personal anecdotes...?
“If the media’s now using reports that are paid for by groups as the base, as their foundation, maybe I should go out and create a group and pay for my own study.”The irony; Walker did just that as mentioned above. But wait...Walker did have one solution rolling around in his head...
Governor candidate Tony Evers passed this message along...
Gov. Scott Walker's transportation secretary told business officials and others last week he had talked to a London financier about selling off Wisconsin's highways but had rejected the idea.Transportation Secretary Dave Ross told a group last week that Walker's administration was adopting new ways of getting its work done and mentioned in passing his discussion about selling off roads, according to people familiar with the meeting. He then said he was not pursuing the proposal because Wisconsin has good contractors to maintain the state's roads.
Walker's Democratic opponent, state schools Superintendent Tony Evers spokeswoman Britt Cudaback said Ross' talk with the financier was shocking and noted Walker's previous transportation secretary, Mark Gottlieb, this month said Walker has been "increasingly inaccurate" when talking about roads.Speaking of Harmful, Wisconsinites Paying for Fixing up their Cars, thanks to Walker:
"Quite frankly, it’s staggering and absurd that Scott Walker would even entertain the idea of selling off Wisconsin’s highways to the highest bidder. No wonder his former transportation secretary has spoken out about his harmful roads policies."
1. A combination of rough roads, traffic congestion and missing safety features costs drivers in Wisconsin $6.8 billion each year, according to a study released Tuesday by TRIP Tuesday.
2. That comes to about $1,500 a year for every driver in the Appleton, Green Bay and Oshkosh area, the study said, referencing higher vehicle operating costs, traffic crashes and delays due to congestion.
3. The cost is about the same for drivers in Wausau, but even higher for those on the roads in Madison and Milwaukee — at about $2,100 and $2,300, respectively.
4. (The study) also found that about half of the state's major locally and state-maintained roads and highways are in poor or mediocre condition due to a lack of state and local funding.
5. That number is even higher in the Appleton, Green Bay and Oshkosh area, where 70 percent of those types of roads are in poor or mediocre condition. That alone costs drivers in the area $816 each year, according to the study.
