To say Republican gubernatorial candidate Scott Walker is a hypocrite would be an understatement.
At a press conference alongside big-bucks campaign donor Fred Luber on Wednesday, Walker attacked Democratic gubernatorial candidate Tom Barrett for helping to bring new jobs to Milwaukee, and the Republican Party of Wisconsin, eager to carry water for Walker, issued a press release attacking Governor Jim Doyle – while linking Barrett to Doyle – for awarding a no-bid contract to build trains to Talgo, the Spanish company that Walker and Luber say was given a sweetheart deal by Barrett to build high speed trains in Milwaukee. However, what the Wisconsin GOP conveniently ignored is the fact that as a member of the State Assembly, Scott Walker voted for the no-bid train purchasing process that Walker and the Wisconsin GOP are now attempting to use against Democrats. What’s more, the governor who signed that provision into law was none other than Tommy Thompson, who was a Republican the last time I checked.
I’m in agreement with Xoff, who thinks Walker’s attacks are more than a little over the top
Thanks. The Illusory fellow has a nice find.
That is a nice find.
It’s not so much that he’s attacking the jobs that MAY going to happen – since there are no guarantees that these jobs will materialize. However, the point I believe he’s trying to drive home is that Barrett and Doyle went out and allowed this Spanish company, where all the profits will go back to Spain to build these train engines in our backyard.
Both could have easily used a local company to build these trains where the money, jobs, and profits would have all been generated and remained local. That’s just simple logic when determining how to start spurring growth in this dying city. Rather now, that money will drive growth somewhere in Spain.
The argument I’ve heard from the Barrett/Doyle camp is there were not any “qualified” engineers to design and build them. How difficult would it have been to work with local firms, bring in a couple of consultants that are well-versed with building train engines, and have them train the local workforce? A lot of common sense seems to be missing from current leaders – the fact that one’s a lawyer and the other a lifetime politician speaks volumes when looking at why the economic picture in this city and state are the way they are.