Wis., feds sign high-speed rail deal
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Updated: November 29, -0001
MILWAUKEE (AP) -- Transportation officials confirm Wisconsin and federal administrators have signed a deal to commit the state to spending all $810 million of federal stimulus cash allocated to a proposed Milwaukee-to-Madison high-speed rail line.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports the agreement was reached just days before Tuesday's election.
The deal frees outgoing Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle's administration to sign contracts for much of the work. That could stymie efforts by Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker and fellow Republicans to kill the project.
Walker, the GOP candidate for governor, calls the deal "raw political power at its worst."
But Cari Anne Renlund, executive assistant to state Transportation Secretary Frank Busalacchi, says the Doyle administration was only following its original plan for the project to create construction jobs as soon as possible.
