Is Doyle daring Walker to explicitly kill the train?

Is Doyle playing Oconomowoc II with High Speed Rail?

Here's my theory on why Doyle stopped work on the train.

He thinks Scott Walker in his heart of hearts want the train to go through. Sure, he'll say he can't  do anything and grandstand against  the boondoggle. But in 4 years he'll take credit for it.

My theory is that Doyle doesn't want to give Walker that option. He wants Walker to publicly commit -- will you kill the train or will you let it move forward? And if Walker says "I'll kill it," the federal dollars move to a clime more hospitable to rail.

By forcing Walker to make a choice Doyle either

Makes Walker flip flop on the choo choo

Makes Walker commit to killing jobs and squandering a huge economic development opportunity before he even takes office (and endear himself to the builders and the operating engineers)

Also, the administration kills an "Obama is ramming this train down our throats" narrative that will otherwise linger for the next two years. And it ensures the money can go to other rail projects vs. having Paul Ryan allocate it to road projects.

My theory is Doyle will clearly outline what we lose if the train dies in terms of jobs, and make plain how much the feds will subsidize operating costs to neutralize the ridiculous numbers Walker and his allies have been throwing out. And he'll let us know exactly what kind of weasel we're dealing with in Scott Walker.

Just in! Chris Liebmann has more.

Comments

[John Foust]

Nice theory. So why didn't he do it before the election? Did he want Walker to inherit his mess, too?