Talgo asks business leaders for help-don't hold your breath

Talgo Inc., the Spanish train manufacturer that recently established operations in Milwaukee, has sent a letter to Milwaukee's corporate spokesmen seeking their assistance in persuading Governor-elect Walker to reverse his decision to return an $810 million federal high speed rail grant. The investment is projected to create 13,700 jobs in Wisconsin.

Talgo selected Milwaukee's former Tower Automotive site to house its U.S. manufacturing facility because Wisconsin was the first state to order trains from the firm.

The letter asks Tim Sheehy, the Executive Director of the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce (MMAC) and Jim Paetsch, who directs corporate relocation for the Milwaukee 7, to speak to the Governor elect on behalf of Talgo and other suppliers related to the project.

Don't hold your breath waiting for Mr. Sheehy to help.

Not only did Sheehy's organization contribute $381,500 to Walker's gubernatorial campaign , but Sheehy has already said he will not use any chips protecting Talgo's investment in Wisconsin. "Why beat a dead train," Sheehy told the MJS. His focus is on ensuring that Walker cuts taxes.

The MMAC and its Executive Director were more than willing to take credit for Talgo when Governor Doyle announced the company was coming to Milwaukee. ""We're Not Just in the Game - We're Winning!" read an announcement from the MMAC. Sheehy bragged that the M-7 was attracting new industries despite some of the gloomiest economic conditions in decades and claimed that Talgo's decision to locate in Milwaukee would help attract additional manufacturing firms to the city. Sheehy, standing to Governor Doyle's far left in the photo above, teased that a third deal with an unnamed firm was in the works.

But as recent events demonstrate the the only thing that really matters to Mr. Sheehy and the MMAC is cutting corporate taxes, despite the fact that corporate profits are the highest they have every been and Wisconsin's business taxes are among the nation's lowest.

The MMAC's narrow focus on lowering corporate tax rates trumps every other concern including creating 13,700 jobs, securing investment in manufacturing, and revitalizing Milwaukee's central city.

Don't hold your breath waiting for Mr. Sheehy to use any chips for Talgo or Milwaukee's unemployed. As long as Walker delivers corporate cut taxes, Sheehy will remain silent.

Local 212 rallies with hundreds for high speed rail jobs

Local 212 leadership rallied with hundreds of people outside the Talgo Inc. train manufacturing plant on Milwaukee's north side Monday hoping to persuade Gov.-elect Scott Walker to change his mind and endorse the construction of a high-speed rail line through Wisconsin as a way to create jobs and keep the state competitive.

Surrounded by supporters chanting "Trains mean jobs!" and "Jobs, jobs, jobs!" leaders from a broad range of organizations, including State Representative and Local 212 member Barbara Toles, stressed the project's importance as a catalyst for redevelopment at the city's former Tower Automotive site and the creation of new jobs, especially in Milwaukee's central city.

"Talgo represents a resurrection for many people in this state, and especially in this city," the Rev. Ken Wheeler, pastor of Cross Lutheran Church and Milwaukee Inner-City Congregations Allied for Hope told the crowd.

The Spanish firm Talgo moved to the Tower site as part of a plan to build a regional high-speed rail network that connects Milwaukee and Madison to Chicago and Minneapolis, funded with $810 million in federal stimulus dollars.

Walker's RR cancellation threatens 15,000 jobs and $100 million

Canceling high-speed rail is economic treason

by Robert Kraig

Governor-elect Scott Walker’s ill-advised campaign posture to cancel the high-speed rail project that is already under construction would cost Wisconsin up to 15,000 family supporting jobs and up to $100 million at a time when both jobs and revenue are desperately needed.

Walker got a lot of campaign mileage out of this issue as a supposed example of wasteful government spending, but now that he actually will have to govern, cancelling the project at this stage makes absolutely no sense, even if you believe his arguments against the project.

Walker’s campaign posturing now threatens thousands of construction and permanent jobs, and will cost Wisconsin much more money to cancel than continue. Given the desperate need for jobs in Wisconsin, and the severe fiscal crisis the state faces, cancelling the high speed rail line amounts to economic treason.

Not surprisingly, other governors are already beginning to line up to request the job-creating money for their own states. Governor-elect Andrew Cuomo in New York has already put out a statement asking for the money to create good high-speed rail jobs for New Yorkers.

First, let’s review the jobs that will not be created if Walker cancels the high-speed rail project. If it is cancelled, it will cost Wisconsin an estimated 4,732 construction jobs. In addition, research on the economic impact of high-speed rail concludes that when the full project is completed, including the link from Madison to Minneapolis, that 9,570 permanent jobs will be created.

Governor-elect Walker has defended cancellation of the high-speed rail project on fiscal grounds, but returning the $810 million in federal funding that is paying for construction of the project would actually cost the state a great deal of money. As the money can only be used for high-speed rail, and the project is already underway, Wisconsin would have to pay back the federal government and contractors for work already done.

Policymakers estimate it will cost Wisconsin between $57 million and $100 million to buy out of the project. The maintenance costs Walker railed against in the campaign are substantially lower than this! Walker projected $7.5 million per year during the campaign, but most analysts think it will be much less. If the federal government pays the same percentage of maintenance costs it now pays for the Hiawatha line between Milwaukee and Chicago, the cost to Wisconsin will only by $750,000 per year, which is a tiny fraction of the state transportation budget.

In addition, the City of Milwaukee spent $10 million to buy the blighted Milwaukee site where the high speed trains are being built by Spanish manufacturer Talgo, and has invested an additional $6 million to upgrade the facility. Talgo has made it clear that they are unlikely to stay in Milwaukee if the Wisconsin high speed train project is cancelled. As a result, Milwaukee would lose the anchor manufacturing facility needed to spur re-development of the blighted Tower Automotive/A.O. Smith site on the near north side.

Given the nearly 15,000 construction and permanent jobs that would be created by the federal investment in Wisconsin in high-speed rail, and the high fiscal cost of cancellation, it would be incredibly short-sighted for Governor elect-Walker to follow through on his campaign posture just to provide more red meat for right-wing talk radio audiences. It amounts to economic treason at a time when everyone, regardless of political and ideological perspective, should be working together to bring desperately needed family supporting jobs back to Wisconsin.

Walker's job killing decision

A day after Governor-elect Scott Walker vowed to carry out his campaign promise to kill the Milwaukee to Madison high-speed rail, he called Talgo, the Spanish train company that has set up shop in Milwaukee, asking them to stay.

So Walker wants the jobs, but not the product.

Walker claims he will use the $810 million in federal stimulus funds on roads, although under the terms of the grants, such a use of the funds is prohibited.

Walker's decision is a job killer.

The New York Times reports that if Walker follows through on his promise the $810 million and jobs building the high speed railroad will leave the state.

So much for making job creation the focus of the new administration.

For the entire story read the New York Times article.