Florida: Love you two times, Wisconsin

Dough's gone away

Governor-elect Scott Walker spoke to reporters Thursday calling the train decision a victory. — J-S photo caption

A victory for whom? Self-satisfied medium-wave radio wing-nuts?

Unlike Wisconsin, Florida had committed $280 million in State funds to a high speed rail line between Tampa and Orlando. In Wisconsin's case, the connection between Milwaukee and Madison was to be underwritten entirely with federal money (and the feds had indicated they would also pay the lion's share of annual maintenance costs).

Now $342.3 million is redirected from Wisconsin to Florida.*

So this morning governor-elect Scott Walker therefore succeeded in not only further federally financing the Tampa-Orlando line, but at saving Florida its $280 million. Wouldn't it be funny if the latter was reallocated to highway building, which is what the campaigning Scott Walker apparently believed he could do with his $810 million.

Whatever negotiations the Wisconsin governor-elect may have attempted toward that end with the federal DoT failed pretty hard.

* $465.7 million is gone away elsewhere. $2 million will stay here.

Grauniad: Florida celebrates by pardoning the late Mr Jim Morrison