Walker and Barrett spar over priorities

Gubernatorial candidates Scott Walker and Tom Barrett exchanged new barbs this week over their priorities in their current jobs in public office.
Walker, the Republican Milwaukee County executive, criticized Barrett, the Democratic mayor of Milwaukee, for supporting the federal high-speed rail project that will connect Milwaukee to Madison.
Walker said outgoing Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle “raided” $340,000 from a state transportation fund to bail out the Milwaukee Amtrak building – a building owned by a private company that failed to pay its property taxes. The money taken to pay for the rail depot was designated for maintenance and operation of the current Amtrak passenger rail service, Walker said.
“It’s ludicrous that at the same time Mayor Barrett and Gov. Doyle are forcing taxpayers to spend nearly a billion dollars to build a new high speed rail line, we are yet again reminded that we can’t afford the rail we already have,” Walker said. “They’re already stealing money for maintenance on the current system to pay the bills for the depot.  What happens when we build more depots as Barrett and Doyle are planning? Where will we get the money to pay those bills?” 
Walker has vowed to stop the high-speed rail project if he is elected governor. Critics have said that vow is unrealistic, since most of the federal funds already will have been spent by the time the next governor takes office in January, and the state would have to repay hundreds of million of dollars to the federal government if the project is derailed by the state.
Meanwhile, Barrett this week criticized a new Walker campaign ad touting that Walker would fight against fraudulent state spending.
Barrett said Walker’s reckless mismanagement spurred the state to take over many county functions – shifting at least $7 million in administrative costs to taxpayers across Wisconsin.
“For Scott Walker to highlight the very fraud he failed to correct as an example of how he will fight fraud is the height of hypocrisy,” Barrett said. “Walker’s reckless mismanagement is costing taxpayers across Wisconsin millions of dollars, and his shameless political doubletalk shows he is a guy we just can’t trust.”
A June 2009 report by the Milwaukee County Department of audit, titled, “A More Strategic Approach is Needed to Combat Child Care Subsidy Fraud in Milwaukee County," established that the county is the lead agency to combat fraud, and that it needed to make significant improvements, Barrett said.
The county’s failure under Walker to combat rampant child care fraud spurred the state on May 26, 2009, to directly take over operations of public assistance programs in Milwaukee County.
“Scott Walker’s shameless attempt to mislead voters by highlighting in his own political ads the very fraud he failed to stop proves that Wisconsin families can’t trust him,” Barrett said. “The people of Wisconsin need adult leadership that offers straight talk and honest plans, not politicians who will say or do anything to try and get elected.”
– BizTimes Milwaukee and WisPolitics.com