by Gretchen Schuldt Doege, Citizens Allied for Sane Highways
A lot of road-building news centers around money, who’s getting and who’s giving. County Executive Scott Walker illegally accepted campaign donations totaling more than $46,000 without identifying the occupation of the source as required by law. Some of our friends from HNTB — the Halliburton of Wisconsin road building — popped up on the list of mystery donors. Among them were Ken Graham ($2,000 in donations) and Harvey Hammond ($1,000 in donations). On the other side of the political donation ledger, road-building firms donated more than $70,000 to a Washington, D.C. group that then funneled it back to the state — allegedly illegally — to help Democratic candidates. The Washington money-laundering figures prominently in one of the felony counts pending against Chuck Chvala. And as long as we are on the topic of money…the successful legislative effort to make sure that the “pave Wisconsin” road-building plan continues means that there will be $85 million less available to maintain roads we already have. The Doyle administration hasn’t quite figured out what to do about that but says it is working on a solution with local governments — which don’t have any money, either — to figure something out. Citizens Allied for Sane Highways has produced Issue 4 of the newsletter, “Beyond the SEWRPC Spin.” To read a copy, call, e-mail, or check it out online in pdf format at www.storyhill.net (click on the “Hood Happenings” page to find the link). CASH also has new yard signs available. The group would like to recover costs of about $2.50 per sign, but the fee can be waived for anyone who would find it a burden. If you or anyone you know would like a sign, e-mail noexpansion@yahoo.com.
by Gretchen Schuldt Doege, CASH