First it was far-right Wisconsin Gov.-elect Scott Walker's money-wrenching of the state's high-speed rail line already under construction - - lost to the state are 400 jobs, $100 million spent or committed, and up to another $700 million in federal funds, 125 train assembly jobs in Milwaukee and about 4,400 construction jobs through 2013.
Emboldened by his 'success' in getting the train project suspended, Walker is out with a new set of pre-swearing-in demands, including stopping work on a major environmental and jobs program in Madison: the conversion of a coal-fired plant in the downtown to biomass, thus jump-starting a state alternative fuel industry and cleaning the air and water, too.
Walker wants to stop the biomass conversion at the Charter Street plant on the UW-Madison campus and change the fuel to natural gas - - cheaper in the short run, but at the cost of the budding biomass industry in a state with a surplus of wood products, byproducts and other vegetation.
Read The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's account of Walker's power grab, here.
It's another job-killer for Wisconsin, hard on the heels of the train wreck that will cost construction jobs and leave the new Talgo train plant in Milwaukee open to leaving in 2012.
The State of Illinois has begun actively recruitingthe facility and Wisconsin's funding - - a political boost from Pres. Obama being squandered in high-unemployment Wisconsin by the incoming, anti-rail Walker- - as Illinois is eager to build its high-speed connections from Chicago to St. Louis.
Scott Walker, mouthing the talk radio/state chamber of commerce line, is hell-bent to damage the economies of Madison and Milwaukee, where Democrats live and hold the mayors' offices.
You can follow the uproar in Wisconsin at my blog - - relevant posting, for example, here.
People offended by Walker's arrogance can call the transition office and give them an earful.
Incumbent Gov. Jim Doyle, (D), has got to hold the line, keep Walker at bay until the third of January, and say "No" to undoing the deal on the Charter St. plant.