In 2001, Amtrak named locomotive #182 "The Governor Tommy G. Thompson" after the former Wisconsin governor who had also served as Amtrak board chairman and honored national bi-partisan champion of high-speed passenger rail.
A mere nine years later, Thompson supported fellow Republican and Wisconsin Gov.-elect Scott Walker's cancellation of the very Milwaukee-Madison high-speed Amtrak service that Thompson had hoped would be running by 2003.
It's a sad, politicized flip-flop and legacy killer, because Tommy Thompson was indeed a champion for high-speed rail.
He was all smiles and handshakes - - I was an aide to then-Milwaukee Mayor John Norquist, also a big supporter and for a time, an Amtrak board member, so I got to ride on the celebratory train ride Tommy had arranged - - when he had Amtrak bring a new "Acela" train to Wisconsin for a demonstration run.
And he had been instrumental in boosting Amtrak service from Milwaukee to Chicago, now a standing-room only series of daily round-trips ("The Hiawatha") rated among Amtrak's most popular and successful routes - - in fact, riders use the route daily to and from work and entertainment destinations in both directions, and as a tollway-free route to Milwaukee's relatively-less congested Mitchell airport for direct flights that completely avoid the cattle calls and parking fees at O'Hare and Midway airports, too.
The Milwaukee-Madison canceled extension was to add Wisconsin's capital city to the line, and eventually piece it into the larger, Midwestern high-speed rail system linking Chicago, St. Louis, Detroit and Minneapolis.
As Thompson said in 2001 at the locomotive-naming ceremony:
"But America's railway system is not just a matter of history. America still needs a strong passenger rail system. Without it, we discourage economic growth in urban areas. Passenger rail - and specifically, high- speed rail - is important to the economic growth of our cities and our overall transportation system in a nation of nearly 300 million people.
"In Wisconsin and in eight other states, work continues on the Midwest Regional Rail Initiative. In Wisconsin, the goal is to have high-speed service from Madison to Milwaukee by the end of 2003.
"In corridors throughout the country - California, the Southeast, the Gulf Coast, the Pacific Northwest - states and Amtrak are planning other high- speed rail services that will help grow the economy.
"My friends, I know you share my belief that we must create a world-class, high-speed passenger rail system. Together, we need to spread that message around the country. We need to work together to take our message beyond the rail community and help officials in at the local, state and federal levels understand the need for passenger rail."
But now lawyer/corporate exec Thompson supports Walker's 'kill-the-train' mantra as Republicans circle the wagons around his unpopular, job-killing cancellationof the Milwaukee-Madison high-speed line - - to have been paid for with an $810 million federal high-speed stimulus grant.
Details here.
Tommy was so much in love with trains that he was disappointed when President-Elect George W. Bush named him Secretary of DHSS: Tommy wanted Transportation, so he could continue to build and ride the rails.
Now he's run right off them - - a legacy killer for a proud, vain politician who has sacrificed principle for political expediency and partisanship.