Contact: Roger Putnam
262-899-1316
National Study Released Today Lists Four Wisconsin Cities’ Road Conditions As Some Of The Worst In U.S.
(Pewaukee, Wis.) – The popular Scottholes.com campaign is growing and its new video
can be seen today at nearly 100 gas stations across Wisconsin on the GSTV network.
“Governor Walker has nowhere to hide on transportation and fixing our roads and bridges,”
said Terry McGowan, president of the Wisconsin Operating Engineers Local 139. “He can fly
over the problem on the taxpayers’ dime or he can charge gas customers extra at the pumps and hope nobody understands, but we feel it is our responsibility to inform the taxpayers.”
Scottholes.com is also airing its new "Lost Walker" radio commercial statewide that focuses on the artificial markup of gas prices of more than 20 cents per gallon that consumers pay and that does NOT go towards the maintenance of our roads and bridges.
The expanded campaign comes as a national study confirms today what many Wisconsin
residents already knew and other studies have previously highlighted – our state roads are
some of the worst in the country. Specifically, TRIP, a national transportation research group, cited Milwaukee (4th worst – large cities), Madison (3rd worst – mid-sized), Green Bay (8th worst – mid-sized) and Appleton (11th worst – mid-sized) as ranking near the bottom for road quality.
The TRIP study comes as Wisconsin taxpayers continue to pay more debt service and less on actual repairs. Wisconsin was spending 11.5 percent of its transportation revenue on debt payments before Gov. Walker came into office in 2011. Eight years later, the state is spending 21 percent of its transportation dollars on debt payments. Instead of his ever-increasing credit card approach to paying for road work, Governor Walker should listen to his Republican colleagues and take the $.20/gallon “tax” (minimum markup law) he is currently handing over to his big-business supporters and invest those taxpayer funds into our roads and bridges.
As Republican state senate candidate Dale Kooyenga notes, “At least a tax goes to your school or roads. This is a tax [minimum markup] that goes to a private business.”
That is correct – this government “tax” does not actually go towards fixing our roads but rather goes into the pockets of private business.
“We need to cut Governor Walker’s credit card spending and stop letting him take our money and hand it over to his big-business supporters,” said McGowan. The Scottholes.com campaign continues to garner national attention as the it has been highlighted in the New Yorker, Washington Post, New York Times and the Huffington Post among others and will be the subject of an upcoming national TV news show. Stay tuned. More from Scottholes.com.
