Over 31 years in Congress, U.S. Rep. Tom Petri, a Republican from Fond du Lac, has kept a pretty low profile on controversial issues.
So it was a bit of a surprise to see his name on the bottom of a Nov. 17, 2010 statement that called the Madison-Milwaukee high speed rail link a “boondoggle” and declared:
“This high speed rail project is a bad investment for taxpayers and our state simply cannot afford it.”
Especially since Petri’s name was on an earlier letter, dated Aug. 10, 2009, about the high-speed rail effort, which said in part:
“This investment will strengthen the surrounding Midwest economies through new rail and construction jobs, while also increasing development and connectivity from rural to urban areas.”
What happened in those intervening 15 months?