Little hope for KRM, regional transit this year, Lehman says; Racine Senator says 'votes aren't there' for train, bus proposal

A proposal to to consolidate southeastern Wisconsin's bus systems and to build a commuter rail train from Kenosha to Milwaukee are all but dead this year, according to Sen. John Lehman.

"It doesn't look like it's going to happen," Lehman said. "It's hard for people to accept. It's hard for me to accept."

In a long interview, Sen. John Lehman rejected a RacinePost story suggesting he was "terrified" to vote on legislation to create a regional transit authority in Milwaukee, Racine and Kenosha counties. Lehman is up for re-election in November. A Democratic insider said the RTA was dead because Senate leaders didn't want Lehman to have to either vote for a sales tax or vote against a plan needed to extend commuter rail to Racine.

"I'm almost 65," Lehman said. "I'm not terrified of anything any more."

Lehman said Senate Majority Leader Russ Decker may not allow a vote on the proposal in hopes of protecting Democrats who are up for re-election in November. It's a sensitive issue for Senate Democrats because seven out of the party's 18-member majority are affected by the RTA legislation, including two of the party's four most vulnerable members. Lehman and Sen. Jim Sullivan, D-Wauwatosa, both serve districts that are evenly divided between Republicans and Democrats.

Further, even if it did come up for a vote in the Senate this spring, it probably wouldn't pass.

"The real story is the votes aren't there," Lehman said.

Lehman has opposed any plan for Racine County that involved a sales tax to pay for regional transit. That's put him at odds with Gov. Jim Doyle, who would like to see a three-county sales tax to pay for a consolidated bus system that would connect Milwaukee, Racine and Kenosha counties. It would also strengthen the region's application for $250 million in federal money to extend commuter rail from Kenosha to Milwaukee. A unified transit system, or RTA, is needed to ensure people can use buses and the commuter train to travel throughout the region.

Instead of a sales tax, Lehman has looked at alternative taxes such as a wheel, hotel room or property tax to pay for the regional transit system. (Incidentally, shifting Racine's bus system to an RTA would remove the $9 million operation from the city's budget.) He also supported a public referendum on an RTA to determine if voters want to spend money on improving public transit.

But Lehman's plans have all fallen short. Republicans won't go along with his belief that regional transit is needed to connect people to jobs, retain major companies and to attract new companies to southeastern Wisconsin. They say commuter rail and bus systems are too expensive and redundant, given most people have cars.

Democrats oppose Lehman's ideas because they either want a regional sales tax (Doyle) or they're involved in some sort of confusing inter-Milwaukee squabble that made compromise difficult.

"I've busted my butt day and night on this trying to find a way to make this work," Lehman said.

He said he felt a deal was in place in the 2007 state budget, but Gov. Jim Doyle vetoed the plan as unworkable. The governor's veto was a shock, Lehman said.

"I thought we had it," Lehman said of a 2007 plan.

But a Democratic insider said it was Lehman who eliminated a workable RTA proposal from the 2007 state budget. Doyle had proposed a regional sales tax that would have given the RTA a consistent, dedicated funding source needed to land the federal money to build KRM and to combine the region's bus systems. Lehman objected to the plan because he was opposed to a sales tax for Racine County.

The attempted compromise was enough to win over the Senate and Assembly, but Doyle determined it wouldn't land the federal money. He vetoed the proposal with the intention of going back for his original plan, which was the three-county sales tax. But the economy took a downturn, Democrats' poll numbers are down and Doyle announced he wasn't running for re-election. All contributed to the RTA's demise, Lehman said.

Locally, voters are deeply divided on the issue, Lehman said. While his office received 498 contacts from people in favor of KRM and a RTA, local government officials are staunchly opposed.

"The Sturtevant board screamed at us over RTA," Lehman said, adding Mount Pleasant and Caledonia officials are also opposed. (See update below.)

"There's not many people in the middle on this," he added.

The Racine City Council and mayor are generally in favor, Lehman said, but when push comes to shove they're skittish about moving forward.

"I can't get the mayor and the Common Council to come out strong for this," Lehman said. "When you start pushing them, no one wants to talk anymore."

The irony, Lehman said, is even though he's fought a sales tax increase in Racine County for several years, he'll still get hit during the campaign for supporting a sales tax increase ... in Milwaukee County. Lehman has voted in favor of a plan that would increase Milwaukee County's sales tax 0.5 percent, but would exclude Racine and Kenosha counties.

That alone shows he' not afraid to vote for commuter rail and KRM, Lehman said.

"I've voted for this stuff repeatedly," Lehman said. "If they want to attack me, they'll attack me."

Update: Chris Wright, Sturtevant Village Trustee, sent us the following response:

I would like to address the accusation of Sen. Lehman's, that the Sturtevant Village Board screamed at him. At best this is an exaggeration. If Sen. Lehman's definition of screaming is a board of seven elected officials unanimously voicing their opposition to the RTA and the KRM, as screaming I'm confused. The discussion was very civil, but we made our stance clear. This would not benefit Sturtevant. It would take virtually the same amount of time for a Sturtevant resident to drive to the proposed KRM station and then take the train ride, as it does to drive to downtown Milwaukee or the Kenosha Metra Station. We also did not see how taxing only half of Racine County was fair to the people of Sturtevant. Lastly we hold to the belief that the last thing Southeast Wisconsin needs is another unelected body with taxing authority.

I will give Sen. Lehman credit for actually listening to our concerns, as opposed to Rep. Mason who was also in attendance. Rep. Mason continues to ignore and thumb his nose at local leadership.