A city panel may have endorsed an electric bus system but the plan is already DOA unless the city wants to get into the bus system.

For years, city officials have spoken of looking to the future, of vision and the consequences of failing to plan. For years, they haven’t gotten one key fact — they don’t run the system and nothing they do, nor any endorsement they make, will succeed in making this happen without the backing of the county and of the state.

Talk radio has played a major role in riling the public over the concept of light rail. Although a new electric fed bus system would not require the same infrastructure needs as would light rail, opponents including County Executive Scott Walker love to poo-poo anything that may help Milwaukee.

Interestingly enough, the Metro Milwaukee Association of Commerce, A.K.A. MMAC, (who loves to support Republicans and bash Democrats) has endorsed the plan. God love ‘em — they’ll support plans by Dems that have no chance of passing and they’ll bash Dems when it means that Dem policies have a chance to pass something. What’s crazy is that some of the Dems take that little bone and are deluded into thinking that MMAC is something other than just another shill group for the Republican party.

If Milwaukee wants this to happen they must circumvent both the Republican County Executive of Milwaukee County as well as the Republican legislature of Wisconsin. Even the Democratic Governor Jim Doyle has a tendency to gravitate toward supporting Republican ideals if it means that the GOP won’t have another issue to run against him on in the areas outside of Milwaukee County (areas often called out-state). Since out-state residents have shown an anti-Milwaukee bias, saying “no” for nearly anything for the city is popular for out-state residents at election time. The exception being additional taxes forced upon Milwaukee residents as was evident from former Governor Tommy Thompson’s comment “stick it to Milwaukee” which helped garner support from out-state residents to create a sales tax district that would support a new stadium for the Brewers. This was of course to garner support as to whether Milwaukee area residents should pay the tax but would exempt out-staters from chipping in.

Only through direct funding from the federal government in terms of transportation funds would this be possible and even on the federal level, any support for Milwaukee faces the hurdle of getting past Congressman Jim Sensenbrenner. Sensenbrenner has been very successful in getting the Republican House of Representatives to say “no” to Milwaukee on other issues and he has carved out a legislative niche by becoming a congressional ‘no’ man. He blocked transportation funds in the past and he gained notoriety a few years ago for opposing the Amber Alert program that would have created an alert whenever children were believed to be abducted. Eventually the Amber alert passed but only after Sensenbrenner bottled it up. Electric bus funding would be no different except for the fact that Sensenbrenner’s voters wouldn’t be incensed by Milwaukee being denied electric buses where the Amber Alert fiasco did rile some of his voters.

This is not the first time the city has gone on record as endorsing plans they play no or little part in. They also have had resolutions supporting light rail but again, they don’t control mass transit, the county does. What’s more, they’ve also had resolutions supporting or opposing war and military actions — an issue for the federal government.

One almost has to wonder, will the city ever focus their energies on issues they do have a say in?