MOosho,

The Surface transportation board already signed off on this deal. The STP board is appointed by the POTUS and have 5 year terms.

The STB approved it.
The owners of WSOR and Watco Benefit-as do consumers and transporters of classII freight.

Intermodal shipping has trippled in the last 25 years-which is one reason why Watco is now the largest Class II freight operator int eh united states. Watco is a privately owned company and they've participated in about 20 plus acqusitions and probably enriched themselves in the process. Nothing wrong with that-sounds like the American dream.

Your point of WSOR requiring prior approval to change ownership might be true-however, the approval will not come from people like Illinois Tim Cullen-it will come from STB board members-appointed by President Obama and Bush. Case closed.

Cullen is trying to make political hay in an attempt to appear that he is going to save/create jobs. I beleive his session ended in November-where was Cullen prior to the sale? If his concern were valid-he would have looked into this transaction long before it closed. He's simply not concerned about the sale or the employees.

Yes a train with a mouse on board.

I've found the reason Cullen is ticked about this. The Wisconsin & Southern tracks don't go to Rockford, Ill.

WisconsinResident, you may be willing to cross your fingers and guess at their intentions, but they have actual responsibility due to the citizens of this state. Maybe Watco is benevolent and means well, but it's also possible that they don't, or that they can't follow through with their good intentions, or that it's a smokescreen. Lord knows that the Walker administration isn't to be trusted with the keys to the chicken coop here. There has been no real transparency with this sale, just a smarmy grin and a "trust us" brush-off. Given the fact -- fact -- that the president of the company pleaded guilty to violating campaign finance laws in order to give Walker as much support as he could funnel through his employees, you have to have just a tiny question in your mind what he expected to get from that support.
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A state that operates under the rule of law, with open proceedings and transparency of transactions, should welcome scrutiny. Instead we're hearing a lot of "oh, gosh, look the other way, why don't you?" Nothing garners my interest like telling me there's nothing to see here, move along, move along.

Where was Cullen, when Doyle wanted to buy a 47 million dollar train.

Sounds to me from the research I have done that the rail road is not planning any layoffs and that they want to grow and keep everybody in place like I stated in an earlier post. Now I was not able to too find out the terms and conditions but my opinion is this I am thinking they may expand services here in Wisconsin and possibly upgrade tracks in Wisconsin and make rail service in Wisconsin run more efficiently and that means you have to upgrade the tracks or replace old tracks with new ones and to do that they may need to hire more people. The only thing here is it is being turned into a political debate and that is not what this is about. However I could form a better opinion if I could see the conditions and terms of the sale so I can decide if we got a good deal or not. But early results from my research looks to me like this is a company investing in Wisconsin and has nothing to do with Walker and it is just about a candidate making a name for himself to look good if there is a recall election so Senator Cullen why don’t you find out the terms and conditions of the and do some research before you rush to a wrong conclusion.

bowgirl-Don't try to figure out mousey. He was so use to the Soros money pit that when the Koch brothers starting matching Soros the left started their favorite tactics of degrading and name calling. Mouse never even heard of the Koch brothers, who he rants is running everything in the state, until Walker was elected. Cry baby cry.

I didn't know Cullen relocated to Wisconsin.

mouse, why do you have such a fetish with Koch?
I would like to see you get on some web sites that show your party's questionable practices.

We all know it works both ways. Your closed minded debates are weak and mundane.

Before everyone jumps to conclusions here are some known facts straight from the WSOR website that I did research. Watco Transportation Services LLC, based in Pittsburg, Kan., will acquire controlling ownership of Wisconsin & Southern. Financial terms of the purchase were not disclosed.
Watco is a privately held rail transportation services company operating more than 3,700 miles of track in 26 states. Watco is America's largest privately held short line railroad company and employs 2,200 people.
Wisconsin & Southern employs about 250 people. No layoffs are planned as a result of the agreement. "From an employment standpoint, we want to continue to grow (Wisconsin & Southern) and keep everybody in place," said Stefan Loeb, vice president of business development at Watco. Wisconsin & Southern will retain its corporate structure and its name. Its headquarters will remain in Milwaukee, where dispatching, customer service and other administrative functions will continue. Wisconsin & Southern operates via an agreement with the State of Wisconsin in which the state owns the rails and the company agrees to maintain and operate trains on them. The publicly owned tracks, abandoned in the late 1970s, used to be part of the Milwaukee Road and Chicago & North Western railroads. Watco Transportation Services filed a change of control notice with the U.S. Surface Transportation Board on Tuesday that is expected to become effective by the end of December. The projected date of the transaction is Jan. 1. Watco operates 14 rail car repair shops, four locomotive shops and 19 mobile mechanical shops. The transload and intermodal services division manages 16 transload facilities, seven warehouses and one intermodal location.

Nicely done rremployee!
Here is a great example for all you voters to see for yourself. What kind of government do we want? Do we want excessive government intervention (after the deal was reviewed) or do we want to encourage business to do well and grow by minimal (one efficient review) oversight? He that has ears, let him hear.

Senator Cullen can use his considerable talents at cost cutting that he honed as a greedy health insurance executive where costs are skyrocketing at the expense of taxpayers. Gotta love it!

When it comes to anything dealing with government, local, state, or federal - we will never get ALL the facts and I don't think our elected officials get (or give) ALL the facts either.

bebe53 old and FYI by them doing so we were all made aware of the criminals who are running this state and their bullying behaviors against the 99%...I would be concerned as to who is behind Watco the ones who purchased it and who they really are.

Cullen is just grandstanding, he has to come up with something to keep his name in the paper. He is a bigger phony that Gore.

I guess the question is do we have all the facts?

Isn't that Cullen's job as Senator to answer anything that deals with the public that may/may not be legal or ethical. Before using inflammatory rhetoric, wouldn't it be better to get ALL OF THE FACTS?

If it is a positive for Janesville then it must be wrong. You want jobs but a majority of people here are more interested in making comments that seem the exact opposite. Why? You always are looking for the negative or trying to make it negative and then you turn around and complain that no one is doing anything to bring jobs to our fair city. WHY??

"You silly people will never understand that going to Illinois made Cullen a hero." You've got to be kidding. Look up the word "hero", please. There was nothing brave or noble about running away from his responsibilities and hiding in Illinois. That behavior is called "grandstanding", not "heroism".

Under what law can Cullen demand this information?

Moosho-you can bet your life that the CEO of WSOR made money on this deal.

This is nothing more than last ditch attempt for Cullen to remain relevant if Walker is recalled.

The railroad deal may have to be looked at but it is Cullen that concerns me most. He needs to be watched very carefully. His actions don't match his words. He likes to saunter around and be known as the great "compromiser" but his actions speak a different story, such as running to Illinois.

Rremployee....+1 It makes no sense that a company shows up, makes a huge capital investment in our state, and while they are in the process of doing this are vilified by certain grandstanding politicians. The same people whining to Walker about job growth, are those that are condemning business deals that bring the very jobs that they are whining about not having into the state.......sad and pathetic.......

W&S employees 200+ people, many of whom live in Janesville, or the surrounding area. With the purchase by WATCO, money is already beng spent to service customers in the area. Off Cty.O, work is in process to build a facility to offer customers service by rail that do not have direct access to rail. Money being spent for this job is going to local contractors, who employ people who then spend their earnings in the area. The same is true for all those W&S employees. Yes, the state owns much of ,but not all the track that W&S services. The political rambling is just that by Sen. Cullen! The sale is complete. Furthermore, would it be fair to ask to see the books of all the trucking companies that run their businesses on the very roads we tax payers subsidize,I think not. Maybe it's time for all politicians to come together, and start serving our best interests, and quit the game playing.

Bebe, this is just too funny to pass up: "@nomores-the insult is because you made an assumption -I presume based on your own prejudice(s)"- you presuming I'm assuming - that's funny.

Sorry, Bebe, but it seems you can't handle the truth. There were no assumptions on my part - I simply gave you my impressions. If you can't understand that then I guess you're not too bright. Perhaps remedial logic/reasoning would be more appropriate for you.

Bebe, before you start hurling insults perhaps you should consider what you write: "@nomores-obviously you either can't read or your comprehension is sorely lacking" - I didn't say you espoused your support for Walker, I said it sounds like you think Walker is right. It must be embarrassing to toss out those insults and then find that you are the one who fits your own criticism. Thanks for the entertainment.

Talk about a day late and a dollar short!! Where has old Timmy been? This transaction has been in process for months and has hardly been kept quiet. I get a kick out of the clueless wonders--not naming any names(Mooshoe:)) that are demanding to know who signed off on this........southern didn't sell the tracks, they sold the business. Using your logic, any trucking company or any other business for that matter, that used highways--which are subsidized by the state--would have to get approval from the state before selling??

Beneath this article in the paper was another article about jobs and investment coming up with the railroad. Jobs in Wisconsin? No wonder Cullen is upset. Why can't they be in Illinois to make him happy.

I don't know about anyone else, but if something happens with something that I have my money in, I'd like to know.

Yes, ozzman, as were the record amounts of refined oil products that we exported last year.

@Bebe, it sounds like you are supporting Walker's sale and doubting that Cullen's position has any merit. I don't know who's right, but it sounds like you have already decided Walker is. Unless you have more information I think you're still espousing a partisan viewpoint. The question seems reasonable to me.

"Wisconsin & Southern operates on state-owned tracks that the state has spent millions of dollars to repair and maintain, Cullen said."
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Just one more case of corporate entitlement programs funded by taxpayers. Add it to the list of the $700 billion per year we give away to military contractors in defense entitlement programs to profitable corporations. We've built ports on both coasts for highly profitable shipping companies, we subsidize almost every business in one way or another. And the right screams socialism when someone suggests a national health care system to protect those without healthcare?

Anyone asking the kind of questions Scott Walker was paid not to ask could face some serious consequences from the Koch brigade. Thank you for your courage Gove ... I mean Senator Cullen.

You silly people will never understand that going to Illinois made Cullen a hero. Well, you can have fun chewing it over after Scottie loses.
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The WSOR has achieved its success and business value on the foundation of a considerable taxpayer investment and continued subsidy. As such, its sale is of interest to the state and scrutiny is warranted. The concern is that this out-of-state company could make business decisions that eliminate or reduce service to Wisconsin businesses, for which we, the taxpayers, paid for track construction and repair.
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Of course, it's quite hilariously ironic that a Koch-connected company depends so heavily on corporate welfare. You know darned well that's exactly where they think your tax dollars should go: to support THEM. One day you'll realize how completely you've been rolled by these charlatans.

I think he is just wanting to get his name in the paper so he can appear concerned if he decides to run against Walker, if the recall wins.
Kinda late now to be worried about this.

Mr. Cullen does not seem to understand that market forces dictate prices.
He feels the need for government intervention. I'm sure its for the 'common good'.

I agree with Bebe. Timmie will do anything to get his picture in the paper.

Bebe, the sale was announced in Nov. So, if Cullen is correct, you would prefer to bring up an unrelated jab at Cullen & give Walker a pass? Wouldn't it be better to have good government rather than this partisan garbage?