Upon learning that Wisconsin Gov.-elect Scott Walker was determined to cancel an $810 million high-speed rail project that would link Madison and Milwaukee with regional centers such as the Twin Cities and Chicago, New York Gov.-elect Andrew Cuomo asked the federal government to redirect Wisconsin’s money to his state.

He also wants the money that Ohio Gov.-elect John Kasich proposes to reject.

Walker and Kasich are political hacks who took big money from road builders and other interests that don’t want to face competition from high-speed rail systems. They’re just paying back their contributors by spinning the lie that high-speed rail projects are expensive and unnecessary.

Unlike Walker and Kasich, Cuomo is less interested in paying off campaign contributors and more interested in having his state lead the nation when it comes to developing the high-speed rail projects that are so closely linked to economic development.

Cuomo knows that developing high-speed rail gives a state a competitive advantage, particularly as energy and highway construction costs skyrocket. And he knows developing high-speed rail will create thousands of jobs in the months and years to come.