“The taxpayers for the state are paying the bill and not getting anything for it” – Susan Crawford, speaking about the result of a lawsuit she brought against the State of Wisconsin
Judge Susan Crawford, then a private lawyer, tried to get $66 million from state taxpayers for a Spanish train company, and taxpayers ended up with a bill in the millions.
That’s according to newspaper articles from the time. According to a May 20, 2014 article by the Associated Press, a state claims board rejected a “$66 million claim by train-maker Talgo Inc. against Wisconsin, saying the issue is best resolved in court.” Crawford represented the firm, the AP wrote. A 2012 article by WPR also says Crawford represented the firm. It is headlined, “Train Car Maker Talgo Goes to Court.”
In a press release at the time, Crawford labeled Talgo the “innocent victim.”
When the state settled the Talgo lawsuit for almost $10 million, Crawford was quoted as saying to WPR, “The taxpayers for the state are paying the bill and not getting anything for it.”
But that was thanks to her legal work.
That wasn’t the only time that Crawford fought legally against the interests of Wisconsin taxpayers, either. She brought a lawsuit seeking to overturn Act 10 which has saved taxpayers billions of dollars, and even bragged about it. Crawford, a liberal, is seeking a seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court. The other candidate is former Republican Attorney General Brad Schimel, a Waukesha County Judge who has earned the support of top law enforcement officials throughout the state.
According to the AP story, the “Seattle-based arm of the Spanish train company filed the claim in November.” The company alleged that then-Republican Gov. Scott Walker “acted in bad faith when he decided to abandon a high-speed rail line connecting Milwaukee and Madison.” The state alleged that Talgo operated in bad faith.
The state had signed the Talgo deal under Crawford’s former boss, then Gov. Jim Doyle, a Democrat, to “purchase at least two train sets from Talgo,” according to the story. Crawford served in a number of positions for Doyle, including as his chief legal counsel.
The AP story says that even after Scott Walker rejected the federal funding “killing the project,” Talgo continued working on it through 2011 and then “notified the state the train sets were ready for delivery.”
The state Department of Transportation argued that “Talgo never satisfied terms of the deal and ‘has acted in bad faith since the start of the project in 2009, engaging in a pattern of omission, deception and denial,” according to AP.
Talgo was paid $40 million but never delivered the train cars, the state alleged, according to AP.
