Just days before an election that could decide the fate of a planned high-speed rail line, state and federal administrators quietly signed a deal to commit the state to spending all $810 million of the federal stimulus cash allocated to the Milwaukee-to-Madison route, transportation officials confirmed Nov. 1, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports.

The unannounced weekend agreement frees outgoing Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle's administration to sign contracts for much if not all of the work. That could hamstring efforts by Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker and his fellow Republicans to kill the project and spend the money on something else if they take control of the governor's office and either or both chambers of the state Legislature and Congress on Nov. 2.

Walker, the GOP candidate for governor, blasted the deal, saying, "This is just raw political power at its worst. This is why the Doyle administration is corrupt and unwilling to listen to taxpayers."

But Cari Anne Renlund, executive assistant to state Transportation Secretary Frank Busalacchi, insisted the timing wasn't driven by the election. She said the Doyle administration was following its original plan for the project to create construction jobs as soon as possible.

"We are merely trying to get the money obligated so the work can begin," said Renlund, the No. 3 official at the state Department of Transportation. "These are stimulus dollars. The goal of it was to get people working."

Renlund said state and federal staffers worked out the deal over the weekend because they were busy with other duties and that was the only time they could get together. She said the agreement was not publicly announced because it had just been reached, but it could be announced later. Officials responded to questions after the Journal Sentinel learned of the deal.

Olivia Alair, spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of Transportation, said Federal Railroad Administrator Joe Szabo signed the deal because "the Wisconsin Department of Transportation recently completed all of the steps necessary in order for their grant agreement to be finalized, including their stakeholder agreements with Canadian Pacific Railway and the Wisconsin & Southern Railroad. This is a major step forward in advancing the national high-speed rail program, which will connect the country, spur economic development and bring manufacturing jobs to the U.S."

The Milwaukee-to-Madison route would operate as an extension of Amtrak's existing Milwaukee-to-Chicago Hiawatha line. It could one day be extended to the Twin Cities, as part of a larger Midwestern network of fast, frequent trains. Service is to start in 2013, with six round trips daily at a top speed of 79 mph, rising to a top speed of 110 mph by 2015.

Operating costs are projected at $7.5 million a year, not counting the part covered by fares. But Renlund said the state is already using federal funds to cover 90 percent of the Hiawatha's $5.2-million annual operating cost - leaving $520,000 a year for state taxpayers to pick up - and hopes to do the same with the new line. That would mean state taxpayers would be paying $750,000 a year for the service to Madison.

Until now, the state and federal governments had only reached deals to obligate Washington to release - and Wisconsin to spend - about $52 million of the money for building the new rail route. In August, Busalacchi and Renlund said the state expected to sign contracts worth $300 million by the end of the year. Contracts have been signed to start some work, such as bridges on the segment between Madison and Watertown, and some of that work is starting, Renlund said.

Walker has vowed to shut down construction of the line if he's elected Tuesday. Even with the federal government picking up construction costs, Walker says he doesn't want the state to spend money on operating the line and would rather see the money spent on roads. His Democratic opponent, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, backs the route as an economic boon to the state.

Under federal rules, shutting down the project would require the state to repay the federal government for money already spent on the project. Doyle, Barrett and Busalacchi say that money would go to other states' rail projects, not to Wisconsin roads.

Walker said he would do everything in his power to end the project. And he vowed to make the rail line an issue in President Barack Obama's 2012 re-election campaign "if he tries to force this down the throats of the taxpayers."

Polls show Walker in the lead, and Republicans are believed to have a shot at capturing at least one chamber of Congress. With Republicans campaigning against the stimulus legislation, and Walker saying he would ask Congress to reallocate the rail money to roads, obligating all of the rail funding could block GOP efforts to move the cash elsewhere.

In July, after signing a deal with Doyle to obligate $46 million of the rail money, U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood proclaimed in Watertown that the rail line could not be stopped. Walker scoffed at that proclamation, and PolitiFact Wisconsin judged it false.

Passenger rail hasn't always been a partisan issue. This line was proposed by then-Gov. Tommy G. Thompson, a Republican who has renounced his brainchild to fall in line with his party.