Category Archives: Politics

Dismantling collective bargaining for public employees. Major changes in school funding and state health care programs. Voter ID. School voucher expansion. Telecom deregulation. Concealed carry. Disbanding RTAs, reshaping the DNR, the early release of some felons, removing the mandate to disinfect drinking water … and the list goes on.

Yes, Gov. Scott Walker and Madison Republicans are moving at record speed to pass significant legislation that approximately half the state disagrees with … in part because they may soon lose their ability to do it.

Check out this story from The Associated Press, which quotes Republican legislative leaders as saying that the looming Senate recalls are indeed driving some of this urgency. From it:

“Everything’s been accelerated,” said Republican Rep. Gary Tauchen, who is working on the photo ID bill. “We’ve got a lot of big bills we’re trying to get done.”

I don’t want to get in a policy debate over each and every one of these issues, although readers of this blog certainly know where I come down on most of them, and I’ll probably post individually on some of these issues in coming days and weeks.

My point is a bigger one, that these types of legislative sprints – ramming through key legislation with wide-ranging impacts simply because your time in power might be running out – are wrong on their face.

And they are wrong no matter which party is leading the effort. Democrats, Republicans – this has happened under both parties and on all levels of government – I don’t care. No political body should feel empowered to fast-track significant legislation with minimal debate (a day or two in some cases on some of these bills) in order to guarantee passage before the countdown clock hits zero.

It’s not democratic (small d). It’s not good government. It’s not right.

This reminds me of the early days of Barack Obama’s presidency or, better yet, the lame lameduck session in Madison last fall, when Democrats, knowing the hourglass had flipped, attempted to ram through wide-ranging legislation that included springing a lawmaker from jail to pass new state union contracts.

I disagreed with those attempts then, and I disagree with what the governor and Republicans are doing now.

The voters will speak this summer, either endorsing the Senate majority or not. Let them be heard … because in this desperate race against time, everyone loses.

Update: Unfortunately, we’re not alone among Wisconsin cities.

The city administrator and staff have put together a more detailed estimate of how the proposed state budget will impact South Milwaukee.

The estimated hit for 2012 should Gov. Scott Walker’s budget pass as is: $347,839 in red ink.

This includes the following projected general fund cuts:

• $255,427 in shared revenues;
• $135,177 in general transportation aids; and
• $126,004 in recycling grants.

In all, the total cuts to South Milwaukee general fund revenue from the state would be $516,931.

Of course, these cuts will be offset by savings through increased pension ($135,799 in net general fund savings in 2012) and health insurance ($33,293) contributions by employees — “tools” promised by Walker that, in the end, won’t do the job.

Of course, these are only estimates, and real impacts remain to be seen and probably won’t be known until the state budget is passed in coming months … and the ultimate fate of the so-called “budget repair bill” is determined.

There is also some hope that state lawmakers will actually listen to community leaders and try not to balance the budget in part on the backs of local taxpayers by slashing various state aids while concurrently disallowing property tax increases for many municipalities.

In other words, you can always hope that at least some of the well-reasoned changes proposed by the League of Wisconsin Municipalities are enacted. You can always hope that legislators who have so far scoffed at any sort of compromise will see the light.

There’s always hope, right? Maybe not.