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Under the Cover of Darkness
Friday at 3 AM when you were happily asleep at home, dreaming of bratwurst and long walks on the beach, special interest lobbyists and legislators were at the State Capitol conspiring to turn your waking hours into a nightmare.
In the wee hours of the morning, the Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee (JFC) passed a budget bill they claim solves the $6.6 billion budget deficit. In reality, the bill is packed with pork projects that make the deficit worse, shameful policy items that have nothing to do with state finances, and more tax increases on working families and their employers.
During their all nighter, the committee approved millions of dollars in pork projects to aid their own re-election efforts, and to bribe their colleagues into voting for a politically dangerous package when it reaches the legislature. This despite the JFC leaders claims, they were making “tough choices” and “hard cuts.”
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel issued a list of many of the pork projects, along with the legislators who would benefit. Among them:
$6.6 million for a Yahara River project in Dane County; the county is represented mostly by Democrats, including the committee's co-chairmen, Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Madison) and Sen. Mark Miller (D-Monona).
$500,000 for the Oshkosh Opera House; Republican Sen. Randy Hopper and Rep. Gordon Hintz, a Democrat, represent Oshkosh.
$500,000 for Eco Park in La Crosse; represented by Sen. Dan Kapanke (R-La Crosse) and committee member Rep. Jennifer Shilling (D-La Crosse).
$500,000 for the Aldo Leopold Climate Change Classroom, in a park that borders Madison and Monona; the two cities are represented by the committee's co-chairmen (Pocan and Miller).
Up to $430,000 for Highway X in Chippewa County; represented by Sen. Pat Kreitlow (D-Chippewa Falls) and Rep. Kristen Dexter (D-Eau Claire).
$125,000 to remodel an Eau Claire library; represented by Kreitlow and Dexter
Up to $1.25 million for Manitowoc Road in Bellevue; represented by Sen. Alan Lasee (R-De Pere) and Rep. Ted Zigmunt (D-Francis Creek).
$44.5 million, mostly in bonds, for a University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire education building; represented by Sen. Kathleen Vinehout (D-Alma) and Rep. Jeff Smith (D-Eau Claire).
Of course to pay for all this pork, the committee had to raise taxes and fees, sticking it to taxpayers when they can least afford it. Wisconsinites can expect to pay more for cell phone service, hospital visits, cigarettes, gas, music downloads and even nursing home stays.
In the past 5 months, Governor Doyle and the legislature have proposed over $3.3 billion in new taxes, but they still couldn’t find enough money to keep violent felons in prison.
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Driving up Rates
 Perhaps the most egregious policy items in the state budget are changes to insurance and liability laws that will be a bonanza for trial lawyers who donated heavily to Jim Doyle's campaign.
The revised “joint and several liability” means someone who is barely connected to an accident could end up paying the entire amount of a lawsuit. Another provision requires Wisconsin drivers to have the highest levels of liability coverage in the nation and could cost drivers an extra $309 per year.
In an effort to stop these changes, State Representative Robin Vos filibustered the all night budget session by reading the names of attorneys in the yellow pages who would benefit from this trial lawyer bonanza. Vos said he was providing committee members extra time to review all the new items that were being added to the budget at the last minute. Democratic committee member Jennifer Shilling almost started crying, calling the maneuver “the theater of the absurd.” Apparently Shilling finds nothing absurd about adding costly policy items to the budget at the last minute without any public hearing.
Wisconsin Club for Growth took to the airwaves this week to fight these dangerous policy changes. Please contact your state legislators and tell them to put the brakes on Governor Doyle’s plan to raise your insurance rates and make it easier for lawyers to sue you.
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Wisconsin Democracy Hypocrisy
 For years, failed legislative candidate Mike McCabe has made his living railing against “shady” special interest groups that advertise in order to influence state laws. His lefty front group, the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, has worked tirelessly to ban organizations like the Wisconsin Club for Growth from engaging in the public issue debate during elections.
Immune to irony or shamelessly hypocritical, McCabe announced yesterday that his group would begin running radio ads in an attempt to influence state laws regarding judicial elections in Wisconsin. According to Wispolitics.com:
The Wisconsin Democracy Campaign has started running a radio ad designed to build support for legislation to reform Supreme Court campaigns.
The spot is part of the group’s Judicial Independence Project and began running late last week. WDC Executive Director Mike McCabe said the spots are running on the Wisconsin Radio Network for two weeks.
McCabe said the group considers publicly financing Supreme Court campaigns and new proposed rules for issue ads central to reforming races for the state’s highest court. The ad does not mention either bill.
“They’re part of making sure that the public knows who’s paying for the ads,” McCabe said.
McCabe neglected to mention that his group, the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, doesn't disclose the names of its donors either. In other words, Mike McCabe keeps his donors secret, decries the legislative influence of other groups who do the same, and runs issue ads which McCabe himself claims the state should shut down. Perhaps McCabe will convince legislators to carve out a free speech amendment just for him. Let’s call it the McCabe Amendment.
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Nanny State
On Friday of last week, Governor Doyle signed a bill that would require daycare vans with up to 6 passengers to have special alarms. The bill was written in response to the death of Jalen Knox-Perkins, a 4-month old boy who died after being left in a day care center vehicle for four hours in early April.
While the bill may make legislators feel like they have “done something,” no amount of expensive car alarms or electronic devices are going to save children if day care centers continue to hire workers who can't count to “6.”
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