In This Issue:
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1. Double Talk
2. Brother Can You
Spare a Job?
3. Perception Vs.
Reality
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Double Talk
.jpg) Two sets of contrasting statements from one northern Wisconsin legislator vividly illustrate how different this state’s tax and spending practices can be made to appear.
Late last year, State Senator James Holperin (D-Conover) sent a letter to newspapers in his district, talking up progress in lowering Wisconsin’s tax ranking among the 50 states. In it he downplayed tax increases in the state budget and credited Governor Doyle and the Democrats’ two-house legislative majority.
Last week, Minocqua’s Lakeland Times reported on another Holperin statement responding to a grant writer pitching tax-increase ideas.
"Well, we'll see," Holperin wrote in an e-mail last spring. "You know the Governor's got enough little tax and fee hikes in that budget of his to sink a good sized battleship. So there's no shortage of revenue 'uppers' for the legislature to consider and for the voters to get mad over ... which they have done even though most of the increases won't affect most average Wisconsinites."
Those increases that won’t affect most Wisconsinites total more than $2 billion.
Last fall, the grant-writer was back, touting a higher beer tax.
Holperin’s reply: "We Democrats authorized all kinds of new taxes in the recently adopted state budget (cigarette taxes, capital gains taxes, solid waste fees, cell phone tax, boat registration fee, etc. etc.) and took a lot of heat for that. Nobody is eager to be voting for 'another' tax increase ... especially on beer!"
Holperin’s very different letter to newspapers “attributed the state's improved tax ranking to income tax rate cuts earlier in the decade that had been indexed for inflation, revenue caps on schools and local governments, no increase in the sales tax, and slower state spending compared to other states.”
So, when was the Senator being candid? When he credited tax cuts, inflation indexing and local taxing limits enacted before the Doyle administration and Democrat majorities rolled into town, or when he conceded Democrats were responsible for multibillion-dollar tax increases?
We’d say both times. Accidents happen.
Brother, Can You Spare a Job?
 The Wall Street Journal reported last week that U.S. employers eliminated another 20,000 jobs in January. December saw 185,000 jobs disappear. The unemployment rate—which counts only people still trying to get a job—held at 9.7 percent.
Here in Wisconsin, the Department of Workforce Development reported that unemployment worsened during December in 69 of the 72 counties.
Menominee County had the worst numbers, at 12.2 percent.
At 5.4 percent, Dane County (Madison) had the best numbers, even though things slipped a bit from November.
There’s a clear message here. Not long ago, economists thought of six percent unemployment as a “full-employment” economy. So in the grip of a recession so deep that hundreds of thousands of jobs keep disappearing even amid talk of a recovery, job security in Wisconsin’s seat of government is still better than what we used to think was the best we could hope for.
Washington D.C. is another safe harbor from the economic storm. Last week the Journal noted that the federal government will have more than 2.1 million “civilian full-time equivalent employees this year. The Agriculture Department is adding 7,000 employees, the Treasury Department another 7,000 and the Department of Justice will swell from 106,000 to 119,000—another 13,000 lawyers and the people who help them.
It’s always been easy to see how relocation trends among the 50 states are driven by sunshine and taxes. With Washington, D.C., not particularly known for a great climate but adding population anyway, there’s a third factor to consider: You’d best go where government is if you’re looking for work.
Perception vs. Reality
A guest column by State Senator Ted Kanavas
 From the moment I began my service in the state Senate I’ve also had a job in the private sector. My experience has mirrored the experience of most people with “real world jobs.” Some years were good and some were bad.
Thanks to that experience, I know firsthand that what politicians do in Madison can help or hurt the rest of us. I also know we need to rethink how our state views private business. It can no longer use employers as the state’s personal piggy bank. And government must acknowledge that normal people, everyday taxpayers, can only sacrifice so much before it pushes them to their wits’ end - unable to sustain their quality of life or provide for their loved ones.
This is reality. But does everyone get it?
If you watched Governor Doyle’s State of the State Address you may question whether the Democrats really know what is happening in Wisconsin. In case you missed it, during the final few minutes of the speech, the Governor reflected on his two terms in office. To say the least, it was an interesting take on the past decade. It was also indicative of how delusional the Democrats are when it comes to the realities of our state.
Here are the last few sentences:
“When they write the history of this time, let them say we met our generation's challenge. We helped those in trouble…we made health care available to our citizens…we educated our kids…we invested in our businesses and workers…we seized the new opportunities presented…and we moved boldly into the future.”
If you or I were to write this speech, we would certainly tell a different story. Hundreds of thousands of Wisconsinites are receiving some form of government run healthcare, MPS is failing to educate the children of Milwaukee and the district is bankrupt, businesses are leaving the state at an alarming pace, and unemployment is near nine percent. If that is our bold new future, folks, dark days are ahead.
The Democrats want us to perceive them as having done something, anything, over the past decade to improve our state. As we all know, in politics and in life, perception and reality are often two entirely different things. If you just listened to the Democrats, you wouldn’t even know we had a problem. Forget our record unemployment…We seized opportunities! We moved boldly!
Tell that to the family that has gone from having Mom and Dad each working full-time jobs, to Mom working two jobs and Dad working less time for less money. Families are looking for hope. The Democrats certainly didn’t say anything to indicate help is on the way.
Senator Kanavas (R-Brookfield) is retiring from the Wisconsin Legislature at the end of his current term after serving since 2001. Wisconsin Club for Growth would like to thank Senator Kanavas for his unwavering support for policies that encourage economic growth and limited government.
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