Speaking the Truth

THE FUTURE OF WISCONSIN

Posted by Gary Wickert on Feb. 1, 2011 | 0 comments

There is a political revolution underway in Wisconsin. Its residents have stormed the Capitol in Madison and are in the process of taking back their state from liberal politicians, greedy unions, and a morbidly obese government bureaucracy.  
 

With the election of Governor Scott Walker, the retaking of the Wisconsin Senate, and an overwhelming majority in the Assembly, our state is poised to slash spending and undertake the heavy lifting of eliminating the state's projected budget deficit of nearly $3.3 billion over the next two years. It will take both courage and common sense to eradicate the $1.5 billion gap which the Wisconsin Department of Administration (DOA) reports will exist between state revenue and state spending through June 30, 2013. The usual suspects will be implementing their slash and burn "new tone" in an effort to demonize the majority of spending cuts which are not just good fiscal policy – but have become absolutely necessary for the economic viability of our state.
 

In January of 1776, journalist and essayist Thomas Paine published the most influential tract of the American Revolution, a political pamphlet entitled, "Common Sense." In it he wrote:
 

Society in every state is a blessing, but government even in its best state is but a necessary evil, in its worst state an intolerable one; for when we suffer, or are exposed to the same miseries by a government, which we might expect in a country without government, our calamities is heightened by reflecting that we furnish the means by which we suffer!

These words are as true today as they were when our country was born. We are suffering at the hand of our own government. We must remember this truth as we turn to face the hard choices necessary to return Wisconsin to fiscal sanity, or we will go the way of California, New Jersey, Illinois, Michigan, and Minnesota. Who would have thought we'd ever hear serious political discourse about the possibility of U.S. states actually filing for bankruptcy – courtesy of liberal tax and spend policies and the same sort of Madison-math used by our former governor to saddle us with soaring deficits. That all ends now.
 

Prior to the November election, Democrats throughout the country controlled legislatures in 27 states, with Republicans in charge of only 14. But after last November's nationwide Republican sweep, the GOP will soon control 26, the Democrats only 17. Control of others is split between the parties. The election also increased the number of Republican governors from 23 to 26. In fact, Wisconsin was the only state in the country which completely transformed both houses of the legislature and the governorship from Democrat to Republican. The message from the American people and Wisconsin residents alike was clear: restore Common Sense to government.

Governor Scott Walker and I agree whole-heartedly on the following three simple truths:
 

1. Don’t spend more than you make.
2. Smaller government is better government.
3. People and small businesses create jobs, not government.
 

The return to fiscal sanity in Wisconsin is no more complicated than that. But the crisis in state government also represents a tremendous opportunity for Wisconsin. The following are a few areas where I believe strong and decisive change is needed.
 

Lower Taxes. Letting small businesses and Wisconsin taxpayers keep more of what they earn allows them to invest that money in Wisconsin, raising revenues and creating jobs. It's not rocket science. We must repeal the corporate income tax and free up over one and a half billion dollars for Wisconsin companies struggling through a Washington, D.C.-induced recession. The state income tax and the state sales tax should both be reduced to 4%.
 

Shrink Government. A sad and sobering fact is that last year, for the first time in history, Wisconsin saw government employment exceed manufacturing employment. Higher taxes and fees have fed the Godzilla-like government. We must apply fiscal radiation treatment to the tumor of government and shrink it down to a more reasonable and manageable size.
 

Slash Property Taxes. Wisconsin has the highest median real estate taxes. It's no wonder decision-makers within job-creating corporations turn their noses up at coming to this state. We have the highest property taxes on homes, according to the Wall Street Journal. We need to cut state property taxes an average of 85% to local taxes only for local property related services.
 

Reduce Legislators' Salaries. As Rhode Island's Roger Sherman wrote during the Constitutional Convention of 1787:
 

Representatives ought to return home and mix with the people. By remaining at the seat of government, they would acquire the habits of the place, which might differ from those of their constituents.

Wisconsin legislators make $49,943 per year for a part-time job. Wyoming pays $150 per day, Utah, $117 per day. Texas pays $7,200 per year. South Carolina pays $10,400 per year, and Georgia, $17,342. In fact, only California, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, and Ohio have higher legislative salaries than we do. Perhaps it is no coincidence that these states are all poised to drop into the economic abyss. The terms "career" and "politician" should never be used together in the same sentence. We need to return to the time-honored value of a true citizen legislature where we make fewer laws, pass fewer regulations, and treat public service in the legislature as it was intended to be – public service which requires sacrifice rather than a career. If Wisconsin legislators spend less time in Madison passing laws and more time back home listening, we'd be much better off. I propose reducing the salary of Wisconsin legislators to $24,950 per year – still above average.
 

Education Reform. Our education system is broken. Each year at the Department of Public Instruction (DPI), the government accountants click their pens and sign the largest check issued by the Wisconsin State Treasury - $1.3 billion made payable to the Milwaukee Public School System (MPS). Yet every year we marvel at the disappointing test results and large number of students who don't understand simple math. We look for explanations for the high dropout rate and rampant truancy rates. Simply throwing money at the education problem has been an utter failure.It's time for there to be a direct correlation between money and results. Throughout the state we spend what has become the equivalent to educational welfare – nearly 45 cents of every dollar Madison spends. And when layoffs come, it's the good teachers, including Megan Sampson – named by the Wisconsin Council of Teachers of English as outstanding first-year teacher – and second-year teacher Kevin Condon – with four licenses and who commands a 40-student open-concept classroom at Bradley Tech High School - who get the axe in order to protect the more senior but less qualified MPS teachers. No more. We have far too many administrators as compared to students. Virtual schools, Charter Schools, and School CHOICE voucher programs are very successful and must be improved and expanded. We should never hold children captive to failing public schools.
 

WEA Health Trust. Many school districts across Wisconsin purchase employee health insurance through WEA Trust, the insurance-providing arm of the Wisconsin Education Association Council (WEAC). The expensive WEA Trust must be written out of labor contracts. Schools that want to seek competitive bids for alternative health coverage are sometimes stonewalled by WEA Trust. No more. Changing state law to allow school districts to enroll teachers and staff in the same health plan state employees receive could save school districts up to $68 million and bring down local government costs by up to $242 million. Teachers, as well as state and local government employees must be required to pay larger co-pays, portions of their premiums, and deductibles, just like the rest of the country.
 

Reform Technical College System. Huge salaries and benefits have made our technical school system obese. Taxpayers are responsible for nearly 60% of revenues for MATC, compared with only 30% for the University of Wisconsin system. Ozaukee County taxpayers pay considerably more in taxes to MATC than they do even to Ozaukee County itself, and every year MATC jacks up the tax levy by as much as 6% annually. What’s worse, there is nothing taxpayers can do about it, because reckless and irresponsible spending and the self-preserving decisions of unaccountable technical school boards are foisted upon innocent taxpayers who have no vote as to how their money is spent. Lavish salaries and outrageous benefits and pensions over the past 17 years have resulted in the cost of an average education for a full-time student at MATC skyrocketing from $1775 in 1999 to approximately $2700 today – a 50% increase. The cost to educate a student at MATC has risen to nearly $25,000, more than Marquette University, and is estimated to reach $46,000 in the next eight years. Tuition in the UW system covers 40% of its educational cost, compared to only 11% at MATC. No more. Reform is coming. Over two-thirds of MATC’s students are enrolled in a General Education or Business curriculum – hardly the sort of education which fits with the core mission of a technical college system. In 2005, MATC graduated only 14 welders. Yet it spends some of its tax dollars "apologizing" for the State of Arizona's common sense immigration law. Over 90% of MATC’s budget goes to payroll, benefits and pensions. MATC does not need 81 administrators and 723 staff. It needs to be trimmed with a machete.  
 

Immigration Reform. Wisconsin ranks 21^st in the number of illegal immigrants, with over 150,000 illegals making their way through Mexico to Chicago and north into our state. Arizona’s Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act requires police officers, who in the course of a lawful law enforcement action come to a “reasonable suspicion” that a person is an illegal alien, to ask for a driver’s license to verify that the person is in this country legally. The Arizona immigration law is not racist, xenophobic, unconstitutional, discriminatory, unfair, totalitarian, or intolerant. It's just common sense and we need a fine-tuned version of it passed here in Wisconsin. Illegal immigration is no longer just an economic issue – it is a national security issue. We have illegals in Wisconsin committing crimes, being released, and then re-committing crimes. We must pass a law which outlaws "sanctuary" cities like Madison and Racine.
 

End Ethanol Mandate. There is no good reason to force Wisconsin motorists to buy ethanol-blended gasoline which raises both food and energy prices. It may raise the price of corn – but at a steep price for the rest of the state. According to analysts at Goldman Sachs, the ethanol industry consumes 41% of the domestic corn crop. Corn is at the top of the food chain, so by creating an artificial shortage in supply of corn, the feds have caused a spike in the cost of meat and chicken as well. The claimed environmental benefits are overrated, and it actually raises the amounts of evaporative emissions that contribute to smog. In fact, a 2005 Wisconsin DNR study found that mandating state gasoline supplies to contain 10% ethanol causes greater emissions of nitrogen oxide (NOx) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs). With the hoax of anthropogenic global warming now exposed, the last excuse for ethanol mandates has been discarded. The government is should encourage goals for renewable sources of energy and alternative biofuels, but it should not determine which technology wins. The best one should.
 

Concealed Carry. Last fall, a Clark County judge ruled that Wisconsin’s ban on carrying concealed weapons is unconstitutional. The ban forces citizens to go unarmed, preventing them from defending themselves against violent crime. In 1998 79% of the voters in the great state of Wisconsin voted Article 1 Section 25 into our state constitution.  "The people have the right to keep and bear arms for security, defense, hunting, recreation or any other lawful purpose". I believe that "Open-Carry" and "Conceal Carry" are choices to be made by law-abiding citizens. Wisconsin is one of only two states that completely prohibit anyone but police officers and sheriffs' deputies from carrying concealed weapons for self defense. It is time to change that.
 

Abolish the Department of Commerce. The Wisconsin Department of Commerce is an oxymoron – it hurts job growth and commerce in Wisconsin rather than helping it. It needs to be abolished. A newly-created private Economic Development Council will help save tax dollars and create business opportunities and jobs, allowing our governor to reach his goal of 250,000 in his first term in office. The various regulatory functions of the current Department of Commerce could be spun off to other departments or eliminated. Indiana did the same thing and their employment and business picture is much brighter than ours now.
 

Fight ObamaCare. A majority of Americans want ObamaCare repealed and 28 states in America have now filed suit and a federal judge in Florida has struck down the healthcare overhaul as unconstitutional and the entire act has been declared void. But appeals are a certainty and we must continue to fight the job-killing, deficit-feeding legislation each step of the way.
 

Privatize prisons. Corrections spending is bankrupting Wisconsin We must repeal the prohibition on operating private prisons in Wisconsin, and turn the job of keeping criminals off the street to private companies who are willing to do the job. Government unions will scream – confirmation that we would be doing the right thing. It will reduce the size and cost of state government.
 

Common Sense Tort Reform. The usual suspects – from special interests to trial lawyers – oppose common sense limits and rules of evidence which will allow an individual to a fair day in court, but make it harder for juries to write blank checks. Insurance companies are not bottomless pits of money and if they have to pay out huge jury awards, that cost gets heaped on to the backs of small businesses already struggling to survive against the onslaught from Madison. Common sense tort reform is crucial to opening Wisconsin for business and keeping it open.
 

Nuclear Power. Solar and wind power are not solutions to our current energy problems – and will not be in the foreseeable future. Solar panels are expensive and fragile. In order to produce solar energy the sun must be shining and there are significant problems with energy storage. The problem is a lack of continuous sunlight, not weak technology. Wisconsin law effectively bans new nuclear plants in the state. We need to open wide the door to nuclear power in Wisconsin. With its hands tied, Wisconsin Energy cannot adequately plan for its future base load electricity needs. While we should never stop our search for alternative energy sources, nuclear power IS renewable energy and investing in it will create jobs and a reliable source of clean energy for the future of our state.
 

Fundamental Change. On October 30, 2008, Candidate Barack Obama told a crowd in Missouri that "five days from now we will fundamentally change America." Thankfully, the American people stepped between him and the light switch. Last November, we did the same thing here in Wisconsin. Plant closings, a mass exodus of businesses and manufacturing, and 32,400 jobs lost in 2008 alone, have been the hallmarks of Wisconsin's economy with liberals at the controls. General Motors closed its Rock County SUV facility and ALCOA closed its doors in Beloit. Republicans have an historic opportunity to clean out the cobwebs and fundamentally change Wisconsin back to a common sense state which is friendly to families, businesses, and taxpayers.
 

Wisconsin has a golden – once in a generation – opportunity. To our south, geniuses in the Democratic-controlled Illinois legislature – facing a $13 billion budget deficit and a sinking bond rating - increased their income tax rate by 66% and afterwards experienced a true Gomer Pyle moment and wondered whether their actions would stunt the growth of jobs and chase businesses to neighboring states like Wisconsin. To the west, Minnesota has a projected $6.2 billion deficit, nearly 16% of its entire budget. To the east, Michigan's economy is literally on life-support and moving vans are pouring out of the state. The bright economic forecast for Wisconsin includes a business climate that will act as an economic low-pressure system, naturally drawing in all of the businesses fleeing our neighboring states. Wisconsin will become a sanctuary state for business. With a little hard work and some political courage, this could be the greatest 4^th quarter comeback in history.