Paul Soglin: Waxing America

Blacks in Madison and Wisconsin

It is no surprise to Madisonians that a black youth has a thirteen times greater chance of being arrested than his white peer. We know that there are some in our state who look at that number and simply respond, "So? Blacks commit more crimes."

A number of leaders from Madison's black community called for action, as The Capital Times reported:

Coalition wants Madison to face race issues

A coalition of leaders in the African-American community called today for a renewed assault on the disparate conditions that separate Madisonians by race...

..."The State of Black Madison 2008: Before the Tipping Point," a report unveiled at a news conference Tuesday, summarizes data on criminal justice, education, economic development, health, housing and political influence. The report was commissioned by the State of Black Madison Coalition, whose members include Gray; Robert Wynn, Asset Builders of America; John Odom, Charles Hilton Houston Institute; Richard Harris, Genesis Community Development Corporation; Ray Allen, publisher of The Madison Times; and Kenneth Black, 100 Black Men.

When I took up this issue last fall, Wisconsin Policy Research Institute: Milwaukee Can Tolerate More Black Murders Part II, one of the antagonists finally muttered, "Some of those proposed ideas for reducing black crime sound good to us (strengthen families and reintegrate fathers into communities, bringing people to God), and some sound like more of the same things that have failed (more spending on education, jobs programs).

Wrong. Read their report, read the well documented study I referenced:

Effects of a School-Based, Early Childhood Intervention on Adult Health and Well-being

A total of 1539 low-income participants who enrolled in the Child-Parent Center program in 20 sites or in an alternative kindergarten intervention...

...For preschool participation, by age 24 years, the preschool group relative to the comparison group had significantly lower rates of felony arrest (16.5% vs 21.1%, respectively; P = .02; a 22% reduction) and incarceration (20.6% vs 25.6%, respectively; P = .03; a 20% reduction). They also were less likely than the comparison group to be found guilty of a crime both overall and for a felony (15.8% vs 19.9%, respectively; P = .03; a 21% reduction)...

... That the impacts of intervention extend beyond educational performance is not surprising given the well-documented links between education outcomes and adult health, mental health, and social behavior.^{25-26,36-38 ..}

^{...This study provides evidence that established early educational interventions can positively influence the adult life course in several domains of functioning. The scope and magnitude of intervention effects reveal not only the benefits to participants in fundamental indicators of health and well-being but also the potential returns to society for investments in early educational programs.} 

Prayer is nice but just like abstinence, it does not work. what works is education, education, education, job training and family enhancement. Not necessarily in that order. Spending on education and jobs programs that are properly managed work. Spending money on education and jobs programs that are not properly managed  do not work. That is not the fault of the recipients.

Tax Nonsense Coming Your Way

In the coming weeks, Wisconsinites will be inundated with misinformation, bad math, and assorted ideological drivel from snake-oil salesmen purporting to be experts on taxes. You can expect to hear from the groups ranging from the phony "non-partisan" Tax Foundation to our own Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce (WMC).

The theme will be simple and misinformed. The public will be told that sometime in early May they are finally working for themselves, that until then, their year's income went to government. Wisconsinites will be reminded that while residents of other states will heave earned enough to pay the tax bill by April 22nd or 23rd, Badger state residents will be working until at least the first of May for the governement.

We will be told that in Wisconsin we suffer the seventh or perhaps, the fifth highest tax burden in the United States.

And the facts are:

• All of these studies are flawed, badly flawed. When it comes to total government revenues Wisconsin ranks around 23rd or 25th, depending upon which study you use. Wisconsin collects very little of its revenues in fees and these studies do not include that less progressive revenue collection. Other states may have lower tax collections than Wisconsin but their heavy reliance on fees takes a bigger bite from the taxpayer.
• Theses studies never look at results  -the quality of the public service.
• These studies never examine the externalities of public service. The city of Madison operates Monona Terrace at a loss. But while the revenues do not show up in the Monona Terrace ledger, the facility brings in hundreds of thousands of dollars in sales taxes and tens of millions of dollars that stimulate the regional economy.
• These studies overlook obvious differentiations between governments. For example, a comparison of per capita spending between Milwaukee and Madison is meaningless unless the author factors in that public transit is in the Madison municipal budget, while in Milwaukee, the county operates the transit system.

Republican Party Winning Battle To Destroy University of Wisconsin System

It was a struggle to maintain the great faculty assembled by the University of Wisconsin - Madison and its sister campuses throughout the state. In the early 1960's state budget deliberations over the higher education budget were peppered with such homilies as, "A champaign university on a beer budget."

While the UW salaries ranked at the bottom of Big Ten universities, it managed to assemble and retain an outstanding faculty. Despite the lower than average salaries, the UW retained many wonderful teachers and researchers. Then two things changed:

• Leaders in the legislature launched relentless attacks on the faculty.
• Then other institutions with big dollars like the University of Texas, decided to enter the marketplace with a commitment to upgrade their institutions.

When new UW Chancellor Donna Shalala and her successors, David Ward and John Wiley, committed to recognizing the importance of a quality faculty, the trend slowed and reversed.

But even the best of intentions cannot undo the damage of a hostile legislature, attacks on academic freedom, a refusal to provide benefits to partners, and a general nastiness led by the Assembly Republican leadership.

All of which has now received prominent notice in the latest issue of The Chronicle of Higher Education:

Wisconsin's Flagship Is Raided for Scholars

The problem is money. Wisconsin's stagnating state higher-education budget has forced the university to keep faculty salaries far below average. When professors get feelers from elsewhere, they learn that a move can easily mean a whopping 100-percent salary increase — sometimes more...

...As the faculty pay gap between public and private institutions widens nationwide, lots of public universities are having a hard time competing. But Madison is having particular problems, losing faculty members not only to well-off private institutions, like Chicago, but also to lower-ranked public universities. In the past few years, professors in a variety of disciplines have left Madison for Arizona State, Florida State, and Rutgers Universities and the University of Minnesota, among others.

As the article notes, the UW is at the bottom in average salary ranking of the twelve universities that are in its peer group. In addition, every time a faculty member leaves there is the additional cost of recruiting and finding a replacement. That can be as much as 25% of the annual salary.

How not to grow a state's economy.

Why not let Speaker Michael Huebsch and his co-pilot in bombing the UW, Representative Stephen Nass, know that they are succeeding and you do not like it.

The Real Reasons to Buy A Supreme Court

When Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce (WMC) and its cohorts, the Club for Growth Wisconsin and the Coalition for America's Families, spent an estimated $3-4 million to buy their second seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court, the message was crime.

The advertisements focused on distortions and falsehoods about the record of Justice Louis Butler in an effort to entice voters to select a new justice, Michael Gableman, who would follow their right-wing agenda.

The conventional wisdom was that the real issue was so-called tort reform.

Wrong.

While there are a small minority of WMC members, concerned about their liability in tort cases, that issue was of minimum concern to the coalition established to control the Supreme Court.

One need go no further than WMC's own surveys of its members to see the irrelevance of tort reform. In its 2006 survey of its members, when asked, "What is the top business concern facing your company?" the  lowest response polled was lawsuit abuse with a measly response of 1.23%.

One look no further than the legislative agenda of these three organization (WMC, WCFG, CAF ) to get a real understanding of why they want to own a Supreme Court:

• Health Insurance. Health care is the single, most significant cost facing employers, if it is part of benefit packages. The standard for coverage is set by labor unions, particularly public employee and teachers unions. When buying a court, WMC and its friends are trying to gain favorable rulings against labor agreements in general, and and legislation in specific, that might require them to pay a fair share of the cost of health care.
• Unions. Because of their bargaining power in the marketplace, WMC needs a court that will weaken the power of unions. Unions are an impediment to exporting jobs overseas, hiring immigrant workers with H-1-B visas, outsourcing, and lowering safety standards.
• The Environment. As the public becomes more conscious of global warming, the significant monetary value of fresh water, calls for clean air and water, increase. This results in more regulations, particularly on manufacturers, who subsequently need a Supreme Court that will take an activist position and overturn progressive legislation designed to ensure the publics health and safety.
• Education. Long ago, convinced that public schools produce a liberal and progressive citizenry, these reactionary organizations want to get more and more children into private and religious schools where they can be indoctrinated into conservative values. To do this, public monies are needed. The problem is that there are serious constitutional problems in funneling money into private schools, particularly if they teach religion. These right wing extremists need a Supreme Court that will open the door for public money to be used for private education.
• Privatizing government. These right wing organizations do not want to stop public services, they just want to be able to make a profit offering them. Whether it is outsourcing wars to Blackwater and Halliburton or having private companies provide fire departments and water, the idea is to crush the local governments and their public employees as a first step towards a feudal system of governance. Note that when no-bid contracts, landed with fraud and mismanagement, are offered to the private sector, these organizations never protest or complain.

Over the past year, I have met with dozens of business leaders who I would describe as moderate and thoughtful in their approach to government and public policy. When asked what are the most important issues facing their companies and the state, they respond, "A trained and educated workforce, as well as a satisfactory resolution to the health care problem."

As you might expect, these business leaders are not comfortable with many left leaning Democrats.  But they are just as uncomfortable with the kind of Republicans that presently control the Wisconsin Assembly. These business leaders are going to play a critical role in solving Wisconsin's problems if they can wrest control of the public policy discussion from WMC and its collaborators, and then fashion solutions with organized labor.

Reflections Before the Election

Before I enrolled as an undergraduate at the University of Wisconsin in 1962 I knew something of the state's political lore. My parents subscribed to The Progressive magazine. I knew of McCarthyism, I knew that Governor Nelson now served in the United State Senate along with a maverick William Proxmire.

This state underwent many transformations. The most significant and long lasting began early in the twentieth century by Robert La Follette.  Fighting Bob's domination of state politics  was so strong that even the FDR elections in the 1930's left the Democrats without any influence until after World War II.

Finally, the efforts to revitalize the Democratic Party  lead to the elections of Nelson, Proxmire, Governor Lucey, and thousands of others from the city halls to the state legislature.  In the meantime, the Republican Party produced elected officials as varied as Warren Knowles and Tommy Thompson, and Ody Fish and John Walter Chilsen.

Wisconsin politics charged in the 1990's. The undercurrent was previously there, but the nasty forces that worked into organizations like Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce  (WMC) were unleashed in the new century when Governor Thompson went to Washington and the extreme right-wing took over the Republican Party and its front organizations. And where there were no clandestine operations, they created new ones.

We know the outcome. The readers of Waxing America need only go through previous posts to see the documentation of sinister groups that lie and ruin the reputations of people and institutions in their effort to destroy government and create a corporate socialism that sucks the life out of public education, city hall, and the courthouse.

I do not know what will happen in Tuesday's election but I am sure of this: Wisconsin knows WMC.

What Did Gableman Know and When Did He Know It?

Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce (WMC), The Club for Growth, and The Coalition for America's Families are the three main organizations funding the effort to elect Michael Gableman to the Wisconsin Supreme Court.

While average Wisconsinites write out checks for ten and twenty dollars to support the candidate of their choice, these three groups, be the end of March, may have spent over $5 million.

Questions for Michael Gableman, or anyone else who knows the answers and is willing to stand up and tell the truth:

• Who are the people from these organizations that met with you or met with your intermediaries?
  
• When you were stunned to learn how much money they would raise for you, and you asked,"Where will the money come from?" what did they tell you?
• Do the names of companies like Wal-Mart, Home Depot, and the international pharmaceutical companies come up?
• Did anyone suggest that the money could be routed through the United States Chamber of Commerce and the Institute for Legal Reform so it would be hard to discover the source?
• If you are the winner in the Supreme Court race can you promise that you will not hear any case involving a a party that funneled money through any of the named organizations in this post?
  • Before hearing every case, will you promise to examine the financial records of these shadowy organizations to make sure they have not bought you?

Right Wing Attacks on Wisconsin Business - Climate Worsens

The rabid right is starting to make Wisconsin's left look moderate when it comes to establishing a hostile business environment; after all we never did have a monopoly on silliness.

The wheels recently came off the wagon in January when John Shiely of Briggs & Stratton attacked the left in Wisconsin, in general, and the left in Milwaukee, in particular, for being antagonistic towards everything business. No one needs to go through the misery of the public dialog, so to spare you:

• Shiely should have stopped, but went on a rant about Chinese limousines, the benefits of low paying jobs in Arkansas, and a general attack on the relatives of Milwaukee mayors and labor leaders.
• The left then, rightly piled on.

Since then, here is what we have:

• On January 30 Mark Belling careened out of control attacking the Milwaukee 7, one of the more progressive business forces in Wisconsin.
• Belling was soon accompanied by Charlie Sykes in taking on both the Small Business Times and the Business Journal.

Now that WMC has reversed its position on the hospital assessment, the right has gone berserk:

• Belling: Business group wimps out of anti-tax battle...The shocking sellout by WMC and MMAC on taxes is an indication of how the business community in Wisconsin is changing. The biggest growth industry in the state is health care. Aurora and all the other "nonprofits" are on a hospital building binge and are buying up many physician practices. This growth is making them a very large part of the private business community. Aurora, in fact, is the largest private employer in the state of Wisconsin!

• Boots & Sabers: WMC Supports Sick Tax: WMC is supporting a tax that will screw the majority of businesses and citizens in Wisconsin for the benefit of a couple of large hospitals.  It’s a pathetic display of shortsightedness.

• Charlie Sykes, in a convoluted mumble-jumble: WMC Backs Tax Hike Memo to WMC: "Government is not the solution to the problem. Government is the problem." But the business group's flip-flip on the tax increase is a reminder that "pro-business" does not always mean "pro-market" or "pro-taxpayers."

Which leads us to this point: I am on the same side with WMC and standing across the line from Belling, Sykes, and the Booted Boys.

Yikes.  Is it me or them?

WMC Watch

Last summer with the support and encouragement from labor and professional organizations I launched a program called WMC Watch. Since then the Soglin Consulting's WMC Watch has:

• Has met with almost one third of the member of the board of directors of Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce (WMC) and corresponded with other members of their board.
• Met with or spoken to almost three dozen reporters or editors from Wisconsin newspapers, radio, and television stations.
• Sent out press releases to close to forty Wisconsin media outlets using the name WMC Watch.
• Traveled almost 2000 miles around the state for these meetings and conferences.
• Blogged countless times about WMC.
• Arranged in February and March for a six city picket of the WMC anti-Louis Butler workshops.
• Met with labor, academic, and non-WMC business leaders in an effort to design strategies to weaken WMC and gain public support for more progressive public policy from the business community.

This effort will continue under the name Original WMC Watch or some similar moniker. That is so there is no confusion with a program launched today by One Wisconsin Now called WMC Watch.

It is my hope that both programs succeed, but that there not be confusion as to the activities of each program. One Wisconsin Now has put considerable effort into their program. Their new website is filled with valuable information, particularly about legislators who toe the WMC line.

WMC Reversal on Hospital "Tax" - Now They Must Apply Pressure

As reported in The Capital Times: WMC now backs hospital tax.

As Waxing America observed two weeks ago: Hospital 'Tax' Supported from Left to Right, Except WMC

...if two opponents changed their minds, resolution would be forthcoming. The first is the Republican leadership in the Wisconsin Assembly, the second is their puppetmasters, Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce (WMC).

OK, we got the order wrong.  But moving on...

If adopted by the Wisconsin legislature, the assessment will bring in over $420 million in additional federal Medicaid payments to Wisconsin.

Our original WMC Watch* program raised this issue with individual members of the WMC board for the last eight months; since January 1, 2008 I spoke to a half a dozen of the WMC board members about the need for them to learn more about the plan. I asked them to look beyond the limited information provided by the WMC staff, which recommended the organization oppose this excellent plan introduced by Governor Doyle almost a year ago.

The reversal of position, which must have been difficult for WMC, has implications that go far beyond this immediate issue:

• It demonstrates that WMC board members need more information on public policy issues than the limited details they get from their own staff.
• Second, it is evident that many WMC board members make sound decisions when given access to information.
• Third, our original WMC Watch* program was correct in its premise that ratcheting up the public discussion in the Wisconsin press, blogs, and among the WMC members will continue to advance the discussion of public policy.
• Fourth, the editorials in Wisconsin newspapers had an effect in isolating WMC and causing the reversal.
• Last, while the WMC endorsement is important for passage, there is still critical work needed to gain the support of the Republican controlled Wisconsin Assembly, where the conservative leaders remain steadfast in their opposition.

Now WMC must show this new enlightened position is not just for show. We all know that if they exert the same pressure they apply when getting their way on tax issues for their members, enough Republican Assembly members will support this measure for passage.

*There is a new WMC Watch operated by One Wisconsin Now (OWN) which is not to be confused with our program - thus the sporadic reference to the "original WMC Watch."

WMC Tells A Gableman Joke With a Straight Face

Here is the exact quote from the Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce (WMC) advertisement touting the crime fighting abilities of their candidate for Justice on the Wisconsin Supreme Court:

As a prosecutor, Judge Michael Gableman tackled arson, sexual assault,  domestic violence and white collar crime.

Here are the facts:

• Gableman prosecuted only one arson case. The defendant was acquitted. That is correct, Gableman failed to get a single arson conviction in his entire career as a prosecutor.
• Gablemean participated in 19 felony child abuse cases. There was one, count it on one finger, one case, that resulted in a prison sentence.

And WMC wants us to believe them on complicated public policy issues, taxation policy, and the education of children.

Here is the link to the companies that make up the WMC board of directors who approved the advertisement:

WMC Board of Directors