Paul Soglin: Waxing America

Aldermanic races

The filing deadline was Tuesday and the lineups are set for the Madison aldermanic races.  From The Capital Times, Election Matters: Mayor won't back Konkel foe, and the Wisconsin State Journal, Mayor tried to recruit candidates to oppose Konkel on City Council.

Besides the Konkel story, there are very few notes of interest  pertaining to the filings:

• Larry Palm will face Will Sandstrom, the turbulent and often confused candidate who made his mark in the 2003 mayoral primary. Palm gets my sympathy, but the race will bring a smile to more than one face.
• Brenda Konkel with her four challengers will have to rate behind Palm in the most interesting opponents category. She gets perennial candidate Dennis Denure who actually comes up with some decent proposals (The Museum Mile).
• Districts 10  5* and 11 will compete for the most interesting traditional competitive campaigns.

The political landscape will not change much after the April elections unless the campus districts produce alders who are in lock step with Progressive Dane or only mildly supportive.

*Erik - thanks for the comment. My mind is frozen to the time when a portion of the district was the 10th.

Blagojevich: Sleaze vs. Crime

Last Friday I was on Wisconsin Public Radio's Week In Review with Joy Cardin and fellow guest and blogger at Boots and Sabers, Owen Robinson.

When the conversation turned to embattled Illinois Governor Blagojevich, I made the observation that:

On the sleaze meter the guy is off the charts, but that so far, the complaint against him has no concrete proof that he either specifically asked anyone for a bribe or that her ever received anything of value.

All of which poses a dilemma, namely when does a politician cross the line from playing hardball politics in appointing only friends and supporters, to the world of extortion and criminality?

The New York Times took up this question on Monday, In Blagojevich Case, Is It a Crime, Or Just Talk?

Ever since the country’s founding, prosecutors, defense lawyers and juries have been trying to define the difference between criminality and political deal-making. They have never established a clear-cut line between the offensive and the illegal, and the hours of wiretapped conversations involving Mr. Blagojevich, filled with crass, profane talk about benefiting from the Senate vacancy, may fall into a legal gray area.

The best advice for any politician, is do not go near that line. You do not want to be in the gray area or any other area that comes near crossing the line.

Wisconsin's Financial Crisis

Sunday's Wisconsin State Journal published an insightful article  State budget blame game, plenty to go around

At least $1.6 billion of the state’s massive budget shortfall stems from a spend-now, pay-later attitude pervasive in both political parties in the state Capitol, analysts said.
Gov. Jim Doyle and other state leaders have blamed the two-year projected budget shortfall, which threatens everyone from taxpayers to students and the poor, on the country’s souring economy.

There will be the usual budget cuts.

The only way to solve this problem is to increase taxes, end the accounting techniques that mask the problem, and institute a quality management program that improves the effectiveness and efficiency of Wisconsin government.

Before any of this happens, legislators from both parties must demonstrate the will to fix the structural problems.

If Republicans hang back, hoping to pin a tax increase on the Democrats, nothing will happen. If Democrats refuse to insist upon tax increases that are both progressive but also give consideration to Wisconsin's business environment, nothing will happen.

The difference is most other states are better prepared for the economic crisis, having set aside in rainy day funds and reserves an average of 11.5 percent of yearly spending from their main accounts, the report found.

By comparison, as of June 30, Wisconsin had set aside just $130 million in reserves, or less than 1 percent of the $13.5 billion of state spending that year.

It was Republicans in the legislature who prevented the adoption of a budget with realistic estimates for the 'rainy day fund.' It is those same Republicans who insisted upon cutting taxes when a tax increase was needed.

We all know what happened with the so-called 'hospital tax' that was killed by the extreme right wing in the Assembly last session.

Now it is up to the Democrats to apply pressure to these Republicans and insist that they be part of a realistic solution.

The Partnership for Wisconsin

The Partnership for Wisconsin is a collaborate effort of business, labor, professional, and academic leaders committed to a sound Wisconsin economy. The Partnership is a non-profit organization whose members share a common value, namely the importance of education for the growth, security and happiness of the individual, the family, and society.    The participants share a common belief that a highly educated and trained workforce is a critical element in making Wisconsin a better place to live, work and play.

The Partnership for Wisconsin acknowledges the benefits to the individual and society of an education.

A safe and healthy community is one that provides economic security and ensures economic opportunity for all of its members. Studies show that education is indispensable if individuals and their families are to fully realize the benefits of their labor.

Male college graduates earn well over $60,000 a year from the age of 35 to 60. High school graduates in the same age range earn under $40,000. The differential for women is similar. Women college graduates will earn over $40,000 a year while female high school graduates earn about $23,000 a year.

Society also benefits form the earning power of education.  Depending upon race and gender, the additional taxes paid by a college graduate compared to a high school graduate is between $200,000 and $400,000 in the course of a lifetime.

The benefits are not as stark, but still significant, if a high school drop out  were to finish school, or if a high school graduate were to have just one or two full years of higher education.

For example the public benefit of a high school education is $209,000. That amount represents the combination of greater taxes and reduced cost to the public of a high school graduate as opposed to a high school drop out.

From society’s perspective, it always pays to invest in education.

Add to this, the demands of Wisconsin business and industry for what one major employer who described his highest priority as a “need for an intelligent workforce.” Employers need workers who can contribute productively and intellectually.

The Partnership for Wisconsin recognizes that to provide for a sound education system there must be a fair and equitable system of taxation. In encouraging public support for education, the Partnership is committed to a Wisconsin taxation plan that not only adequately funds education, job training, and workforce development at all levels, but fairly distributes the cost among all of the parties who benefit.

The Partnership for Wisconsin recognizes that adequate investment in human capital and infrastructure are critical to stimulating private investment. For that reason, we are committed to encouraging a dialogue between the public and private sectors to set an agenda that acknowledges the many direct and indirect benefits that come from such strategies.

As its first commitment, the Partnership will focus on:

• Ensuring adequate financing of public education in all districts throughout the state of Wisconsin.
• UW System education. Financing adequate so that:
  • no in-state student has to pay more than % of their tuition
  • out of state tuition is not more than 100% of the cost of educating the student
  • Faculty salaries at the Madison campus are commensurate with other Big ten Schools
  • UW system Schools are (needs elaboration from academicians)…..
• A workforce development program through the VATC System  (more detail needed)….
• A tax structure that will most likely require an increase of existing taxes, the expansion of the tax base, and or the adoption of new taxes in order to adequately finance….(identification of educational and workforce development needs) 

The Partnership feels that our state must not only have an educated workforce but that we have an enlightened citizenry that understands the externalities and the consequences, or lack of consequences, from not giving full consideration to appropriate investment in human capacity as well as the learning environment.

For that reason the Partnership for Wisconsin is committed to supporting programs that are designed to provide economic opportunity to all Wisconsinites. A healthy state economy is predicated on strategy that encompasses all areas of the state, urban, rural, and suburban.

The Partnership, from time to time, may support the work of others or engage in its own research and policy development in areas related to education, workforce development, or which support the individual’s ability to further their education and training.  This may also include the examination of collaborations with employers, both for profit and non-profit, that are in need of an ever expanding educated workforce.

The Partnership recognizes that many factors enter into the decisions of investors to locate businesses in a community. Reputable studies show that public safety, efficient transportation systems – both public and private, a sound environment, cultural and recreational opportunities, along with fair taxation and a friendly attitude towards economic development are all critical elements that affect decision making.  For that reason the Partnership for Wisconsin, will convene workshops and forums throughout the state to discuss how to improve the economic climate.

Particular attention will be paid to how the international economic environment impacts Wisconsin business and the need to create sustainable industries that can compete in an economy that will afford greater opportunity to businesses that are ‘green.’

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., noted for his leadership in the civil rights movement could have found an alternative career as a leader in the quality movement when he said “All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence.”  The Partnership for Wisconsin joins in Dr King’s sentiment and is committed to urging both business and labor to collaborate to the greatest degree possible in providing fair and decent wages and benefits, working conditions and hours, and at the same time appreciating the contribution to improvement that every employee can make.

While the Partnership will not become involved in disputes between employers and organized labor, it will urge that resolution of differences be made with an eye to the long term consequences as well as the short terms needs of both parties.

Wisconsin has a long tradition of utilizing the research capabilities of its universities for the advancement in health, science, nutrition, safety, technology, culture, societal organization, and a greater understanding of the human condition. For that reason the Partnership for Wisconsin is committed to supporting research and academic freedom in all of our institutions of higher learning.

 

author's note: This is a draft written six months ago and now available on another web site. Over the past year I met with many Wisconsin business leaders. They were unhappy with Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce (WMC). They felt that WMC should be ignored and that a new organization established in our state. Based on what they were saying and my discussions with labor and academic leaders, I drafted a plan for the Partnership for Wisconsin.

 

I will post next week its origin  and why it relates to our state's economy.

No Bailout for Automakers Unless...

I will not support a bailout for the U.S. automakers, General Motors, Ford, and what is left of Chrysler,  unless provision is made to stop them from lobbying and influencing elections and public policy.

It is that simple. That is the price for public money. Without proper restraints, the automakers will continue with membership in organizations like the United States Chamber of Commerce, the Institute for Tort Reform, and even Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce (WMC). Like bankrupt (fiscally and morally) AIG, millions of dollars will be funneled into these organizations.

AIG sent $23 million to the US Chamber.

These dollars will be used to lobby Congress, purchase television ads supporting the reelection of Republicans like Norm Coleman (R-MN), and issue ads designed to elect their friends to Congress.

More often than not these ads will elect anti-choice, anti-public education, anti-gay officials at the national and state level.

It is unconscionable that if the public, you and me, take a stake in owning the automakers, that our companies, our investment, be used to advance a right wing political agenda.

Wisconsin's Three Billion Dollar Hole

It is fun winning elections. It is no fun running a government in miserable economic times. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel tells us: State Democrats face $3 billion budget hole

Capitol Democrats, you just got what you wished for. Are you still sure it's what you want?

For at least two years, you'll have to run state government - and it's in a deep financial hole.

...crafting the next two-year budget. That won't be easy because Doyle has said that budget faces a deficit of more than $3 billion.

The problem goes back a decade to flush times when the Republicans spent without limit, cut taxes, and failed to save for a rainy day. Then came the economy collapsing when the dot com bubble burst and the subsequent stock market collapse following 9/11.

The Democratic majority is inheriting a structural problem that goes back to when the Republicans controlled the Governor's office and at least one if not both houses of the legislature. 

In recent years the best Governor Doyle and the recent Democratic Senate majority could do was jerry-rig temporary solutions and hope the economy would recover so that sales taxs and income tax revenues would increase. Assembly Republicans made sure there were no permanent solutions. Matters only got worse.

There are some tough choices facing the legislature and the Governor next session. Fail to raise taxes, and the state's infrastructure collapses and the budget deficit worsens to the point where it can create permanent damage to Wisconsin's economy.

Raise taxes imprudently, and Republicans will exploit the crisis by appealing to beleaguered home owners on fixed incomes. The irony of course, is that the Republicans and WMC enacted numerous tax cuts in the recent years that benefited the wealthy and shifted the responsibility of paying for government onto middle class families with incomes well under $100,000.

Revenue collections must be increased.

The worst way to do it is is to follow the Republican-WMC model by shifting costs to the property tax. Most desirable is increasing the income tax rates and make it more progressive. That combined with modifications to the sales tax open up creative solutions.

Democrats must come to understand that expansion of the sales tax may not be all that regressive. Especially when we consider that a significant portion of it is paid by out of state residents. The legislature must look at increasing the rate, especially to help pay for education, and expanding what it covers while leaving the exemptions for health, shelter, and food, along with modifications to the income tax.

Keep in mind that while WMC bellows about Wisconsin being one of the highest taxed states, that claim is misleading. Government gets revenue from two sources - taxes and fees. Wisconsin is a very low fee state. When fees and taxes are combined, total government revenues collected by Wisconsin put us in the middle of the 50 states.  A reasonable increase in sales and income tax revenues will not change our competitive position.

As for the continual loss of manufacturing jobs, that is a product of Republican-Gingrich-Norquist based trade policies that contend that there should be free international markets even though Asian competitors pay slave wages and their industries are heavily subsidized by their governments.

When Washington fixes the trade problems, Wisconsin will do just fine as long as we have an educated, well-trained work force.

November Elections 2008: The Morning After

I woke up this morning glad to have done the radio show on WTDY last night with Sly and Bill McCoshen, a Wisconsin Republican who will, hopefully, have a lot to say about the future of his party, but disappointed that I did not attend the parties where so many of my friends celebrated last night.

I was surprised at my own emotional response to the election of Barack Obama. I was more filled with wonderment about what the next four years will bring rather than joy over his election.  Perhaps it was the projections that he was going to win that took the edge off the victory.

In any case, for the first time in my lifetime, and that includes the election of JFK in 1960, or my years as mayor when Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton were elected, I am truly excited about the future and the unknown possibilities for our nation and the world. The economy and the wars will prevent any immediate social change, but it is coming.

The engagement of so many young people of so many different colors in this election holds more hope for the future. Voting is the first level of civic engagement. With persistence and hard work, hopefully they will stay engaged by running for office themselves, getting involved in their children's' education, and voting in subsequent local and state elections.

• I missed the gathering of the supporters of the Madison school referendum which won by a large margin, putting to rest the myth that there is some kind of secret plot by the supporters of public education to place these measures on the ballot when turnout is low.
• The Democrats took control of the Wisconsin Assembly. Marc Pocan gets a big thank you for adopting a "50 state" strategy and finding great Democratic candidates in as many Assembly districts as possible.
• Perhaps the biggest local disappointment was the apparent defeat of outstanding Trish O'Neil in the 47th District. She was the victim of one of the nastiest television advertisements this election season.
• While Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce (WMC) was defanged, it is evident that extreme right-wing money and energy was shifted to outside groups like  Coalition for America's Families, the Club for Growth and All Children Matter which continues to produce WMC-style attack ads.
• In Oshkosh, Gordon Hintz was returned for a second term to the Assembly's 54th district with 66% of the vote.  Keep an eye on him. Here is a legislator who is effective, principled, and a nice guy.
• The biggest Midwest disappointment was Al Franken's apparent loss to incumbent Republican Norm Coleman in the Minnesota US Senate race. Franken would have made a great senator and Coleman is an opportunistic jerk. Coleman has some serious ethical problems in casting future votes regarding the financial bailout which he supported, since AIG put $25 million into the US Chamber of Commerce over a five year period and then the right wing business group spent a hefty sum in his support.
• Best news from the left coast: As of this posting, it appears that same sex marriage survives in Californian. Barely.  Update 2:42 UGH
• Those who checked in here last night can see from my solitary post that it is too difficult to do live radio and  blog simultaneously.
• Congratulations to the high school students who got involved in the school referendum and and all of the electoral races even though they will not vote for a few more years.
• I suppose my nice introduction of Bill McCoshen, above, will get back to the social conservatives and doom him as an influential leader in fixing the Republican Party. With moderate business leaders estranged from their party, and Democrats in control of both houses of the legislature and the Governor's office, they have no place to go. Now is the time for the Democrats to reach out and form a coalition of labor, business, and education leaders to fix and fund education from kindergarten through college in Wisconsin.

Guilty pleasure I will pass on today - No right wing Milwaukee talk radio; I have too much work to do and it will be more fun spending the spare time chatting with friends.

Republican Resurrection of Red Baiting: Consistent with the 1950's

This presidential campaign is not about the 1960's. According to the Republicans it is about the 1950's .

The 1950's were a continuation of racism and segregation. The 1960's was about economic and social justice and the death of Jim Crow.

The 1950's were the zenith of United States foreign policy built on a platform that claimed our economic, morale, and racial superiority to the people of Africa, Asia, and South America. It was a foreign policy built upon the premises that we were entiled to our fair share of the world's natural resources, canals, and corrupt dictators, and we defined fair share.

The 1960's were about a new foreign policy built on supporting justice and freedom, and by supporting peoples' battles for liberation from tyranny, not imposing our version.

The 1950's were about hating the New York Yankees.  The 1960's were about hating the New York Yankees.

The 1950's were based on the myth of rugged individualism and Horatio Alger.

The 1960's were about recognizing the social compact and that most successful Americans did not make it by themselves but made it through the support of friends and neighbors, just as we did in this country a century earlier with barn raisings, helping with the harvest, and a good public school education.

The 1950's were about red scares, red baiting, the Communist Menace, the House Unamerican Activities Committee (HUAC),  pinkos, and fellow travelers.

The 1960's were about political judgments based on the content of one's own beliefs.

The 1950's gave us rock n' roll, the civil rights movement, and the opening of doorways for millions of Americans of all races, colors, and heritages.  But there was a lot that was very unattractive about the 1950's.

After this election, perhaps John McCain would like to join the twenty-first century. The last century is good for instruction but not for reliving. He should tell Sarah Palin.

Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce: Attitude Adjustment. Not

This week's Isthmus says, Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce tones it down a notch.

Correctly noting that the tone of this fall's election television advertisements designed to elect Republicans are by WMC's own admission, "reposition(ed)." Erik Gunn reports:

Such ads are a departure for WMC, which is better known for its spots trashing state Supreme Court Justice Louis Butler as "Loophole Louie" or, earlier, portraying Gov. Jim Doyle during his successful 2006 re-election bid in a green, toxic haze to suggest he is a crook.

We recall that it took enormous pressure to get WMC to make these modifications to its political message. They only did so  when the image of the individual members was tarnished by the trash they produced in previous elections.

Left to their own devices, WMC would resume creating more "Willie Horton" style messages.

It is clear that WMC's market position was assumed by such groups as the Coalition for America's Families, the Club for Growth and All Children Matter which continues to produce WMC-style attack ads.

All Children Matter is running nasty spots that have nothing to do with children or the truth.

The Government Accountability Board may or may not get the power to regulate these ads so that the public knows who is paying, but the WMC misinformation machine will continue to roll.

These public advertisements are just one face of the WMC propaganda effort.

When the new session of the legislature opens next year, expect WMC to continue to publish distortion and after distortion about Wisconsin tax levies, expenditures for compensation packages of public employees, and of course, the record of Wisconsin Supreme Court Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson.

WMC is not going to go quietly into the night.

Madison School Referendum

On next Tuesday's ballot there is a referendum for Madison Metropolitan School District residents to vote on supporting public education.

As one Wisconsin business leader put it when discussing the challenges of global competition which includes everything from taxation to environmental regulation, "What I need is an intelligent workforce."

We invest every day. Some investments turn out better than others.

There is really no wiser and prudent investment than the education of our children.

An educated child makes more money and pays taxes. An uneducated child is in need of public support for housing, healthcare, and food. An educated child is less likely to go to prison and more likely to support charities. An uneducated child is more likely to become a parent at a young age and is likely to have greater health problems.

An educated child, obviously, is more likely to go on to college and be even more successful. An uneducated child is more likely to raise children who will also be uneducated.

The cost of less than $60 per household is a small cost for the benefits we will all accrue when this referendum passes next week.