Paul Soglin: Waxing America

Wisconsin Roads in Reverse; Milk to Market Threatened

With the forced resignation of Wisconsin Secretary of Transportation Mark Gottlieb, any scant hope for state roads and highways was washed away yesterday. When Gottlieb spoke honestly and frankly about the need to repair and improve the state network of roads and highways, calling for an honest commitment to safety, many of us were surprised. Such candor and honesty coming from a member of Governor Walker's cabinet was not expected. As reported earlier this month in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

There are 12,000 miles of Interstate, state and U.S. highways in Wisconsin and by 2027 42% of them will be in poor condition if the state doesn't find new revenue or other solutions, state Transportation Secretary Mark Gottlieb testified Tuesday.

In the coming years, the state is expected to end up using up to a quarter of every dollar in its road fund for debt payments under Gov. Scott Walker's two-year plan to borrow a half billion dollars for highway and bridge projects, Gottlieb said in more than three hours of painstaking testimony.

Whether it is getting milk to market or serving  commuters, the state is in jeopardy. The economy of Wisconsin is headed in reverse.

It was shocking when Gottlieb spoke up. That he is gone shocks no one.

Borrowing for The CIty Budget - Limitations and Rules

When Dean Mosiman of the Wisconsin State Journal wrote Agencies' responses to Soglin's budget request would cut deeply, for 2012, this comment appeared:

...interest rates are at an all time low...more borrowing at this advantageous time...

The use of borrowing by governments is one of the most misunderstood aspects of budgeting. While many states and the federal government do not have a coherent set of rules and guidelines for borrowing, most cites, counties, school districts, and other local governments try to abide by the standards set by the Government Finance Officers Association budget practices, particularly debt and debt capacity.

Do Not Borrow for Operating Budget Items

The operating budget covers salaries, routine equipment and supply purchases. These are functions of government that do not provide a benefit after their immediate use.

The capital budget is used for those items that have a long life, usually more than ten years. Borrowing can be used for most capital budget items. Heavy earth moving equipment that lasts more than a decade fits, cars for the city fleet do not. Laptops do not, but enterprise software programs do.

The point is that you can borrow for roads, buses, buildings and those types of purchases that have a life as long or longer than the borrowing.

When you start borrowing for day-to-day needs, the outcome is different. It means next year you have to pay the debt on the money you borrowed for food and the utility bill as well as this year's food and utility bill. Clearly this kind of Ponzi scheme can last only so long.

Do Not Borrow What You Cannot Afford to Repay

The nature of the problem is not much different for our city than it is for your family. If you borrow $300,000 to purchase a home, you have to pay back the principal and interest over a fixed period of time. If your income is $300,000 a year, a monthly mortgage payment of $4000 a month is affordable. If you make $60,000 a year, it does not work. In fact, it still would not work even if you have no interest payments and only have to pay the principal.

If your borrowing results in a house payment that is more than you can manage, you will not have enough money to pay for utilities, food, and other basics.

That is what we did here in Madison.  Our enormous debt service load is taking away dollars to use for snow removal, park maintenance and public safety.

We cannot borrow our way out of this problem. In fact, we had to make two significant changes in borrowing practices:

1. We stopped borrowing for operating budget items.
2. We reduced our borrowing because our debt service is already too high and it takes away dollars we need for current city services. 

 

 

 

 

Getting My Priorities Right For the City of Madison

A reader wrote into the Wisconsin State Journal on Tuesday, Todd Van Fossen: Soglin should focus on crime, not signs: 

As a nearly lifelong Madison resident, I was baffled and appalled by Mayor Paul Soglin’s interview with Shawn Doherty. It was either a case of bad mayoral priorities, bad reporting and interviewing, or both. I have tremendous respect for Soglin, but the city has real problems that require real leadership....

...Crime is rampant. It’s a problem. It happens under the shadow of the West Side Police Station on McKenna.Mr. Mayor, with all due respect, the problem is not with signs at Johnson and Mills that impede your bicycling. The problem is crime and the declining home values and quality of life it causes in neighborhoods that are a primary tax base of our city...

 

Frankly, I cannot blame Mr. Van Fossen. Clearly it is time for me to return to blogging to make sure that Madisonians know that I hear from them, what is important to me, and what I recommend we do.

The first and most important challenge is to tackle City of Madison budget issues. We took several blows from the state in lost shared revenues, transportation aids, and recycling funds. In addition we have our own problems created by a series of decisions that lead to too much borrowing, borrowing for operating expenses, and relying on grants that required the city to step in with significant expenditures to maintain required service levels.

After we stabilize the budget we will be able to get into a position where we can tackle the problems of many Madison neighborhoods. We are well aware of the challenges -- rising poverty, increased crime, particularly violent crime, and needed employment opportunities. We are not waiting. Certain areas of the city are getting heightened police coverage, attention for violence related to substance abuse and mental illness, and issues related to neglected property.

At the same time there are still the 'broken window matters'. Some are aesthetic, such as illegal signage. Others are more serious such as carelessly parked bicycles and scooters on sidewalks that make the way impassable for anyone using a walker or a wheelchair.

I love the challenge of solving these problems.  Some commentators prefer to gossip about my attitude in addressing these very sobering and serious problems. I am serious about them. But I also get great joy when we solve these matters and I see an open government engage residents and public officials in a process that improves our quality of life.

Mayor-Elect Paul Soglin Hits The Ground Running

Yesterday was filled with meetings with City officials and press avails. Dean Mosiman's story in the Wisconsin State Journal had details:

Energized by his win Tuesday, Mayor-elect Paul Soglin on Wednesday met with Mayor Dave Cieslewicz and city managers and started to forge his early agenda.

Soglin, mayor for 14 years over three decades, said he intends to revive "neighborhood resource teams" of police, building inspectors, public health nurses and others to address growing poverty. He's exploring a humane way to control the geese population. And he wants to use appointments to bring more diversity to the city's array of committees.

"We're going to be moving on many tracks at once," he said.

Soglin, who takes office April 19, said Cieslewicz initiatives such as rebuilding the Central Library and planning for a public market southeast of the Capitol "will continue on present course."

But he said he will seek briefings on why decisions were made and particular options chosen. "We may or may not make changes," he said.

Cieslewicz took no issue with that approach. "That's absolutely fair," he said. "I'd do that myself. I think he's going to find that these are all solid decisions."

The mayor credited Soglin with an effective, clean campaign and vowed to "do everything in our power to make the transition easy for him so he can be successful."

We owe a huge thank you to Mayor Cieslewicz for his assistance in this transition. He's been gracious and helpful.

(For those of you waiting for a callback from Paul, or a response to an email, have a little patience. Nearly every Madisonian and a few thousand from elsewhere have wanted to congratulate him or offer an idea.)

- Barry Orton

 

No General Strike in Wisconsin

The chanting of 'general strike' filled the Capitol last night and evoked romantic notions of the Paris Commune, Egypt or nineteenth century United States.

That is not what Wisconsin needs. We need to expand the arena of conflict with Governor Walker and his Senate Republicans. We need to send a more subtle, contained message to his key supporters, the ones that are concerned about Wisconsin and their own businesses. 

Selective informational picketing of a few Wisconsin companies that do business with the working people of our great state is what is required. It is a simple message, an eloquent message:

"You elected Scott Walker, you put him in office, you are responsible for the union busting. It is incumbent upon you to tell Walker to cease this destructive behavior and not to continue in your name."

They can claim that their support of Walker was on other issues. That is not important. They must take responsibly for the great power Walker has and they must firmly and publicly tell him:

"Not now, not ever. We support collective bargaining; we support hard working public employees. Do not destroy the high quality schools. public services, and local governments in our state."

Slob, Overpaid, Fat Pension, Free Health Care, Public Employees: Debunk This

The Economic Policy Institute besides being one of my favorite sources for information is a pro-labor, union funded organization that gets it right. Can anyone debunk this:

Debunking the Myth of the Over compensated Public Employee

  ...The data analysis in this paper, however, indicate that

 public employees, both state and local government, are

not overpaid. Comparisons controlling for education,

experience, hours of work, organizational size, gender, race,

ethnicity and disability, reveal no significant overpayment

but a slight undercompensation of public employees

when compared to private employee compensation costs

on a per hour basis. On average, full-time state and

local employees are undercompensated by 3.7%, in comparison

to otherwise similar private-sector workers. The

public employee compensation penalty is smaller for

local government employees (1.8%) than state government

workers (7.6%)....

.

SEIU Chief on Walker: "This Is All About Power, Not Money"

Monday there was a blogger sit-down with Mary Kay Henry, national president of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). In Wisconsin the SEIU represents about 20,000 members, most of which work in health care-related fields.  About 4,000 are state workers, and the largest group of those are about 2,000 nurses at the UW Hospital, which ironically, isn't really a state agency now. The majority of Wisconsin SEIU members are in the private sector, and most of those are home health workers.

Henry is, in fact, one of those out-of-state union agitators Scott Walker blames for the occupation of the Capitol. She and some staff had flown in for the day to reinforce her SEIU ground troops in Wisconsin, and show the flag to inspire them and their brothers and sisters from the many public and private sector unions. Only in this case, the flag was a purple SEIU t-shirt.

Henry was energized by her experience at the Capitol, both from the scene inside, and the response to her speech at the noon outside rally. Cutting to the chase, she said: "This is all about power, not money."  Connecting the dots between Walker's actions and the national assault on the political clout of unions, Henry argued that "...collective bargaining is the last line of defense for the American middle class, and we will not concede on our voice on the job."

Emily Mills (Emily''s Post)  was also at the sit-down, and tied Henry's comments to the impending deep cuts in support to subsdized health care in Wisconsin:

Part of the debate about Walker’s budget proposal that’s been mostly overshadowed by the outcry over cutting collective bargaining, of course, is his desire to impose sweeping changes on the state’s Medicare system. That affects BadgerCare, Family Care, and SeniorCare, among other things. It’s all connected – especially for home health workers and for the working, low-income people of the state in general. Henry was sure to address those problems, as according to Shawn Doherty’s thoughtful piece in the Capital Times, “The provisions would allow the administration to revamp and even gut the programs without following state laws or the normal legislative processes.”

This is just as serious of an issue as the threat to union rights and deserves just as much of our indignation. We’re talking about putting into jeopardy the very well-being of our elders, the disabled, the most vulnerable populations in the state.

It's beyond ironic that many of the SEIU members providing health care services need BadgerCare themselves.

 

For a little much-needed humor, here's one of the best signs from Saturday, thanks to deke at Caffeinated Politics.

(That's very likely a SEIU nurse from UW Hospital. Anyone who has been cared for by them will tell you that UW Hospital nurses are wicked awesome.)

- Barry Orton

Soglin: Why Walker's Bill Is Bad For Cities

Monday, Paul Soglin talked to Sly on WTDY about the fiscal devastation Governor Walker's "emergency" budget "repair" bill would create for Wisconsin's cities. Scroll down's Sly's page to find Paul's segment, or you can listen here.

FYI, there's a great new website, Solidarity Wisconsin, that is compiling blogs and news sources about all this. Well worth a click and then a bookmark.

BTW, if you haven't gotten to the Capitol yet, and you are within range of Madison, you need to experience it for yourself. The enormous number of union people, kids, college students, teachers,and uniformed law enforcement from hundreds of jurisdictions, all polite and friendly with each other, with free food and drinks everywhere you turn - it's the mellowest vibe I've ever seen at a demonstration.

Say hi to Paul when you see him there. (Photo by noblejoanie)

- Barry Orton

 

Another Potential Walker Victim: Workplace Democracy

My UW-Madison colleague Greg Downey has a great blog, The Note On My Door. He explains the blog's title: "In the old days professors might tape brief notes on their office doors. Welcome to the future."

Greg recently posted a thoughtful essay: "On public employees and the right to organize," wherein he takes aim at the important, but mostly overlooked issue of worker participation in organizational decision-making. As unions get weakened or eliminated, top-down management is strengthened to the detriment of good decision-making. (This is one of Paul Soglin's major arguments about both the role of unions and of citizen groups in local government.)

Here's the meat of Downey's concerns:

Over my decade of paid service to UW-Madison, I've seen democracy in action every single day on campus. In every unit and every discipline, our faculty and staff are able to collaboratively prioritize, discuss, debate, and decide issues about the proper course of university education, the proper administration of always scarce funds, and the proper rewards to hard-working peers. It's not always pretty, and it's never easy, but it's something that the whole organization holds dear; and in the end, it works. It works not because it's the most efficient way of making decisions, but because it's the most transparent and legitimate. It works because it forces those holding opposing views to express and defend them in civil and evidence-based ways. And it works because it brings a basic dignity to a process where, all too easily, those with greater power or fancier credentials or higher salaries could simply have their way. That's what I think we will lose if, as an unrelated side-effect of changing the benefits payment structure of state workers, we throw out the very possibility of collective decision-making. We will lose an important mechanism to preserve the serious and honest participation of state workers, not only in shaping the character of the organizations that they serve, but in shaping the legacy that this state leaves to its next generation of civil servants -- and citizens.

 

- Barry Orton

 

Video: Soglin on Public Unions - "Walker Isn't Capable of Understanding What's Happened Here"

From Isthmus' The Daily Page: - Jack Craver finds Paul Soglin with the demonstators.

I was alerted to the presence of Paul Soglin in a crowd of firefighters by text. It only took me a few seconds to spot his iconic mane of hair from a distance. He shared his thoughts for a few moments:

 

 

- Barry Orton

 Editor's Note: Campaign contributions can be made out to Soglin for Mayor and mailed to PO Box 1228, Madison WI 53701. Please include contact information and whether we can use your name as a supporter.  Let us know if you can volunteer or sponsor a fundraiser. State law requires you to supply employer information (name and address) if your contribution is over $100 in a calendar year. The campaign website at http://www.soglinformayor.com is able to take online contributions, but please feel free to go old school via the US Postal Service.