Uppity Wisconsin

I would like to today offer you something we see less and less of in the media - two smart informed people having a thought-provoking conversation.  I bring you Amy Goodman and Noam Chomsky talking about the fresh hell being brought upon us by the Republican Party.

State Budget: Start with What’s Real

By

Senator Kathleen Vinehout

When it comes to paying the bills you’ve got to deal with what’s real. You can’t spend rhetoric.

Lawmakers are doubling down to deal with the state budget. Public hearings and town hall meetings are scheduled across the state. Many civic groups are hosting legislators in a discussion of the state budget. Many are burning the midnight oil to get to the bottom of the state’s financial matters.

In all these conversations and the budget votes to come in the Capitol, lawmakers must to deal with what’s real.

People know about the state’s transportation fund. More money is leaving the fund than money coming in to pay for roads. Potholes are real.

BySenator Kathleen Vinehout “We are up to our gills in meth,” the county worker told me. “Four years ago one quarter of our child-protection cases were related to meth. Now, 92% of these cases are related to meth.” “Our system just isn’t equipped to deal with the meth problem,” said another social worker. Recently, more than 400 county supervisors and Health and Human Services staff came to the Capitol. I had visitors from every county in our Senate District. These officials brought me one clear message: Help us deal with the meth problem. The statistics the county employees shared were staggering. Trempealeau County experienced more than a four-fold increase in child-protection cases in less than two years.

BySenator Kathleen Vinehout “Obamacare is the law of the land,” House Speaker Paul Ryan told the nation. “We’re going to be living with Obamacare for the foreseeable future.” The much-maligned Affordable Care Act (ACA) passed in 2010 will stay in place. Self-employed older Americans and state budget directors breathed a sigh of relief. The Republican plan would have raised rates for older people on Healthcare.gov, shifted taxes away from the well-off, and shifted to states more costs for low-income, disabled and elderly (through Medicaid). But the problems of the ACA – rising premiums, customers left with little choice and insurance companies leaving the marketplace in some states – still remain. Why do these problems exist?

BySenator Kathleen Vinehout “The bottom line is: Are waters meeting water quality standards?” George Meyer told the Audit Committee at a recent hearing. “[Wisconsin is] adding hundreds of impaired waters every year,” Mr. Meyer added. “It’s because of discharged nitrates and phosphorus.” “Regulations and laws are only as good as enforcement.” Mr. Meyer said. “In the last few years [there has been] a substantial reduction in enforcement actions both in the wildlife area and the environmental area.” Mr. Meyer knows about enforcing laws to protect our natural resources. For eight years, he served as the DNR Secretary under Governor Thompson. His 30-year DNR career also included ten years as head of the department’s enforcement efforts.

Senator Kathleen Vinehout “All we seek is help to get the basic broadband services that you all take for granted,” Justin Fortney from Clifton Township in Pierce County wrote to me.  “It has been frustrating for us families to watch the digital revolution pass us by…We often…pack the family into the car and drive to a relative’s house or commercial business to use their Internet.” According to the federal government’s most recent information, Wisconsin ranks last in the Midwest in both rural and urban broadband access with only 44% of rural folks accessing download speeds of 25 Mbps. Both federal and state governments responded with grant programs to expand broadband but there are problems with assuring that residents actually receive the promised servi

In our email this morning:

On Monday, February 26th, Massachusetts ethics attorney J. Whitfield Larrabee filed a complaint for misconduct against White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus with the Wisconsin Office of Lawyer Regulation. 

The complaint states that it is based on “Priebus’ corrupt attempt to influence investigations by the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”) into criminal activity involving associates of Donald J. Trump (“Trump”) and Russian government officials.” 

 By now we are all thoroughly familiar with the Steven Avery case, the Mischicot man and worker at a family-owned salvage yard who was convicted in the 2005 murder of Teresa Halbach just two years after his release from prison on a rape charge for which he was wrongfully convicted.

 The case became a national sensation with the airing of “Making a Murderer” on Netflix which made the compelling case that Manitowoc County, where the murder took place, framed Avery and his impressionable 16-year-old nephew, Brendan Dassey, because authorities held a grudge against Avery for his lawsuit against the county. Millions of viewers, whose only knowledge of the case was that series, reacted strongly to what they saw as another miscarriage of justice.

Locals ask is ‘new’ money real?BySenator Kathleen Vinehout “Overall, our common-sense reforms brought us here – to the point we have a significantly better budget outlook.” Governor Walker said in his recent Budget Address. “We call this the Reform Dividend. And wow, as the fiscal bureau pointed out, that’s a whole lot of money.” What is the “Reform Dividend” the Governor spoke about in his budget address? Where is it? How much is it? An inquiring mind wanted to know. Rita Brunkow from Mondovi asked me. “Do you know what this “Reform Dividend” is?