Wood’s legislative voting record, however, exposes him as just another politician who promises one thing and does another.
In 2007, Wood defied his party leaders by voting with the Democrats in opposition to their budget, not because it violated the principles of limited government and fiscal responsibility, but because the Republican budget didn’t include a costly new government biofuels center.
Wood’s political transformation was completed late Wednesday when he cast the 51st vote in favor of a Democratic plan to raise more than $600 million in taxes on hospitals, businesses and consumers. Democrats, who lost two of their own members in opposition to the plan, needed Wood’s vote to prevent Republicans from claiming that each of their fifty members cast the “deciding vote “to raise taxes.
Cynics have to wonder what Democrats promised Jeff Wood in exchange for his latest betrayal. Whatever the quid pro quo, Wood will soon discover that his new friends are just as two-faced and opportunistic as he.
I would add that Wood did not exactly have a fiscally-conservative reaction to the governor's budget speech:
The Legislature's lone independent, Rep. Jeff Wood of Bloomer, said it's difficult to judge the governor's budget proposal immediately because this budget address, like all of them, was really just a broad outline.
"The devil is in the details," Wood said, noting the proposal to save money by cutting Department of Natural Resources services centers and Division of Motor Vehicles offices could be a major inconvenience for west-central Wisconsin residents, depending on which of those offices are closed.
Wood has a pre-trial hearing on March 9th for his soon-to-be third drunk driving conviction. Keeping that in mind, was this headline intentional?
