Sullivan doesn't merit a recall

My column in today's Waukesha Freeman:

Sullivan recall not best option

Ousting official over smoking ban misuses voters’ choice

Belly up to the bar and sign a petition. At least that’s what some bar owners and the Citizens for Responsible Government Network are hoping. On Tuesday, they launched an effort to recall state Sen. Jim Sullivan, D-Wauwatosa. They only need 18,000 signatures, a number well within reach.

I wish the law had been changed in Wisconsin to require recall organizers to state the reason for the recall when they’re collecting petition signatures. The reason given on these petitions would be really interesting.

The press release from CRG states, “We will not tolerate one more tax, one more anti-business policy and most of all; we will not lose one more freedom to special interest groups with a hidden agenda.” The freedom, unmentioned in the press release, is the ability to smoke tobacco products in restaurants and bars.

I’m sympathetic to the argument. I don’t like the idea of a statewide smoking ban, either. It is one more needless intrusion of government into the lives of the citizens of our state, kind of like Waukesha’s ban on outdoor fire pits after midnight.

Sullivan voted for the statewide smoking ban that finally passed this year. Sullivan’s vote is hardly a surprise to his district. He is a supporter of the smoking ban, of which his constituents were aware when they voted him into office.

The municipality that takes up the largest portion of Sullivan’s district, Wauwatosa, has had a smoking ban already in place for nearly three years. No elected officials in city government faced a recall for their support of the smoking ban. Hardly a surprise when their representative in Madison also supports a smoking ban.

Much of the opposition to the smoking ban this year dissipated when it appeared likely the ban would be included in the state budget. Lawmakers moved to pass separate legislation instead, allowing for the exemptions for places like Nice Ash in Waukesha, and to delay implementation until July 5, 2010.

The law was inevitable, and Sullivan’s vote was hardly decisive. It passed the Senate 25-8.

Unfortunately for Sullivan, at least one tavern owner, Bill Savage, didn’t like Sullivan’s vote, and that tavern owner happens to be staff for a Republican Assembly member, Don Pridemore.

Sullivan also has the misfortune of being at the top of the list of Democrats targeted by the state Republican Party. The Democrats hold an 18-15 majority in the state senate. A two-seat switch would give Republicans a majority in that chamber, putting an end to oneparty rule in Madison. Sullivan’s district is considered to be Republican-leaning, and Sullivan is a vulnerable rookie.

As you can see, if the recall organizers had to give a real reason for the recall, it would be a little harder to explain than “voted for the smoking ban.”

If the recall petition drive is successful in the next 58 days, a special election would be called and Sullivan would have to defend his seat.

Among the possible Republican candidates is State Rep. Leah Vukmir. Vukmir is a conservative and an energetic politician. She’s a reformer who started in politics because of education issues, and takes a hard line on taxes. She would make a great state senator.

In a normal election Vukmir would give Sullivan a tough fight. In a special election, with the attention of the entire state on the race, she would be the odds-on favorite to win. It would also be a “free shot” for her because she would not have to give up her Assembly seat to run, unlike in the general election in 2010.

But as much as I love the idea of “state Sen. Leah Vukmir” I loathe recalling a politician just because of one vote on one issue. Recalls should be when there is demonstrable misconduct in office. In this case, Sullivan has not committed any misconduct, nor can his opponents point to any.

This is a policy difference, not an incident that puts into doubt our trust of our public representatives. The recall effort should make us uncomfortable with its partisan origins and opportunism. Sullivan’s constituents can wait until 2010 to vote him out of office, an effort I will wholeheartedly support.

(James Wigderson is a blogger publishing at http://wigdersonlibrarypub.blogspot.com and a Waukesha resident. His column runs Thursdays in The Freeman.)

A test for the state Republican Party

A test for the Wisconsin GOP will be if they can recruit a candidate to take on Senator Russ Feingold that is better than Robert Lorge.

So far I am leaning towards running against Feingold for US Senate, but supporters urge Lt. Governor or 8th Congress in 2010. Too early yet.

Somehow I don't think Feingold supporters are afraid of a Lorge candidacy.

Republican radio address criticizes Obama over Guantanamo

It ain't just in audio anymore. This week Senator Kit Bond of Missouri questions the Obama plan to close the detention center at Guantanamo. Nobody wants them here, but that seems to be part of the Obama Administration's plan. And you can't just release them to fight again.
As Senator Bond points out, while the Obama administration has made closing the prison a priority, "the highest priority must be keeping America safe."

Show me a good loser, and I'll show you a loser

Why don’t they fight?

Last week at a town hall meeting with Congressman Jim Sensenbrenner, the theme seemed to be one of frustration, including with the Republican Party. I wrote my column for the Waukesha Freeman (two quarters and its yours) on that very subject:

While the audience was politically right of center, judging from the applause at different times, their frustration with the Republican Party was clear.

One of the first questions asked of the congressman: "Why don’t Republicans fight?" Sensenbrenner replied they are fighting but that effectively he and Kramer are "out of the legislating business." The legislative agendas are being set by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (a Democrat) and Assembly Speaker Mike Sheridan (a Democrat).

Still, the congressman noted, House Republicans were successful in voting unanimously against what he called the "non-stimulus stimulus" bill.

Unfortunately elections have consequences, a theme on Saturday. Despite the frustrations of many in the room, there is little Republicans can do at the moment except to protest every step of the way toward massive increases in state and federal spending.

However, even that little bit may be beyond some of our current Republican office holders and officials. At the end of my column I mentioned the RNC Chairman Michael Steele/Rush Limbaugh debacle. Turns out that’s not the only Michael Steele goof. Byron York reported:

But some Republicans who were not particularly upset by Steele's references to Limbaugh were appalled when Steele, during the same program, sat quietly while CNN host D.L. Hughley said that last year's Republican National Convention "literally looked like Nazi Germany. It literally did." GOP insiders who saw the performance unanimously agreed that Steele was seriously, perhaps unforgivably, remiss in not challenging a television host who compared Republicans to Nazis.

Wisconsin GOP Chairman Reince Priebus (an early endorser of Steele for the RNC chairmanship) responded, "I think the criticism is stemming from those who like the way things have always been done. Well, that's not going to happen. Michael Steele promised wholesale change, and he's delivering it.”

I don’t think anyone in the room at the Sensenbrenner town hall meeting last Saturday wants the RNC to continue doing the same things, and I certainly don’t believe that of the 19 million Rush Limbaugh listeners. But sitting there nodding while someone calls your party a bunch of Nazis is not what they want either.
David Freddoso at National Review Online “The Corner” also lists five other occasions where Republicans just refused to stand up:

1. Minority Leader John Boehner (Ohio), speaking on Obama's proposal for health insurance, offered conciliatory words: "I think that having Senator Ted Kennedy involved in this process would help us get to a solution. That's what the American people want, they want solutions...I think if there's a way to provide every American with access to affordable, quality health insurance, we ought to find a way to get it done."
2. On the omnibus, Boehner helpfully declares that he has the votes needed to sustain a presidential veto. He is daring the president to keep his promises on spending, but does anyone believe that President Obama is going to make nice and veto his own spending bill?
3. After that, I spoke by telephone with New York State Assemblyman Jim Tedisco (R), the Republican candidate favored to replace Kirsten Gillibrand in the U.S. House. He expressed clear disagreements with many of Obama's positions on both social and fiscal issues, but his comments on Obama himself and his performance were extremely kind: "I think he's trying hard, he's trying to do the best he can for the country. Some of it is good, and some of it is not so good." (Obama, who carried his Congressional District, is extremely popular there.)
4. I had a few conversations about Sen. Sam Brownback (R, Kan.), a stalwart pro-life legislator who could not even pay lip service in opposition to Obama's appointment of Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius (D). This despite her unusually deep connections, even for a pro-choice politician, to some of the most unsavory characters in the abortion industry. Along with Pat Roberts, his fellow Kansas Republican senator, Brownback released a statement anticipating healthy dialogue and discussion with her once she is in Obama's administration: "It's an honor for the State of Kansas to have an elected official appointed to the president's cabinet...We will be able to pick up the phone and talk directly with the secretary about issues that are important to Kansas."
5. Again, Obama's omnibus spending bill, which is huge and contains several troubling policy changes. Among other things, it could yank two of Sasha and Malia Obama's classmates out of their good school and put them back into a terrible school, all because of Democratic obeisance to teachers' unions, which want to eliminate the District of Columbia's school choice program. It is barely shy of the votes it needs for passage, but not for lack of a few Republican votes.
   

All the base of the party wants is someone willing to fight. I have a hunch that this will come up often at tomorrow’s Defending the American Dream summit.

I'll see that and raise you a legislature

Disappointing news this weekend as we learned State Representative Bill Kramer (R-Waukesha) is accepting the legislative pay raise. Kramer told the Waukesha Freeman that he plans to invest the money into his business.

I sympathize with Kramer when calls giving back the pay raise towards the state budget deficit as "gimmicky." I would even go so far as to argue that a case can be made that members of the state legislature deserve a raise. I'm also sympathetic to the argument that it would affect Kramer's tax liability, which perhaps explains why some of his colleagues promised the raise to charity.

However, the case for a raise was not made by the legislature, nor was the case made by any legislative Republicans for accepting it. The money was allocated without so much as a vote, let alone any debate. On that principle alone the raise should have been rejected or sent to charity.

Perhaps even more disappointing than Kramer's reaction was the mixed reaction from all legislative members of the Republican Party in Madison. It's not like this pay raise was unexpected yet there was no strategy for dealing with the issue. Instead of being used to partisan advantage, the issue seems to have been rolled under the GOP tent like a live hand grenade. The reaction, sadly predictable, has been every man for himself.

At a time when many of Kramer's constituents are facing no raise or even unemployment, the least Kramer and his colleagues owed them was a vote on his own pay raise.

Former Speaker Huebsch wishes Jeff Wood was still a Republican

Former Assembly Speaker Mike Huebsch told the Chicago Sun-Times Rep. Jeff Wood showed "remarkably poor judgement" when he was arrested for drunk driving.

Rep. Mike Huebsch, the former Republican speaker who clashed with Wood, said the lawmaker showed "remarkably poor judgment" in driving drunk.

"And you can't explain the illicit drugs," Huebsch said. "That's inexplicable as to why he had them, what he was doing with them, what he was thinking."

At the same time, he said he wished Wood would not have chosen to leave the Republican Party.

Is Huebsch serious? What pipe is he smoking? Instead of wishing Wood was still in the Republican Party, Huebsch should have said, "I think it's a sad end to a strange political career, and the quicker Wood resigns the better it will be for the legislature and Wisconsin."

Candidate for RNC chairman is former member of "whites only" club

South Carolina GOP Chairman Katon Dawson recently resigned from a club with a "whites only" membership policy after a newspaper learned of his membership in the club.

According to The State,

Dawson said he began working to change the club’s admissions practices in mid-August after reading about the deed in an article in The State.

“I understand the deed is unconstitutional,” Dawson said. And, on a personal level, “that deed is unacceptable.”

In 1948, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned similar land restrictions as a violation of the equal protection clause. But no one has challenged the deed restriction in court.

Dawson wrote a letter to club leaders Aug. 20, urging them to allow people of color.

“It is with only the best interests of our club’s proud tradition at heart that I inform you of my intent to work to change the club practice that would exclude membership for anyone based on any specific ethnicity,” he wrote in the letter obtained by The State.

Dawson declined to provide a copy of his resignation letter.

CONSCIENCE OR CALCULATION?

The first letter was written 11 days before the GOP presidential convention, during which Dawson’s interest in leading the national party became public.

Dawson was a member for twelve years and it never occurred to him that there might be a reason he never saw any African Americans at the club?

The Republican National Committee has better choices for Chairman.

Assembly Republicans choose their team

Assembly Republicans picked their leadership team:

Assembly Republicans today elected Rep. Jeff Fitzgerald of Horicon as minority leader and Rep. Mark Gottlieb of Port Washington as assistant minority leader.

"Our focus is going to be getting back in the majority," Fitzgerald told his colleagues.

Fitzgerald defeated Rep. Scott Newcomer of Hartland; Gottlieb beat Rep. Leah Vukmir of Wauwatosa.

Of Gottlieb, one lobbyist is said to have remarked, "No Republican should win the League of Municipalities Outstanding Legislator Award." You know, everyone liked Congressman Bob Michel, too. He spent his whole career in the minority. 38 years.

Meanwhile,

Members also elected Rep. Scott Suder of Abbotsford as caucus chairman. He defeated Rep. Mark Honadel, who made an unsuccessful run to stay on as caucus chairman.

Joel Kleefisch of Oconomowoc was voted caucus vice chairman.

And now for some really depressing news from Madison

You Maniacs! You blew it up! Ah, damn you!
God damn you all to hell!
- Planet of the Apes, 1968

I eschewed the above quote for something a little more family-friendly for my column this week in the Waukesha Freeman (even under The Obama you can afford the fifty cents).

Spending Tuesday evening among the Republicans gathered at the Country Springs Hotel, I had an old song written by Freddie Mercury running through my head. "Another party’s over / and I’m left here cold sober / my baby left me for somebody new." Tuesday night was definitely a night for Republicans to be singing "My Melancholy Blues."

Somebody new. In Madison, that meant the Democrats. Voters have decided to leave the Republicans to take a walk on the liberal side (apologies to Lou Reed) and are about to experience the host of plagues I described at length, from higher taxes on everything to the dismantling of school choice. But I put the blame where it belongs.

But we can blame Republicans in part for all that is about to happen. If they had passed a constitutional amendment to limit state spending four years ago when they had the chance, much of the Democratic agenda would be impossible now. More importantly, because Republicans threw away their brand identity four years ago by not passing "TABOR" as a constitutional amendment, voters had no reason to believe there was a difference between Democrats and Republicans.

Voters are about to learn differently. But will Republicans?

Bastards.

The future is now

I know people are dispirited by the outcome of Tuesday's elections, but the debate has already begun on the future of the Republican Party. Here in Wisconsin Assembly Republicans are looking at leadership changes which could determine the regional and philosophical soul of the Wisconsin GOP.

In the House of Representatives Roy Blunt is stepping down. Patrick McIlheran has a column on the future of Paul Ryan who advises Republicans to go for the big ideas.

Various writers are already joined in the debate in different forums. Ramesh Ponnuru has an Op-ed in the New York Times about appealing to the middle class.

Republicans, as the party in the White House for the last eight years, were bound to take most of the blame for the financial crisis. But Mr. McCain would have been better prepared for it if middle-class voters already trusted him to look out for them. By the end of the campaign, 60 percent of voters did not think that he was “in touch with people like them” — and 79 percent of them voted against him. They thought other Republicans were out of touch, too. To recover, the party will have to prove them wrong, not just return to the conservative program of yesteryear.

Slate Magazine is hosting a dialogue on the future of Conservativism. National Review has an interview with Marjorie Dannenfelser, the president and chairman of the board of the Susan B. Anthony List, regarding the future of the pro-life movement.

I know it's hard to picture for some, but this is an exciting time to be a conservative. The three most likely GOP candidates for president in 2012 are all conservatives. We're seeing new leadership and a new agenda being born right now.

What a stupid mess Republicans can get themselves into

I see this turning into a mess of lawyers.

Four employees hired by a temporary staffing agency to encourage absentee voting for Sen. John McCain in Wisconsin say they were instructed to tell people they were Republican volunteers.

The employees told The Associated Press in interviews on Monday they were hired by Allstaff Labor Group to go door-to-door in the Milwaukee suburbs locating McCain supporters and distributing absentee ballot request forms.

Allstaff recruited the workers under a contract with a consulting firm hired by the Republican Party of Wisconsin to run its absentee ballot program.

The workers claim they were told to say they were GOP volunteers even though they were getting paid $10 an hour for the work. They were required to sign agreements stating they would not speak publicly about their work with anyone including reporters, but they decided to speak out because they were angry they had not been paid for their final few days.

"I told the Republican Party and Allstaff, I wanted to know why we were lying to these residents," said Loyalty Dixon, 26, a Milwaukee resident who worked about two weeks in Waukesha. "I said, isn't that fraudulent? They didn't give me a good explanation. They said, you guys know you're getting paid. Don't worry about it."

Is there anyone running the store in Madison and keeping an eye on things? Because how the heck do you allow this to happen?

The state's top election official, Kevin Kennedy, said the effort ran into problems in the Green Bay area, with at least one employee turning in numerous absentee ballot distribution forms that were falsified. He said the worker was promptly fired and the local clerk tossed out the forms.

Of course, this allows the "non-partisan" Kevin Kennedy of the GAB to go off the deep end.

Kennedy compared the problems to those seen during voter registration drives by the liberal-leaning group ACORN, which Republicans have accused of voter fraud. Anytime workers are paid for campaign work they have an incentive to cut corners, he said.

And this will help McCain how? It's like watching an electoral Gallipoli.

ht: Jim Rowen

Time to put your 83 cents in

The Republican Party is hosting an event tomorrow in Waukesha to criticize Senator Obama for not paying women equally.

Women for McCain-Palin

Join us to tell the truth about Obama’s Unequal Compensation for Women!

Barack Obama pledges to create federal laws prohibiting pay disparity in America… yet he seems to have missed his own Senate office.

Obama pays female employees just 83 cents to every dollar a man makes or an average of $9,000 less per year. As Women and as Americans we deserve better!

Join us Monday at 9:30am in holding up your 83 cents, as we ask Obama why equality doesn’t start at home? Women deserve to receive equal pay not just Obama’s “two cents.”


Where: Waukesha Victory Center
(1701 N Pearl St; Waukesha, WI 53186)

When: Monday, November 3, 9:30am

Who: Women who deserve equal pay for equal work

Questions: Jennifer (608) 359-6305
E-mail: j.globig@wisgop.info

Did someone tell the RPW McCain is no longer campaigning in Wisconsin?

Jay Bullock reports on the extraordinary number of mailings he's received from the Republican Party of Wisconsin.

In the past two days, I have received four mailers from the Republican Party of Wisconsin. Mailers are not cheap, which means the WISGOP is investing a pretty significant amount of money to get me and my generally Democratic neighbors in this zip code to vote against Barack Obama. Whether this is the best use of their money now, instead of, say, heavily targeting a few of the closest State Assembly races where they are liable to lose seats and control of that body, is not for me to say.

It is for me to say that a series of mailings on behalf of a candidate that is no longer competing is just plain stupid. What do they gain by these mail bombardments that they couldn't gain better by other means? McCain's campaign is gone, but the Assembly is still up for grabs and there are still incumbents in the Senate to protect.

I received an 8 1/2 x 11 full-color two-sided mailer about Obama, too. Where are the Kramer RPW mailers and calls? Or for that matter, where are the mailers detailing the tax-and-spend history of Ruth Page Jones?

It doesn't matter if McCain loses by five points or ten. It does matter if the Republicans lose two Assembly seats or three.

Who over there is making these dumb decisions, and whom do they hope to impress?

Smell the limburger

WisPolitics is reporting the Republican National Committee is not running any television ads next week in Wisconsin. The Associated Press is reporting the television ads are off the air in Maine, too.

The party's independent ad operation is doubling its budget to about $10 million and focusing on crucial states such as Colorado, Missouri, Indiana and Virginia where Democrat Barack Obama has established a foothold, according a Republican strategist familiar with presidential ad placements.

Florida and North Carolina have also been in the RNC ad mix, but Pennsylvania is the only Democratic leaning swing state apparently left in the party's ad campaign.

The shift in advertising resources suggests that the RNC has decided to focus on defending reliably Republican-voting states against Obama's onslaught of advertising. Flush with money, Obama is outspending the joint efforts of the Republican Party and the McCain campaign by more than 2-1.

If there's a silver lining to this, McCain is getting beat up by the campaign finance system he believed in.

It's not a total retreat from Wisconsin:

While a pullout from Wisconsin is a significant strategic move, it does not represent a full GOP retreat from the state. McCain's campaign has notified Wisconsin stations that it planned to continue to buy air time through Oct. 26.

Like McCain, the RNC's independent ad operation has targeted Obama with critical ads.

The Republican Party has been helping McCain through various means. It had been spending more than $5 million a week on ads independently of the campaign. It also has teamed up with the campaign to run combined ads whose costs are split by the campaign and the RNC in certain situations allowed by federal election law.

Only the independent ads will be affected by Wednesday's decision to shift ads.

The battle is now mostly on Republican turf:

Obama tested but abandoned advertising efforts in Alaska, Georgia and North Dakota. But he has made inroads in the traditional Republican strongholds Indiana, North Carolina and Virginia. The two campaigns also are fighting for supremacy in Colorado, Ohio, Florida, Iowa, Missouri, Nevada, New Mexico — all of which Bush won in 2004. They are also battling in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and New Hampshire, states that John Kerry won.

Why is the ground rushing towards me?

Gary Andres over at the Weekly Standard has the numbers from a reliable source on what losses Republicans can expect in the House:

Ellis’s math looks like this. He believes 229 seats are either safe or likely in Democratic hands (you need 218 to form a majority in the House). On the Republican side, he counts 182 seats as safe or likely GOP. That leaves only 24 toss-up seats. Of those, Republicans currently hold 16 (8 incumbents and 8 open seats). Democrats control the other 8.

In addition to the 24, he writes that five GOP seats are already in the likely or safe Democratic category: NY-13 (Rep. Fossella, retiring), AK-AL (Rep. Don Young, incumbent), NY-25 (Rep. Walsh, retiring), VA-11 (Rep. Davis, retiring), AZ-1 (Rep. Renzi, retiring).

Ellis writes that McCain’s decline in the polls in the last month and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s money advantage could mean Democrats hold all of their 8 toss-ups and Republicans lose a good chunk of their 16. A net loss in the mid-twenties could push the Democrats’ advantage in the House to around 255-180, putting the GOP just slightly ahead of where it stood prior to the 1994 election. Before picking up a net 54 seats that year, Republican numbers in the House during the 1980s and 1990s ranged between a high of 192 following the 1980 election to a low of 167 after the 1990 midterm.

You'd think a Mark Foley-like scandal would stanch some of the bleeding. Not likely.

Off their feed

The Waukesha Republican Party met last night at the Country Springs Hotel where fortunately nobody drowned their sorrows literally. My spies tell me there was a decided lack of energy and enthusiasm at last night's "Grazing with the Elephants 2008". Not a good sign for Senator McCain's chances this November.

We'll see if the enthusiasm can be made up by the crowd attending Thursday's McCain-Palin visit which is not in Pewaukee but is actually being held at the City of Waukesha's sports complex. No, not Frame Park, the other sports complex.

Center Court Sports Complex
815 Northview Boulevard
Waukesha, WI 53188
(414) 326-4250

Apparently only events making the Waukesha GOP calendar are at the Country Springs Hotel. All other nominally GOP events must find someplace else.

What's really great about McCain-Palin town hall meeting is that it finally gives Waukesha Mayor Larry Nelson an opportunity to welcome such distinguished visitors to our city at an event that will bring Waukesha so much publicity and national recognition. And we can't wait for City Administrator Lori Luther to show her security savvy at a presidential campaign event once again.

(Note: the Badger Blog Alliance has all of the details for Thursday's events.)

Assembly candidate Mike Hahn called upon by country

Republican assembly candidate Mike Hahn (45th district) will find his campaigning cut short when he is deployed to active duty on September 7th. However, he remains a candidate in the race. From the press release:

“I want to assure everyone that my campaign will continue so that after I have finished serving my country overseas, I can come home and serve the people of this district with the same commitment to duty,” Hahn said.

Hahn also announced his intention to continue campaigning until his deployment. “To highlight the issues facing our area, I will participate in at least two Town Hall Meetings in the District before I leave in September. I have sent a letter inviting Dr. Benedict to join me,” said Hahn, “In these meetings I look forward to hearing more of the concerns of the people of the Stateline Area as well as providing my vision for bringing positive change to Madison in service to the people of the 45th Assembly District.”

When asked why his campaign would continue given the current circumstances, Hahn was clear: “This summer I have talked with thousands of people in the 45th Assembly District, and their concerns must be addressed now with new ideas and common sense. The people of this district are ready for a change to dynamic and forceful representation in Madison.”

Good luck to Mike Hahn and God bless him.

Republican Bill Kramer announces for re-election

Another 97th Assembly District update. Here is Kramer's press release:

Representative Bill Kramer to seek re-election
to 97th Assembly District seat

Pledges to continue fighting for
tax relief, government reform, safe communities

Waukesha – Representative Bill Kramer has submitted 400 signatures to the Government Accountability Board to have his name placed on the November ballot as he seeks re-election for the 97th Assembly District.

Kramer, first elected in 2006, is a 1994 graduate of Duke Law School and lifelong resident of Waukesha. He is also founder and owner of Kramer Financial Management and a registered Certified Public Accountant. He provides investment advice to help clients plan for retirement and college expenses and offers tax preparation services.

“With the anxiety Waukesha’s families have over the current economic downturn, I am committed to ensuring that government growth is held in check. Just as families throughout Wisconsin are tightening their belt, so should state government. We should control spending and seek broad-based tax relief to help grow our economy,” remarked Kramer.

As the co-author of the Competitive Marketplace Act, legislation that would repeal the state’s law that requires a minimum price markup on gasoline, and prohibits $4 prescription drugs from being sold at large retail outlets, Representative Kramer understands that government regulations can only add to the challenges facing Waukesha residents every day. This outmoded law hurts seniors and places Waukesha’s businesses at a competitive disadvantage with other states.

“We need to reform how government operates. We need to bring transparency so that everyday people can see how government spends their money and feel confident it is being spent effectively. People work too hard to have their tax dollars squandered on pork projects and costly, uncompetitive employee benefits,” said Kramer.

Kramer authored legislation that would have created a first-of-its-kind website that would allow Wisconsin residents to track state spending on all expenditures over $100. Additionally, he co-sponsored legislation that would have brought transparency to legislative earmarks – specific projects inserted into spending bills that benefit a sole legislative district and are often wasteful.

“I believe that the cost of government employee healthcare is putting a real strain on local government, especially our schools. We need to continue fighting to bring the cost of these benefits in line with the taxpayers ability to pay,” continued Kramer.

Kramer has been an outspoken advocate for AB 110, a bill that would have allowed local government and school boards to change healthcare plans and free them from the burdens of these traditionally and chronically expensive plans for their employees. Legislation like AB 110 would have an immediate and appreciable effect on school budgets, freeing up dollars that can go to expanding educational opportunities for Waukesha students. AB 110 was recently endorsed by the Waukesha School Board.

Between now and November, Representative Kramer will be knocking on doors and meeting voters to listen to their concerns about their jobs and the economy, excessive and unaccountable government spending, and safe communities.

Let me get this straight, part duh

Because the Democratic governor cut the state budget too much with his veto power, the Goldilocks in the Republican Assembly Caucus decided to attempt to override the vetoes to make the cuts just right. However, they didn't have the votes for even one veto override?

So not only is the Democratic Governor more fiscally responsible than the Assembly Republicans, now the Assembly Democrats are more responsible, too?

My head hurts.

Where's Waukesha?

Mark Block was up at the state Republican Convention in Stevens Point and noticed something curious:

However as you looked around the convention hall you had to wonder why the Waukesha County delegation seats were almost empty.

Look, if you don't hold the event at the Country Springs Hotel, you need to provide them with better maps. "Stevens Point? Is that near Minnesota?"