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9/7/2007
Can the GOP do anything right???
Not if the governor has anything to say about it. Geeez. Governor Doyle is in schools, whining that the budget isn’t settled and oh my, oh my, what will the schools do? And he’s whining about property taxes too! What will property taxpayers do when there’s no state budget and the schools have to balance their budgets on the backs of those taxpayers? Oh woe is us, woe is us!
Sporting shiny white hats, in gallop the good guys to save the day - Neenah Republicans Senator Mike Ellis and Representative Dean Kaufert introduce a plan of their own. (And of course, Doyle opposes that too.)
On balance, Ellis and Kaufert get it right. They’ve covered all the bases and as a result, the politics of the thing is pretty enticing.
Accolades for fiscal prudence
According to the Ellis/Kaufert (E/K) Plan released recently, the schools get state aid NOW and school property taxes are held in check. Aid money paid outside of revenue caps (categorical aids) is minimal – almost non-existent. And, unlike both the Governor’s and the Assembly budget, the E/K plan doesn’t increase the structural deficit (they don't increase levy credits). The plan doesn’t play accounting tricks – what you see is what you get. Good.
More accolades
The E/K plan allows schools to increase their spending to the maximum allowed by current law (unlike the Assembly version of the budget bill). And here’s another one of those huge pluses – the increase in spending allowed by the E/K plan is just slightly ($3M) more than the Assembly plan – and fully $100 million less than the Governor’s plan over the biennium That’s amazing. $100M less spent – AND state funding of 66.1% of school budgets AND keeping property taxes down. Did I say schools get their money NOW?What’s the catch?
How did these guys make this work? Well, they’re throwing extra state money at the schools, which keeps property taxes down. The E/K plan spends $140 million more in state funds over the biennium than does the Doyle/Senate plan. Wow. Senator Ellis believes (and Governor Doyle would agree) the state’s first priority must be K-12 education. Ellis claims there is plenty of money to fund other parts of the state budget without raising state taxes. Projected revenue growth in the first year is $398 million, plenty more than the $174 million cost of their proposal. A similar scenario occurs in the second year of the biennium. So again, Ellis says, plenty left over to fund additional programs. That will be the rub. Can the legislature pass the rest of the budget without increasing spending beyond projected revenue growth and without using smoke and mirror accounting tricks? Commit to that, and I buy it. Smart. Great politics too. Give the schools their money. Get it done. Give municipalities their money (the Senate and Assembly are pretty close on those numbers). Agree to take up Healthy Wisconsin outside of the budget as soon as anybody wants to schedule it. Send a bill to the governor containing the 500+ items from the budget that have already been agreed to by the Conference Committee. (As Channel 3000 pointed out earlier this week, the longer the rest of the budget languishes, the longer we all can save an intended $20 boost on vehicle registrations – and that proposed $1.25 boost for cigarettes.) Get this thing moving, piece by piece by piece.
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• Join the blaze orange army and say ‘Enough is Enough’
• The future of government-run health care
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• Roth, Savard on the stump, grassroots style
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• Rahmlow: Savard, Bies frontrunners for State Senate
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• Why am I not surprised?
• Talk health reform with Feingold (Th), Petri (today)
• Give the Mayor power over MPS - if he can break contracts
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• The $2.7 billion Wisconsin deficit no one told you about
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• Rahmlow: Why is Van Hollen dodging the Nebraska deal?
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| 2009 |
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• The Lawton-Bader files
• Yup, it’s the TAX LEVY, not the tax RATE
• Ellis: costly automobile insurance laws must be rolled back
• If not Barrett, who?
• The subsidy game
• Burri: Bailouts, Banks, Health Care, and the Mob
• Attend Appleton Schools budget meeting tonight
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• Appleton Schools budget meeting Monday
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• WI on the leading edge - in the wrong direction
• Rep. Montgomery: Utility Customers Join State’s Crime-Fighting Efforts
• Public Conservation and Recreation Lands Total 16.5% of State
• In the crow's nest of the Titanic, shouting 'Iceberg!'
• Is Rep. Nelson a political hack?
• Health care: The road ahead will be brutal
• Kagen's pandering again
• Birthers - good stuff for you
• How much do we bend over backward for seniors?
• The trouble with health care is paying for it
• Two-parent families: The Gold Standard
• Burri: Kids... the joys and blessings
• Very, very worried about health care
• Rep. Huebsch: Wisconsin is proof government health care isn’t the answer
• School district contracts push up tax levy
• What? Obama, the Peace Prize?
• TODAY - hearing on Campaign Finance Reform
• Appleton School District tax levy up way too much
• CBO report is out - and the bill isn't even written yet?
• So, how much do YOU budget for health care?
• Burri: Copenhagen trip was amateurish
• “Sotomayor, you have blood on your hands...”
• Cap and Trade. Always follow the money
• Rep. Kagen gets (almost) free health services
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• Future Wisconsin Conference for Conservatives, October 10, Wauwatosa
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• Important votes Tuesday, including Appleton Common Council
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• From Mark Gundrum: One of the greatest honors an American can experience
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• Joe Martin the best candidate in Appleton's 8th
• State programs to cut? - Volume II
• Oh the naivete of youth
• Not just disingenuous - flat wrong
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• Make cuts only AFTER you're elected....
• Getting serious: What programs can we cut?
• Rep. Steve Kagen joining me on Jerry Bader Show today
• Rep. Van Roy: Dental Care Pilot Program
• Has Dave Obey turned the corner on earmarks?
• Speaker Huebsch: Governor turns down Federal Aid?
• Mark Rahmlow: "We're Broke."
• As taxpayers, how do we know if it's a Chevy or a Lexus?
• This is trash talk - about a veteran
• Frank Lasee: Take time to get the Compact right
• 'The Gableman Ad' - is it racist?
• Roth thankful, Kagen shaking money tree
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• Leadership on smoking ban? Not Hanna
• Rep. Van Roy speaks out about smear ads
• You're threatening me about potholes?
• Losing the Hastert seat is NOT a trend and NOT curtians for the GOP
• First suggestion for 'slashing' programs
• Big money-saver for municipalities
• More one time fixes. Nuts.
• Any chances???
• I'm doing the Jerry Bader Show, today, the 11th
• Representative Frank Lasee: Final Waltz of the Season
• Guest Blog: It's not the county's business to be in the nursing home business
• Yup, Hillary won Texas and Ohio
• Gableman/Butler race featured - and it isn't pretty
• Lies from Planned Parenthood and NARAL
• He who sacrifices liberty.....
• Duh.
• The Troha sentencing, Doyle and that $200K
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• Guest Blog: Governor Doyle, cancel your Ireland trip
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• Lots of ideas. No money.
• The Cigarette Tax - "Poor Policy Instrument?"
• School budget Lite?
• Frankenstein - not in the library, but in the legislature
• A librarian, a legislator, a president
• $1.25/pack - NO, NO, NO, and NO
• Kagen and Reagan in the same breath?
• Menasha: behind the 8-ball, but not biting the dust
• Any way you slice it, Wisconsin government wants (further) in on health care
• The World is Flat...what about health care?
• The PAC - too precious to fail. Day 3
• News follow-ups: Appleton West, Kagen at the White House
• Fox Cities PAC - too precious to fail - Day 2
• Fox Cities PAC - too precious to fail
• New Transit Tax coming your way
• Rep. Petri has his finger in the dike - I guess
• AASD Retirement Costs Burdensome
• Health care, health care, health care, health care
• Water rate increase was no slam dunk
• Education for all is just a bad dream
• New Year's resolutions from a parade snob
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