Progressive Thinking

Sen. Kathleen Vinehout focuses on the campaign finance bills currently moving through the Legislature that favor the rich and well-connected candidates, and open the door to “dark money” contributions where who wrote the check is unknown.

MADISON - “This bill strengthens democracy because it allows more citizens to participate,” Assembly Speaker Robin Vos told the Wisconsin State Journal. Vos is the lead author of a bill to overhaul the state’s campaign finance law.

Wisconsin was an early leader in campaign finance reforms of 1911 that limited money in campaigns and provided “rigorous penalties” including disqualifying candidates and sending them to prison. Ironically, the effort over 100 years ago was led by legislative Republicans.

Today’s Assembly leader may advocate for more democracy, but the bill he authored favors the rich and those well-connected candidates. I fear the bill’s effect will be more negative ads, less voter knowledge, more out-of-state contributions, more centralized control by legislative leaders, and an increasingly dispirited electorate.

The bill opens the door to so-called “dark money” or contributions not reported by who wrote the check. Loopholes created in the bill make it unclear which political action committees (PAC) or independent expenditure groups must report donors and campaign spending.

Unlimited campaign contributions are allowed in a host of new areas. Unlimited donations can be made to a PAC or to two new political committee types for a recall or a referendum. This makes me concerned more money and outside groups will try to affect local elections and referendum.

Corporations cannot contribute to candidate campaigns but corporations, labor unions and Native American Tribes can make unlimited contributions to independent expenditure groups, a referendum committee or a special fund for non-candidate contribution purposes run by a political party or a legislative committee (run by legislative leaders).

In addition, unlimited dollars can be moved from a political party or legislative campaign committee to a candidate. The latter increases the hold leaders have over legislative members. The former increases the power of the political party to pick candidates.

Donation limits to candidates’ campaigns are doubled. For example, the current limit for a single individual over a four-year Senate term is $1,000. This limit becomes $2,000 under Vos’ bill.

Who benefits from adding more money to campaigns? An analysis by Nick Heynen of the Wisconsin State Journal, shows that since 2008, $17.8 million in donations that reach the maximum limit were contributed to candidates for statewide office. Almost 60% of this money came from outside Wisconsin.

Donors would not be required to report their employer. This makes it difficult to track the relationship between a company that receives grants or tax credits from the state and donations of their employees to candidates.

Removed from the statute is the purpose of campaign finance laws: The legislature finds and declares that our democratic system of government can be maintained only if the electorate is informed. It further finds that excessive spending on campaigns for public office jeopardizes the integrity of elections….When the true source of support or extent of support is not fully disclosed, or when a candidate becomes overly dependent upon large private contributors, the democratic process is subject to a potential corrupting influence.

Perhaps Speaker Vos found his bill a bit in conflict with the real purpose of campaign finance laws. If he truly wants to improve democracy by increasing citizens’ participation in campaigns, I wonder if he’d join me in supporting an amendment to his bill suggested in the testimony of Matt Rothschild, the executive director of Wisconsin Democracy Campaign.

In a March hearing, Mr. Rothschild cited one way to amplify the voice of small campaign donors was to use public financing to match – by five times – the donation of anyone who gave $175 or less to a candidate. This sounds like a great way to strengthen democracy.

I haven’t met a single voter who thinks we need more out of state or dark money in Wisconsin elections. Without regard to political affiliation, people think there is already too much influence on elections from outside Wisconsin.

Every donation to influence an election needs to be reported in a way citizens can see who is behind the nasty ads. Not only should groups disclose their donors, they should register every patriotic or feel good name used to influence elections.

We don’t need more dark money. We need more democracy and the best way to get that is to let the light shine in.

Republican politicians in Madison want to replace the Government Accountability Board (GAB) with partisan appointed commissions. The GAB has received national recognition and needs to remain non-partisan. The legislation is rapidly moving through the Legislature.

MADISON - “Wisconsin is the only state with a truly nonpartisan board structure,” wrote Professor Daniel Tokaji in 2013. The Ohio State law professor hailed the Government Accountability Board as “America’s Top Model” of nonpartisan elections.

Clean elections and corruption free elected officials are goals most of us share. Yet few states have laws that truly create a nonpartisan watchdog to assure public confidence. Wisconsin is blessed to be a national leader.

“The United States is an outlier among democratic countries when it comes to the institutions charged with running our democratic elections,” Professor Tokaji wrote in the UC Irvine Law Review. He continued, “There is one conspicuous exception to the partisan character of state election administration: Wisconsin’s Government Accountability Board (GAB).”

The GAB and its staff have received several awards and accolades.

In January of 2014 the Presidential Commission on Election Administration cited the GAB as a model for improving accessibility to polling places for the disabled. Their frequent and unannounced audits of polling places identified 10,488 issues for disabled voters during the study period April 2011 to April 2013 as reported in a 2014 Legislative Audit Bureau report.

In April of 2014 the PEW Charitable Trusts ranked Wisconsin third in the US for election performance. The nonpartisan group measured elections 17 different ways including ballots rejected, post-election audits, voter turnout, registration rate, waiting time to vote, online voter education materials. PEW researchers reported only Minnesota had a higher voter participation rate than Wisconsin in the 2012 presidential race. Researchers also reported Wisconsin had dramatically improved its data since 2008 – the year the GAB began operations.

These accolades are but a few received by the only nonpartisan state watchdog of elections in the United States. Adding further to the evidence of a well-run government accountability agency, the Legislative Audit Bureau recently released an analysis of complaints and investigations conducted by the GAB and found no major concerns with the activities of the agency. Auditors recommended a quicker resolution to complaints and the GAB responded with a new computer system to track complaints.

As a reward for excellent service to the people of the state, two western Wisconsin legislators, Representatives Dean Knutson and Kathy Bernier, introduced legislation to kill the watchdog and fire its long serving administrator. It is widely believed this legislation is partisan “payback” for investigations in which the GAB was involved.

The bill replaces the nonpartisan judges of the GAB with two partisan appointed commissions to control elections and ethics and creates a partisan confirmed administrator of the commissions.

Notably, the bill restricts the ability of the new commissions to initiate investigations including prohibiting any member of the commissions from submitting a sworn complaint to initiate an investigation. The bill limits money to conduct an investigation to that specified by the legislature – and makes no release of funds. The effect of curtailing access to money is to shut down investigations of illegal activities related to elections, ethics and lobbying.

Currently the GAB has access to funds needed to conduct an ethics or elections violation. The bill forces the commissions to come back to the legislature to beg for money needed to investigate – leaving the lawmakers holding the purse and, essentially, starving the watchdog.

Any current employee or investigation would be reviewed by the politically appointed Secretary of Administration who would direct the transition to the new system, deciding which employees, assets, contracts and other matters are transferred to which of the two new commissions.

The proposed law would be in place for the 2016 elections.

In less than a week the bill has gone from invitation for cosponsors to a full joint hearing – providing citizens with what is likely to be the only opportunity for testimony.

Professor Tokaji concluded his article saying, “the GAB’s experience therefore provides a ray of hope for those of us who believe that the United States should move away from its partisan system of election administration.”

The people of Wisconsin now appear to be the last ray of hope remaining to save the GAB. Please let lawmakers know you want to keep our nonpartisan system of elections and ethics. Our democracy is at stake!

MADISON - In August, the Marquette University Law School poll showed 60 percent of voters in Wisconsin think Governor Walker "doesn't care about people like them”. Based on the current Republican Legislature’s priorities, it is not hard to understand why.

The Legislature’s focus should always reflect challenges facing the people of our state. Based upon the Republicans’ fall agenda, those issues are 1) disbanding the Government Accountability Board, Wisconsin’s campaign finance and elections watchdog, 2) removing anti-corruption protections from civil service laws, and 3) criminalizing life-saving research that uses any cells derived from fetal tissue.

These self-serving power grabs and extreme ideology are not even on the radar of most Wisconsinites. Many of my constituents’ most common challenges have to do with insecurity over future opportunity for themselves and their families. They ask me to address the real problems that make it hard for them to get ahead. Problems such as stagnant wages, the overwhelming cost of child care, and out-of-control student loan debt.

Wisconsin’s job growth has lagged behind the nation over the past four and half years. To make things worse, many of the new jobs are in low wage positions. Low wages make it harder to afford housing, food, child care and higher education. Low wages also reduce consumer spending (one of the main drivers of the economy) and increase the need for government assistance.

Declining income is not a new or temporary problem in Wisconsin. But if many of our new jobs created are lower wage, it would make sense to consider a minimum wage increase. It has been six years since minimum wage earners got a raise in Wisconsin. Raising the minimum wage to $10.10 would increase wages for over half a million Wisconsin workers, the average age of which is 35 years old. Yet as many other states take action, our Republican led Legislature won’t even hold a public hearing on a bill to gradually increase the minimum wage to $10.10 over three years.

Another huge challenge for working families is affordable child care. The annual cost of infant care in Wisconsin is $10,775. This is significant considering that a single mother’s median income in Wisconsin is $23,568, while a two-parent family is $79,589. For families who depend on low and moderate-income jobs, the high cost of child care can wipe out their income to the point where it is cheaper just to stay home.

I am a co-sponsor of a bill that creates a tax credit for expenses for daycare services. Depending on income, the credit may be worth up to a maximum amount of $3,000/year if there is one qualifying individual and up to $6,000/year if there are two or more. This bill would make child care more affordable, allowing parents who want to get back to work to return to their jobs.

Student loan debt remains a massive obstacle for many former students and their families. The high cost of student loan debt has an impact on all of us. Wisconsin currently has over 800,000 people with outstanding student loan debt, which prevents many from buying a home or saving money for the future. There is a Democratic bill that would allow borrowers to refinance their student loans, providing some relief from this crushing debt. This should be a priority.

Many of the challenges facing people in our state do not have a simple answer. But these challenges deserve our attention and consideration. These issues should be priorities for our Legislature. Unfortunately, Republicans seem more interested in serving themselves than truly serving the public that elected them.

MILWAUKEE - I am sure you are concerned as I am about the WEDC disaster and more broadly declining economic opportunity in Wisconsin.

I am writing to personally invite you to a special webinar to unveil Citizen Action of Wisconsin's new Economic Opportunity Agenda.

As I wrote recently in a column in the Capital Times: If we focus exclusively on the WEDC train wreck, we miss a more fundamental challenge: the lack of any serious strategy to reverse the ongoing decline of economic opportunity for working families in Wisconsin. The WEDC crackup is an opening to take a step back and consider the scope of Wisconsin’s economic challenges and solutions of the scale needed to put us back on the road to shared prosperity.

In the webinar I will discuss the depth of Wisconsin's economic crisis, and a bold new strategy to challenge the rigging of the economic system and to use our democracy to expand the middle class once again.

I hope you will join me for this critically important conversation. You can join us either by phone or webinar. We will host this event TWICE on Wednesday October 14th, once at noon and again at 6pm. Join whichever you can.

Click here to RSVP or learn more about the Wednesday Oct 14 noon webinar/conference call

MADISON - As the days get shorter and the leaves change colors, my Senate Democratic colleagues and I continue to visit with Wisconsin residents of all ages about the challenges facing our state. 

From Bayfield to Beloit, Milwaukee to La Crosse and the hundreds of communities in between – one message has been consistent: Wisconsinites want their elected officials to work together, be problem solvers and put an end to the politics of resentment. 

In response to these conversations, Senate Democrats have crafted the Badger Blueprint, a roadmap of common-sense solutions to encourage growth, drive innovation and increase opportunity. 

Education and infrastructure are critical for our state’s success in the modern, global economy. The Badger Blueprint features several new and innovative pro-growth solutions designed to expand access to quality education, invest in infrastructure improvements and improve local economic development efforts. 

We also continue to hear about the importance of business start-ups for our state’s economy. Unfortunately, Wisconsin was recently ranked the worst state in the nation for start-up activity and rate of new entrepreneurs by the Kauffman Foundation. To improve Wisconsin’s start-up business climate, Senate Democrats are committed to leveraging federal funding for entrepreneurs, partnering with private investors and increasing collaboration between schools, colleges, and the private sector to help Wisconsinites turn their ideas into successful businesses.

To improve workplace flexibility and help working families achieve financial security, the Badger Blueprint will also provide student loan debt relief, make it easier to find affordable childcare and end taxpayer subsidies to companies that outsource jobs.

It’s also time to address the needs of our rural communities and underserved urban neighborhoods that continue to struggle with high unemployment and limited job creation opportunities. Despite their geographic differences, many of these communities share common challenges. The Badger Blueprint would promote much-needed economic growth by expanding worker training and apprenticeship opportunities, improving broadband access and creating good-paying jobs through long overdue infrastructure investments. 

I’m optimistic about the future of our state because Wisconsinites are resilient and hardworking. The Badger Blueprint reflects this sense of optimism and our shared vision for a state that is ready to work together, be problem solvers and address the challenges before us. Together, we can build an economy that works for every Wisconsin resident and strengthens urban, suburban and rural communities alike.

You can learn more and share your ideas at wibadgerblueprint.com.

Members of Gov. Scott Walker's administration joined with the bill's sponsor as the only testifiers in support of the measure that is moving quickly through the Legislature. Proposal would eliminate objective civil service exams, replacing them with a review of "qualifications" by administration appointees, and cripple workplace protections for our state workers.

MADISON - Today, the Senate Labor and Government Reform Committee held a public hearing on Senate Bill 285 to change the state’s civil service system. It must have seemed like deja vu, from French literally "already seen", to state workers still smarting from Act 10 in 2011.

The bill comes four years after the Legislature passed Gov. Scott Walker's proposal, known as Act 10, that effectively eliminated collective bargaining for most public workers, including state employees. Walker said then that he wasn't interested in making changes to the civil service system.

Today's public hearing was nothing more than a parade of Walker’s political appointees pushing for gutting civil service protections and doubling down on politicizing our state workforce.

The proposal would eliminate objective civil service exams, replacing them with a subjective review of "qualifications" by administration appointees, and cripple workplace protections for our state’s civil servants. These changes open the door to hiring partisan political hacks and making party loyalty a qualification for a state job, the very hiring practices that civil service was established 110 years ago to root out.

A parade of State workers testified the Republican-backed bill that would make it easier to hire and fire public employees, saying the proposed overhaul of Wisconsin's 110-year-old civil service system would lead to political patronage and cronyism.

Members of Gov. Scott Walker's administration joined with the bill's sponsor as the only testifiers in support of the measure that is moving quickly through the Legislature. The Senate Labor and Government Reform Committee hearing came just one week after the bill was publicly released.

"The legislation's not needed and does not address problems that are alleged to exist," said Jim Thiel, a former 40-year state employee representing the Association of Career Employees, which advocates for maintaining the civil service system. "This will lead to a patronage system."

An appeal that fell upon deaf ears from the Republican majority.

Democratic Sen. Chris Larson, of Milwaukee, said the bill would gut the current system and lead to buddies of politicians in power getting jobs whether they're qualified or not.

"What's to prevent patronage? What's the check? Right now we have a neutral exam to make sure that doesn't happen," said Larson, a member of the committee that held the hearing. "This is the elimination of good government. This is just another step in that."

In a statement released after the hearing, Sen. Larson went on to say:

“Make no mistake, Wisconsinites are not fooled by what Walker and the GOP are trying to do in our state – consolidate power and fast-track corruption. In fact, we already have proof of what happens when we throw out strong hiring standards and replace them with subjective evaluations by looking at the failed Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC). The quasi-private state agency does not use the same civil service standards as other state agencies. As a result, corruption and high turnover has run rampant within WEDC since its creation.

“Walker’s Wisconsin already has the fastest shrinking middle class in the U.S., is last in the nation for new business startups, and lags in job creation. Wisconsin families face real challenges every day and are tired of the cronyism and political power grabs by Republican leaders who are focused on undermining our open records laws, eliminating government accountability, and shielding themselves from criminal investigations.

“My Democratic colleagues and I are listening to the hardworking neighbors in our communities. Rather than looking for ways to tear down Wisconsin workers, Democrats are focused on strengthening our middle class, boosting family wages, and ensuring greater retirement security.

“Unfortunately, this bill is more political Snake Oil being pushed at Walker’s carnival of corruption; it fails to remedy the employment problems created by this administration, and poisons our heritage of good government.”

Gov. Walker and GOP lawmakers in Madison want to change the state’s civil service system, eliminating objective civil service exams and replacing them with a subjective review of "qualifications" by their appointees. These changes open the door to hiring partisan political hacks and making party loyalty a qualification for a state job, the very hiring practices that civil service was established to root out.

MADISON - “Please do what you can to stop the dismantling of the civil service system,” Mary from Trempealeau County asked me.

Mary is a retired social worker. Her call is one of a number of contacts I received lately from residents unhappy with a bill that would change state employment. Residents expressed concern that government jobs will be filled with political friends and relatives of those in power and will fail to serve its citizens.

A newly introduced bill would do away with examinations for state jobs. Under the bill, every resume for filling 30,000 state positions would go to the behemoth state Department of Administration (DOA) and into the hands of political appointees. The bill would keep employees on probation for two years and use new vague language to fire state employees.

This language includes as grounds for firing “personal conduct” the boss “determines to be inadequate, unsuitable, or inferior”. This ambiguous rule could become a proxy for political retribution. Is recall petition signing “inadequate” for a social worker? Is singing union songs in the Capitol rotunda “unsuitable” activity for a scientist? How about a state employee attending a rally on off time?

The bill opens the door to an employee hiring process completely controlled by politically appointees hired by the Secretary of Administration.

But to understand the context of the newly proposed law, one must step back and look at changes to state employment – especially major changes made just this summer.

Governor Bob La Follette is credited with creation of Wisconsin’s civil service system. La Follette wrote in his 1912 autobiography that public service “has been democratized by a civil service law opening it to men and women on an equal footing independent of everything except qualification and fitness for office…There is no longer any political pull in Wisconsin.”

Major credit for modernizing the system that eliminated “political pull” should go to Democratic Governor Patrick Lucey and Republican Governor Lee Dreyfus.

In 1976, through executive order, Governor Lucey created the Governor’s Employment Relations Study Commission. The Commission recommended a distinct cabinet department, headed by a Secretary appointed by the Governor and confirmed by the Senate. The Commission reasoned that policies related to personnel must have “accountability to the executive office, protection from the possibility of manipulation and independence from the general bureaucratic structure.”

According to a paper written by the Legislative Fiscal Bureau “after extensive legislative debate” a new law was passed and signed by Governor Dreyfus creating the Department of Employment Relations. In 2003, the legislature made a number of changes to the department including changing its name to the Office of State Employee Relations (OSER).

The independence of a separate office lasted until this summer when Governor Walker’s budget became law. Tucked into the budget was a provision to eliminate OSER and bury its functions in the Department of Administration. I write ‘bury’ because DOA has a $2 billion budget and over 1,000 employees making the new employment process opaque to legislators and the people of the state.

Efforts to politicize employee relations by the current administration began in 2011 with Act 10. This law took 38 civil service positions and made them political appointments. The law also allowed bosses to turn “other managerial positions” into political appointments. Both the 2011-13 budget and the 2013-15 budget added more political appointment positions.

Changes made in 2011 signaled the intention of the administration. But few paid attention to the signs. As an example, here is what I wrote on March 19, 2011:

Yesterday I had in interview with a reporter, and I told her about what the Governor was doing to our civil service put in place by Bob La Follette - how three dozen civil service jobs were made political appointments; how the definition of a political appointment was made so broad the team leader who helps clean the Capitol could be a political appointment. The reporter had no idea this was in the bill.

That bill became Act 10 – known only for stripping public employees of their labor protections, not stripping the citizens of their good government. With the most recent legislation, intentions to politicize state government just became clearer.

Sen. Ron Johnson's comment "we got the $800 billion stimulus which basically went into the pockets of public unions"  at a Green Bay campaign stop last week is dead wrong. I was there in 2009 and we faced a $50 trillion hole in the economy, and unions did not cause the mess. It was the losing Republican ideas of "Trickle Down" economics, deregulation, borrow and spend budgeting, and our nation’s unnecessary involvement in wars overseas.

APPLETON, WI - Sen. Ron Johnson's comments last week about the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 deserve our attention.

In wrongly stating "... we got the $800 billion stimulus which basically went into the pockets of public unions," Johnson suggests working class women and men caused our economic mess.

Johnson is wrong.

By 2008, our economy had been driven into the ditch by irresponsible Republican policies including trickle down economics, where money was supposed to trickle into pockets of working class families after rich people were given huge tax cuts. It failed miserably.

Johnson’s majority party also borrowed and spent money government did not have and deregulated banks on Wall Street, sinking us even deeper into debt.

These were not union ideas; they are Republican realities.

The fact is that without paying for any of it, Johnson’s party handed out tax cuts to billionaires, created massive federal budget deficits and wasted $3 trillion destroying Iraq where 4,488 American heroes gave their ultimate sacrifice.

Johnson is dead wrong.

I was there in 2009. We faced a $50 trillion hole in the economy from the housing market collapse; the stock market was crashing; 750,000 jobs across the nation were being lost each month; and our financial system was frozen — a combination not seen since the Great Depression.

There was a complete lack of confidence in capitalism itself. Banks would not loan money to anyone, for they were not certain they would be paid back. Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson told me 75 percent of America’s assets were in 17 banks and these banks had no money: "They are bone dry."

Working together with Democrats Dave Obey, Herb Kohl and Russ Feingold, I helped create the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the boldest action taken by government since the Depression. We brought back billions of our own tax dollars to Wisconsin to rebuild our schools, roads and bridges while delivering the biggest tax cut in American history.

Johnson just does not get it.

Unions did not cause this mess. It was the losing Republican ideas of Trickle Down economics, Deregulation of Wall Street, Borrow and Spend budgeting and our nation’s unnecessary involvement in never ending religious civil wars overseas.

Now more than ever we need elected officials who will think things all the way through; women and men who will enact laws to reward work instead of wealth as we begin to solve our differences in conversations not confrontations.

***

Appleton’s Dr. Steve Kagen is a former congressman who represented Wisconsin’s 8th District.

Public hearing on Higher Education Lower Debt Act authored by Sen. Dave Hansen of Green Bay and Rep. Cory Mason of Racine set for the Senate Committee on Universities and Technical Colleges on Wednesday, October 7 in the State Capitol.

MADISON - Legislation which could help thousands of student loan borrowers throughout Wisconsin refinance their debt will receive a public hearing in the Senate Committee on Universities and Technical Colleges on Wednesday, October 7 in the State Capitol.

Senate Bill 194, authored by Senator Dave Hansen (D-Green Bay) and Representative Cory Mason (D-Racine), is often referred to as the Higher Education Lower Debt Act. If enacted, it would create a state authority to help borrowers refinance their student loans, allow borrowers to deduct student loan payments on their state income taxes, and require borrowers to receive counseling about student loan debt prior to taking out loans.

“I am very pleased that the committee will be holding a hearing on this bill,” said Sen. Hansen. “Since this legislation was first introduced last session I have heard stories from people across the state who are struggling to pay back their loans.”

“These are not deadbeats, these are hard-working taxpayers who sought to pursue the American Dream by furthering their education and training. They only want a better future for themselves and their families. This legislation seeks to help them lessen the burden of paying for that education.”

The hearing will be held in room 300 Southeast of the State Capitol at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, October 7th. The hearing is open to the public and individuals are encouraged attend and testify.

***

Legislative Staffer Jay Wadd contributed to this story.

The Supreme Court has imposed a fictitious alternate reality on American democracy, telling us to think of property as part of “we, the people” and see massive sums of money spent on elections by large corporations as “free speech.” We, the people, need to stand up in defense of democracy.

MADISON - Much too much is made of red voters and blue voters and red states and blue states, as if they make up two separate Americas (they do not) and their differences are forever irreconcilable (they are not). But for the moment anyway, there is no denying that partisan divisions have intensified in recent years and that America is more politically polarized than at any time in the last two decades.

Against this backdrop, it can be a challenge to find values and attitudes that unite Americans of every political persuasion. But people of every imaginable stripe stand on common ground when it comes to the broadly shared exasperation with money’s dominion over democracy. Four out of five Republicans agree with four out of five Democrats and a supermajority of independents that the U.S. Supreme Court messed up bad when it ruled in 2010 that unlimited political spending is a constitutional right. Five years after the decision, it is as unpopular than ever. In fact, rather than slowly fading from memory the court’s decision in the Citizens United case is becoming the symbol of how the economy and the government have been rigged in favor of a privileged few at the expense of everyone else.

It’s helpful to remember that Supreme Court rulings come and Supreme Court rulings go. Our nation’s highest court once ruled that people could be property. It took not only a presidential proclamation but a bloody civil war and amendments to the Constitution to relegate that shameful decision to its rightful place in the trash bin of history. Today’s Supreme Court blesses oligarchy with the similarly warped logic that property can be entitled to the constitutional rights of a person. In time Citizens United will be tossed in the dumpster too.

Undoing the harm this ruling has done already and continues to do should not need to involve warfare but could very well require a constitutional amendment if the Supreme Court in the fairly near future does not come to its senses and overturn Citizens United before a 28th amendment is ratified. How this all plays out and how promptly this inevitable outcome is brought about largely depends on legal creativity bordering on hubris.

It’s been written that Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation declaring 3 million slaves free was “based on a highly contentious, thin-ice reading of the presidential war powers.” Ample evidence suggests Lincoln knowingly and dramatically exceeded his legal and constitutional authority, and the nation is so very fortunate that he did.

American democracy needs a modern-day equivalent of the Emancipation Proclamation. Whether in the form of an executive order, or an act of Congress, or measures enacted by states or local communities, the Supreme Court’s ruling in Citizens United must be defied. The constitutional right of unlimited political spending invented by the court in its Citizens United decision must be exposed for what it truly is – the legalization of bribery.

Elected representatives of the people anywhere and everywhere should knowingly and dramatically exceed what the Supreme Court says is the limit of their legal authority and declare our government free from its current state of indentured servitude to billionaires and corporations. Whenever justices dictate injustice, legal ingenuity is required. Executive orders should be issued and laws should be passed declaring that giving more than $200 to anyone holding or pursuing public office or any group helping to elect a politician is a bribe and therefore a felony.

In throwing down this gauntlet, the Supreme Court’s warped logic in Citizens United is countered with this alternative reasoning: If you wish to demonstrate your support for politicians, their parties or surrogates, giving $200 is demonstration enough. Giving $200 or less does not distinguish you much from your many fellow citizens who are likewise giving small amounts or the much larger number who give nothing at all. But go past the $200 threshold and that puts you in the top one-quarter of 1% of the population. That makes you stand out, separates you from the crowd, and makes it start looking like you might want more than just the honor of participating in a democracy.

Lincoln-style hubris is needed because we are beyond the pointwhere campaign financing can be reformed. It can’t be reformed because we no longer have campaign finance in America. We have legal bribery and there’s no reforming bribery. It has to be outlawed.

All laws and respect for the rule of law in general are demeaned and ultimately undermined when any law ceases to be rooted in reality. The reality is that Americans – Republicans, Democrats and independents alike – see big political donations for what they are, namely bribes. The law of this land needs to reflect that reality. Instead, the Supreme Court has imposed a fictitious alternate reality on us, ordering us to think of property as part of “we, the people” and see massive sums of money spent on elections as “free speech.” Just as a past court ordered all Americans, including President Lincoln, to accept that people could be regarded as property.

Lincoln defied that court. He was said to be on thin ice legally when he did. The ground held beneath his feet.

In defense of democracy in our time, we need to be willing to stand on what we’re told is thin ice. Two hundred dollars is plenty. Anything more is a bribe.

This week, Senator Kathleen Vinehout writes about the award winning work of Wisconsin's nonpartisan Legislative Audit Bureau as it completes 50 years of exceptional work serving as “the steward of the people’s money.”

MADISON - “Fix the broken programs, get rid of the ones that don’t work and fund those that are working.” There’s not a state candidate around that would disagree with this statement.

Yet there are some in the Legislature that would eliminate the very source of information on which programs are a waste of taxpayer dollars and where the broken programs need fixing.

For fifty years, auditors at the nonpartisan Legislative Audit Bureau (LAB) have assisted legislators and the people of Wisconsin in answering questions about dollars spent. Questions like, “Did we get our money’s worth out of that program?”

Skilled public sector auditors perform financial audits on various funds in state government, like the lottery or the Patient’s Compensation Fund. They examine federal dollars to assure the state is compliant with federal law in the annual Single Audit. Auditors also review state operations in the LAB review of the Comprehensive Annual Financial Audit released near the end of the year.

The National State Auditors Association recently awarded the highest rating possible to the LAB’s financial audit division. Very experienced auditors put the LAB’s programs and policies through a rigorous review. These examinations are conducted every three years. Wisconsin’s LAB has consistently received the highest ratings possible.

But financial audits are only half of the award winning work done by the LAB. Program evaluations, answering questions like did this program meet its goals, is the other half of the work of the Audit Bureau.

While the work of the financial division seldom makes headlines, the program evaluation auditors often find their work under the spotlight. Recently a GOP Assembly proposal called for eliminating the LAB. Capitol rumors said elimination was in retaliation for the embarrassing failures made public in three audits over the past three years of the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC).

But far from cause for elimination of the nonpartisan watchdog, the program auditors of the Legislative Audit Bureau were rewarded with national recognition for their work on WEDC and similar critically important program audits.

The National Legislative Program Evaluation Society recognized the work of the LAB with its distinguished Certificate of Impact for the 2013 FoodShare audit; the 2014 Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation audit; and the 2015 Supervised Release Placement and Expenditure audit. The recent national accolades should reassure voters and lawmakers of the LAB’s stellar work.

Too often lawmakers say they want to know which programs work and which do not, but their actions tell us otherwise. Recent actions such as cutting funding for an outside evaluation for the Drug Court (Treatment Alternative Diversion) program. Or by budget action creating four or five alternative tests for students in publically funded private school programs, making accurate comparisons between public and private school student achievement extremely difficult.

Facts matter. Facts lead us to conclusions that might are may not always be popular politically. That’s exactly why we need the nonpartisan Legislative Audit Bureau. If we truly care about creating a well-run state government no one should shy away from the facts nonpartisan auditors present to us – regardless of political implications.

This summer the Beloit Daily News editorialized about the importance of independent agencies in state government. The editorial lauded the LAB saying the agency “has earned a strong reputation for impartiality and independence from partisan political influence.”

Nonpartisan agencies like the Audit Bureau, the Fiscal Bureau and the Government Accountability Board play a key role in a well-functioning state government. The Beloit Daily News warns us:

“TAXPAYERS, TAKE NOTE. Agencies like the GAB, the Audit Bureau and the Fiscal Bureau exist under a mandate to serve truth, not politics. That’s in the best interest of the people, if not the politicians.

“Understandably, the powerful object to any outfit they can’t control. But government watchdogs must not be muzzled and broken to the partisan leash.”

Instead, let us laud the work of our nonpartisan agencies. Join me in congratulating the LAB on excellent accomplishments and national recognition.

And wish the agency another 50 years of exceptional work serving as “the steward of the people’s money.”

Walker and GOP lawmakers want to eliminate the state's civil service exams and replace them with a subjective review of résumés. The current civil service system has kept qualified workers in taxpayer-funded jobs based upon merit for nearly 100 years, and kept out partisan political hacks.

MADISON - Just three days after ending his presidential run, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker sought to reassert his conservative credentials Thursday by backing a proposed overhaul of the state's civil service system for 30,000 employees. The move comes four years after repealing most collective bargaining for public employees.

Walker and two top Republican lawmakers are seeking to eliminate the state's civil service exams, replacing them with a subjective résumé-based evaluation system. They also propose to stop allowing longtime employees to avoid termination by "bumping" other workers with less seniority and shortening by more than half the process for employees to appeal their dismissal or discipline.

More than a century ago, good-government groups engineered the civil service system as a way to place qualified workers in taxpayer-funded jobs and weed out partisan hacks. It has been working well ever since, much to the disappointment of each new group of politicians coming to Madison who normally want to get their friends, family, and donors into state jobs.

In a statement released earlier today, Senate Democratic Leader Jennifer Shilling (D-La Crosse) said of the move:

"The repeal of civil service protections is an invitation to more corruption in a Republican administration that continues to be plagued by scandals, cronyism and special interest influence. Rather than looking for ways to tear down Wisconsin workers, we should be focused on strengthening our middle class, boosting family wages and ensuring greater retirement security."

Assembly Democratic Leader Peter Barca (D-Kenosha) said:

"This is yet another politically motivated attack on hardworking state employees. It is especially concerning that this attack on our civil service system opens the door for corruption and cronyism during an Administration rife with scandals and charges of unethical conduct. Also, this once again violates a giant promise the Governor made during Act 10 that public employees would be protected by civil service."

***

The author was one of the chief architects of the civil service selection procedures implemented by the State of Wisconsin in the 1970s and 80s, and at one time ran the State's Civil Service Testing program.

Walker leads by retreating following stunning presidential collapse. Democrats swift to rejoice, but good cheer has turned to resolve to undo the damage Walker has done to the state.

MADISON - Yielding to reality in the polls and the exit of donors, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker announced here Monday that he was withdrawing from the Republican Presidential Primary race. The move came as a surprise to few who had watched his disappointing performance in the campaign.

In his statement, Walker said "Today, I believe that I am being called to lead by helping to clear the race so that a positive conservative message can rise to the top". Like many of his other confused statements during his official 71 day campaign, it is hard to know what that means.

As little as a month ago, Walker had stood high among the potential Republican candidates. But then the first two debates forced him out from behind his shield of TV ads and staged events before rabid supporters and voters saw that he had little of substance. As of Monday his poll numbers had dropped to essentially 0% and his large donors, including the Koch brothers, were heading for the hills.

Despite Walker's stunning presidential collapse, some state Republicans appeared to harbor hopes of a comeback. Conservative radio host Charlie Sykes tweeted Monday that Walker's bow-out reminded him of when Walker dropped out of the 2006 race for Wisconsin governor: "Chose to live to fight another day."

Wisconsin Democrats were swift to rejoice. "We all let out a cheer when we heard the news that Governor Walker was dropping out of the Republican Presidential Primary," Democratic Party of Wisconsin Chair Martha Laning said in a statement. "It was gratifying to see Governor Walker's divide and conquer strategy fail this time because everyone has seen what that has done to our state."

But democratic good cheer has swiftly turned to a resolve to undo the damage Walker has done to the state as he pursued his political ambitions. "Wisconsin still has to live with the results of the extreme agenda he pushed here to further his standing in the Republican Presidential Primary", said Laning.

Wisconsin union members have been stung by Act 10 and Walker's attacks on workers have left them disheartened. Jobs have been lost to other states and abroad. Wisconsinites pay more for health insurance and the once proud BadgerCare program has been weakened. Public school funds have been diverted to private voucher schools, and the once great University of Wisconsin system has lost $250 million in funding as Walker questioned whether its' faculty was "working".

It will be interesting to see how many allies the Democrats find among Republicans in Madison, many of whom were thrown under the bus when Walker was riding high.

This week Senator Vinehout writes about a couple of the latest scams reported by the DATCP Division of Consumer Protection.  People who receive suspicious phone calls or emails should report them to Consumer Protection Investigators.

MADISON - “I got a call saying the IRS was taking me to court, but I filed everything on time. What do I do?” Linda asked. We both agreed the phone call sounded fishy, so I reached out to the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP) to learn more.

The Consumer Protection experts explained there has been an explosion in the number of IRS imposters contacting people and demanding their financial information. Tax identity theft can lead to fraudulent tax filings or use of the victim’s Social Security number.

IRS Commissioner John Koskinen stated the first contact with the IRS would be official correspondence sent through the mail. Consumer Protection officials advise never to respond to an email or phone call requesting your Social Security number or other financial information.

Every year I am reminded that scammers and thieves prey on Wisconsinites and they become more sophisticated in their tactics. It is important for everyone to know what to watch for and where to get help.

According to DATCP officials, consumer complaint statistics have been on the rise. They report that scammers and thieves have stepped up efforts to steal people’s money or identity. Sandy Chalmers, Division Administrator of Trade and Consumer Protection, noted that many citizens report, “receiving fraudulent calls offering ‘Credit Card Services’, Microsoft tech support and medical equipment.”

One of the latest scams reported by the Consumer Protection Bureau relates to people receiving emails from the “State Court”. The message falsely claims the person must appear in court on a specific date with documents related to “the case.” DATCP officials warn the email and attachments should be deleted because they contain malicious software that can infect your computer with a virus.

This scam has been reported nationwide. The general rule to know is that Wisconsin courts will not send you email unless you are participating in an electronically filed case or consent to receive electronic court notifications.

Consumer Protection officials noted the other most often reported scam is offers that sound too good to be true. Prize scams offer “official” entry numbers, certificates, and envelopes al or like telegrams to lure you into opening the envelope and returning what is inside. Internet scams offer the promise of quick cash or investment schemes.

“You can be sure you won't win any prize with a brand name, cash, or a government bond. Prizes such as jewelry and watches are junk, vacations are actually vacation certificates hardly worth the paper they're printed on, and shopping sprees amount to coupons that are good only when making purchases,” warns the Senior Alert & Advice page on the Consumer Protection website.

They also warn about the late night calls saying your debit card needs to be re-activated and asks that the card number be entered. The other type of call to be wary of is one that offers lower interest rates on mortgages or credit cards. The caller asks for a credit card number so the lower rate can be “processed.”

The bottom line on all of these types of calls is that the caller is trying to lure you into giving away personal information. The rule of thumb is if someone calls asking for your credit card or bank information over the phone, hang up and report the scam.

A few other rules the Consumer Protection folks reminded me to pass on is do not pay a handling fee or provide a credit card number or information about your savings or checking account to win an award. Also, do not wire a payment or send a check through an express courier service without checking references and contacting the Office of Consumer Protection.

Finally, if you do lose money to a fraudulent telemarketer – REPORT IT! Many people are embarrassed and do not report. That allows the swindler to victimize other people in our community. Wisconsin law has serious penalties for those who engage in such illegal behavior. The best way to protect yourself and others is to be informed and to report any suspicious phone calls or email messages. You can call 800-422-7128 to speak with a consumer protection investigator or file a complaint on-line at https://mydatcp.wi.gov/Complaints.

MADISON - The dictionary defines “twilight zone” as an “area just beyond ordinary legal and ethical limits” or alternatively as a “world of fantasy where things are not real” or a “situation or an idea that is unclear or confusing.”

All these definitions describe Wisconsin’s State Capitol and those who rule the place at the moment.

A leading Republican lawmaker who sits on the Assembly Campaigns and Elections Committee says “there’s no question” Wisconsin should dump the nonpartisan agency that oversees elections, campaign finances, lobbying and government ethics in favor of a partisan replacement modeled after the Federal Election Commission.

Republicans like state Representative Joe Sanfelippo are convinced Wisconsin’s Government Accountability Board is biased because it did its job and joined with both Democratic and Republican prosecutors to investigate suspicious election campaign conduct.

The law school at Ohio State University has singled out the GAB as anational model that should be copied by other states and Wisconsin’s largest newspaper calls it a “model for impartiality.”

Nevertheless, Sanfelippo insists “Wisconsin would be wise to follow the model of the Federal Election Commission and have state legislative leadership appoint” a new six-member board replacing the GAB.

Wise clearly means two entirely different things to Sanfelippo and the business-oriented Bloomberg news service. In an editorial published in recent days, Bloomberg said: “No agency better represents Washington’s dysfunction than the FEC.” The editorial went on to say the commission is “hopelessly and endlessly deadlocked” and noted that as the amount of money spent on campaigns has increased candidates, parties and independent groups have been allowed to stretch the law with “virtual impunity” and “the agency’s impotence has become all the more embarrassing.”

You’d think such an assessment might dampen Representative Sanfelippo’s enthusiasm for creating a state-level version of the FEC in Wisconsin. You would think wrong. Sanfelippo still fantasizes about “following the FEC prototype . . . which guarantees greater transparency and compliance for all residents and public officials.”

Representative Sanfelippo is in that fifth dimension Rod Serling always used to talk about.

At a recent Joint Audit Committee hearing, legislators asked WEDC officials if they would implement the latest LAB recommendations to improve Governor Walker’s flagship jobs creation agency. Those questions were not answered in a way that indicated WEDC would take the clearest path to improvement and building public confidence.

MADISON - “Are you going to follow the recommendations in the audit?” I asked the Board Chair of the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC). He crossed his arms, sat back and smiled at me.

A smile that, to me, said I was annoying him.

The clearest path to better outcomes at Governor Walker’s flagship jobs creation agency is to follow the recommendations of the nonpartisan Legislative Audit Bureau (LAB).

However, during a recent and very long public hearing investigating the troubled agency, I repeatedly heard obfuscation, deception and disdain for the law.

Legislators serving on the Joint Audit Committee heard familiar problems: grants and loans given without legal or financial vetting; job creation promises never verified by WEDC officials; inadequate follow-up on companies lacking adequate reports.

The third LAB audit report in three years documents that WEDC has made progress. A financial system is in place (at one time the organization lacked even an accounting system). Credit risk managers review files – some of the time. Contracts are based on requirements in the law – part of the time. Plenty of new policies exist – if only staff would consistently follow these policies.

Dan Ariens serves as the Chair of the WEDC board. It’s a new position to Mr. Ariens. He’s been on the board since the creation of WEDC, but this summer he took over as Board Chair when Governor Walker resigned that position. Mr. Ariens runs a business that manufactures snow blowers and lawn tractors. In a seemingly incestuous tangle, he also serves as Board Chair of Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce (WMC); one of the largest lobbying groups and ranks high on the list of political spending organizations.

Maybe that is why some of my colleagues were hesitant to pressure WEDC officials into a commitment to follow the law. Not so for Senator Alberta Darling.

During questioning, I pointed to the statute book – Wisconsin’s state laws – and identified page after page of laws WEDC did not follow. I asked officials how people could be confident their tax dollars were well spent when WEDC staff failed to verify whether jobs were actually created. Senator Darling followed my questioning adding, “We need to know the answers to Senator Vinehout’s questions.”

Instead lawmakers heard explanations like “we need to make the organization as fluid as possible so we’re not handcuffed by policies.” Never mind that for this quasi-public entity, “policies” serve in place of administrative rules and are designed to carry out the law.

In response to questions by Representative Berceau about contracts that did not follow the law, the Chief Legal Counsel answered, “We are not so arrogant to think the law doesn’t apply to us.” Their actions tell us otherwise.

The recent Audit Committee public hearing provided WEDC’s top brass an opportunity to turn the page. With a sincere apology, they could begin to renew the public’s faith in the organization; address poor decisions head on, improve legislative relations and gain back good will.

Instead, the CEO didn’t even attend the hearing despite the meeting being changed to accommodate his schedule. The Board Chair appeared aloof; his answers were often cagey. The Chief Legal Counsel teetered between whitewashing the truth and denying recent violations by claiming problems were in the past.

The Harvard Business Review might be somewhere in WEDC’s office. After all, the agency touts its ability to operate like a business. I’d suggest the WEDC folks take a look at the most recent issue.

Professors Schweitzer, Brooks and Galinsky offer practical guidelines for when top leadership should apologize. “The bottom line for serious transgressions: Senior leadership must immediately express candor, remorse and a commitment to change in a high profile setting – and make it sincere.”

The recent Audit Committee hearing provided a perfect opportunity for WEDC to come clean and start over. Instead, without a sincere apology, they risk more bad news and yet another scathing audit.

The economic development community wants to turn the page on WEDC’s problems. A simple, unqualified “Yes” to my question about following the LAB recommendations would be a great first step. But without a clear commitment to change and real remorse for actions, WEDC’s redemption appears doubtful.

Sitting by the window and waiting. Elderly and disabled stranded when company did not deliver rides.

MADISON - “Just how many ‘no shows’ are acceptable?” I asked Medicaid Director Kevin Moore at a recent Audit Committee Hearing. “Is 4,154 people left without a ride too many?”

Wisconsin needs a different system for getting seriously ill elderly and disabled to their medical appointments. A recent audit showed poor services provided by a private company contracted to give rides to some elderly and disabled.

A Rock County resident arranged for a wheelchair van. But the vehicle sent did not have a wheelchair lift. The wheelchair bound person missed their appointment. A developmentally disabled Dane County person walked home in a thunderstorm after being stranded at the clinic. A paralyzed Richland County resident could not get a ride to a surgery appointment.

These are just a few of the cases from a recent audit conducted by the nonpartisan Legislative Audit Bureau. Auditors wrote, “from August 2013 through June 2014, we found 4,154 instances in which transportation providers did not arrive to provide a scheduled trip and 55,320 instances in which they arrived more than 15 minutes late to take recipients to their appointments.”

The State Medicaid Director has a contract with a private St. Louis-based firm, Medical Transportation Management (MTM), to provide non-emergency medical transportation to almost 70,000 people in Wisconsin. MTM is a “broker” which organizes rides to pick up and deliver Medicaid recipients to medical appointments.

I have received many complaints from families, patients and local transportation companies. One disabled resident in Black River Falls told me about traveling in a van with no heater on a cold Wisconsin winter day. An Eau Claire woman waited more than an hour for a ride with her sick daughter. When constituents tried to complain they ended up getting the run-around.

Medical transportation companies – hired by MTM – were so discouraged that over half of them responding to an Audit Bureau survey said they were dissatisfied or strongly dissatisfied with MTM. Scheduling was one area of concern.

The audit reported on many problems, including examples of poor management. Auditors found that MTM sent faxes to transportation companies requesting a ride after the trip was supposed to be provided. They then charged the company with failing to provide the trip.

The disastrous treatment of Wisconsin transportation companies has led to a huge exodus of companies willing to provide rides for medical visits to Medicaid recipients. Prior to the brokerage system, Janet Zander testified, “Wisconsin had approximately 200 specialized medical vehicle (SMV) providers. Today, there are only about 80 providers operating in the state.” Especially hard hit are rural areas.

Mr. Moore, the Medicaid Director, testified he accepted the auditors’ recommendations and was amending the contract with MTM. “We know there are challenges that we didn’t know before the audit,” he told the committee. “We’ve taken aggressive action.” He also encouraged people to let him know if things were not working. “If we don’t know what’s wrong, we can’t fix it. If they [riders] don’t complain, we won’t know. Please call us.”

Many advocates testified that the system was not set up to succeed. “The broker is paid for all rides, regardless of whether the ride shows up or gets a rider to their destination late,” said one advocate. This system creates a “perverse incentive” that encourages MTM to skimp on providing services. When they skimp, others sometimes pick up the cost. Molly Nolte from Rock County told of services so poor the county dipped into its own limited funds to provide rides.

Ms. Zander and many other advocates told committee members that without an adequate transportation system for the elderly and disabled to get to medical appointment, more folks would end up sicker, in the hospital, with the state spending more.

“We need a complete overhaul of this system,” testified Representative Peter Barca who spearheaded efforts to approve the audit. He listed several ways in which the current system rewards MTM to discourage riders and pay for fewer rides. “We need to look at a different type of contract.”

I agree. Even majority party members of the Joint Finance Committee agree. They added a pilot study to explore a new system into the state budget. The governor vetoed the idea.

National data says letting insurers set their own rates has led to the 4th highest insurance premiums in the nation for silver plans, and cost inflation 7% to 9% higher for Wisconsinites. The average premium for a Wisconsin silver plan is $780 more per year than the national average.

STATEWIDE - The Walker’s Administration’s Office of the Commissioner of Insurance recently defended Wisconsin’s lax approach to reviewing health insurance rates, but national data refutes their claims.

According to the Milwaukee Business Journal, Deputy Insurance Commissioner Dan Schwartzer said “letting insurers set their own rates” has led to “minimal” rate increases in Wisconsin.

However, a recent report by the Commonwealth Fund found that Wisconsin had among the highest health insurance rates in the nation on the individual insurance market, and inflation rates that are well above average.

The Commonwealth Fund report found Wisconsin had the 4th highest insurance premiums in the nation for silver plans, the plans that federal government uses to calculate tax credits to make health insurance more affordable. Wisconsin also had inflation rates 9% above the national average for silver plans, and 7% above the national average for all plans on the individual market. The average premium for a Wisconsin silver plan is $780 more per year than the national average.

Citizen Action of Wisconsin has repeatedly pointed to the Walker’ Administration's lax approach to rate review as a factor in high Wisconsin health insurance costs. In June the federal government called on Wisconsin and other states to more carefully scrutinize large rate increases.

States such as Minnesota have reduced health insurance premium increases by implementing more robust rate review.

“The Walker Administration’s refusal to police excessive health insurance rates is a disaster for Wisconsinites struggling to afford rising premiums,” said Robert Kraig, Executive Director of Citizen Action of Wisconsin. “Simply allowing insurance companies to set their own rates violates the intent of the federal health care law. It’s long overdue for the Walker Administration to move beyond its endless efforts to sabotage health care reform, and take advantage of the tools available to hold health insurance companies accountable for unjustified premium hikes.”

This week Sen. Kathleen Vinehout writes about the lack of K-12 Teachers in Wisconsin.

PLUM CITY, WI - “Please sound the alarm,” Superintendent Mary Baier wrote to me. “We are not able to find people to fill positions in Wisconsin.” She needed a special education teacher and only one applicant had applied to her rural Plum City district.

When the school bells ring across Wisconsin, parents expect classrooms to be filled with qualified teachers. But a dramatic decline in education majors at university-based programs and an exodus of both newly minted and experienced teachers have left Wisconsin parents asking, “Who will teach our children?”

The “impending crisis” is here.

Schools are scrambling to find qualified teachers. For example, less than a month before school started, News 8 WKBT reported the La Crosse district needed to fill 23 positions.

Districts have done more with less for years. Existing teachers covered more classes and received cross training. Districts asked current teachers to go back to school and obtain certification in different subjects. Local schools already share many teachers, guidance counselors and other staff. Teachers move between schools, between districts and even across state lines during the course of their workweek.

Some districts use special “waivers,” or permission to bend the rules on teacher certification, allowing a district to place an unqualified teacher in a position as long as that teacher seeks proper certification.

But the teacher shortage is growing and it affects urban, suburban and rural schools.

Christine Hedstrom works in Human Resources for the Waukesha School District. She told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, “You could technically start a school year without an administrator in place, but you need to have a teacher in the classroom.”

But rural schools are particularly hard hit.

Rural schools often have fewer options and already greatly diminished choices for students. They’ve already combined, shared, downsized and cross-trained. Having a teacher in the classroom may not even be possible in some local rural classrooms.

A rural western Wisconsin district board member told me, “We are starting the school year with two positions unfilled”- one of the positions was a Spanish language teacher. “I guess we’ll have to use some type of video/distance learning option,” the board member told me. “But that’s not a good way for students to learn a language.” Spanish is the only foreign language available to students in this rural district.

When I asked folks why we had a teacher shortage, I heard several comments over and over. “Fewer students going into teaching.” “New graduates not staying in Wisconsin.” “More teachers retiring or leaving the profession.” “Teaching is no longer a valued profession.”

The Wisconsin Budget Project reported over the last eight years the number of teachers in Wisconsin public schools fell by nearly 3,000 even as school enrollment increased.

They also reported on a troubling decline in experienced teachers. "In the 2013-14 school year, teaching staff of 39% of school districts had an average of 15 or more years of experience. That share has fallen dramatically since the 2004-05 school year, when 58% of school districts has a teaching staff with an average of 15 or more years or more of experience.”

Not surprisingly, fewer students are entering the education profession. Statistics from the United States Department of Education show a dramatic drop in the number of university students learning to be teachers in Wisconsin. In 2011, 12,624 education majors were enrolled in all types of university-based programs. By 2014, this number had dropped by almost a quarter to 9,563 education majors.

Of course, in 2011, we saw the passage of anti-public employee legislation in Act 10 and the largest cut to public education in Wisconsin’s history. It’s not hard to imagine why a college student might decide to change majors following the words and actions of many elected leaders.

The future troubles many education professionals with whom I spoke. Just who will teach the children born in 2020?

“As we move forward, my largest concern is the quality of teachers. We have become a state that doesn’t value quality education. Why would anyone go into teaching?” Superintendent Baier asked.

I remind my colleagues who voted for Act 10 and the budgets that created this problem just what my mother told me eons ago as I answered that first school bell.

Actions have consequences.

LA CROSSE, WI - With the ringing of school bells and the roar of high school football games, students across Wisconsin are heading back to class. But in many classrooms, the start of school is also marked by the rumbling of empty stomachs.

Amid all of the headlines about state budget cuts and teacher shortages, many schools are struggling to deal with the challenge of student hunger. It is a crisis that has worsened dramatically over the past several years as participation rates for free and reduced school meals have skyrocketed. Over 350,000 Wisconsin children, more than 43 percent of all students, now qualify for free and reduced meals.

Schools and communities across Wisconsin are doing their best to address this issue despite declining state support. Many parents, teachers and local businesses have stepped up to organize their own school meal programs, stock student food pantries and supply backpacks with meals for children struggling with hunger at home.

The community efforts being undertaken to combat student hunger are commendable, but they are a sign of the larger economic and financial challenges facing our state. Combined with Wisconsin’s shrinking middle class and the decline in family wages, state budget cuts to school funding are having a noticeable impact.

One proposal to help address the crisis of student hunger was recently introduced by Rep. Andy Jorgensen (D-Milton) and Sen. Janis Ringhand (D-Evansville). Commonly referred to as the “Food for Thought Act,” Assembly Bill 234 seeks to increase school breakfast program enrollment and provide more children with access to a quality meal. Given the well-established correlation between hunger and low academic achievement, the “Food for Thought Act” is helping to spark a much-needed discussion about this important topic.

It’s clear that we need to take a close look at how student funding cuts and increasing poverty rates are affecting classroom learning. Instead of taking more resources away from Wisconsin children, we must work together to invest in local schools, reduce student hunger and improve student achievement.

For too long, Republicans have prioritized tax cuts for the wealthy at the expense of funding for our schools and communities. In recent months, Gov. Walker’s presidential ambitions have overshadowed the real challenges facing families and distracted from our ability to find solutions to this growing crisis.

It is high time we focus on the important issues affecting Wisconsin families and local schools. Together, we can work to end childhood hunger in Wisconsin and provide all hardworking students the opportunity to succeed.

Jennifer Shilling serves as the Senate Democratic Leader and represents the 32nd District which covers La Crosse, Vernon, Crawford and parts of Monroe County.