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Wisconsin Democracy Campaign in the News!

Posted by Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, Matt Rothschild
Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, Matt Rothschild
Matt Rothschild is the Executive Director of the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, a
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on Friday, 23 September 2016
in Wisconsin

scott-walker-clapsWe decided to file a formal IRS complaint against Wisconsin Club for Growth, alleging it violated its nonprofit status, after reading the blockbuster revelations in The Guardian about Scott Walker and his flagrant coordination with the group.


MADISON - We’ve been in the news a lot this week!

The reason: After reading the blockbuster story in The Guardian about Scott Walker and his flagrant coordination with Wisconsin Club for Growth, we decided to file a formal IRS complaint against Wisconsin Club for Growth. We allege that it violated its nonprofit status in a couple ways, as you’ll see here:

wcfg WDC files complaint with IRS against Wisconsin Club for Growth

And speaking of that Guardian story, we summarized the essence of it here:

Walker’s laundry operation: Six takeaways from The Guardian story on Walker

One reason we’re looking to the IRS in Washington for some accountability is because there’s no accountability to be found here in Wisconsin, in part because of our corrupt Wisconsin Supreme Court. This week, we wrote about one of the justices who has been tainted by outside money:

Conflicted supreme court justice plans reelection

Lastly, our friends over at the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin are looking for volunteers to help them monitor the November 8 elections. Their election observers will be on guard for any signs of people being disenfranchised. If you’d like to sign up to be trained as an election observer, just click here:

Take 2 minutes to sign up online.

Thanks for your interest in all our work and that of our allies.

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How to Fund Roads: A Balancing Act

Posted by Kathleen Vinehout, State Senator 31st District
Kathleen Vinehout, State Senator 31st District
Kathleen Vinehout of Alma is an educator, business woman, and farmer who is now
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on Tuesday, 20 September 2016
in Wisconsin

highway-const-zooGov. Walker and Secretary Gottlieb introduced their transportation budget proposal last week and funding it will be the biggest issue facing our state in the upcoming budget. Sen Kathleen Vinehout offers some new twists on the Governor’s plan for saving money and providing better support for local governments.


MADISON - Funding roads is an important job for state leaders. Nine cents of every state budget dollar goes towards transportation. In the vagaries of Wisconsin state budgeting, this includes dollars the feds send Wisconsin (about forty cents of every road dollar comes from Uncle Sam).

A prudent fiscal manager must balance several factors to make wise transportation decisions. He or she must maintain our current investments, plan for future growth, pay scrupulous attention to efficiency and quality construction, and reconcile spending with revenue.

In short, a prudent transportation budget is a balancing act.

Recently Governor Walker and Secretary of Transportation Mark Gottlieb released a 2017-19 transportation budget proposal. In this proposal, major interstate construction projects are delayed, causing some to claim harm to Southeast Wisconsin.

This new proposal is a departure from record borrowing levels seen in the last budget. An increase for local government road funding is a welcomed sight too.

For many years, big interstate construction projects in Southeast Wisconsin took a larger slice of the road budget. Past budgets froze funding for local roads while maintenance costs increased.

To make matters worse for local governments, majority lawmakers passed a law forbidding cooperation between counties. Lost efficiencies and rising costs meant locals were left with two choices: borrow or cut back on maintenance. Some did both.

Over the years, prior governors pushed to eliminate state transportation workers. Fewer employees resulted in private firms replacing state workers, often at higher cost.

In budget year 1987-88, spending on private construction engineers was only 8% of all construction-engineering costs. Ten years later, spending jumped to a third of all dollars spent on private construction engineers. By fiscal year 2009-10, three quarters of all spending on construction engineers went to private firms.

Data I analyzed from a 2009 limited-scope review by the nonpartisan Legislative Audit Bureau (LAB) showed a 68% cost increase per project over five years for projects that involved private engineering consultants.

Further, a 2009 report to the State Engineering Association found outside consultants didn’t save the state money; in some cases, private engineering firms cost up to 19% more than in-house state engineers.

I strongly support the move to fund our local roads along with smarter transportation spending. Let’s look for efficiency in-house. An easy first step is passing my bill to repeal the 2011 law forbidding local governments from collaborating on transportation projects.

No one can deny the money funneling into our Transportation Fund, largely gas tax and motor vehicle registration fees, has not kept up with the cost of maintaining our roads and bridges.

Governor Walker is ideologically opposed to raising taxes or fees, yet knows our transportation budget lacks the revenue needed. The prudent executive should not let ideology cloud important financial decisions. Some road delays may be in order, but cutting back on construction already in progress comes with a price tag.

User fees acknowledge the cost to maintain and improve services. For example, the state owns, or is a substantial owner of, over 700 miles of freight rail. In a previous budget, Secretary Gottlieb proposed charging a $10-a-rail-car fee for use of taxpayer-funded rail lines. The Governor failed to take up this modest charge. Taxpayers – you and me – continue to subsidize railroads use of our state-owned lines.

The release of the transportation budget is only the beginning of a long process. Budget debates in Madison will begin in earnest next spring and likely culminate with the passage of the 2017-19 budget by July.

Earlier this year the Joint Committee on Audit (of which I am ranking minority member) took the important step of directing the resources of the LAB toward a comprehensive audit of the Department of Transportation. I expect the release of this audit to coincide with the spring budget debate. The audit will add important nonpartisan information to our decision making process.

The transportation budget will be the biggest decision we face next year. Take some time to engage in this critical debate. We all have a stake in transportation – and we all must work together to find solutions.

Here’s to safe traveling!

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Put Government Back In The Hands Of The People

Posted by Russ Feingold
Russ Feingold
Russ Feingold is known for his independence, his honesty and his work ethic on b
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on Sunday, 18 September 2016
in Wisconsin

scott-walker-signs-voterid“Corporations. Go heavy after them to give. Take Koch’s money. Get on a plane to Vegas and sit down with Sheldon Adelson. Ask for $1m now.” - The Guardian, September 14


MIDDLETON, WI - Nobody benefitted more from Citizens United than the Koch brothers and two Wisconsin Republicans: Governor Scott Walker and Senator Ron Johnson.

ron-johnsonThis we‌ek, a story published in The Guardian showed just how deep the corruption goes. The story cites multiple instances of pay-for-play governing, straight from Scott Walker's desk. Billionaires and corporations cut checks to dark money groups supporting Republicans, then Governor Walker turned around and pushed for legislation that'd make life easier for these billionaires and their businesses.

After the Supreme Court's lawless Citizens United decision, the Koch brothers set their sights on Wisconsin. The tea party wave in 20‌10 helped them scoop up the governor's mansion, their "model legislator" in Ron Johnson, and a state legislature ready to do their bidding. Through the offices of Scott Walker and Ron Johnson, they've attacked the rights of just about everyone in Wisconsin: public sector employees, women, students, people of color, and many more. They've even attacked the right to vote.

The Kochs chose Wisconsin as their battleground for a reason: We have a long history of progressivism, clean elections, and clean government. They knew that if they could buy politicians here, they could do it anywhere.

Since 2010, the Koch brothers have spent over $4‌4 million in Wisconsin to buy elections for Republicans who'd rig the political system in their favor. Governor Walker and my opponent, Senator Johnson, have repeatedly shown that they'll always side with their billionaire backers over the Wisconsinites they were elected to serve.

But come Nov‌ember, that's going to change. If we work together, we can win this election -- and that's just the beginning. We're going to take our democracy out of the hands of corporations, multimillionaires, and special interest groups and put it where it belongs: Back in the hands of the people.

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Republican AG May Investigate Leak of John Doe Documents

Posted by Bob Kiefert, Green Bay Progressive
Bob Kiefert, Green Bay Progressive
Bob Kiefert is the Publisher of the Northeast Wisconsin - Green Bay Progressive.
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on Friday, 16 September 2016
in Wisconsin

walker-recallJust weeks before the U.S. Supreme Court is set to review the Wisconsin decision that squashed the investigation, Republicans scramble over 'the apparent violation of the secrecy orders'.


MADISON, WI - Attorney General Brad Schimel is considering investigating the recent leak of sealed documents from the halted John Doe investigation into Gov. Scott Walker’s recall campaign.

The Guardian US, an arm of the British-based newspaper, on Wednesday posted more than 1,300 documents related to the investigation into whether Walker’s recall campaign circumvented state campaign finance law. The documents were supposed to be held under seal by a Wisconsin Supreme Court order, which previously had ordered them destroyed.

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, and other top Assembly Republicans had asked Schimel to consider appointing a special prosecutor to investigate “this apparent violation” of the Supreme Court’s order and state law earlier in the day.

But, why all the concern about documents from an investigation that Gov. Scott Walker has repeatedly claimed was ‘baseless’?

The documents posted Wednesday provide the most complete record yet of how Walker raised millions of dollars for a supposedly independent, tax-exempt group during the 2011 and 2012 recalls — activity that prompted the John Doe investigation. Walker, Assembly Republicans, and several of the Supreme Court Justices themselves directly benefited from the campaign activities of that very same group.

brad_schimelSchimel “is very concerned about the apparent violation of the secrecy orders issued by the court in this case, and is currently reviewing the available options to address the serious legal questions raised by the leak and publication of these sealed documents,” Schimel’s spokesman Johnny Koremenos said in an email to the Wisconsin State Journal.

“Should this potential crime go unprosecuted it runs the risk of undermining the integrity of our courts and judicial system,” said Vos in a letter Thursday to Schimel.

But Republican lawmakers — including Vos — have not previously publicly called for an investigation into apparent leaks to other publications, including the Wall Street Journal’s conservative editorial page.

For example, Wisconsin Club for Growth director Eric O’Keefe acknowledged in 2014 in an interview with conservative radio show host Vicki McKenna that the subpoena he received during the 2012 John Doe investigation included a gag order, which if violated could result in a contempt of court ruling.

Later Thursday, at another stop in the state, Walker said he is no longer raising money for Wisconsin Club for Growth, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.

The document disclosures come just weeks before the U.S. Supreme Court is set to consider a petition by prosecutors to overturn the Wisconsin Supreme Court 4-2 decision quashing the investigation.

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Ron Johnson Senate Hearing Will Showcase Sabotage of Affordable Health Care

Posted by Citizen Action of Wisconsin, Robert Kraig
Citizen Action of Wisconsin, Robert Kraig
Robert Kraig is Executive Director, Citizen Action of Wisconsin, 221 S. 2nd St.,
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on Thursday, 15 September 2016
in Wisconsin

ron-johnsonWitnesses include Walker Administration insurance bureaucrat who is part of efforts to undermine access to affordable health care in Wisconsin.


WASHINGTON, DC - This morning Senator Ron Johnson, Chair of the Senate Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs Committee, will hold a hearing on the state of health insurance markets. Observers of health policy expect the hearing to try and build support for repealing the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

Senator Johnson, an arch opponent of guaranteed affordable health care, is expected to use the hearing to advance his desire to return to the days when insurance companies profited through discrimination based on preexisting conditions, age, and gender. Johnson will likely claim that big for profit insurance companies pulling out of ACA marketplaces is a reason to repeal health care reform, rather than for holding those highly profitable corporations accountable. At least one health insurance company is pulling out in retaliation for the Obama Administration enforcement of the nation’s antitrust laws.

One of the challenges in implementing the ACA continues to be conservative state officials who are willing to use their power to undermine access to affordable health care for their own constituents. These actions include rejecting coverage for low income residents and enabling for profit insurance companies to continue to profit by selling policies to healthy people and avoiding those with health conditions.

The first witness on Sen. Johnson’s hearing notice is Wisconsin Deputy Insurance Commissioner J.P. Wieske, who had been one of the leaders in Governor Scott Walker’s efforts to sabotage the health care reform law.

The record of actions the Walker Administration is long and troubling. Here is a sampling:

  • The Walker Administration made Wisconsin the only state in the Great Lakes region to reject enhanced Medicaid dollars, kicking 77,000 people off the state’s BadgerCare program. New research shows that states like Wisconsin who refused Medicaid dollars forced more people with health conditions onto the ACA marketplace, increasing premiums by about 7%.

  • The Wisconsin Insurance commissioner sought a waiver from the rule that health insurance companies spend at least 80% of premiums on medical care, the so called 80/20 rule.

  • The Wisconsin Insurance Commissioner allowed health insurance corporations to game the system by allowing the continued sale of substandard lemon plans, which according to research by Milliman, Academy of Actuaries, and Rand Corporation, increase ACA marketplace premiums by up to 10% by allowing insurance companies to continue to cherry pick healthier customers. There are as many as 45,000 Wisconsinites on these so-called transitional plans. These skimpy plans also are dangerous for customers who face serious medical conditions.

  • The Wisconsin Insurance commissioner has been extremely lax on health insurance rate review, failing to find a single health insurance industry rate request to be excessive in 5 years. The Walker Administration has been an advocate of “file and use,” strongly opposing legislation that would require the health insurance corporations to prove rate increases are justified. More vigorous rate review has reduced premiums in other states.

  • The Wisconsin Insurance Commissioner put unnecessary and burdensome restrictions on health insurance navigators not required by federal law, of the kind that were thrown out by a federal court in Missouri. This likely raised premiums by reducing enrollment in ACA marketplace plans.

It is deeply troubling that conservative politicians like Senator Johnson see the continued efforts of the big health insurance corporations to deny coverage to people with health conditions as an opportunity to undermine health reform. Now that big insurance is working actively to sabotage a system designed to guarantee them customers, it is long overdue that we return to the idea of robust public option. A public option would hold big health insurance accountable by giving health consumers a choice and taking away their leverage to abandon whole parts of the country just to jack up their already swelling profit margins.

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