Progressive Thinking

MADISON - On Tuesday, I went to UW-Milwaukee to give a lecture about an under-appreciated aspect of our undemocratic system: the disenfranchisement of prisoners and former prisoners. In researching this talk, I discovered just how blatantly racist the policy has always been:

Felon disenfranchisement, then and now

In our never-ending sorrow at the demise of the Government Accountability Board, our worst fears have been confirmed: Partisans from both sides are being appointed to the new state ethics and elections commissions. This week, it was Peter Barca’s turn:

Barca’s appointees contributed $107K to Democrats

And as we look back at the legislative session, one hypocrisy jumped out at us. Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce talks all the time about the need for a highly educated workforce, but it didn’t put any of its money where its mouth is:

WMC, business groups AWOL on higher ed bills

Two announcements:

--If you’re in Madison at the Dane County Farmers' Market on Saturday, please stop by our booth at the southwest corner of the Square (W Main and S Hamilton Sts. across from Inn on the Park). I’ll be there with Madison activist Bert Zipperer from 8:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. {Reminder: there is road construction on the northside of the Square}

--And if you’re in the Sun Prairie area Saturday afternoon, the Sun Prairie Action Resource Coalition (SPARC) will host a public meeting from 12-3 pm at the Westside Community Service Building at 2598 W. Main St. I'll be speaking around 2 p.m. Topic: “The Assault on Democracy in Wisconsin” (or, “Where Do I Start?”).

Hope to see you soon.

MIDDLETON, WI - The opioid crisis is a tragedy that ravages our communities, and it should never be a partisan issue. Addiction is a disease that we have to address comprehensively – that means treatment, prevention, and education.

So I am encouraged that leaders like Sen. Tammy Baldwin are fighting for bipartisan solutions that prioritize treatment & recovery, expand access to naloxone, and seek to strengthen monitoring of prescription medications.

What we cannot do is repeat the failures of the war on drugs. We can’t wish the problem away. More of our leaders need to step up to work in a bipartisan manner to provide our communities with the resources that our families truly need in order to reach those afflicted by this crisis. This is a public health emergency and must be treated as such.

State budget cuts have forced UW Extension administrators to rethink their commitment to 100-years of county-based services, putting at risk such popular programs as 4H. County boards are passing resolutions calling for the UW President and Board of Regents to reject the plan.

MENOMONIE, WI - “We can’t do more with less,” UW Extension Regional Director Julie Keown-Bomar told people gathered at a recent Menomonie meeting. “We have to do less with less. We cannot be the same cooperative extension service that we used to be.”

The news hit hard. Downcast eyes, people with hands over their mouth, and long pauses after Julie asked the group for questions.

Julie explained how budget cuts forced UW Extension administrators to rethink their commitment to 100-years of county-based services. Wisconsin has a valuable partnership between the UW System and local counties.

Under the “Multicounty Reorganization Plan”, new regions would be created. Many staff would move or lose their jobs. Forty open positions would not be filled and another 40 would be cut. Some staff may remain local but a lot seemed to depend on the ability of counties to pay for lost state funding.

Local programs and support are at risk.

Farmers and rural residents rely on UW Extension for many services. Generations of youth explored life-changing opportunities and developed their skills through 4H projects. A multitude of pest, crop and disease crises were averted through the work of local Ag agents who provided immediate communication between UW experts in Madison and farmers hundreds of miles away. Family living and economic development services affected every community.

Counties invest heavily in extension. Locals are not happy with what they see as a “top-down” process. For example, Buffalo County recently passed a resolution, calling the planning process “flawed, not transparent… reorganization plan imposes a drastic and reckless change…” The board calls on UW Extension administration to retract the plan and “engage Counties/Tribes as equal partners.”

Dunn County passed a different resolution, calling for Dunn to be the hub of a region to include Eau Claire and Chippewa counties. Being a hub would put resources in Menomonie. It was unclear how to accomplish this with Eau Claire and Chippewa residents likely wanting the same.

Dunn County Supervisors at the meeting expressed concern about supervision of Extension staff through county board committees. One board member said, “We now have monthly meetings with staff. How do we maintain relationships? Now we have constant feedback. That will soften.”

Julie’s answer was not comforting. “Reality is things will change,” she said, “There is a sense of loss and [loss of] a really good relationship.”

Most of us take for granted services that have existed for a century. Few realized deep cuts to the UW System could mean no local staff person to help organize 4H clubs or provide support for county fairs - so much a staple of Wisconsin rural life.

Julie told the crowd, “People didn’t know Extension was connected to the UW.” She added, “If anything, this budget has taught us that people’s first entry into the UW System is a [county] fair or 4H.”

Cuts to the UW System are deep. Majority lawmakers voted last summer to make $250 million in cuts to the UW System’s base budget. Cuts came on top of tuition freezes and many prior losses of state support. Every UW campus is struggling with fewer staff, programs, and money for maintenance and facilities.

For some in the Menomonie audience, cuts to the UW System had seemed distant. Until they realized this could mean an end to 4H, as we know it now.

I talked with local residents after the meeting. A Menomonie schoolteacher who asked about youth being a part of the decision-making told me, “I’m tired of going to meetings that feel like wakes.”

One supervisor summed up things best, “We’re just not investing our resources in the right places. The general public is not paying attention. They don’t realize what’s happening until it touches them.”

As I left, I admired the youth art hanging in the halls. I walked past a conference room bustling with noisy, happy adolescent girls working together. The sign on the door said “Horse Project 4H Meeting.”

I wondered if any of the girls or their parents knew of the meeting I attended about cuts affecting a program about which they are passionate. If they had the opportunity to choose a budget priority, would they have chosen differently?

MIDDLETON, WI - Women have played an invaluable role in growing and strengthening Wisconsin’s economy; their hard work, dedication and ingenuity have built strong families, businesses and communities. Yet, women still lack the legal protection to guarantee the pay they deserve.

Equal Pay Day marks how far into the year women on average have to work to catch up to men’s earnings from the previous year. Women in Wisconsin still earn only 79 cents for every dollar a man earns, and we clearly have much more work to do to ensure that women and their families have every opportunity to succeed. We not only need equal pay legislation, but we must also raise the minimum wage, guarantee paid family leave, and ensure access to quality, affordable women’s healthcare -- including access to reproductive care.

Unlike my opponent, the incumbent senator, who believes that equal pay legislation does “more harm than good,” I firmly believe that we must do more to ensure that all of Wisconsin’s women are able to fight pay discrimination. All of the hardworking women in Wisconsin and across the country deserve the respect and dignity of their work.

The yearly nonpartisan Legislative Audit Bureau (LAB) review of state agencies, known as the Single Audit, was recently released and like a football game film it's a good place to evaluate performance. You might say, after watching the game film, experts gave Wisconsin a failing grade.

MADISON - When the game is over the coaches go into the film room to see where the breakdown was in play execution. The best game plan in the world is not any good if the team does not execute it.

The “game film” for the State of Wisconsin was recently released. This is a good place to start for anyone evaluating the state’s performance.

Every year the nonpartisan Legislative Audit Bureau (LAB) conducts a review of state agencies. Known as the Single Audit, auditors examine Wisconsin’s financial accounting of federal dollars.

State computer systems are a bit like the football team’s offensive line. These systems do the grunt work so the star players can score.

Computer systems must work well for everyone else in state government to do their job. Watching the film – or in this case reading the audit – I learned about computer problems so great that the details, according to the LAB, “were too sensitive to communicate publically.” In other words, by describing the problems, auditors would open the state up to more problems making it easier to “maliciously” expose personal data of employees and students’ information, and deliberately introducing financial misstatements or fraudulent payments.

Auditors found significant deficiencies in computer systems run by the Department of Administration (DOA) and systems run by the University of Wisconsin (UW).

With so many potential holes in the offensive line, it is no surprise our quarterback has been sacked an awful lot.

A key role of the state is oversight. The “watchdog” role is critical. Watching over health facilities, including nursing homes, and hospitals, is one job of the Department of Health Services (DHS). Audits found DHS officials identified problems at health facilities but failed to refer any of the two years’ worth of cases of caregiver misconduct to the Department of Justice for prosecution. When asked why, the department blamed staff turnover.

That’s like saying we forgot to tell the new blocker to block!

Auditors found the DHS did not have proper procedures in place to stop improper use of federal money in “Money Follows the Person”, a program to help people move from nursing homes to the community. Errors were so great, auditors “qualified” – in auditor language – their opinion of the program.

You might say, after watching game film, experts gave a failing grade.

At the Department of Administration, auditors reported many problems with the administration of two programs to provide housing and other local assistance. Auditors found improper payments; contracts not properly executed; a backlog of incomplete monitoring activities and required site visits not completed. Required performance and evaluation reports had not been done for at least two years.

These findings are disturbingly similar to those auditors found at Wisconsin’s Economic Development Corporation (WEDC). Ironically, the Governor moved one of these programs from WEDC to the Department of Administration at insistence from the feds because previously the state was not following federal requirements.

Watching the film – or reading the audit – I was struck by repeat bad performance.

Almost two-thirds of the auditors’ recommendations were made in previous Single Audits.

If mistakes are not fixed, the team is never going to get better. Persistent problems lead to penalties – in football and state government.

For example, an estimated $62 million in federal funds since 2003 had to be sent back to the federal government because of improper actions taken by the Department of Administration.

The first goal of government is getting the job done right. Proper training, policies and procedures, oversight, competence, accuracy, and compliance all matter.

A few months ago, the Governor created a new Governor’s Commission on Government Reform, Efficiency and Performance. Commission members would do well to start by watching the film.

If the front line does not perform, the quarterback is sacked, the running back loses yards, and the coach is fired.