Progressive Thinking

Sen. Kathleen Vinehout is working on a bill to restore the ability of people to cross railroad lines to access public lands. Laws meant to protect energy providers from protesters are being felt by folks who cross over land to access public areas, such as fisherman along the Mississippi River. A new Republican bill (AB 547) could make matters worse.

LA CROSSE, WI - One of the best spots to ice fish is south of Alma just down the dugway from Carrol Iberg’s rural home.

Down there “ice fishing is really good,” Mr. Iberg told me. He fished five days a week and caught mostly pan fish, and a few northern and bass.

To get to one of the most accessible ice fishing areas around, just south of the power plant, you have to cross the railroad tracks.

The rail is owned by BNSF. The company is exerting its authority to enforce a trespassing law by hiring railroad “police” to guard the track.

Mr. Iberg did not think much of a black Tahoe parked along the highway when he went fishing. However, he was surprised when a uniformed “state trooper-looking” person with a gun on his hip threatened him. The rail “police” said Mr. Iberg was trespassing on railroad property by crossing the tracks to get to his fishing hole.

“What bothers me about this,” he said to me. “It’s something I’ve done all my life.”

I asked how long he has fished here. “Approximately 68 years. And I’m 75. My Dad took me and my brother here forever.” He asked me if I thought he had an “adverse possession” claim on the land – like farmers who farmed the same land for 20 years even though the land technically belonged to a neighbor.

I am not sure about the “adverse possession” claim, but threatening Mr. Iberg for ice fishing is going too far.

Rail lines run all along the Mighty Mississippi on Wisconsin’s west coast. For generations, anglers, birders, hikers, hunters and other outdoors enthusiasts crossed the tracks to get to publically owned – and otherwise inaccessible – land.

Long ago, when the rail line was built, people say all kinds of easements and agreements were put in place to assure locals kept access to the lands on the other side of the tracks.

Now the railroad is acting to cut off access to 230 miles of Mississippi River backwater and public lands by enforcing a 2005 law that eliminated the right of the public to cross the tracks.

A bill written by Representative Nerison, and others including myself, would return the law to its pre-2005 language. Rep. Nerison, in testimony at a recent hearing, told lawmakers the bill would restore public access to over 100 state-owned properties.

George Meyer, representing the Wisconsin Wildlife Federation, testified public properties accessible only by crossing rail lines include state, county and national forests, US Fish and Wildlife refuges, hatcheries, boat access areas, state parks and “scores of other public properties owned by local units of government.“

The railroad lobbyist testified, “safety is the primary reason, but not the only reason we oppose the bill…it also creates opportunities for the many groups who protest crude by rail and other hazardous goods moved by rail.”

Concerns about protesters evidently led power, gas and transmission companies to lobby for another law to penalize trespassers; including prison time.

I told Mr. Iberg he should know Assembly Bill 547 would make trespassing on power company land a felony – with a $10,000 fine and maximum imprisonment of six years.

“How can they enforce this?” He asked. “When they built the power plant... They pleaded with us to sign on to allow them to put a turnaround [in the public land]… they wanted us to say it was OK to put in the [coal train] turnaround. They were still going to let us fish [inside the circular track.]”

During Senate debate, I explained the Alma power plant is very close to prime ice fishing public land. Inadvertent trespassing on power plant land should not land ice anglers in prison. But it wasn’t until I spoke with Mr. Iberg that I realized the power company built ON public land and prime fishing holes were INSIDE the power company’s circular tracks.

“What happened to America the Land of the Free?” I asked Mr. Iberg. “Exactly” he said. “There’s no use in living by a river if you can’t use it.”

That would be OUR River, and OUR public lands. Or it used to be.

MADISON – On Friday, Gov. Scott Walker’s Department of Corrections Secretary Ed Wall resigned as the investigation of potential abuse of youth at the Copper Lake and Lincoln Hills schools moves on to the FBI.

I am appalled by the latest revelations of child abuse and sexual assault that occurred in Gov. Walker’s Department of Corrections. Sec. Wall’s resignation doesn’t change the fact that Gov. Walker and his top aides ignored critical safety warnings for more than four years.

Rather than covering up Gov. Walker’s failure to act, the Legislature should immediately assert its oversight authority and hold hearings on the safety and treatment of children at Lincoln Hills. Democrats have introduced a series of Correction Reform measures that remain stalled in Republican legislative committees.

In addition to holding officials accountable, we need to address the serious safety and security concerns at Gov. Walker's correctional facilities and immediately pass these reform measures.

Walker flees the angry crowd in Madison to sign bill undermining "Merit System" into law at private sector temporary help giant Manpower. Many employees fear Walker wants to take action against "recall signers". Democrats contend the bill will open the door to cronyism.

APPLETON, WI - Gov. Scott Walker plans to sign a Republican-backed bill to overhaul Wisconsin's civil service system in this northeastern Wisconsin city on Friday, far from Madison and the thousands of state workers angered by his action.

Walker's office says the GOP governor is scheduled to sign the bill into law at Manpower Group in Appleton. The location is choice, since Walker made Manpower a favorite source of temporary help to replace civil service employees during his two terms as Milwaukee County Executive.

The bill eliminates job applicant exams, centralizes hiring decisions within the governor's Madison Department of Administration, does away with bumping rights that have given more experienced workers first call on remaining jobs during layoffs and allows agencies to keep new hires on probation for up to two years before they can receive regular employee status. Until now, new employees were in probationary status for six months before their boss had to make the final decision to hire them.

The bill also adds a definition of just cause for termination and lists infractions that would result in immediate firing. These provisions would add nothing new in actual practice, since state employees committing serious infractions have been subject to immediate termination for just cause for many years.

Walker has been outspoken in his support of the proposal, claiming efficiency as his motivation. However, many employees fear Walker wants the power to take action against so-called "recall signers", meaning the thousands of state employees among the nearly 1 million Wisconsinites who signed the petition to recall the governor during his first term.

Democrats contend the bill will open the door to cronyism within state agencies.

“By dismantling our state’s civil service system, Governor Walker and legislative Republicans are kicking down the door for cronyism and corruption in Wisconsin," said Assembly Democratic Leader Peter Barca (D-Kenosha) on Friday. “The civil service system was founded on the idea that state employees should serve the public interest, not partisan political interests. Republicans have made it clear they will stop at nothing to consolidate their own power while rewarding their cronies with taxpayer-funded jobs."

Early in his administration Governor Walker was caught in a couple prominent situations where he placed allies in key positions with thin to no qualifications. Back during his Milwaukee County days, Walker was also known to place key aides into "holding" positions to draw large salaries. This law will make it easier to more broadly do this unencumbered by the rules.

Additionally, Walker used this approach at WEDC, where he eliminated civil service for hiring staff and we saw continuous problems with turnover and ethically questionable conduct with potential pay to play and taxpayer funds at risk.

"Republicans want to make that (the WEDC) the model for our entire state", concludes Barca. "This is truly a dark day for Wisconsin’s proud heritage of clean, open and transparent government.”

http://newiprogressive.com/images/stories/S5/mining_wisconsin_senate_s5.jpgAB 723 limiting the ability of towns and counties to issue local IDs, AB 868 the "Mark Harris bill" prohibiting legislators from simultaneously holding the office of county executive, bills to siphon more of our taxpayer dollars away from our public schools, maneuverings in the Wisconsin Supreme Court, and more attacks on local control are just a few.

MADISON - I’ve spent a lot of time at the Capitol this week, and it’s a real disaster area!

The Republican leadership is ramming through lots of bills that are bad for democracy and the common good.

I was up there Wednesday testifying against a bill, AB 723, that would limit the ability of towns and counties to issue local IDs. Here’s my testimony:

WDC testimony opposing AB 723, regulating photo ID cards issued by local units of government

While I was waiting to testify on that one, I also gave impromptu testimony against a bill -- AB868-- pushed by Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald to prohibit legislators from simultaneously holding the office of county executive. I said the voters ought to be able to decide that one for themselves, and I noted that many legislators have other jobs, including as mayors or county board members.

On Tuesday, I went to the Senate gallery to watch them debate a bill, SB 295, that would, for all practical purposes, block voter registration drives. Here’s the alert we sent out on this one:

Wisconsin  Republicans try to crush voter registration drives

Also this week, Speaker Robin Vos has been trying to siphon more of our taxpayer dollars away from our public schools and into the lap of the owners of voucher schools. We show you the money behind this shell game:

Who is behind more $$ for voucher schools?

We also have been keeping an eye on the maneuverings in the Wisconsin Supreme Court to see whether the three district attorneys who joined the case will be allowed to appeal the court’s horrendous John Doe decision to the U.S. Supreme Court. There’s an effort by lawyers – including one who is now famous for his role in the Netflix documentary “Making a Murderer”—to have Attorney General Brad Schimel try to quash it, which we wrote about twice:

Is Brad Schimel ace in the hole for John Doe opponents?
Schimel angles for an invite to block John Doe

And speaking of the Wisconsin Supreme Court, we’ve updated our database on the contributions to the candidates running to get on that bench next Tuesday:

Supreme Court campaign updated (If you want to find out who has been giving to which candidate, just click on the candidate’s name once you open that link. There are links to "issue" ads and special interest spending as well.)

And while we’re still on the subject of the state supreme court race, please keep your eyes peeled and your ears to the ground for any advertisement you see on TV or hear on the radio – or any mailing you get or billboard you see encounter – from outside groups.

One way to do so is to go to our Hijack Hotline on our website or by using this url:
http://www.wisdc.org/index.php?module=wisdc.websiteforms&cmd=hijackhotline

Or you could send us an email at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , describing the ad and where you saw it.

That’s how we keep track of all the outside money!

Thanks for your help.

Assembly Bill 554 does away with the mandatory referendum now required prior to the sale of public water and sewer systems to private companies. It comes at the request of the out of state company Aqua America, which has a poor record of providing services in several other states.

MADISON - “Keep private water companies OUT of Wisconsin,” Glory Adams of Eau Claire wrote. She wants to stop a bill that would allow cities to sell water and sewer systems to out-of-state companies without even a community vote.

Assembly Bill 554, introduced by Rep. Tyler August (R - Lake Geneva), would do away with the mandatory citizen referendum prior to the sale of public water and sewer utilities. It would also eliminate the ban on selling to out-of-state companies.

The bill is moving quickly. It passed the full Assembly and a Senate committee in a few weeks. All that’s needed for final passage is a full Senate vote.

In a follow-up conversation, Glory said AB 554 scares her. “Look at the company that wants to get in. Their record is abysmal.”

I learned Representative Tyler August introduced the bill at the request of a company called Aqua America that does have an “abysmal” record.

Lee Bergquist of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that Representative August wrote the bill after Aqua America approached him. Mr. Berquist reported the company met first with the Public Service Commission (PSC) and was told that 161 Wisconsin public utilities had operating losses in 2014. Presumably, these financially strapped cities might make good Aqua America customers.

Aqua America has a long list of problems. Bruce Murphy of Urban Milwaukee recently wrote, “There has been 170 instances since 2005 where Aqua North Carolina did not comply with state and federal laws regarding contamination levels, and customers there have complained about poor water quality, dry wells, high rates and subpar service.”

Mr. Murphy described problems in Texas where customers were required to boil water; Pennsylvania where customers saw rates rise from $153 to $707; Florida where Aqua charged residents twice as much as neighboring local water utilities. Serious problems in Florida included many violations and consumer complaints that water “was smelly, discolored, contaminated and undrinkable.”

Senator Lasee offered arguments for the bill in a public hearing: “We want to give our local partners one more tool in the toolbox to budget prudently, protect taxpayers, and take advantage of the open market principles which are driving down tax and energy costs around the nation. We can realize the same benefits of the free market innovation here in Wisconsin.”

I found no evidence the sale of a public water utility to a private company lowered rates or provided higher quality service.

“I’m really concerned people will think this won’t happen in Wisconsin,” Glory Adams told me. “The problem is, they’ve taken so much away from the DNR and they’ve changed so many rules.”

She continued, “I get really concerned the PSC would be voting to approve these sales. Look at the members of the PSC, they are all appointed by the governor.”

The PSC does play a critical role in the sale of public utilities. Under current law, a city that wanted to sell its water or sewer utility would pass a resolution or adopt an ordinance and send a proposal to the PSC. If the PSC determined the sale was in the best interest of the municipality and its people, they would set a price and other terms of the sale. A majority of citizens in a referendum must then approve the sale.

As amended, AB 554 would allow (not require) a citizen vote only before action by the PSC and only if 10% of the voting population signs a petition asking for a vote. These strange rules set up a situation ripe for shenanigans by local officials.

Senator Dave Hanson, in a recent Green Bay press conference, described what happens after a community sells off its water.

“As the residents in communities where Aqua takes over their water soon find out, Aqua and corporations like them are not responsive to the people they serve. They are not accountable to anyone. They make their profits by cutting staff, cutting corners and raising rates—knowing full well that their “customers” have nowhere else to turn to get their water.”

Selling off water utilities to unaccountable out-of-state companies is a bad idea. The people own water and sewer utilities for a reason. Clean water and functioning sewer is essential to life. Let’s stop this bill now.