|
May 12, 2010
Volume 4, Number 20
In This Issue:
1) Barrett on Both Sides
Again
2) Can You Afford to
Board?
3) What's Wrong With This
Picture?
|
Our New Newsletter
Yep, you got the Wednesday Update on a Friday. You know we’re all about the free market. So when we found out we could mail our subscribers for 75% less, we took the deal in a heartbeat. Can you blame us?
We think we have all the bugs worked out. However, there may be issues that arise with our new system. If you notice any problems please let us know by sending an email to staff@wicfg.com. Oh, and if you want to send us a few bucks to help pay for things, you can do so securely at our donation page.
Thank you!
Barrett on Both Sides Again
the Republican gubernatorial candidates Walker and Neumann want to solve economic problems with tax breaks for the rich and “new loopholes to let big corporations avoid taxes.” The loophole they're referring to is combined reporting, a law which cost Harley Davidson $22.5 million last year.
Since Democrat Barrett has been talking about tax concessions to keep Harley from quitting the state, Scott Walker asked Barrett to clarify his position, either by admitting he supports the job killing “combined reporting” tax or by asking the GWC to include his name in their commercial.
Barrett’s campaign spokesman claimed the Mayor has always been attentive to the needs of business, even as he stands by the combined reporting tax that’s blown a giant hole in Harley’s bottom line. Translation: The blind-side tax hit was a good thing and he’s eager to undo some of the damage it’s done, so he can do it again.
More broadly, the word “greed” is now deployed every day as a political weapon, nearly always by people whose whole purpose is to appropriate ever-larger shares of what others have earned.
Can You Afford to Board?
 Merriam-Webster defines “incredible” as “too extraordinary and improbable to be believed.” Madison Mayor Dave Cieslewicz didn’t know how right he was when he thanked Governor Doyle “for his incredible leadership in bringing high speed rail to Madison and bringing the station to the Monona Terrace.”
The announcement that the downtown convention center would supplant the Dane County Regional Airport as the Madison terminal is the latest ploy to convince a skeptical public this astronomically expensive boondoggle is a smart thing to do.
But the most intriguing statements in Thursday’s announcement were that construction will begin this year on the track between Madison and Milwaukee, and that the state will launch “a complete environmental assessment of the Monona Terrace station location.” Two problems come to mind.
Problem one loomed in the background as the celebrants announced their plans. Given that Madison took fifty nine years to build Monona Terrace after Frank Lloyd Wright proposed it, railway proponents are foolishly expecting a swift conclusion to a “complete environmental assessment” for a project abutting a Madison lake.
The second problem will be what to do with all that trackage out in the countryside. With construction supposedly starting this year, it's likely to sit somewhere just east of the Madison city limits gathering rust and weeds.
Cieslewicz, who made his living as a professional environmentalist before becoming mayor, undoubtedly understands these things. Nevertheless, he said he would endeavor to have the station named after Doyle, which might actually be a positive development: It won’t make car-speed rail a good idea, but it will be a permanent reminder of who to blame.
What's Wrong With This Picture?
 Last Thursday in Milwaukee, three defendants were bound over for trial on felony election fraud charges. This Monday in Madison, the state Government Accountability Board, whose only fitting attribute may be its acronym, GAB, rejected a “Proposal for Voters to Request to Voluntarily Provide Photo Identification” when they arrive at the polls.
The Milwaukee criminal complaints say two of the three facing trial were Special Registration Deputies ("SRD") for the City of Milwaukee prior to the 2008 election. Both were working for the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, better known as ACORN. It’s alleged they turned in multiple registration applications for the same individuals, and also participated with other SRDs registering one another multiple times, to fulfill ACORN’s voter registration quotas.
Others charged but not yet bound over for trial are said to have voted in person at a polling place after having previously voted by absentee ballot. All the alleged incidents occurred in Milwaukee.
There is evidence persuasive enough to put before a jury, suggesting an organized, systematic effort to commit voter fraud.
But the government body created to ensure the integrity of elections says they won't allow citizens to voluntarily provide ID, to prove their identity when they show up to vote. Apparently the GAB believes voluntarily showing ID could intimidate other voters.
The GAB has taken a dim view of proposals requiring photo ID at the polls, and this week’s strange discussion confirms that they are more worried that fraudulent voters might be made uncomfortable than that they might commit fraud with impunity.
|
