In This Issue:
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1. Rising Star
2. Audacity for Real
3. The Far Side of
Lawmaking
4. Randal O'Toole
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Rising Star
 If you were making a movie about a young congressman ready to shake things up, you’d expect Central Casting to send somebody who looks and sounds just like Paul Ryan.
Last Thursday, Ryan demonstrated before the entire nation that he doesn’t just have the image; he has substance by the trainload. And Ryan is a force to be reckoned with in the crucial debate about what kind of country the United States is going to be.
Ryan faced down the ObamaCare fraud at Thursday’s summit, spelling out in six laser-focused minutes just why and how the numbers don’t work and never will.
He has been credited by the media for using facts and figures rather than partisan rhetoric to make the case for conservatives. Their praise is on the mark and well-deserved. While Ryan was diplomatic and reasoned in his dissection of Obama Care, he did include a few poignant phrases such as “cynical gimmick,” and “a Ponzi scheme that would make Bernie Madoff proud.” And he directly addressed the President, saying the American people are engaged in the issue and “if you think they want a government takeover of health care I would respectfully submit you’re not listening to them.”
The administration tried desperately to paint a bogus picture of everyone agreeing on what needs to be done with health care, in the hope of writing off all objections to Obama's plan as pure partisan obstruction.
Ryan demolished that phony pretense by delivering his analysis with conviction and a clarity that any open-minded person could understand.
Wisconsin’s own Paul Ryan is truly a national asset.
People Create Jobs, Not Government
 At a forum sponsored by Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce, Walker shared an insight too often overlooked: Government doesn't create jobs. People do.
If he’s elected Governor this November, Walker told the gathering, “I’ll get government out of the way and lower the tax burden so Wisconsin business owners and factories can create 250,000 jobs and 10,000 businesses in our state by 2015.”
That’s a quarter-million jobs in four years. The Democratic Party and GOP gubernatorial rival Mark Neumann say Walker can’t pull it off. They should check with Tommy Thompson, who did it twice.
Walker has a six-point plan to make it happen:
- Reduce taxes on employers, cut income taxes, freeze property taxes and phase out retirement income taxes.
- Reduce regulation, making state agencies more customer-responsive and ensuring that regulations are science-based and predictable.
- End frivolous lawsuits and enact tort reform to help lower health care costs.
- Make the education system more accountable.
- Improve health care by eliminating the state tax on Health Savings Accounts, requiring full disclosure on medical procedures, letting employers access bigger purchasing pools to share risk, and “finding new ways for everyone to get some skin in the game,” spurring efforts to reduce costs.
- Strengthen infrastructure with more reliable energy sources and dependable transportation links.
His track record suggests he means it. Since he’s been County Executive, Walker has cut county debt 10% and reduced the workforce more than 20%. By 2012, Walker will have cut the county’s debt by 28%. And Walker has authored eight consecutive budgets without increasing the property tax levy from the previous year.
“States that have a lower tax burden have more jobs and better budgets,” Walker said, “and it’s time Wisconsin was a better state in which to do business.”
The Far Side of Lawmaking
 Fans of Gary Larson’s twisted cartoons appreciate the ones that present a disaster waiting to happen, leaving the reader’s imagination to fill in the details.
Thanks to State Senator Jim Sullivan, we can look forward to a similar train wreck between snack lovers and the obesity police. Last week Sullivan (D-Wauwatosa) obtained a unanimous committee endorsement of Senate Bill 327 designating Wisconsin cheese as the official state snack.
This vital display of legislative vision would enshrine the state snack in Wisconsin law and the pages of the Wisconsin Blue Book with the other state symbols we enjoy in abundance: The state song, state ballad, state waltz, state dance, state bird, fish, flower, animal, domestic animal, wildlife animal, dog, insect, rock, mineral, fossil, beverage, tree, grain, soil, fruit, and tartan (yes, tartan).
We can only hope Wisconsin residents who are too dim to get off the couch and consume some of the state’s finest dairy products on their own, will be inspired or at least shamed into heading for the refrigerator.
Randal O’Toole to speak in Racine
 The non-partisan Racine Tea Party has announced that nationally renowned transportation expert, Randal O’Toole will be the featured speaker at its next public forum on March 23, 2010. O’Toole is a senior fellow with the Cato Institute specializing in Urban Growth and Transportation.
O'Toole will provide a cost/benefit analysis of building expensive new rail transit systems in South Eastern Wisconsin.
State Representative Robin Vos will also be on hand to provide a legislative update on various plans to build high speed rail and the KRM Commuter Rail system.
Cosponsors of the event include: The Independent Business Association of Wisconsin, the Wisconsin Chapter of Americans for Prosperity, the Wisconsin Club for Growth and the Wisconsin Grandsons of Liberty.
There is no cost to attend the forum, but seating is limited.
South Eastern Wisconsin Transportation Forum with Randall O’Toole
Tuesday March 23, 2010 at 7:00 pm
South Hills Country Club
3047 Hwy. 41, Franksville, WI
For more information or to make reservations please contact:
South Hills Country Club is located between Hwy. K and Hwy. 20 along the east frontage road. Northbound drivers on I-94 should exit at Hwy. 20 and head north on the east frontage road. Southbound drivers on I-94 should exit at Hwy. K and head south on the east frontage road.
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