Within the last week, state legislatures in both Illinois and California finally completed work on their 2007-2008 state budget plans leaving WISCONSIN as the last and only state in the nation where the legislature has not completed its most basic and primary function--passing a state spending plan.. Wisconsin, which the legendary American jurist and U.S. Supreme Court Justiice, Louis Brandeis, once termed American's "laboratory of democracy" in the early 1900's -- is now a national joke.
Wisconsin is by far the smallest state in the nation in terms of population to have a full-time legislature (other states with full time legislatures are: California, New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Florida, Ohio, New Jersey and Massachusetts), But even with the resources available to it, the Wisconsin Legislature could not and would not get its primary job done on time. The statutory deadline for completion of the biennium budget here was June 30, 2007.
This situation is reminiscent of budgets in the late 1990's when two less than honest leaders named Chuck Chvala and Scott Jensen ran the Wisconsin Legislature (into the ground, as it turned out). They used long delays in completing legislative action on the state budget to shake down lobbyists for more campaign contributions in order to maintain or expand their political power. Remember what happened to them?
This unsavory practice of campaign fundraising while the budget is in limbo, continues with a vengence.
Today alone, these two campaign fundraising events are happening:
8 am: Majority GOP Conduit, Buffalo Bill's, 150 Gasser Rd, Wisconsin Dells. Host: Tom Diehl. Special guests: Speaker Mike Huebsch, Majority Leader Jeff Fitzgerald, Senate Leader Scott Fitzgerald. $250 to host. $100 to attend. No PAC or corporate contributions accepted. Checks payable to: Majority GOP Conduit, 148 E. Johnson, Madison, WI, 53;703. To RSVP please contact Judi Rhodes at jrhodes@wisgop.org or (608) 257-8035.
5:30 - 7:30 pm: Cocktail Reception for the Majority GOP Caucus, Holiday Inn, 2703 Craig Road, Eau Claire. Special guests; Assembly Speaker Mike Huebsch, Assembly Majority Leader Jeff Fitzgerald and Senate Minority Leader Scott Fitzgerald. Host; $500 General Attendance; $100. To RSVP or for more information please contact Mary Hegi at (608) 310-8119 or e-mail at mhegi@gatewayventure.com. Please make checks payable to" Majority GOP Conduit, 148 E. Johnson, Madison, WI, 53703. No PAC checks accepted. Individual and conduit only.
And next week, when the budget work won't be done either, there is this:
Wednesday, August 29: Fundraiser 5-7 pm: Majority GOP Conduit, Curly's Pub, Lambeau Field Atrium, Green Bay. Special guests: Speaker Mike Huebsch, Majority Leader Jeff Fitzgerald, Rep. Phil Montgomery, Senate Leader Scott Fitzgerald. Host: Tom Diehl. $500 gold host. $250 green host. $100 to attend. No PAC or corporate contributions accepted. Checks payable to: Majority GOP Conduit, 148 E. Johnson, Madison, WI, 53703. To RSVP please contact Judi Rhodes at jrhodes@wisgop.org or (608) 257-8035.
Keep in mind that Assembly Speaker Mike Huebsch (R-West Salem) and the Fitzgerald Brothers, Senate Minority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau) and Assembly Majority leader, Rep. Jeff Fitzgerald (R-Horicon), are budget conferees!
Shouldn't they spend less time on their political business and more time on getting the people's business completed?
In 1997 Common Cause in Wisconsin first proposed prohibiting any and all campaign fundraising while the state budget was being considered. Other states such as Minnesota and even Texas have instituted this common sense reform. But in Wisconsin, bipartisan reform legislation to prohibit budget campaign fund raising, ASSEMBLY BILL 61, continues to languish with not even a public hearing scheduled in either the State Senate nor the Aseembly thus far.
One thing is certain. If the ban on campaign fund raising while the budget was under consideration were in place, legislative action on the 2007-2008 budget would have been completed long ago--and very likely well in advance of the June 30th "deadline." Instead, Wisconsinites must endure this embarassing spectacle that is further tainted and undermined by special interest campaign dollars while decisions about how to spend hard-earned taxpayer dollars remain unresolved.