by Owen | 1704, 29 Aug 22 | Politics, Politics - Wisconsin | 5 Comments
Obviously, the best solution is to abolish the state income tax.
Joe Biden‘s student loan relief plan could trigger up to $1,100 in state-level taxes in at least 13 states because the $10,000-$20,000 in forgiveness could count toward an individual’s income when filing their taxes.
[…]
The top tax figures for New York and Wisconsin, $685 and $530 respectively, do not include consideration of top marginal rate ‘because it would apply to relatively few eligible beneficiaries’ of the plan.
by Owen | 2009, 28 Aug 22 | Law, Politics - Wisconsin | 0 Comments
Between the crooks, the lawyers, and the governor, I kind of hope everyone loses.
Moore’s aunt said he spent an extra month in jail waiting for a lawyer to even ask for lower bail. He’s being held on a $30,000 bail for charges of armed robbery and possession of a firearm by a felon.
“This ain’t gonna be nothing but a lawsuit, they’re making it hard on themselves, too,” said Moore’s aunt Denise Cunningham about the delay in providing attorneys for the indigent.
The lawyers bringing the lawsuit say Moore is among thousands of indigent defendants forced to wait months or more to get a lawyer. Milwaukee Attorney John Birdsall said the issue has been getting worse for at least 15 years.
“The reason is because the public defender office, which was created to meet our state’s constitutional obligations to provide counsel, has been chronically underfunded, and everybody knows it,” Birdsall said.
The lawyers hope this lawsuit will force the state to increase public defender funding affecting an estimated 35,000 defendants like Moore.
“Apparently, because there’s not enough public defenders to go around with the criminal system,” Norton said. “So he’s just sitting there.”
by Owen | 0702, 25 Aug 22 | Politics - Wisconsin | 9 Comments
I had forgotten about this gem. Barnes has led such an immoral personal life that these little windows into it get lost in the wash. By the Left’s standards, the misogyny and transphobia displayed should be disqualifiers for office.
Barnes was listed as a host for a 2009 event titled “Pretty In Pink A Vicky Secret Affair,” a lingerie party that barred “ratchets” – slang for trashy women – from attending.
The scandal initially broke as Barnes ran for lieutenant governor in 2018. Facebook screenshots of the event published by local media outlets at the time show that Barnes was listed as one of the party’s co-hosts.
[…]
Barnes’ party also advertised prizes “FOR THE GIRL GOIN’ THE HARDEST IN HER VICKY’S!!!”
The Democratic Senate candidate’s Facebook event said that bouncers at the door would be “handin’ out free choke slams and sleeper holds” to men who showed up and that it is “a Vicky’s Secret party, why would you wanna roll on the ground wit a dud anyway???”
by Owen | 2059, 23 Aug 22 | Politics - Wisconsin | 0 Comments
This is a telling story from MacIver. If you wonder why Democrats love these government handout programs, this is why. They award them to shady groups run by their supporters. Remember that the purpose of this program was not to help people with rent. That was a secondary goal. The primary goal was to make sure that the people administering the program got paid millions for it. Go read the whole thing.
Regardless, the committee members relented. They voted unanimously to recommend the contract. Later that evening, the full county board of supervisors approved it. Urban Triage now has two contracts for administering rental assistance worth a combined $21.4 million. It gets to keep a total of $2.4 million.
by Owen | 2131, 22 Aug 22 | Crime, Politics - Wisconsin | 1 Comment
Guest article from former Assembly Representative Jesse Kremer. I agree.
As a former legislator and Vice-Chair of the Public Safety Committee in the Wisconsin Assembly, my family and I support our local law enforcement 100%. While I agree that we could use a few more servants in blue patrolling the streets, permanently raising our county taxes by nearly 10% will not reduce crime. I will be voting NO on the Washington County Board’s Anti-Crime Plan tax referendum this fall.
It is blatantly obvious that our county government leaders have begun actively campaigning for this behemoth tax increase. They are regularly publicizing the types of individuals being apprehended while traversing our county. I have no doubt that our taxpayer funded county newsletter will also be actively shilling for our YES vote in the near future.
Crime is a real problem and there are real solutions. We just need to be engaged.
Many families, including ours, does not have the means to perpetually shell out money. Washington County used to be the most conservative county in Wisconsin. Pushing referendums on residents with no studies or data, however, is reckless, especially when our families are all experiencing:
- Rampant inflation and “COVID-excuse” supply chain issues increasing our grocery bills by 30%.
- Spiking energy costs, twice this year already, to cover supply shortages and subsidize the “renewables” being purchased by energy companies.
- A 250% increase in fuel bills from just a couple of years ago.
But what if some of the initial funds are “free money” – grants from the state or federal government? Free money does not exist. After the funds are gone, we, the taxpayers, will still be on the hook to cover the costs of a government program that once established, will not be eliminated.
While I am extremely concerned with the rampant crime in our state, it is not because we do not have enough local law enforcement – or enough laws from Madison. There are real solutions:
- In modern-day American, there is no deterrent for crime. Judges and prosecutors are not locking up offenders to the fullest extent of the law. Case in point (2022WA000414): Recently there were several high-dollar, commercial thefts and burglaries in Washington County. Our public servants did their job and arrested the perpetrators. Our newest judge, Sandra Giernoth, a Gov. Evers appointee, turned around and released him on a $10,000 bond allowing the criminal to simply skip out on his hearing and continue to terrorize the community. It is time to hold our judges and prosecutors accountable. We must kick them out via the election process if they are unable to keep our communities safe!
- There is no sense of morality. Over the past 70 years our government and many of our public agencies have actively campaigned to destroy religious institutions and take a wrecking ball to the nuclear family. This has to stop! Strong families must be encouraged and our religious organizations allowed to thrive.
If we must increase taxes to fight crime it would be better invested in additional prisons resulting in more, and longer, incarcerations. This may be the one solution that the 2-3% of thugs who are destroying our society, and the Mayberry lifestyle as we knew it, can comprehend.
by Owen | 1800, 21 Aug 22 | Politics - Wisconsin | 5 Comments
Here’s a great column by a Kenosha Alderman that every West Bend alderman and Washington County Supervisor should read.
I strongly support our officers and firefighters and believe they need to be well funded. A central tenet of our government is to protect our rights, which includes the right to be free and safe, and I believe it to be a proper and moral use of taxpayer money. Knocking doors during my campaign, the vast majority of residents told me safety was their number one concern. So I think it’s imperative to allocate the City’s budget to move towards that assurance.
However, prioritizing funds is not the same as raising taxes, which my constituents are against. The City needs to fix its debt and development problem in order to free up funds. I also believe the way this proposal is being presented to the public is misleading and unethical. I ultimately voted “No” for the referendum, which passed 16-1.
by Owen | 1505, 21 Aug 22 | Crime, Politics - Wisconsin | 1 Comment
Here is my full column that ran in the Washington County Daily News last week.
The races for governor and U.S. Senate are sure to dominate the attention of most voters this November, and rightfully so, but there are also other important choices for the voters including that of attorney general. Josh Kaul has used the office as a platform for activism and fallen well short of his duty to Wisconsin as the state’s top law enforcement officer. Voters would do well to ensure that he is not allowed to continue his malfeasance for a second term.
Josh Kaul, the son of the late disgraced former Attorney General Peg Lautenschlager, was narrowly elected in the blue wave election of 2018. He was elected with less than 50% of the vote and defeated his Republican opponent by a scant 0.65%. Despite his narrow plurality win, Kaul has used every tool in the attorney general’s box to advocate for his leftist causes at taxpayer expense. Meanwhile, he has failed to fulfill the basic duties of the job to fight crime.
Let us start with some of the things that Kaul has been spending his time on instead of prosecuting criminals. In the wake of the United States Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, Kaul announced that his office — the people’s office — would not prosecute anyone who violated Wisconsin’s abortion laws. Whatever one thinks about the law, it is a constitutional law that was passed by a duly elected legislature and signed into law by a duly elected governor (a Democrat, no less). Kaul has a sworn duty to uphold the laws of the state. Kaul has gone a step further and is suing the Republican leadership in the state Senate over Wisconsin’s abortion law arguing that it is unenforceable. Instead of spending his time and the taxpayers’ resources on fighting crime, Kaul is taking it upon himself to sue to change laws with which he does not agree. Kaul is not a participant in the law-making structure of government. The attorney general is supposed to be the people’s prosecutor and enforce the people’s laws. Instead, he is trying to usurp the power of the people to pass laws with the courts.
This is not the only issue on which Kaul is spending his time and the people’s resources to engage in leftist activism. Kaul has been a vocal advocate for curtailing civil rights with more restrictive gun laws. He has advocated for legalizing marijuana despite the disastrous consequences we see ravaging other states that have legalized it. Kaul has used his office to defend the bureaucratic dismantling of our elections laws that leave Wisconsin open to sloppy and fraudulent elections. Kaul is a busy guy, but he is not busy doing the things that Wisconsin needs done.
While Kaul has been acting as the state’s top activist, he has been failing as the state’s top cop. Under his tenure, he has left dozens of state prosecutor jobs unfilled. Fewer prosecutors leads to fewer prosecutions and Kaul has been engaging in his personal “defund the police” action.
The State Crime Lab, which former Attorney General Brad Schimel fixed, has fallen victim to Kaul’s neglect. The turnaround time for routine lab tests has increased by over 30% since Kaul took office. His mismanagement of the State Crime Lab means that criminals are staying on the street longer as police wait anxiously for the evidence they need to arrest them.
The evidence of Kaul’s dereliction is in the crime data. According to FBI crime statistics, Wisconsin’s violent crime rate in 2020 was the highest it had been in 35 years. Milwaukee has already had over 500 non-fatal shootings and over 130 homicides this year. The carnage is real. While Kaul is using his office to advocate for leftist causes, his failures in running the Department of Justice are being measured in dead bodies and ruined lives.
Wisconsin needs an attorney general who will work tirelessly to enforce the laws of the state and put criminals in jail. Josh Kaul has proven time and time again that he will prioritize his personal political causes over that of the people of Wisconsin every time.
by Owen | 0713, 19 Aug 22 | Crime, Culture, Politics - Wisconsin | 11 Comments
Tragic. Our soft on crime policies are not helping. And our open border is a pipeline of death.
MADISON (WKOW) — The Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS) has issued a public health advisory about fentanyl’s presence in overdose deaths.
State health officials said there were 651 fentanyl overdose deaths in Wisconsin in 2019. By 2021, that nearly doubled to 1,280.
That’s a stark reversal of a pre-pandemic trend, when Paul Krupski, DHS’s Director of Opioid Initiatives, said Wisconsin actually recorded a decrease in opioid deaths.
[…]
MADISON (WKOW) — The Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS) has issued a public health advisory about fentanyl’s presence in overdose deaths.
State health officials said there were 651 fentanyl overdose deaths in Wisconsin in 2019. By 2021, that nearly doubled to 1,280.
That’s a stark reversal of a pre-pandemic trend, when Paul Krupski, DHS’s Director of Opioid Initiatives, said Wisconsin actually recorded a decrease in opioid deaths.
by Owen | 0744, 18 Aug 22 | Crime, Politics - Wisconsin | 5 Comments
The MacIver Institute has a very long, but very good, story about the Evers crime wave. It’s easy to say that Evers’ has encouraged or allowed crime to rise. Sometimes we forget that it isn’t just about attitude. It is about policies. Evers has enacted specific policies that have encouraged the rise in crime. It is an intentional policy choice and one in which Evers accepts the increase in crime and pain of victims as the acceptable price of his ideological tenet that criminals are victims of the system instead of perpetrators of mayhem.
Tony Evers has been a leader in the movement toward leniency on crime, and decarceration. His success in advancing these policies as governor has been accompanied by the largest rise in violent crime in more than a generation. And like his colleagues on the left, he isn’t backing away from his policies, he’s just pointing the finger of blame away from the perpetrators.
Here is a recap of the Evers Felons Before Families initiatives we’ve covered:
Releasing half the prison population (he’s already nearly 1/3 of the way to his goal)
Lying about how many violent criminals are in prisons (it’s 70%, not 20%)
Turning a blind eye when prisoners in the community refuse to comply with the terms of their supervision
Refusal to remove DAs for low and no bail policies that kill
Appointing a parole commissioner who would swiftly boost the number of criminals given a “second chance” and then pretending he went rogue and asking for his resignation
Lavishing sympathy on accused rapist Jacob Blake who resisted arrest while armed
Chastising victims’ families – telling them to “take a breath” – for their anguished demands for justice
Vetoing a legislative package of Tougher on Crime bills
A complete overhaul of the criminal justice code to dump Truth in Sentencing, reduce sentences, and increase early releases.
Replacing words like ‘prisoner’ and ‘sex offender’ for gentler terms like ‘person in our care’ and ‘client’ that harm criminal self-esteem
by Owen | 0613, 16 Aug 22 | Crime, Politics - Wisconsin | 3 Comments
My column for the Washington County Daily News is online and in print. Here’s a part:
Josh Kaul, the son of the late disgraced former Attorney General Peg Lautenschlager, was narrowly elected in the blue wave election of 2018. He was elected with less than 50% of the vote and defeated his Republican opponent by a scant 0.65%. Despite his narrow plurality win, Kaul has used every tool in the attorney general’s box to advocate for his leftist causes at taxpayer expense. Meanwhile, he has failed to fulfill the basic duties of the job to fight crime.
[…]
While Kaul has been acting as the state’s top activist, he has been failing as the state’s top cop. Under his tenure, he has left dozens of state prosecutor jobs unfilled. Fewer prosecutors leads to fewer prosecutions and Kaul has been engaging in his personal “defund the police” action.
The State Crime Lab, which former Attorney General Brad Schimel fixed, has fallen victim to Kaul’s neglect. The turnaround time for routine lab tests has increased by over 30% since Kaul took office. His mismanagement of the State Crime Lab means that criminals are staying on the street longer as police wait anxiously for the evidence they need to arrest them.
The evidence of Kaul’s dereliction is in the crime data. According to FBI crime statistics, Wisconsin’s violent crime rate in 2020 was the highest it had been in 35 years. Milwaukee has already had over 500 non-fatal shootings and over 130 homicides this year. The carnage is real. While Kaul is using his office to advocate for leftist causes, his failures in running the Department of Justice are being measured in dead bodies and ruined lives.
Wisconsin needs an attorney general who will work tirelessly to enforce the laws of the state and put criminals in jail. Josh Kaul has proven time and time again that he will prioritize his personal political causes over that of the people of Wisconsin every time.
by Owen | 1717, 15 Aug 22 | Law, Politics - Wisconsin | 2 Comments
Knowing that they stand little chance of getting control of the legislature, Wisconsin’s liberals are looking to use the Supreme Court as an activist branch to enact their agenda. The November election is important. The April election may be more important.
Wisconsin Democrats are already envisioning, if they win the election in April and take a 4-3 majority, a political transformation of the state.
“In terms of the ability to change Wisconsin in two years, this could be an utterly different state,” said Kelda Roys, a Democratic state senator from Madison. “That is our real opportunity to not just stop the bad stuff from happening, but actually restore real democracy and accountability to Wisconsin, things like abortion rights and fair elections where your candidate might actually win.”
by Owen | 0651, 12 Aug 22 | Politics - Wisconsin | 4 Comments
With raging inflation, an economy in recession, and people seeing their nest eggs plundered, Washington County Executive Josh Shoemann is campaigning to raise property taxes. And he thinks you’re stupid enough to believe that he can raise taxes and you got a tax decrease. When I supported moving Washington County to an Executive structure, I really didn’t think that the first one would try to build his political resume on tax increases.
Schoemann described increasing the sheriff’s office’s share of the county tax levy from $15.2 million, 43.7 percent, when he took office to $20 million, 55 percent, today, a 33 percent increase.
He then spoke of the $3.6 million Anti-Crime Plan referendum, which will appear on the Nov. 8 general election ballot.
“[The plan] will provide more law enforcement resources to our schools; more mental health resources in times of crisis and with non-acute cases out of the justice system; more inter-county and cross-county drug task force engagement; more mental health support and additional resources to combat substance use in our jail; and improved emergency and crises response and management,” said Schoemann.
The referendum would see an increase of 30-and-ahalf staff positions across multiple departments in the sheriff’s office, including teaming up three social workers and three sheriff’s deputies to address mental health crisis calls.
The referendum, if passed by county residents, will raise the tax levy 9.89 percent, but there will still be an estimated nine cent per $1,000 of assessed value decrease in the county tax rate, at least.
“Whether the referendum is adopted or not, your county portion of the property tax rate will likely go down, it’s just a matter of how much. … This referendum is not about whether we want a new shiny building or field. It is about whether we need a proactive response to the crime plague seeping across our border,” said Schoemann. “So, the question our community must decide is this: What do we hate more, growing government or growing crime?”
No, this is not a binary question. Government can stay the same size and reallocate budget to priorities like fighting crime. The threat that the county will be unable to grapple with crime without a tax increase is an admission of failed governance.
by Owen | 0755, 10 Aug 22 | Politics - Wisconsin | 21 Comments
I can almost guarantee that Evers had this statement written irrespective of who won. He just needed to fill in the name.
Wisconsin Democratic Gov. Tony Evers responded to Trump-endorsed Tim Michels’ projected win in the Republican gubernatorial primary on Tuesday by labeling him as “radical” and “divisive.”
Michels defeated former Wisconsin Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch and two other Republican candidates in the GOP primary, and will face off against Evers in the general election in November.
In a statement following Michels’ projected primary victory, Evers’ campaign said his upcoming Republican opponent is “the most extreme and divisive nominee possible” who will say anything to appease former President Trump.
A couple comments on the GOP primary…
As I stated before, I supported Kleefisch because I think she would have been an indefatigable champion of conservatism as governor and I thought she stood the better chance of beating Evers. But… it’s close. Michels is a lifelong conservative and experienced business leader. He would also be a fine governor. I hope that Michels learned the lessons from his 2004 loss and makes the appropriate changes to his campaign strategy. I also hope that Michels has the same energy to move the conservative cause as governor as we saw in Walker’s first term.
Also, it is clear to me that the Republican base in Wisconsin has changed significantly since the Tea Party movement swept them into power in 2008 and 2010. It is more Trump than Reagan. More Hannity than Buckley. It is a different brand with different priorities. It’s good from the standpoint that it is an aggressive style that can get some big things done. Unfortunately, it is also a brand of conservatism that believes in big government doing big things – even if they are conservative things. It is not a brand that believes in small government. It’s not my brand, but it is far preferable to the Marxists on the Democratic side.
All that being said, I’m firmly in the Michels camp. Let’s git er dun.
by Owen | 0714, 9 Aug 22 | Culture, Politics - Wisconsin | 68 Comments
My column for the Washington County Daily News is online and in print. I put a taste below. I realized that as the abortion debate has moved to the state houses where we, the people, will actually have to debate the issue and come to some decisions, the rhetoric of abortion politics is still frozen in the theater of inaction in which SCOTUS froze it in 1973. This is one guy’s attempt to explain his position on the issue. Hopefully those with other opinions will offer them with the same sincerity and not resort to the crutch of “you hate women” or some such nonsense and we can have a grown-up debate about public policy. Pollyannish? Probably, but a guy can hope.
Our nation’s Declaration of Independence set forth that we are all created equal and, “endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life.” Our United States Constitution went on to protect people from being deprived of life without the due process of law in the fifth and fourteenth amendments. Both documents are based on a fundamental understanding of Natural Rights.
Natural rights are universal and inalienable. They are not dependent on government, laws, customs, traditions, or societal norms. They are rights that are embedded in the very essence of humanity and are enjoyed by each individual irrespective of age, color, creed, nationality, gender, or station. The just duty of government is to protect those rights from being infringed upon by others and to regulate the outcome of when two rights collide.
The most precious Natural Right is the right to live. Life is the right from which all other Natural Rights flow. The only real question regarding abortion, then, is to determine when life begins, for once we have determined that a life has begun, it is incumbent on us to protect that life through the power of government.
Fortunately, here in the 22nd century, the mysteries of reproduction and gestation have been largely solved. Once an egg is fertilized, a unique DNA is created and cells begin to multiply until they form a human that we would recognize. Some would pinpoint the start of life at when the heartbeat starts, or when brain activity begins, or when the baby would be viable outside of the womb. Some would allow abortion even in the moments after birth under the argument that the baby is still woefully dependent on the mother. That is the same argument that could be made for infanticide well into the toddler years.
For me, the most ethical and logical point at which to mark the start of life is when that unique DNA is created. That is when there is a unique life. There is clearly nothing separate from the parents before that moment and there is someone unique after it. While one could argue that life begins at a more viable state, each of those benchmarks seem arbitrary. Our moral, ethical, and legal obligation to protect life should make us err, if we are to err, on the side of prudence. It is better to accidentally protect people’s pre-lives than it is to intentionally kill them.
With life beginning at fertilization, we must structure our laws to protect those lives. In the case of a mother not wanting a baby, we come into a conflict of the rights of two individuals. The baby has a right to life. The mother has a right to bodily autonomy. In such cases of conflict, we make laws to decide the best, least harmful, outcome. In no other area of law do we permit the killing of one individual to protect the bodily autonomy of another. Neither should we in this case. The consequences for the mother are significant, but the consequences for the baby are cataclysmic. In such cases, we must protect the life of the baby even though its very existence imposes obligations and consequences on the mother.
by Owen | 2138, 8 Aug 22 | Politics - Wisconsin | 0 Comments
APPLETON – The architect and construction manager of the new $40 million Appleton Public Library have doubled down on value engineering in attempt to keep the project within budget in a time of high inflation.
The extra work has caused several delays in bidding the project. Under the latest schedule, the bids are due Aug. 31, and the completion of the project is targeted for spring 2024.
“We don’t know what will happen on bid day,” library project manager Dean Gazza told the Common Council. “No one can predict that, but I can tell you that we put ourselves in the best possible position to bid and hit our target.”
[…]
The existing library at 225 N. Oneida St. dates to 1981 and is considered outdated, inefficient and, at 86,600 square feet, undersized. The new library will total 107,380 square feet.
The library closed its doors in April in anticipation of construction. It is operating at a temporary site in the former Best Buy store at 2411 S. Kensington Drive.
The budget for the library project totals $40.4 million. The amount consists of $26.4 million in city property taxes, $2 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds and $12 million in private donations.
Cancel the project and leave the library in the old Best Buy. Use the $12 million in private donations to spruce up the place a bit. In a time of raging inflation, we have to stop. Stop spending. Just. Stop. Spending.
by Owen | 0937, 6 Aug 22 | Politics - Wisconsin | 0 Comments
Here is my full column that ran in the Washington County Daily News last week:
With the primary election a week away, most primary voters have made up their minds. Many of them have already cast their votes. In the Republican primary for governor, the voters are blessed with three great choices. Any of the three candidates would be a solid governor and far superior to Gov. Tony Evers. I continue to strongly think that Rebecca Kleefisch is the best choice both in terms of her ability to defeat Evers and her ability to move the conservative agenda as governor, but I can’t fault any Republican primary voter for making a different choice.
Whichever Republican makes it to the general election stands a good chance of winning in a red wave year. Should that occur and should the Republicans retain control of the Legislature (they should), it is another opportunity to move bold conservative ideas like the Republicans did in Governor Scott Walker’s first term. There are three big agenda items that the Republicans should pass in the first 100 days.
First, the Republicans must pass universal school choice. The pandemic taught us that when push comes to shove, too many of our government schools will abandon their duty to education. The educational destruction wrought upon Wisconsin’s children by negligent government school administrations will reverberate through the rest of their lives. Couple that with the pervasive Marxist indoctrination that is seeping into much of the curriculum, and it is time for change. Universal school choice will allow parents to find the best educational option for their children. Universal school choice is based on the premise that the taxpayers have a duty to educate kids — not sustain failing government institutions. The tax dollars that are spent to educate children should follow the children and trust parents to make the best choice for their own kids. A Universal school choice law should be very simple. Every child should get a voucher for the amount that would have been spent by state taxpayers on that child’s education and any accredited school the child attends can cash that voucher. Trust parents. Let us focus on funding education instead of government bureaucracies.
Second, Republicans should eliminate the state income tax. Instead of tinkering with the formulas and tweaking the exemptions, they should be bold and eliminate it outright. They can balance the elimination with a modest increase in the sales tax and aggressive spending reductions. This is a necessary step for Wisconsin to attract and retain the workforce of the future.
Nine states do not have a state income tax. It is no coincidence that five of them were in the top ten states with the largest net population growth in the last 12 months according to the U.S. Census. In an increasingly virtual workforce where high-income workers can live anywhere, they are choosing to live in states where they get to keep more of the money they earn. The sales tax, like other consumption taxes, is a tax that spreads the tax burden more evenly. Even highnet- worth people who do not currently earn an income have to pay the sales tax. For Wisconsin to attract the mobile, highincome earners to live and work in Wisconsin, they must be aggressive in making it financially attractive to them.
Third, Republicans must swiftly reform the state’s election apparatus. Hopefully everyone can agree that we want a state where it is easy to vote legitimately. When the people lose confidence in the integrity of our electoral process because it is riddled with inconsistent rule enforcement, obvious opportunities for fraud, and the outright illegal actions of government officials, the government loses the justification of having the consent of the governed. It is a republic-killing crisis.
For the most part, Wisconsin’s election laws are good. There may be a need for minor tweaks like uniform early voting laws, but as written, Wisconsin should have some of the fairest, easiest, and securest elections in the nation. Where it breaks down is that it is being administered by activist officials and a dysfunctional enforcement apparatus. Republicans should abolish the Wisconsin Elections Commission and replace it with a bicameral bipartisan legislative committee comprised completely of elected officials. Elections are how the citizens hold government officials accountable.
The transformative Walker administration reminded us what bold conservative leadership looks like. Whoever the Republican nominee is, conservatives’ expectations are rightfully high for them if they win a term in the big chair.
by Owen | 2141, 3 Aug 22 | Politics - Wisconsin | 3 Comments
I admit that I didn’t know/remember this. Of course, Barnes was a non-entity in the Assembly, so I’m not sure anyone noticed it at the time.
As a legislator Barnes held a press conference to announced he would introduce legislation to require gun owners to undergo psychological examinations before being permitted for concealed carry, and outlawing deer hunting in the state by banning the only ammo legal for use during gun deer season.
While now his rhetoric on guns is largely about assault rifles, it’s worth remembering as he poses in rural Wisconsin farm fields, that Barnes would end deer hunting, and send over 12% of the adult population for psych exams. One in eight adults now have a concealed carry permit, a figure that increased after the unchecked riots Barnes praised as “inclusive community building.”
by Owen | 0424, 2 Aug 22 | Politics - Wisconsin | 9 Comments
My column for the Washington County Daily News is online and in print. Here’s a part:
With the primary election a week away, most primary voters have made up their minds. Many of them have already cast their votes. In the Republican primary for governor, the voters are blessed with three great choices. Any of the three candidates would be a solid governor and far superior to Gov. Tony Evers. I continue to strongly think that Rebecca Kleefisch is the best choice both in terms of her ability to defeat Evers and her ability to move the conservative agenda as governor, but I can’t fault any Republican primary voter for making a different choice.
Whichever Republican makes it to the general election stands a good chance of winning in a red wave year. Should that occur and should the Republicans retain control of the Legislature (they should), it is another opportunity to move bold conservative ideas like the Republicans did in Governor Scott Walker’s first term. There are three big agenda items that the Republicans should pass in the first 100 days.
First, the Republicans must pass universal school choice.
[…]
Second, Republicans should eliminate the state income tax
[…]
Third, Republicans must swiftly reform the state’s election apparatus.
by Owen | 0633, 1 Aug 22 | Politics - Wisconsin | 0 Comments
Here is my full column that ran in the Washington County Daily News last year.
On August 10, the Washington County Board will vote on whether or not to submit to the taxpayers a referendum asking to forever raise taxes above the statutory limit to increase the size of the Sheriff’s Department. Let us hope that they come to their senses and forgo the referendum. If they do not, let us hope that the good people of Washington County have the good senses to vote it down.
The wording of the referendum may be tweaked by the County Board if they put it on the ballot, but the essence will be to ask the voters to increase taxes by almost 10% forevermore for the purpose of permanently increasing the staff of the Sheriff’s Department by about 15. The money would also be used to generally increase pay to attract and retain staff.
The increase in staffing is part of the county’s anticrime effort to combat increasing crime in the county. Is crime really increasing that much? Is the increase in crime just a reflection of the population growth? Are current resources appropriately allocated? How much of a crime reduction will the increase in staffing cause? Some of these questions were asked by supervisors on the Public Safety Committee, but answers were not forthcoming. Promising that more information would be available at the full County Board meeting, the committee unanimously approved the question to go to the full board.
There is no doubt that crime in this country is increasing largely thanks to intentionally lax law enforcement in our largest cities and the unending tide of illegal aliens flowing across our borders. Fighting crime is a legitimate duty of government and citizens in Washington County have always been supportive of law enforcement.
Budgets, however, are about priorities. Washington County spends almost $140 million per year on all functions. The Sheriff’s Department takes about $23 million, or 16.4% of the budget. If fighting crime is truly a priority, are the County Board and county executive really not able to reallocate funding from the other 83.6% of the budget? Instead, they want taxpayers to reallocate their family budgets to pay for that increase in spending?
County supervisors should also remember that they do not operate in a vacuum. The citizens who pay those taxes are facing a hard time financially. President Biden’s inflation economy is making prices rise faster than they have in 40 years. Unfortunately, most people’s incomes are not keeping up, so real income is dropping like a rock. Fuel prices are robbing people of mobility and everything is just getting more expensive. Families are cutting back on unnecessary expenses.
Meanwhile, times are good in government. After several years of money raining out of Washington from the Trump and Biden administrations to attempt to mitigate the financial impact of the pandemic, local governments have been awash in spending cash. Now they are reaping the benefits of inflation because taxes are based on percentages. As the median home price in southeast Wisconsin has risen 48% since January of 2020, according to the Wisconsin Realtors Association, property taxes have risen accordingly.
So, too, has the sales tax. Washington County passed a county sales tax years ago that was sold as a temporary emergency need. They have since made the tax permanent and continue to spend the proceeds. As the prices of goods and services have risen with inflation, so has the money spent on sales taxes. Washington County will likely see a record year in sales tax collections in 2022. Where will that money go? Could it be used to fund a spending increase in the Sheriff’s Department instead of asking the taxpayers to send even more money to the county?
Nobody questions that fighting crime is important and that Washington County deserves a properly funded Sheriff’s Department to meet the needs of the day. But using the current heightened concern about crime to call for a tax increase during a time when inflation is rampant and the economy is slipping into recession borders on the kind of cynicism we expect in Milwaukee – not Washington County.
The Washington County Board should decline to ask the taxpayers for more money and fund the increase in spending for the Sheriff’s Department if it is truly needed. The county has enough of our tax dollars to deliver on their obligations.
by Owen | 1931, 30 Jul 22 | Politics - Wisconsin | 0 Comments
The Washington Post seems concerned that Mandela Barnes radical past and love affair with Marxists will hurt him in Wisconsin. Hmm.
“She’s brilliant. She cares about the environment,” read the tweet.It also said: “She’s exactly who we need in Congress right now fighting for what’s right.”
And what the heck does this mean?
“A staff person tweeted that out,” Barnes said in an interview with The Washington Post last week, speaking of the August 2019 tweet about Omar. “That wasn’t even my Twitter, that was the official side Twitter.”
He was photographed posing with a red T-shirt emblazoned with the phrase “Abolish ICE,” a slogan some on the left embraced that references U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. It’s not clear when the photo was taken, but it was posted on Reddit in 2018. Also in 2018, Barnes wrote “I need that” on social media in response to a person who offered him an “Abolish ICE” T-shirt in his size.[…]“Things were bad. Things were terrible. The founding of this nation? Awful,” Barnes said. “The impacts are felt today. They’re going to continue to be felt unless we address it in a meaningful way.”
