Local Reps tout impact of state budget

Republicans convinced it keeps state on the right track

By Tyler Lamb

Staff Writer

Admittedly no state budget is flawless. Nevertheless, Republican lawmakers believe the 2013-15 biennial budget features several fiscally conservative provisions – including income tax cuts, limits on property taxes and expansion of the state’s educational voucher program – that move the state forward.

Five area Assembly representatives visited with Southern Lakes Newspapers editorial staff members in Burlington June 27. The representatives are part of the Assembly’s 59-39 Republican majority, and said they were meeting with newspaper editorial boards to advocate for the budget, which Gov. Scott Walker signed into law Sunday.

All five of the lawmakers – Rep. Robin Vos (R-Rochester), Rep. Tyler August (R-Lake Geneva), Thomas Weatherston (R-Racine), Samantha Kerkman (R-Randall) and David Craig (R-Town of Vernon) – said the budget would impact Wisconsinites by helping the “economy to grow and getting people back to work.”

“The way we chose to put our priorities on the table, and the decisions that were made, are exactly where Republicans have always been,” said Vos, speaker of the Assembly.

According to the representatives, the budget creates one of the largest tax cuts in state history; limits the amount most property taxes can increase to 1 percent or less; increases funding for public schools by roughly $300 million; expands on the school choice program; invests in tourism to enhance economic growth; and freezes tuition increases for students in the University of Wisconsin system.

In relation to tourism, August said the budget includes provisions for improving Wisconsin’s lakes and rivers, as well as additional dollars for the promotion of tourism and infrastructure improvements – something he considers vital for Geneva Lake area, which relies heavily on the tourism industry.

“For every dollar we put in, we get $6 back,” he said.

Vos added the $650 million the budget is returning to taxpayers via income tax cuts would contribute to the existing $500 million structural deficit for the 2015-17 budget.

Assembly Democrats, however, say the budget hurts middle class voters by cutting taxes paid by the wealthy, rejecting additional federal Medicaid funding and subsidizing private schools in the state budget.

“This spring Democrats have traveled across Wisconsin, listening to people’s ideas to improve this anti-middle class budget. Our ideas came from them,” said Rep. Peter Barca (D-Kenosha), the Assembly minority leader. “But Republican leaders said, absolutely not. So Assembly Democrats decided to end fruitless debate in the capitol and take our message back out to the people. We have a vision we believe fits Wisconsin values and is worth fighting for.”

Barca added the “last two years the Republican budget and policies have driven Wisconsin’s economy into the ditch. Wisconsin needs policies that will help us shine once again.”

Here’s a closer look at some of the significant provisions of the state budget:

Vouchers

One of the more controversial items within the budget is Walker’s original proposal to expand the availability of state vouchers to allow students to attend private schools.

The provision allows 500 students, whose families earn less than 185 percent of the federal poverty line, to use publicly funded vouchers to attend private schools throughout the state in 2013-14, and 1,000 students in subsequent years.

“I think the choice is something that is so important for families because people make decisions based on a whole lot of reasons,” Vos said. “ … I think competition is also healthy. I think you can make a case that Racine Unified or Milwaukee does better when they don’t have a monopoly. They get to dictate the families the way it is and if they don’t like it you’re just out of luck.

“I wish our school choice program was bigger,” the speaker continued. “Obviously, our friends in the state Senate had a different philosophy as to where they want school choice.”

Economy

Wisconsin’s job creation ranking, on the rise from 44th to 33rd, has not been enough in recent years for Walker to placate the political outcry of the minority Democrats.

According to Kerkman, the budget will assist Wisconsin’s lackluster economy via government reforms.

“I think it is a matter of government getting out of the way and letting business really stand and grow,” Kerkman said.

The representatives pointed out Wisconsin’s economy added 32,282 private sector jobs during the last quarter, ranking it 21st nationally in total jobs created.

For his part, Vos said he had “no idea” why the badger state has experienced weak job growth over the first two-plus years of Walker’s tenure.

“We affect things at the margins,” he added, noting that government should do its best to create a good business climate, but it’s private industry that actually creates the jobs.

Center for journalism

The Republican-controlled Joint Finance Committee voted last month to include a budget provision that would remove the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism from its University of Wisconsin-Madison campus space. Moreover, it also would have barred UW employees from working for the organization.

Gov. Walker vetoed the provision Sunday, but Vos nevertheless defended the committee’s handling of the issue.

The nonprofit operates out of an office located within UW’s journalism school. Professionals operate the center, which trains student journalists to become investigators, often partnering with news organizations around the state.

According to Andy Hall, the center’s executive director, “In the past, of course, some legislators and other public officials have been made uncomfortable by some of our reporting, but I don’t specifically know what might have triggered this action.”

According to Vos, some Republicans had issues with George Soros, a liberal leviathan, being a major contributor to the center.

“The rational for why I think it makes sense is let’s lay out two scenarios,” Vos said. “Scenario one, a private foundation comes forward and says ‘we have money to help train students for the future.’ They go to a college campus, they find a department, don’t post their bidding process, they don’t have any discussion with the administration. They just set up this program and begin to work it. Then, at some point in the future, it’s found out the Koch brothers funded this campus and they had an ideological vent on smaller government, libertarian ideals.

“Do you believe the students at Madison or the Madison campus would say ‘no problem with that because we believe in academic freedom?’” Vos continued. “Or, should we do the exact same thing? But instead of going to the Koch brothers, they went to the Soros Foundation, who has a very liberal vent.”