OPINION & EDITORIAL
Follow the money
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Also by Paul Temple:
- Stop genocide in Darfur (April 28, 2005)
- America turns blind eye to Darfur (December 5, 2005)
- Examining The Badger Herald from outside (January 26, 2006)
- Newspapers must take extreme care in dealing with victim identity (February 2, 2006)
- Editorial on Covenant plan inadequately researched (February 9, 2006)
Related Stories:
- They voted for what? (November 6, 2003)
- The politics of perception (December 4, 2003)
- Legislators: Override Doyle on conceal and carry (January 22, 2004)
- Playing politics quietly (November 13, 2003)
- Veto override a shortsighted victory (September 29, 2005)
by Paul Temple
Tuesday, November 18, 2003
Republican lawmakers in the State Capitol know their politics. Take the conceal-and-carry legislation, for example. They used majorities in both the Assembly and the Senate to pass a bill to let an average Joe pocket a Glock as he strolls down State Street.
I am sure their contributors were happy. The gun lobby poured upwards of $100,000 into legislative campaigns throughout Wisconsin since the mid-’90s in one form or another, according to the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign (WDC), a nonprofit group that tracks campaign contributions. Many of these contributions were designed to benefit — either indirectly or directly — Republican candidates.
Thankfully, the legislation has received the governor’s veto, though it will likely receive an override in the Senate this week.
With their gun cronies temporarily satisfied, the Republican leadership in the Legislature has begun to help their pals in the Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce (WMC). Last Tuesday, Assembly Speaker John Gard, (R-Peshtigo), and Senate Majority Leader Mary Panzer, (R-West Bend), introduced the “Jobs Creation Act” (AB 655/SB 313), stating their intention to pass the legislation that week. (Fortunately, it has been put off until Dec. 1.)
According to the WDC, the WMC spent more than $15,000 on radio ads alone to help its Republican man in the 21st Assembly District, Mark Honadel, defeat Democrat Al Foeckler. It went on to couple these ads with mailings. And that’s just on an Assembly race!
During the 1996 elections, the WMC spent more than $400,000 on issue ads supporting mostly Republican candidates. It continues to be one of the top, if not the top, contributor (either directly or indirectly) to Republicans throughout Wisconsin.
It comes as no surprise, then, that the WMC’s lobbyists sat in on legislative negotiations for the new “jobs” bill. According to a Capital Times report, a review of memos and meetings between Republican legislators, the attorneys responsible for drafting the bill and WMC lobbyists show that the lobbyists “were heavily involved in the drafting of the bill, which would dramatically ease state regulations.”
When the Republican leadership introduced their buddies’ legislation at a press conference, media offices immediately received faxes from multiple trade organizations supporting the bill. According to the same report, all of those faxes came from the Madison headquarters of Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce. What a coincidence.
Just what are these proposals for “eased” state regulations? Environmental rollbacks.
The bill would remove authority to require controls on toxic air emissions, allow small streams to be dredged or diverted without any oversight by government regulators, repeal shoreline protection measures and limit the ability of judges to make rulings protecting threatened resources. According to the nonprofit group 1,000 Friends of Wisconsin, the water deregulation alone would affect 80 percent of Wisconsin’s waterways.
So as the future of Wisconsin goes to class, gearing up for that second round of exams before Thanksgiving, its Legislature gets ready to roll back environmental regulations at the behest of top campaign contributors. Only the students will be the ones drinking the dirty water and breathing the polluted air. Too bad we cannot all be Republican state legislators.
Better yet, we should have half a million to drop on an election cycle. That way we could buy ourselves a political party, write an important law or two, get leaders of the party to pass them as quickly as possible, convince media outlets it is all a good idea and affect the future of Wisconsin in any way we wanted.
Now if you will excuse me, I have to buy a Powerball ticket.
Paul Temple (ptemple@badgerherald.com) is a senior majoring in political science and philosophy.
