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Green: Gubernatorial candidates spar for your vote

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by Mark Green

Monday, September 4, 2006

Four years ago when Jim Doyle ran for governor, he talked about keeping tuition down. Over the past four years, Jim Doyle raised in-state tuition on University of Wisconsin students by more than 55 percent without corresponding increases in financial aid for low-income and middle-income students. Can you afford four more years of Jim Doyle?

Over the past four years, Jim Doyle increased state spending by more than 20 percent, but cut funding for the UW System by $341 million. Can you afford four more years of Jim Doyle?

In Jim Doyle's first budget, he proposed raiding $26.5 million from student segregated fees to feed his special interests — fees that you pay each semester to support campus recreational facilities, student health services and student programming. Can you really afford four more years of Jim Doyle?

As a graduate of UW-Madison's Law School, I look fondly upon my days on campus. That is why I am running for governor. I want to ensure that current and future students have the same opportunity to experience a UW-Madison education, and the opportunity to learn from some of the best and the brightest minds in the nation. As the father of three great kids, I want to ensure they have the same opportunities I had to stay here in Wisconsin and receive a world-class education.

Over the last four years, that experience and those opportunities have been put at risk. On Governor Jim Doyle's watch the University of Wisconsin System has been mismanaged. While the state of Wisconsin has faced average annual budget deficits of more than $2 billion, Jim Doyle and his Board of Regents have played politics with your education and wasted precious taxpayer dollars on: a $26 million payroll system that failed to work; lifetime pay agreements for failed administrators; back-up positions for administrators' housekeepers; automobile subsidies for UW administrators; and salaries for incarcerated employees.

These are dollars that should have made their way to your learning experience — dollars that should have been directed to the classrooms and research laboratories to provide students with additional opportunities to achieve greater levels of success and to help you prepare for your future careers.

Through his fiscal mismanagement and dishonest policies, Jim Doyle and his Board of Regents have led the UW System down a path of no return. Taxpayer trust in the UW is at an all time low, causing the legislature to question every administrative decision — decisions that affect the quality of education you receive. And, Jim Doyle's tuition increases have priced middle-income and low-income students from across the state out of the opportunity of receiving a world-class education.

The real tragedy is that Jim Doyle will tell each of you in the days leading up to Election Day about his record of supporting students. He will talk about his future plans to lower tuition and how the worst days are behind us. He will take you for granted and assume that you will still show up and vote for him, distorting my record along the way.

As governor, I will provide the much-needed leadership to get our state back on track and to restore taxpayers' trust in the UW System to ensure that you receive a world-class education. I will work to convince Wisconsin's taxpayers that their investments in the UW System are being well spent, because they will be. I will not attempt to balance the budget on the backs of students, and I will not allow more Wisconsin students to be priced out of the opportunity of a UW education.

In fact, during my time in Congress, Pell Grant funding has almost doubled, increasing from $7.6 billion in fiscal year 2000 to $13 billion in fiscal year 2006. In addition, the Deficit Reduction Act increased student-loan limits for first-year, second-year and graduate students; created a new grant program for low-income and minority students; and provided for student-loan cancellation for teachers of math, science and special education.

As governor, I will continue to build on this record by providing necessary increases in financial aid to offset the cost of tuition, while maintaining the integrity of student segregated fees to ensure that the dollars you pay each semester are used for their intended purposes.

If Wisconsin is to regain a vibrant economy and build itself into a magnet for young talent and intellect, we must chart a new course. I ask you to join me in doing just that. Unlike my opponent, I will not make empty promises. But I can guarantee you a forthright and honest dialogue about the state of higher education in Wisconsin, the future of UW-Madison and my plans for improving it.

To get involved with my campaign, or for more information, I encourage each of you to visit my Web site at www.votemarkgreen.com.

I look forward to seeing you along the campaign trail and I look forward to earning your vote on Nov. 7.

On Wisconsin!

Mark Green is a congressman representing Wisconsin’s 8th district. He plans to run for governor this fall.

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Anonymous (September 3, 2006 @ 11:00pm):

No question Doyle's been bad for students - but you'll be even worse! Why? Because you're a movement conservative, and you hate all government, and want to eliminate taxes and public institutions like state universities. Just admit it, like Grover Norquist did! It'll feel good to get that off your chest.

Look forward to your visit, to this place you derisively call "Planet Madison". Douche.

Anonymous (September 4, 2006 @ 7:19pm):

It's too bad you lost your $400,000 in under-the-table-and-out-of-state campaign cash. Have fun trying to play catch-up in a state that can smell your bullshit from a mile away.

Anonymous (September 4, 2006 @ 8:04pm):

Doyle is a joke.

Anonymous (September 5, 2006 @ 8:14am):

Mark Green, aren't you part of the congress that cut taxes during a time of war and subsequently participated in deficit spending that brought our national debt near $9 trillion. I guess your track record says it all: can we afford you, Mark Green?

Anonymous (September 5, 2006 @ 10:21am):

Sir, how can you claim to be good for students with this financial aid plan of yours when you voted in Congress to support the largest cuts to student financial aid in history?