OPINION & EDITORIAL
Dems’ maneuver no step forward
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Also by Mike Hahn:
- Recent polls reveal... absolutely nothing (December 4, 2007)
- 'Right to bear arms' stands up to scrutiny (November 27, 2007)
- Democrats play dangerous game (November 20, 2007)
- The pitfalls of holistic admissions (November 13, 2007)
Related Stories:
- Score one for state credibility (October 30, 2007)
- Robson, Doyle 'compromise' budget (October 16, 2007)
- It's still alive... (October 15, 2007)
- Budget hiccup has simple fix (October 9, 2007)
- Good riddance to the corrupt Chvala (October 18, 2002)
by Mike Hahn
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
In a dramatic show of bipartisan cooperation and a willingness to sacrifice for the greater good of Wisconsin, the Senate Democrats have dropped their Healthy Wisconsin plan — a move that will eliminate many of the remaining roadblocks to passing a state budget.
At least that's what Senate Majority Leader Judy Robson, D-Beloit, and the other Democrat conferees would like us to believe.
The problem is that it isn't all that simple. The proposal the Democrats have made is contingent upon the Republicans accepting a slew of tax increases — including the cigarette tax, the hospital bed and revenue tax, the real estate transfer tax, among others. For the Republican conferees, this is not going over well. Since day one of the budget process, Speaker Mike Huebsch, R-West Salem, and the Assembly Republicans have been committed to passing a budget that does not increase taxes of any kind.
Now, the Senate Democrats have decided they can trick the Republicans into accepting "smaller" tax increases by dropping the largest tax increase in the nation's history. Thankfully, the Republicans aren't buying the ploy.
In a column released yesterday by Ms. Robson, she repeats one of the favorite myths of the Democrats during the budget negotiations: The state of Wisconsin has no budget. The fact is that the state does have a budget. Wisconsin is unlike the federal government that shuts down when budgets are not passed on time. Instead, the state's agencies continue on the previous year's budget levels as if nothing has changed or gone wrong.
Of course, the one notable exception to that rule is the state's K-12 education budget. The dual nature of education budgeting in the state grants that each school district has the authority to increase spending over last year. Without accurate — and increased — budget figures from the state, school districts all over will be able to raise property taxes without any of the normal referendum procedures. The deadline for the K-12 budget has been set, and it's only three days away.
To their credit, the Assembly Republicans offered and approved education funding separate from the rest of the budget — not at the levels the Assembly had agreed to months ago, but to the levels Ms. Robson and Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle have told us again and again that our schools cannot do without. The vote, which took place a week ago, was overwhelmingly bipartisan with twenty Democrats, including the Assembly Democratic Leader Jim Kreuser, D-Kenosha, voting for the bill.
Surprisingly, the governor has threatened a veto, and Ms. Robson has refused to bring up the bill at all in the Senate. Why? Because apparently it would be wrong to pass the budget in pieces. Some Democrats have even called it irresponsible and illogical to pass a budget one agency at a time.
My question again is: Why?
If there are entire agency budgets agreed on by both houses and parties, why wouldn't it make sense to pass those budgets? It seems like a no-brainer, really. The Senate and the governor get exactly what they want and — most importantly — schools get the money they so desperately need. Surely the governor and Ms. Robson want the schools to get necessary funding; therefore it is unimaginable to think that they would both stand by and let a potential $600 million tax increase take effect. What could possibly make them back away from their previous commitments to fully fund education?
Here is where the Healthy Wisconsin proposal from last week comes back into play. If the Assembly is correct that the budget can be passed agency by agency if necessary, then the Senate's crown jewel of universal health care can be taken out of the total budget and be voted on based on its own merits. We all know it would never pass.
That is why the governor and Ms. Robson have been so critical of the Assembly's education proposal, not because they don't get what they want on education, but because it puts their pet projects on the chopping block.
By "sacrificing" Healthy Wisconsin — with millions of dollars of tax increases as the price — the Senate Democrats are seeking to place blame for the budget failures squarely on the Republicans. Ms. Robson has no intention of dismissing Healthy Wisconsin, nor does she have any desire to pass the education spending approved by the Assembly.
If she does, she will have blinked first in the budget standoff and the Democrats — at least the ones in the Senate — will be the big losers in all of this. Instead, the Democrats' tactic is simple: Do anything and everything to place the blame on the Republicans no matter who loses in the process — even if it means every taxpayer in the state.
Mike Hahn (mhahn@badgerherald.com) is senior majoring in history and political science.
Anonymous (September 25, 2007 @ 1:18am):
Well other than spinning the budget debate to fit his own personal ideas and in general, completely missing the boat on what Democrats are fighting for, Hahn's article is adequate. Maybe one of these days he'll throw some accuracy into one of his columns to go along with his demagoguery.
Anonymous (September 25, 2007 @ 5:39pm):
"Instead, the state's agencies continue on the previous year's budget levels as if nothing has changed or gone wrong."
That's true. Unfortunately, to use an example in my own life, that means all UW faculty and staff are "continuing on the previous year's budget levels" too. In other words, we are working for less than we were last year. In fact, we've been working for less each year in the past five years I've been here due to inflation. That's right, I make less money in real terms than when I started. Now, am I complaining? A bit. Do I have a choice? Yes. And I am currently interviewing for jobs this week. I will almost certainly leave UW by the end of the year. I am not bitter about this, I understand the complexities of the situation. However, for you to claim that life goes on as if nothing has changed is a bit specious. Key faculty and staff will continue to flee UW until this is fixed. If keeping them is not the state's priority, that's fine. We'll go to the places where it is.
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