Ripples from last month's crushing election results are still shaking up the powers that be in Washington, as Democrats look to shift legislative priorities in the new blue Congress. In the frenzy of analyzing the Democratic tidal wave that purged the halls of Congress and washed away the pedants, perverts and puritans that have stained the images of their political parties and their country, the reshuffling of our local governing bodies went virtually unnoticed. Even here in Madison, little attention has been given to the new state Legislature that will convene Jan. 3 on the opposite end of State Street.
Echoing national trends, the Democrats regained crucial control of the Wisconsin Senate after picking up four seats to grab an 18-15 majority. Out with spineless ideologue Ron Brown, R-Eau Claire, crazed biblical zealot Tom Reynolds, R-West Allis — who made a name for himself by sending Christmas cards to his constituents depicting his family dressed in a perfect rendition of the nativity scene — and gun nut Dave Zein, R-Eau Claire, who had more rifles on his Capitol office wall than sense in his brain.
In the other chamber, Democrats narrowed Republican control of the state Assembly for the first time in 16 years, picking up seven seats to close the margin to 53-46, while John Gard's embarrassing loss in the 8th District Congressional race will spare the state of a Legislature run by the delusional former Assembly speaker.
Many voters were so focused on the controversies surrounding the federal government that they quickly forgot how bad it had gotten in Wisconsin — with a government that was more prone to hold sessions on "Gods, Gays and Guns" ad nauseam, instead of focusing on crucial issues that affect the daily lives of all Wisconsin citizens.
Indeed, this was the Legislature that forced Gov. Jim Doyle to exercise his veto pen more than any other governor in over four decades, expunging belligerent bills inspired by personal ideologies, not a conscious intent to improve the lives of the people they represent. When citizens sought meaningful ethics reform in the wake of the corruption convictions of six ex-lawmakers, the Legislature put its efforts into attacking access to contraceptives and women's reproductive rights. When state employers expressed outrage at paying health-care costs that were 26 percent higher than the national average, lawmakers focused on restricting stem-cell research. When citizens expressed concerns over environmental degradation and increased pollution in Wisconsin's streams and waterways, legislators pursued a bill permitting people to carry concealed weapons. When schools were being shut down in districts across the state and UW students were pleading for relief from skyrocketing tuition costs, our Republican leadership decided its time was better spent trying to allow pharmacists to refuse to fill birth control prescriptions for religious reasons.
But then again, even when the Legislature addressed collective state concerns, the solutions were mind-boggling. Their answer to an eroding education system was to implement a private school voucher program. Their idea for fixing the state's rising health-care costs was passing medical-malpractice tort reform. Their remedy for a rise in school violence was to equip teachers with loaded handguns.
In fact, the two statewide referendums on Wisconsin's ballot — decisions over a gay-marriage ban and the death penalty — epitomized the backward priorities of our state government. While many progressive Wisconsinites grumbled at the passage of the cruel and unnecessary marriage amendment, they can take comfort, knowing that the very legislature that crafted it is history.
Now our local lawmakers can start focusing on the real issues instead of the wedge issues. New Senate Democratic Majority Leader Judy Robson, D-Beloit, one of the original authors of the state's SeniorCare prescription drug program, has pledged to prioritize the statewide health-care crisis, while abolishing the Senate's practice of secret voting that was used in such controversial bills as conceal-and-carry and the gay marriage ban.
Despite governing in a state built upon an unabashed progressivism — first instilled by political legend and former Wisconsin Governor, Congressman and Senator "Fighting Bob" Lafollette nearly a century ago — the current Legislature has taken us a far step back from our progressive roots: the Wisconsin Idea and the priorities engrained within. With a new and revamped group of lawmakers entering the Capitol chambers next month, we may finally move in the direction that our state motto promises: forward.
Adam Lichtenheld ([email protected]) is a junior majoring in political science and African studies.
