The special jobs session is drawing to a close, and it is clear the Republicans are more interested in protecting their own jobs than creating any for Wisconsin.
In the last month, a session that was supposed to be aimed with “laser beam focus” on the issue of creating jobs in Wisconsin has been nothing more than one partisan move after another. Instead of addressing the loss of jobs, Republicans have focused on maintaining their own.
The most obvious of these moves is an attempt to implement the new districts from this summer’s gerrymandering into the potential recalls coming up next year. Republicans don’t want to have to defend their jobs from the people who elected them. Instead, they want their new, more comfortable districts to decide. The result of this could be Wisconsinites being represented by people they did not vote for.
As Sen. Chris Larson, D-Milwaukee, put it, “If you purchase a vacuum at a department store and are unhappy with its performance, you can return it with a receipt. Unfortunately, this legislation is telling Wisconsinites who bought into what was being sold by Republicans in the 2010 elections and are now dissatisfied with the purchase that they cannot make such a return even though they have the Wisconsin Constitution as their receipt.”
The rest of the session has been one big padding of the ultra-conservative agenda. Instead of honestly considering nine Democratic bills aimed directly at Wisconsin’s economic and educational problems, Republicans have decided to solve some problems I didn’t know we had.
Apparently we have a huge problem of employers being forced to hire felons, and so the legislature will make it legal to refuse them offhand – definitely a job creator. Wisconsin also has the biggest job-killing problem in the country, not enough teens abstaining from sex. Thankfully, our Legislature has pushed for a bill that will take out instructions about “puberty, pregnancy, parenting, body image, gender stereotypes and the health benefits, side effects and proper use of contraceptives and barrier methods” in exchange for “the necessary skills to remain abstinent.” Someone tell the federal government they are missing out on a job-creating gold mine with that one.
Then we have had this week’s round of head-shaking legislation. A law that legal experts say addresses a problem that doesn’t exist and could create unforeseen consequences is one: The law is designed to create more legal protection for people who shoot intruders in their homes. The Criminal Law Section of the Wisconsin State Bar and a group of judges, lawyers and academics could not come up with “a single case wherein a homeowner was charged with a crime for defending himself or herself from a home intruder.” This was just another law designed to solve a problem that doesn’t exist.
The list goes on with a legislative all-nighter Tuesday basically aimed at eliminating Affirmative Action from a scholarship designed specifically to help minorities. While all these bills gain traction, the Democrat sponsored initiatives actually aimed at improving the economic climate in Wisconsin remain on the back burner.
One such law, a $10 million grant designed to help technical colleges in high-demand industries such as welding, apparently doesn’t stand a chance of passing through the Republican majority. Instead of looking to aid the people who could make an instant impact with the availability of shovel-ready jobs, the Republicans remain committed only to advancing their own interests.
Calling a special session for jobs makes for a great political talking point, but the reality is we haven’t seen one bill designed to make a real impact on the economy. It’s bad enough that the rhetoric of deregulation and lowering taxes have been proven failures (George W. Bush), but to spend the entire session addressing nonexistent problems is a failure to uphold the responsibility of an elected official.
These laws are not subtle. Each gives something to the Republican’s base of support while failing to alleviate the greater problems facing the state. While the idea that one bill can solve all the problems and instantly create jobs is far-fetched, a job session without job policies doesn’t make a lot of sense. It seems no matter what happens in Wisconsin, the Republicans remain committed to one thing: themselves.
John Waters ([email protected]) is a junior majoring in journalism.
