A number of area groups are planning to protest an appearance by Vice President Dick Cheney when he travels to Madison during a business convention put on by the Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce.

“This event is a lot larger than a Madison Area Peace Coalition, and we will support the other groups in the area that come out,” said Frank Paynter of MAPC. “We can expect a lot of groups with common interests to support a protest.”

Cheney will be the keynote speaker before the WMC event and will address the Bush administration’s efforts to stimulate the nation’s economy.

Cheney is also expected to talk about the type of tax necessary to sustain economic development and will touch on Bush’s domestic energy policy.

Aside from the MAPC, a number of campus political groups are planning to show up.

“Right now, we aren’t too sure [as to the extent] of what we will do,” said Steve Singh of the University of Wisconsin College Democrats. “We disagree a lot with Bush in such things as his war on Iraq and the economy.”

Singh said he expects to see a large turnout.

“We’re not happy he is coming to Wisconsin,” he said. “We know a lot of people on campus are against the policies of the Bush administration, and it showed when students came out to vote against Bush in the 2000 election.”

College Republicans president Benjamin Krautkramer said his group would do something for the event, but was unsure to what extent his group would participate.

Paynter said his group would pressure the WMC to pay the costs created by the event that would fall on the public.

“We’re going to ask the private party that invited Cheney to this neck of the woods to [pay for the public costs of the event],” Paynter said. “This is not a government organization, and it is privately funded. We have a sense that it will add to the burden of the municipal budget. We’ll see what we can do to pass the costs back to the group.”

Cheney is expected to speak Jan. 29, 2003, between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. at the Monona Terrace.