Before you come back to school this fall, check your tuition
bill.  You will notice that it is getting higher.  The
Wisconsin State Legislature, facing lean economic times, increasing
costs, and declining tax revenues, is in the process of slashing
the budget of the UW System to the tune of $250 million.  With
the Republican-led Assembly and Senate supporting the cut, and no
opposition coming from Democratic Governor Jim Doyle, the cut is
virtually assured – and with it, tuition hikes, staff cuts,
poorer academic advising, and ever worse class availability.

Several arguments have been made in favor of this cut, and the
subsequent “offset” through tuition hikes and cuts in academic
services.  The UW System does comprise a not-so-avoidable
piece of the state’s budget pie.  It also provides world-class
education, especially at UW-Madison, for a very low price –
perhaps the best bargain in the Big Ten.  Why not, many
legislators ask, cut the budget and raise the tuition?  Why
not ask the students to pony up a bit more for such great services
when the state budget faces such hard times?

As students and, more importantly, as citizens we should ask
these state legislators the same question.  Why aren’t they
paying for the great services they receive?

What services, you ask?  I’m talking about their legal
bills.

That’s right, your state legislature decided to pay for its own
legal bills with taxpayer money.  And the bills are not for
legal work related to being a state legislator.  The bills are
for the caucus scandal.  State legislators and their staff
were caught doing campaign work on state time, a violation of
campaign law.  Rather than pay for their defenses themselves,
they are hiring high-priced Madison law firms.  They are then
footing us the bill, to the tune of $580,000 in the Assembly
alone.

The bills don’t stop there.  The Assembly spent another
$118,000 on elections board settlements, $40,000 on a lawsuit to
stop the legal fees, and $17,000 on a lawsuit that attempted to
uncover who was receiving the legal fees.  That may not sound
like a lot compared to the $250 million dollar cut, but under an
agreement reached with the Attorney General in January, this
practice will continue indefinitely.

So now, as you save your summer pay to cover your increased
tuition, remember where the priorities are.  State legislators
have decided that taxpayer money is better spent on their own legal
troubles rather than your education. 

Remember that there is a lawyer somewhere billing taxpayers at
$150 an hour, while you pay an extra $350 a semester to wonder why
that class you need for your major is not available.  Remember
that state legislators could have hired a few more academic
advisors, or hired a professor for that class you need.
 Remember that they thought their own lawyers – and
their own hides – were more important.  Remember that it did
not have to be that way.

Paul Temple ([email protected]) is
a senior majoring in political science and philosophy.