WI Budget Results.

I know some of you have been following along with my series on WI's proposed budget and the voting. I would have posted sooner on the end result, but I was discouraged. Then I read an article in the Wisconsin Club for Growth's e-newsletter that summed it up so nicely, I couldn't think of anything to add. (Yes, I know-who thought of that name? It reminds me of the hair club for men.)

I asked for permission to reprint it here and then had to go to the author, Rep. Mike Huebsch from the LaCrosse area, which he kindly granted as well as providing a link to his e-update for further updates.
Here is his article:
Historic Tax and Fee Hike Centerpiece of Democrats’ Budget Deal
By State Representative Mike Huebsch
Governor Doyle and Democrat lawmakers finally got out of their own way and reached a budget agreement yesterday. Senate Democrats approved the spending plan shortly after 12:00 a.m. and the Assembly is expected to vote some time tonight. Governor Doyle has promised to sign it into law early next week.
While the political maneuvering in Madison may be drawing to a close, the assault on taxpayers has just begun. With no concern for what middle class families can afford, Democrats chose more taxes and more government spending as their answer to the economic downturn.
Democrats will undoubtedly take a victory lap for fulfilling their pledge to complete the budget before the end of the fiscal year on June 30. But we all know from our school days that substandard work earns an "F" even when it's turned in on time. All the Democrats have done is trade quality for expediency.
In the months after the final votes are tallied and the Democrats’ proposals become reality, every Wisconsin family will be able to calculate their own personal and devastating price tag. The price for their misplaced priorities is just too high.
During the last four months, Democrats set new standards for taxing and spending and gave new meaning to the phrase backroom deal. They approved the largest state and local tax and fee increase in state history - $4.9 billion - and spent 6.8 percent more tax dollars than two years ago. They hammered out the defining details of their spending plan in secret meetings, informed Republicans of their progress through the media and rejected our amendments out of hand.
Assembly and Senate Democrats budget work came in fits and starts as they canceled Joint Finance Committee meetings to settle disputes out of the public eye. Democrats who hold 12 of 16 seats on the budget-writing committee unanimously approved the budget after an all-night session on May 29. But in the weeks that followed, each house rewrote portions of the budget and passed competing plans.
Then, top Doyle aids and Democrat leaders met secretly for seven days to iron out the differences. But when media criticism over the secrecy reached fever pitch, they convened a conference committee that can best be described as charade. As the Associated Press reported:
“Democrats refused to allow Republicans to propose any changes to the state budget during the hastily called first meeting Wednesday of a bipartisan committee created to work out a deal…
“For much of Wednesday's 2 1/2 hour meeting, Assembly Speaker Mike Sheridan, D-Janesville, merely read the titles of individual budget items with little comment or questions.”
While finger pointing is all too common in politics, it reached absurd proportions this week when the Assembly Speaker blamed Republicans for standing in the way of a budget deal. In truth, competing Democrat priorities have caused the hold up. For example, Assembly Democrats want to give illegal aliens “driver cards” and subsidized tuition, but Senate Democrats do not; Senate Democrats want to eliminate Wisconsin’s capital gains tax exclusion, but Assembly Democrats do not.
While I cannot stand in the way of this budget deal, let me be clear: I would if I could. I would stand in the way for as long as it took to stop the Democrats’ unprecedented tax and fee hikes and prevent policy initiatives that are out of step with Wisconsin values.
But, with Democrats in complete control of state government for the first time in 25 years, my Republican colleagues and I have been forced to watch this proverbial train wreck from the sidelines. Democrat leaders have excluded us from negotiations and limited our ability to review their proposals before forcing us to vote. They have paid lip service to bipartisanship and reduced public input and scrutiny to a meaningless formality.
Governor Doyle and the Democrats sacrificed open government and sincere debate in order to limit scrutiny of historic tax and fee hikes, record spending levels, unprecedented bonding, indefensible earmarks and controversial policy proposals completely unrelated to state finances. The institution of the legislature will recover from the Democrats’ arrogant and destructive decisions, but taxpayers and our economy will suffer for the foreseeable future.
Key Details of “the Deal”
Spending over Two Years: $62 billion, a 6.8% increase.
New State Tax and Fee Hikes: $2.1 billion, in addition to $1.2 billion approved in February’s “budget adjustment bill.”
Local Property Tax Hikes: $309 per median-valued home and $1.5 billion statewide.
Capital Gaines Tax Exclusion Cut in Half. Reduced the income tax exclusion for investment gains from 60% to 30%, costing investors about $242 million.
QEO Immediately Repealed
Oil Franchise Fee Abandoned: Revenues are replaced with bonding and a transfer from the petroleum inspection fund.
Requires Auto Insurance and Increases Mandatory Minimum
Rejected Governor Doyle’s Proposed Changes to Wisconsin’s Joint and Several Liability Laws
Provides Subsidized Tuition for Certain Illegal Aliens at UW Schools
Eliminates Plan to Provide Driver Cards to Illegal Aliens
Scraps Plan to Index the Minimum Wage
Establishes Primary Enforcement of Wisconsin’s Mandatory Seatbelt Law
Restores Funding to the Department of Justice
Rejects the Assembly Democrats’ Plan to Reduce the Number of Low-Income Children Allowed in the Milwaukee School Choice Program
Prohibits Counties Funding Construction Projects with Private Dollars


"And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. "~Gal 6:9

Part 4-Domestic Partner Benefits or Denying the will of the people of Wisconsin

The ink is hardly even dry on this state's constitutional amendment which states: "Only a marriage between one man and one woman shall be valid or recognized as a marriage in this state. A legal status identical or substantially similar to that of marriage for unmarried individuals shall not be valid or recognized in this state." This amendment went through a years long legislative process and passed with a 59% majority.

Mr. Doyle has included in his budget a plan to create a registry for domestic partnerships. This would be a registry where same sex partners could pay a fee to have their "domestic partnership" recognized by the state of Wisconsin. For the purpose of...?

One thinks it's for the purpose of offering health and other benefits to those "domestic partnerships" where one of the "partners" is a state employee. Yes, Wisconsin, Mr. Doyle wants to create "a legal status identical or substantially similar to that of marriage for unmarried individuals" - at least for those individuals in the state's employ. At least for now. If we allow this to go unchallenged, how long do you think we will have until it will be used as a basis for establishing the legality of same sex marriage here?

Perhaps Mr. Doyle misunderstood the wording of that amendment. Perhaps he believes that with a majority in the senate and assembly he can do whatever he likes. That party majority does not negate the law. Not even for the governor. This does not belong in the state's budget.

"Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul;"~2Peter 2:11