Scott Walker, serial flip-flopper and demonic Governor now sits with the 2 year Wisconsin state budget on his desk awaiting his signature and mighty veto pen. His veto power is the most massive in the country, but he will barely use it because the budget is nearly imploding under the weight of all the non-budgetary policy items he and his fellow Republicans have crammed into it.
In his 2010 campaign for Governor, Walker attacked previous Governors for inserting policy items into the must-pass budget. He promised to never do it if he was Governor.
Like all Walker promises, it was made not just to be broken, but to completely reversed and placed on its head. Instead of never doing it, Walker has become the master of using it for every single policy position he wants to insert or change without debate, discussion, public input or a legislative vote. But this year it's loaded with so many cringe-worthy items, even our lousy, corporate, Walker-loving media have started to pay some attention to the biggest outrages.
...there's another problem with this budget: It's so full of non-budget dead weight that it's kind of amazing it doesn't just sink of its own accord.
On their own, many of these items are worthy of discussion and may be even worthy of passage. But most are policy matters that have little or nothing to do with the state's fiscal books. They deserve full and separate consideration — including public hearings and a healthy public debate — before they become law. Instead, they've been quietly inserted into the budget, often in the wee hours, to avoid public scrutiny. Citizens should demand they be removed from the budget; legislators should have the decency to do so.
Some highlights:
Changing the Mission of the University of Wisconsin And Other UW Changes
One of the first non-budgetary items found in the 1800 page budget was Scott Walkers attempt to change the mission of the University of Wisconsin by making it subservient to business needs and removing the Wisconsin Idea, which included the university as a source to serve the higher education needs of Wisconsinites and search for the truth.
When that tidbit was uncovered, the Walker administration fumbled by declaring the insertion a "drafting error" and later blaming it on shoddy work by an intern. When our national media reacted to the flimsy lies, Walker withdrew the changes from the budget, but continues to refuse to release any documents concerning the change (there's a lawsuit demanding the release of those records).
On top of $300 million in additional budget cuts and extending the freeze on raising tuition, Walker used the budget to change other aspects of the University of Wisconsin including less input from faculty on the selection of future chancellors, eliminating tenure, and making the deepest budget cuts to the University of Wisconsin - Madison and Milwaukee campuses.
Educated people tend not to swallow Republican bullshit making schools and universities targets for GOP assaults.
Gutting Open Records Laws
Wisconsin has one of the most robust open records laws in the nation. So, when you have everything to hide like Scott Walker, open records laws become a problem. Of course the must-pass budget is an excellent place to hide your plans for gutting that law.
When discovered, media hammered hard because, naturally, access to records affects them personally. Just like Republicans, problems don't seem to exist unless one is personally affected and then it's a HUGE problem accompanies by whining on why no one has fixed the problem.
What was really bad about this one is that it was crammed in about midnight with other changes (called Motion 999) in the final moments before final budget passage on a party line vote in the Joint Finance Committee. No debate, no discussion, just shaddup and vote.
This one caused Republicans some heartburn as they were questioned about the measure that creates secrecy. However, Republicans refused to answer where the proposal came from and later review showed the trail led to Governor Walkers' office.
Eliminating "Living Wage" Language
Scott Walker is a guy who doesn't think there should even be a minimum wage and he's a bit miffed at Wisconsin Jobs Now quoting the parts of Wisconsin Law that call for a "living wage" in their quest for a statewide minimum wage raise. So, what better way to end the conversation than to insert a non-budget item into the budget to get rid of that pesky "living wage" language.
If it's not in the law anymore, he figures nobody can bother him about it. Right? Riiiiight!
The Rest of the Mess
There's a list of other changes which have been noticed (I fear the ones that haven't been found).
Among the worst:
--Changing the way that local governments can use hotel tax revenue. It mandates that this revenue may only be used to promote tourism rather than be used as general revenue.
--Lowering the standards for teachers. Anyone with a bachelors degree can get certified to teach core subjects and allowing ANYONE to get certified to teach non-core subjects (including high school dropouts).
--Eliminating the weekend. Wisconsin law mandates that employees be given at least one 24 hour period of time off work each week. This non-budgetary cram-in removes that requirement. "Get to work, peasants, and just keep on working" should become our new state motto.
--Removing prevailing wage language. Currently, if you have a government contract, you must pay the "prevailing local wage" for that work to be done. In a nutshell, if you're hired to repair a road, you just can't bus in a bunch of minimum wage workers to do the job on the cheap and pocket the profits. If this doesn't come out of the budget, contractors can do just that.
--More logging in state parks. Yup, nothing to do with the budget, but it's there along with cuts in taxpayer funding for state park upkeep. Well, if you don't have the money, you've got to sell off all the trees, I assume is the thinking.
--Weaken local control over shorelines. Yup, you don't want local governments interfering with zoning regulations to protect shorelines or prevent erosion.
--Exerting state control over water rules in Madison. Republicans hate that liberal Madison so it's become the only local government that can no longer control its own water supply and service.
--Giving more power to Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele. That plutocrat in Democratic clothing even had me fooled. He's grabbed as much control over Milwaukee County by diminishing the power (and paychecks) of County Board supervisors with the help of Republicans in the State Legislature and now he will no longer need their approval to sell off County assets. How wonderful for his multi-millionaire pals who want to "develop" areas like Park East.
--Removing the oversight authority of the Department of Natural Resources public oversight board. The DNR will now be completely controlled by political cronies. UPDATE: LakeSuperior in the comments says that this proposal was removed according to news reports today.
--Requiring public schools allow home schooled and charter school students to freely use their extracurricular activities. Nice to be able to go to prom, join school sports teams and use public school facilities without having to pony up those student fees the public school students have to cough up.
--Expanding what payday lenders can offer. We already have more than enough trouble with payday lenders sucking financially strapped people dry. The solution, according to Republicans, is to relax the rules.
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
And even a few more insertions in the final moments before passage:
The Senate on Tuesday approved other changes in the budget, including:
■ Sunsetting after two years a requirement that a private school receiving taxpayer-funded vouchers have a history of operating since May 2013. That provision was intended to focus public funds on private schools with an established track record.
■ Changing the criteria under which an accused criminal can have his or her DNA expunged from a state database. Going forward, the DNA could be erased if the person's conviction is reversed; the accused has his or her charges dismissed or is found not guilty in court; or a juvenile who was arrested has gone at least one year without the relevant criminal charges being filed.
■ Changing the rules to provide a new path under state law for the Town of Maine in Marathon County to become a village and change rules governing extensions of water and sewer service in Kenosha County. The Town of Maine in is the district of Sen. Jerry Petrowski (R-Marathon), and Sen. Van Wanggaard (R-Racine) represents most of Kenosha County.
Again, nothing in those have a single thing to do with the budget.
With Walker away campaigning for President, Republicans joined in the non-budget cram ins to the point of embarrassment. Even our corporate media asked Walker to step in and stop it.
And now they're asking for him to use his mighty veto pen to stop the outrageous non-budgetary items crammed in. But he won't. He's interested in signing the damn thing so he can announce his official Presidential campaign.
After all, the budget was due June 30 and he planned his Presidential announcement for the July 4 weekend - would have been an amazing site loaded with flags, I'm sure. With the Republican on Republican war in the Legislature, Scott Walker was forced to return home to get the budget with his wish list passed and on his desk so he can do what he wants from now on: leave the state in a smoking ruin he can show his Tea Party base to get their votes.
You should note that these are the non-budgetary changes we are aware of. The initial budget, 1800 pages, are difficult to read and there are likely many, many other outrageous items that haven't been found.
The editorial put it well:
One can argue that a few of those items can be related to the budget and are about "funding essential government services based on the taxpayers' ability to pay"; most aren't. Some may be pet projects, some may be pork, some may be political retribution. Not one has received the public discussion it deserves. Some of them were brought up as separate bills in the past and were rejected as bad ideas by legislators. Which is no doubt exactly why they're being quietly stashed in the budget now.
...
Loading up the budget with non-budgetary items is no way to run a government. Walker acknowledged that in 2010.
(bolding is mine)
I'm probably forgetting a few of the Budget Horror Show items, so feel free to add them in the comments.
.