Belling Botches Compact Rant

Mark Belling, WISN-AM 1130's drive time p.m. talker, gave his suburban rush hour audience some goofy information this afternoon in the 4:30 segment about the Great Lakes Compact.

In Belling's defense, he admitted often Friday afternoon that he was mismanaging his program's time, but here's what he got wrong:

He kept saying that Michigan and Ohio have special provisions under the Compact to Wisconsin's detriment.

Actually, the argument advanced by righty ideologues in Waukesha County who oppose the Compact is that Michigan and Illinois have some special privileges under the Compact.

Ohio, on the other hand, is the state where some Waukesha County Compact opponents have found ideological comfort, and a few allies.

So Belling confused Ohio with Illinois - - undermining his typically pompous conclusion of the segment by declaring that after his explanation of the Compact's flaws, no other human being need call in to further explain the issue.

Now let's remember that there are only eight Great Lakes states, and if you take our own state of Wisconsin out of the mix, only seven other states.

So how hard is it to remember the differences among them?

Especially if one of those states is aligned with the Compact opponents in the legislature whom Belling was praising - - Ohio - - and Illinois, our oft-targeted bordering neighboring state, which has a permanent Lake Michigan diversion codified by the US Supreme Court.

But, again, in Belling's defense, he said he was having a scattered day.

And Ohio and Illinois do each have the letter "i" and "o" in their names.