Assembly's Insulting Mining Bill, Senate's Stalinist Tactics Get Ideologues' Support

Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald blew up the mining bill legislative process yesterday with dictatorial procedural machinations worthy of the Kremlin, and it's not the first time that Fiztgerald has channeled his inner Putin.

Front group to the rescue:

In its regular Wednesday email to the faithful, the Wisconsin Club for Growth's stepped up and trashed liberals, environmentalists and especially the Special Senate committee set up and then dismantled by Fitzgerald for drafting a mining bill which imposed a tiny tax on extracted iron ore and left open the opportunity for a public hearing on mining permits - - but after the permit was approved.

The goal was to modestly, incrementally improve on an even worse Assembly mining bill written Fitzgerald-style behind closed doors - - except to industry insiders - - a bill so bad that the Journal Sentinel, an editorial supporter of faster-tracked mine permits in Wisconsin, called it a childish, dangerous "travesty."

Not to worry, says the WI Club For Growth: all important people were consulted and embraced the Assembly bill -  - legislative mission accomplished - -  so that stupid special committee and the public hearing it was to hold Friday in Platteville, and another later up north, and the rest of the open-government, two-house, two-stage legislative process dating to statehood can join environmentalists with their "frivolous procedural delays" (that's Club for Growth-speak for mine permit hearings hearings ) under the Fitzgerald's special-interest bus:

But this week, the Senate Committee on Mining released its own mining bill.  A bill so full of poison pills like huge tax increase [Sic], it’s hard to believe the Senate is serious about ever passing a mining bill. This Senate bill is unacceptable to the mining company, the business community and the Wisconsin Assembly. 

Comrades: you have your orders.