One Wisconsin Voter Remembers His Meeting With Paul Ryan...

And how quickly the Congressman turned the discussion to his family's business.

The topic was land and water conservation, recalls Madison attorney Peter McKeever:

What was surprising was how quickly Ryan asked when would wetland fill permitting in Wisconsin allow mitigation banking, the practice of spending public money to create or maintain a new wetland after an existing wetland is filled in. He made it very clear that he thought this should be a high priority, and he mentioned his family company’s experience moving earth.

Creating a new wetland requires the moving a lot of earth, and it so happens that Paul Ryan’s family owns one of the nation’s largest earth moving companies, Ryan Incorporated Central. On its website the company touts its experience and expertise in constructing wetlands.

...the most disturbing thing about the meeting was that he so blatantly made it clear that his primary interest was changing the wetland fill permitting process so that his family’s business might be able to belly up to the trough and get profitable contracts...

The fact that he made this leap to personal benefit so quickly with two strangers left me with a very bad taste in my mouth, and no confidence that Ryan was in office to act in the interests of the public.