Tuesday, February 17, 2015

Walker distorts UW budget debate with twisted analysis

Given the number of budgets he's had his name on these last 13 years, Walker surely knows, as PolitiFact points out that you can't lump in dollars with which to pay the light bill from a cancer-fighting outside grant that shows up in the UW bottom line:
If you take the overall $6.1 billion system budget, the $150 million per year cut does represent 2.5 percent...
In reality, UW can’t tap into some $3.7 billion of that because the money is from federal research grants, gifts for specific purposes and fees that pay for athletics and other programs. Even federal student loan money that UW simply passes along to students gets counted in the overall budget.
If you drop by Memorial Union and hoist a cup of beer, that cash stays in a segregated fund and can’t be used to pay an English professor’s salary.
A research grant into cancer cures can’t be diverted to pay for lighting in the chancellor’s office in Madison.
His approach does explain why he wanted to delete the search for truth from the Wisconsin idea mission statement, having already dropped the notion from his official practice many years ago. 

Walker priority #1 - - better headlines.

4 comments:

lufthase said...

Did anybody else find it a little weird that PolitiFact went ahead and called Walkers "it's just 2.5%" claim "misleading," but they didn't give him one of their little Truth-O-Meter graphics one way or the other? Is there precedent for that?

Jake formerly of the LP said...

Between that and the one-sided BS on that Gail Collins "Teacher of the Year" story (where Walker gets a half-true for deliberately lying and giving false impressions, and Collins gets a false based on one detail being off), it's pretty obvious whose side JournalComm has told these guys to take.

The "2.5%" claim is either the mark of amazing ignorance on the UW's finances (because it ignores federally-funded research and self-supporting entities like dorms and UW Badger Athletics), or they're blatantly LYING. Either should be disqualifying, but the media treats it as legit

Anonymous said...

Probably just another way of lessening the blow to Walker's reputation. (He needs all the help he can get to perpetuate the myth that he's presidential material.)

Anonymous said...

Great points today from grassrootsnorthshore.com that each dollar of state funds invested in UWSP has a roll over effect of returning $9.46 in economic activity in the community. Every dollar going to UWM returns $13 to the area and state. The U W system investment of #1.2 billion in state funds returns $15+ billion in economic impact. Walker's $300 million cut could cost the state's economy $2.4 billion. This is exactly the impact that occurred when Walker cut the take home pay of public employees and teachers....the state lost $1 billion in economic activity and Walker's promise of 250,000 jobs went right down the toilet. If this governor would allow himself to look beyond the next election perhaps he could see the economic disaster he is creating. Wisconsinites have to begin to look beyond his assurances that all is well and see the consequences that will be left as Walker moves on beyond Wisconsin.