ALEC Can Of Worms Available For WI Opening

It's taken the tragedy of Travon Martin's "Stand Your Ground" killing to finally push the right-wing policy shop ALEC into the news - - this Sunday New York Times front=page story about the "stealth," non-profit/taxpayer-subsidized group will force more media into action - - so how long will it take Wisconsin's GOP/ALEC water-carriers to break up with their best friend?

Here's an example from  now-State Sen. Leah Vukmir, (R-Wauwatosa) in 2009:

Vukmir honored as "Legislator of the Year" by peers at national gathering

(Atlanta, Ga.) — Wisconsin State Rep. Leah Vukmir was honored as “Legislator of the Year” by her peers at the 36th Annual Meeting of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) in Atlanta on Friday, July 17. This award goes to state legislators who are ALEC members in good standing and have distinguished themselves by advancing, introducing and/or enacting policies based on the fundamental Jeffersonian principles of free markets, limited government, federalism and individual liberty...

Rep. Vukmir worked tirelessly to stop a government-run health care proposal in Wisconsin in 2007. She is a stellar legislator who introduces many ALEC HHS model bills each session.

“Thanks to ALEC, I have enjoyed the privilege of working with some of the finest legislators and policy experts in the country. To have been chosen for this distinction is an honor for which I will always be grateful and proud,” said Vukmir.

And the way Wisconsin conservative policy-makers have received money from ALEC is ripe for investigative reporting:

* One Wisconsin Now published the list of Wisconsin legislative members with taxpayer-paid memberships.

* ALEC's role in conservative networking with Wisconsin manifestations extends to the mining issue.

*  Here's another about ALEC "model" school choice legislation, starring former Assembly Speaker Scott Jensen, barred from running for office after a misdemeanor conviction in the caucus scandal:

“[Task Force members] know school choice works, and so we are comfortable requiring even greater accountability for school choice programs,” said Scott Jensen, national consultant for state projects at the Alliance for School Choice in Washington, DC.

“We chose to proactively offer responsible and effective school choice accountability legislation because so many of our opponents use ‘accountability’ as their excuse for trying to strangle these programs with excessive and unworkable regulations,” added Jensen, who introduced the two bills within ALEC.

* ALEC was said to have had a hand in the rotten redistricting process:

MADISON – Today, the Center for Media and Democracy’s PR Watch exposed the American Legislative Exchange Council’s secret connection to Wisconsin’s redistricting plan. According to the organization, an open records request uncovered a January 20, 2011 email from ALEC inviting Wisconsin Senate Majority Leader and last session’s ALEC State Chairman Scott Fitzgerald to an ALEC conference call about potential legal issues with redistricting.

*  Lisa Kaiser at The Shepherd has given Milwaukee readers an excellent introduction.

* And we all owe a debt to UW Professor Bill Cronon, whose expose of ALEC, among others put him right in the Right's legal and media cross hairs.

Stay tuned.

Scott Walker's Real [Estate] Earth Day Proclamation Came On February 29

Walker's office says he signed an Earth Day proclamation, of sorts, on Friday.

[Sunday night update, here.]

Want to know the real story about Walker and the environment?

The real story is about real estate and the Realtors.

Want to know how and where he signed his signature environmental proposal into law - - the Wetlands Deregulation bill?

To a standing ovation at a meeting of the Wisconsin Realtors Association Convention.

I kid you not.

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker signs contentious wetlands development bill into law

By Todd Richmond
Associated Press 

Posted:   02/29/2012 12:01:00 AM CST

Updated:   02/29/2012 06:58:47 PM CST

MADISON, Wis. - Gov. Scott Walker signed a contentious bill Wednesday that helps developers win wetland construction permits, achieving one of Republican lawmakers' key goals for this legislative session.

Walker signed the measure to a standing ovation at a Wisconsin Realtors Association meeting in Madison...

A host of Wisconsin business groups, including the realtors association and Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce, pushed hard for the new law, saying it would boost expansion and job creation efforts. Environmentalists countered that the state stands to lose untold acres of wetlands, which would destroy fragile ecosystems and open the door to widespread flooding. 

And if not for the courageous opposition of State Sen. Dale Schultz, (R-Richland Center), the sole Republican and swing vote who joined all Senate Democrats in voting "no," Earth Day 2012 would have been cancelled near Ashland as bulldozers and dynamite blasted away at several pristine square miles to pollute the Bad River watershed in search of iron ore up to 1,000 feet below the Penokee Hills.

A real Earth Day proclamation from a real Governor proud to hold the same office as did Gaylord Nelson (D), or Warren Knowles (R) - - their historic land stewardship fund took a major hit in Walker's budget (are you seeing the anti-Earth Day pattern yet? - -  - - would have reminded all Wisconsinites that the State Constitution says Wisconsin's waters belong to everyone, and on Earth Day and everyday that Constitutional, legacy Public Trust Doctrine would be embraced and protected:

The Public Trust Doctrine

Wisconsin's Waters Belong to Everyone

Wisconsin lakes and rivers are public resources, owned in common by all Wisconsin citizens under the state's Public Trust Doctrine. Based on the state constitution, this doctrine has been further defined by case law and statute. It declares that all navigable waters are "common highways and forever free", and held in trust by the Department of Natural Resources.

Assures Public Rights in Waters

Wisconsin citizens have pursued legal and legislative action to clarify or change how this body of law is interpreted and implemented. Watch how their efforts have benefitted all Wisconsinites: "Champions of the Public Trust" [VIDEO length: 28:02]

As a result, the public interest, once primarily interpreted to protect public rights to transportation on navigable waters, has been broadened to include protected public rights to water quality and quantity, recreational activities, and scenic beauty.(1) 
 
All Wisconsin citizens have the right to boat, fish, hunt, ice skate, and swim on navigable waters, as well as enjoy the natural scenic beauty of navigable waters, and enjoy the quality and quantity of water that supports those uses.(2)

Wisconsin law recognizes that owners of lands bordering lakes and rivers - "riparian" owners - hold rights in the water next to their property. These riparian rights include the use of the shoreline, reasonable use of the water, and a right to access the water. However, the Wisconsin State Supreme Court has ruled that when conflicts occur between the rights of riparian owners and public rights, the public's rights are primary and the riparian owner's secondary.(1)

What are Wisconsin's stream and lake access laws?

Wisconsin's Public Trust Doctrine requires the state to intervene to protect public rights in the commercial or recreational use of navigable waters. The DNR, as the state agent charged with this responsibility, can do so through permitting requirements for water projects, through court action to stop nuisances in navigable waters, and through statutes authorizing local zoning ordinances that limit development along navigable waterways.

The court has ruled that DNR staff, when they review projects that could impact Wisconsin lakes and rivers, must consider the cumulative impacts of individual projects in their decisions.

"A little fill here and there may seem to be nothing to become excited about. But one fill, though comparatively inconsequential, may lead to another, and another, and before long a great body may be eaten away until it may no longer exist. Our navigable waters are a precious natural heritage, once gone, they disappear forever," wrote the Wisconsin State Supreme Court justices in their opinion resolving Hixon v. PSC.(2)

---

Sources:
(1) Quick, John. 1994. The Public Trust Doctrine in Wisconsin. Wisconsin Environmental Law Journal, Vol. 1, No. 1.

(2) "Champions of the Public Trust, A History of Water Use in Wisconsin" study guide. 1995. Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources Bureau of Water Regulation and Zoning. Champions of the Public Trust - PDF 1,390kb

 

Walker, Grothman, Highways Topped Blog Readership Last Week

I'm posting the ten most-read items here last week instead of the five I usually put on a Saturday summary list because the totals for most of them were quite close.

Should The Expanded I-39/90 Be Wisconsin's First T... Apr 15, 2012

Illinois Gov. Quinn Responds To Walker's Tuesday S... Apr 18, 2012,

Falsehood About Taxes Repeated In Walker's Saturat... Jan 13, 2012

The Signature Walker Snub Apr 18, 2012

Add This Half-Million Dollar Screw-Up To Scott Wal... Apr 18, 2012

Time For WI Papers That Endorsed Walker To Abandon... Apr 19, 2012

Glenn Grothman Says Welfare Underwrites A "Lifesty... Apr 14, 2012

Walker Uses Dictatorial Powers To Further Cut Teac... Apr 20, 2012

On Voter ID Review, The State Supreme Court Says P... Apr 16, 2012

Wisconsin Is Open For Contract Cancelation, Bad Fa... Apr 16, 2012

Climate Change Deniers Yelled Loud Enough, So...

A major TV series shows the effects of climate change, but avoids saying why.

A weak Earth Day message.

Walker Issues An Earth Day Proclamation

Congratulations.

Though I don't see it listed this morning on the Governor's official website, and this link on The Wheeler Report late Friday afternoon - -  Gov. Walker. Issues Earth Day proclamation - - takes me to a news release principally about a shoreline restoration project, but not to what you'd reasonably call a proclamation about Earth Day.

I'm looking for the "Whereas" and "Now Therefore Be It Resolved, etc...," for example, or perhaps the words "Gaylord" and "Nelson."

What I see is not so much a proclamation about Earth Day, though I do see the words "Earth Day" in a 14-paragraph statement about a project that I am sure is very nice.

Here's the context:

April 20, 2012
For Immediate Release
Contact: Cullen Werwie, 608‐267‐7303
Governor Walker Issues Earth Day Proclamation

Executive Residence Will Also Undergo Shoreline Restoration Project

MADISON – Governor Walker today issued a proclamation for Earth Day and announced that the Executive Residence will also undergo a shoreline restoration thanks to the help of a citizens’ group.

After that, about Earth Day...nada.

More to the point: In fifteen months, Walker has deregulated and otherwise attacked wetlands, wind power, biomass energy, recycling, transit and other resources to degrade Wisconsin's environment and green industries.

Not one day during Walker's term in office has been Earth Day.

Some of this is being documented by the Wisconsin League of Conservation Voters in work that extends beyond the claim to a proclamation. You can work your way to those issues, here.

Waukesha Pitches Quick Start To Milwaukee Water Negotiations, And...

...Emphasizes to Milwaukee officials that the water sought is not for new development or growth, but Waukesha still wants, through an application for a Lake Michigan diversion, a volume of water up to an average 10.9 million gallons a day - - an amount that exceeds its current, falling usage by 50%.

The same message about jump-starting the two-city negotiations was transmitted to Milwaukee via the Waukesha Freeman, though I doubt a headline telling Milwaukee to "get crackin'" will win many friends in Milwaukee City Hall.

Anyway - - back to the data:

Take a look at these water usage numbers provided last August to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

The city's water use declined for the fifth consecutive year in 2010 to an average daily demand of 6.69 million gallons a day, records show.

Actual demand was 1.21 million gallons a day less than the 2010 estimate included in the city's request for Great Lakes water...

Less future demand would reduce the volume of Lake Michigan water diverted to Waukesha, if the application is approved.

In May 2010, Waukesha asked Wisconsin to approve a request to purchase up to an average of 10.9 million gallons a day of Lake Michigan water. If the request is approved by Wisconsin and each of the other seven Great Lakes states, the city would abandon deep wells drawing radium-contaminated water from saturated sandstone.

The application projected water demand starting at an average of 7.9 million gallons a day in 2010, rising to 9.9 million gallons a day in 2030 and 10.9 million gallons a day at midcentury.

All of the city's future water use estimates, and the assumptions used to create them, will be scrutinized by the department in its review of the request, [Department of Natural Resources water official [Eric] Ebersberger said.

"We'll compare the 2010 projection of 7.9 million gallons a day to actual usage," he said. The basic assumptions - such as population growth, changes in land use, firefighting needs, water lost to main breaks - that built the 2010 estimate were used in setting future needs.

How Walker Can Say Koch's $1 Million Isn't Out-Of-State Money

Because Koch interests have already taken over Wisconsin. So count this disclosure by Dan Bice as news of an in-state contribution, no?

David Koch, the billionaire supporter of conservative causes, told a Florida paper earlier this year that he would be doing what he could to help Gov. Scott Walker win the recall election.

"We're helping him, as we should. We've gotten pretty good at this over the years," Koch said. "We've spent a lot of money in Wisconsin. We're going to spend more."

Here's further proof:

Koch personally gave $1 million earlier this year to the Republican Governors Association, which is running ads statewide supporting Walker and criticizing the top two Democratic candidates - Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett and former Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk.

Walker Uses Dictatorial Powers To Further Cut Teacher Pay

It's another jaw-dropping new low in Scott Walker and the Right's harsh and exhausting campaign against public employees.

Walker is using the unprecedented, government-wide rule-making power handed to him by a compliant GOP-led Legislature early last year to re-define how wages might yet be bargaining for by Wisconsin's already-punished teachers, thus limiting and effectively lowering their pay, and diminishing their careers by eliminating incentive pay for getting advanced degrees.

Right:

Let's discourage teachers from getting more training. That'll help prepare your kids for the world after graduation.

How'd you like that mindset applied to the doctor about to do your brain surgery, or the lawyer writing your estate plan? Advanced training: who needs it? Just pass around that Reader's Digest reprint.

The pound of flesh for being in a union profession already extracted when the infamous bomb was dropped is not sufficient for Walker and the teacher-haters who make up the conservative organizations subsidizing his recall campaign, and for his staffers and advisers who comb the statute book looking for any crack or wordsmithing that might be used to carry out their ideological attack on unionized public workers.

This time his actions comes with an extra BS factor - -  the claim that there is an "emergency" that the rule needs to address. There is no limit or end to the lying.

The Journal Sentinel explains:

For workers in public schools and technical colleges, the revised emergency rule put in place Thursday could reduce the upper limit of their allowed salary increases by an estimated 30% or more...

Early last year, Walker changed state law to give him more control over administrative rules. State agencies - including those not controlled by the governor - must get his approval before writing and implementing administrative rules, which have the force of state law.

Democrats called that change a power grab.

Walker's legislation limited any union-negotiated salary increases to the rate of inflation as applied to the employees' base salaries unless voters approved a higher increase in a referendum...

But Walker's administration ordered changes to the rules that would limit base wages to exclude pay given to workers such as teachers to reflect factors such as having a graduate degree...

For instance, a teacher with a master's degree making $45,000 a year might only make $35,000 a year in a given school district without the extra pay for her graduate degree. That would yield an allowable 3.2% increase of $1,050 a year rather than $1,350.

Under the rule, only the $35,000 a year would be counted as part of the total amount that would be subject to the cost-of-living increase when the teacher's union sought to bargain for one with the district.

And I last year here and even earlier here the dangers of the Legislature's role in enabling the Governor to have near-dictatorial power over state agency rules and operations.

Walker wants to remove state rule-making powers - - a very important state function because Wisconsin rules have the power of law  - - from the legislature to his office.

That's a power grab that upsets the checks-and-balances among the branches of government, blocks transparency and opens the door even more widely to special-interest influence.

And special interest already have more than a foot inside that door.  - - 

A Wisconsin rid of Walker's damage definitely needs that grant of power eliminated. No Governor should have that authority, regardless of party.

State Appeals Its Court-Ordered Redistricting 'Win,' Reopening Entire Case

Time will tell if the state's decision to appeal redistricting ordered by a panel of three Federal judges of two south side Milwaukee districts wins a reversal, or backfires, as the appeal allows the plaintiffs - - Democrats and Latino activists - - the right to bring back claims that the Federal panel had previously dismissed.

5:45 p.m. update: Is Mark Belling reading this blog. He just excoriated AG Van Hollen for filing this appeal because, as I said, it gives Democrats the right to bring back claims that the Federal panel had previously dismissed. In other words, everything is back on the table.

Belling called Van Hollen "the worst Republican Attorney General in the country."

John Dean Says Walker "More Nixonian" Than Nixon

Make sure you read Cap Times Editor Paul Fanlund's conversation with John Dean.

They're Standing On Our Ground, Too

Wisconsin concealed carry permits hit the 100,000 mark.

Walker's Jobs Fail Nicely-Charted

Hat tip - -  Milwaukee Stat:

John Doe Percolating

Dan Bice updates current events. The story is worth a careful read.

Doyle's Merit Bonuses, Bad! Walker's Merit Bonuses, Good!

Call it a flip-flop. Call it hypocrisy. Call it a double-standard. Call it Walker's business as usual.

Walker says one thing, then does another.

This is the latest example:

In the name of fiscal restraint, Walker had suspended Jim Doyle's merit and bonus pay plan.

And though his budget quickly ran up a $143 million deficit if its own, Walker quietly reinstated the merit bonus plan.

It's hard to keep track of Walker's phony manipulations - - beginning with a 2010 gubernatorial election claim to have "lived" transparently in the County Executive's office while clandestinely benefiting from the use of public resources in the County Executive's office for partisan purposes, to dropping the collective bargaining bomb he withheld during the campaign, to promising an unachievable 250,000 new private sector jobs, to enabling a secretive Legislative redistricting process, to collecting record millions of out-of-state dollars to use in the recall election by claiming that millions of dollars was pouring into Wisconsin again him.

Through The Recall Election, "The Economy, Stupid" Must Be The Mantra

[originally posted, 9:00 p.m. Thursday] Yes, there are multiple themes and messages explaining Walker's political malfeasance in office, but his failed performance on job creation - - after an election where he promised 250,000 new private sector jobs in four years - - means "The Economy, Stupid," is now theme #1.

Make him own the performance.

Walker Bears Direct Responsibility For State Job Losses

Take a look at these two excerpts from Journal Sentinel stories about construction jobs in Wisconsin.

From this story Thursday about the loss of another 4,300 private sector jobs in Wisconsin in March:

In Wisconsin, construction showed the deepest monthly job losses, which was unexpected given the unseasonably warm weather.

* From this 2011 story about the impact on the job market related to Walker's cancellation of the federally-funded Amtrak line from Milwaukee-to-Madison:

The state Department of Transportation had projected that rail-related jobs would peak at 4,732 in 2012, counting those in direct construction, at supply companies and in government. Also, 55 permanent jobs would be created to operate and maintain the trains, tracks and stations. Supporters say many more jobs would be created by the project's spinoff impact on the economy.

There's no way to escape the facts and the conclusion: Walker's ideological decision to cancel the train cost the state construction, manufacturing and maintenance jobs - - and other opportunities and interaction among universities and businesses along the Midwest High Speed Rail Corridor from which Wisconsin is now disconnected.

Could the Wisconsin League of Conservation Voters have been more prescient with the release of "Rail Fail" in its series of disclosures about Walker?

The group's report included this stinging remark from the LA Times after some of the money Walker forfeited went to California's rail system:

"Thanks a billion, cheeseheads!"

Time For WI Papers That Endorsed Walker To Abandon Him

If the premise was he'd create jobs, the record is continuing failure.

The John Doe probe has proven Walker cheated the voters in 2010 with a campaign that used taxpayer money, staff and resources for political purposes.

His campaign was inauthentic, the contest improperly tilted, and the core economic outcome has led to many months of increased joblessness since his budget was approved - - regardless of how Walker will spin the rate vs. actual numbers of freshly unemployed citizens.

Time to call it what it was: the wrong choice, but rectifiable.

And There It Is: -4,300 WI Jobs In March

Walker is transparently deceptive.

Yesterday - - a big deal made out of 35 new jobs.

It was designed to tamp down today's real news: 4,300 private sector jobs lost in March.

Walker's Piddling Jobs Announcement Means Big Job Loss Data Coming

When you see Walker's people hyping a few dozen new jobs it can only mean a major job loss announcement is imminent.

A Penny For His Thoughts? That's About Right For Tommy Thompson

When it comes to math and foreign policy, you do not want Tommy Thompson in charge.

Wisconsin GOP Senate candidate Tommy Thompson says every penny increase at the pump sends $1 billion from U.S. to Saudi Arabia