The Budget Battle Begins

 The Budget Battle Begins

Political posturing is not enough

 

Once again, we see the stark differences between Democrat and Republican visions for Wisconsin’s future on full display. Democrats see us working together to address the needs and desires of working families while Republicans want to favor the rich and continue fighting culture wars already lost. The venue this time was our state capitol, and the vehicle was Governor Tony Evers’ State of the State Address coupled with the Republican response.

 

Evers’ address laid out his proposed state budget for the next two years coupled with a plea for Democrats and Republicans working together to solve common problems.

 

Evers’ proposal increases state spending by a modest 23%, cuts income taxes for most state taxpayers by 10%, increases funding for public schools dramatically and addresses much needed reforms for most state programs.

 

The proposed tax cut would save almost 200 million Wisconsin taxpayers about $200 per year. It would apply to individuals making less than $100,00 per year and couples filing jointly less that $150,000 annually. He also proposes to increase the state supplement to the Federal Earned Income Tax Credit and expanding the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit, saving low-income taxpayers more than an additional $500 annually.

 

Evers also wants to modify the capital gains tax for the wealthiest taxpayers by limiting it to those earning less than $400,000 per year. He also proposes sending 20% of the state’s sales tax revenues back to local governments to help them defray costs for transportation and public safety.

 

Evers proposes the largest increase in public school funding in Wisconsin history, $2.6 billion. The goal is to return the state to Tommy Thompson’s promise of funding two-thirds of the cost of public education along with paying 60% of the cost of special education for students with disabilities. He includes funding increases for the state voucher programs and independent charter schools along with special needs scholarships to private schools while freezing enrollment in those programs. 

 

Mental health services in all schools would receive $270 million over two years under the Governor’s proposed budget. 

 

Infrastructure spending would continue under the Governor’s proposed budget. It includes $750 million in grants to further expand rural broadband internet services and paying off $380 million in transportation revenue bonds so state funds can be used to fix more roads.

 

Evers proposes to continue programs he started with Federal pandemic funds, including $319 million for the Child Care Counts program which helps child-care providers pay caregivers more without raising tuition for parents and $22 million to continue helping employers pay for childcare for their employees. 

 

The budget proposal addresses the crisis in our justice system by adding more assistant district attorneys and state public defenders, increasing their starting salaries, and returning 17-year-olds to the juvenile justice system rather than handling their criminal cases in adult courts. 

 

Evers also added more protections for workers in his budge proposal. He wants to provide 12 weeks of family and medical leave for both public and private sector workers funded by employer and employee payroll contributions with a $242 million kickstart from the state. He also proposes to restore collective bargaining rights for state and government workers and to repeal the so-called right to work law which keeps unions from requiring workers they represent to pay dues. Increases in the state minimum wage law and a requirement for public building projects to pay workers the local prevailing wage for their trade are also in the package.

 

The proposed budget also addresses clean up of water pollution from PFAS chemicals and increased staffing for the Department of Safety and Professional Services to deal with the backlog of pending professional licenses. 

 

Finally, Evers proposes to legalize and tax marijuana and to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act making more low-income people eligible for Badger Care health coverage. 

 

Republicans in control of both houses of our legislature were quick to reject most of Evers’ budget proposals, vowing to create their own two-year budget without starting with the Governor’s proposal. Among the GOP priorities are returning much of the state’s surplus to taxpayers through tax cuts and the imposition of a flat tax scheme that would benefit the wealthiest Wisconsin residents. Many of Evers’ proposals have already been rejected by GOP legislative leaders such as marijuana legalization, Act 10 repeal, and increased staffing for state agencies. 

 

We will see if the two sides can come to any agreements on what the next budget will finally look like. Otherwise, we will see once more a GOP budget modified heavily by Evers’ line-item veto pen ending up with a revenue and spending plan no one likes. 

 

Spring Elections

Spring Elections are important

 

This Spring brings the most consequential election in recent memory.

 

Currently, conservative Republicans hold a 4-3 majority on Wisconsin’s Supreme Court. One of the conservatives, Chief Justice Patricia Roggensack, is not running for re-election. This has brought four candidates into the race to fill the open seat. Even though our judicial races are nominally non-partisan contests, the current political climate has made them anything but non-partisan.

 

The current major issues driving the Wisconsin body politic are the viability of our statutory abortion ban passed in 1849 and the GOP’s use of gerrymandered election districts to maintain power in the legislature and in the composition of Wisconsin congressional districts. Both are currently the subject of litigation which will eventually come before the Wisconsin Supreme Court. How those cases will be decided will clearly depend upon who wins the upcoming election.

 

Predictably, the four candidates who will appear on the February 21^st primary election ballot fall into one of the two political camps. There are two clear conservatives, former Supreme Court Justice Daniel Kelly and current Waukesha Circuit Court Judge Jennifer Dorow. There are two clear liberals, Milwaukee Circuit Judge Janet Protasiewicz and Dane County Circuit Judge Everett Mitchell. 

 

Both Kelly and Dorow received their law degrees from Regent University which was founded by Christian televangelist Pat Robertson. It is not a prestigious law school by any stretch and uses the Bible to guide its curriculum. Both candidates have openly embraced their religious views and maintained that they form the foundation of their legal rulings. Both took religious exceptions to U.S. Supreme Court rulings with which they disagreed in their applications to former Governor Scott Walker for for their respective appointments to the bench. Both have indicated that abortion should be illegal and that the ban on abortion should remain. Both have been endorsed by Wisconsin Right to Life. 

 

As noted in statewide media accounts, Kelly and Dorow are pulling no punches with each other. Both have endorsements from prominent GOP justices who dislike each other. Roggensack has endorsed Dorow while Justice Rebecca Bradley has endorsed Kelly. Kelly was clearly miffed when Dorow jumped into the race after presiding over the high-profile trial of Darrel Brooks. Dorow’s campaign has taken swipes at Kelly as well. 

 

Before Kelly lost his seat on the Court to Justice Jill Karofsky in 2020, he voted in favor of every position taken by the uber conservative law firm, the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty (WILL), after serving on its Board of Directors. His website is found at justicedanielkelly.com

 

Dorow was appointed to the bench by former Governor Scott Walker and appointed as the Chief Judge of the Third Judicial Distict by the Supreme Court in 2017. Her endorsement by Justice Roggensack who was well known as a rubber stamp for Republican positions signals that Dorow too will be a handmaiden for the GOP. 

 

In a recent debate between all the candidates, Dorow read from a prepared script and read answers from a binder while failing to answer questions completely indicating that she is not prepared to work in the rarified collegial institution of our highest court. Her website is found at judgejennifer.com

 

I knew Janet Protasiewicz many years ago when she was an Assistant District Attorney in Milwaukee County. She was fair and worked her cases ethically. Her reputation since becoming a Circuit Court Judge has been stellar. She graduated from Marquette Law School. She has gained endorsements from attorneys and judges around the state. She has been endorsed by major labor unions and progressive political organizations. She believes that Wisconsin’s legislative district maps are “rigged.” She supports a woman’s right to choose. Her website is found at janetforjustice.com

 

Dane County Circuit Judge Everett Mitchell graduated from the University of Wisconsin Law School and has been active in progressive attempts to work with juveniles caught up in the legal system. He has garnered endorsements from former Governor Jim Doyle, former Supreme Court Justice Louis Butler as well as judges and attorneys around the state. He is also a minister having graduated from Princeton Theological Seminary before attending law school. He is younger than the other candidates and has less judicial experience. His website is found at judgeeverettmitchell.com

 

The February 21 primary will narrow the field from four to two who will go head to head in the April election. The choice is clear if you want justices on our Supreme Court who will bring common sense to their rulings and not be swayed by hyper-partisan agendas. I will be voting for Janet Protasiewicz.

 

Systems on the Brink

 Guardianship and the Mentally Ill

Systems on the Brink

 

I recently retired from working as a guardian for the elderly and disabled for the past five and a half years. I worked for Advocacy Programs, a division of Family Service Association of Sheboygan and was assigned to take on cases with legal entanglements or dysfunctional families or both. The work was very rewarding, and I learned over time that our system of taking care of people who can no longer take care of themselves or manage their affairs is in serious need of repair. 

 

Wisconsin statutes created two separate systems for taking care of those no longer able to make it on their own. 

 

One is the guardianship system. If a person, regardless of age, is found to be incompetent due to conditions like dementia, Parkinsons, Huntingtons, Alzheimers, or developmental disabilities, the courts can appoint a guardian of the person and a guardian of the estate. Guardians of the person are charged with making decisions for the person such as where they will live and the level and kind of health care they should receive. Guardians of the estate handle the person’s financial affairs. Often, our agency was assigned both roles when there was no family member willing or able to take on those responsibilities. We were also appointed when there was conflict within the family as to who should be appointed or if financial or physical abuse or exploitation was found. Guardian conduct is monitored by the court through annual reports on the ward’s condition and annual accountings of income and expenditures on the ward’s behalf. All decisions made by guardians are guided by a “best interest” standard. Is the proposed action in the ward’s best interest.

 

The other system created by state law is for those who suffer from chronic mental illness such as schizophrenia, depression, substance abuse or bipolar disorder. There are no provisions in this system for someone like a guardian to take over the decision making for the person suffering from mental illness. The court can order a county mental health agency to provide and monitor medication and psychiatric treatments and can order the person to take certain medications if they refuse. Since the 1970s, institutionalization of the chronically mentally ill has been very difficult after courts decided that most with these afflictions can be treated effectively with community-based treatment services. Unfortunately, our legislature and most others around the country has not seen fit to adequately fund community-based programming. This shifted the burden to county governments which are often loath to provide adequate funding to meet the need. 

 

As a result of the inadequate funding for community-based mental health services, many of those with chronic mental illness are shifted into the guardianship system after a finding that the person is incompetent to manage their own affairs due to their overall condition. 

 

The guardianship system is also under funded. Most of those under guardianship have little or no income other than Social Security. Most need 24-hour care and supervision which is provided by assisted living facilities with memory care units and skilled nursing facilities. The cost of this care far exceeds most Social Security and Medicare benefit payment, so Medicaid was created to make up the difference. Medicaid sets reimbursement rates which barely cover the cost of care. 

 

Many facilities which rely upon Medicaid payments cannot retain staff. Hourly pay rates are not very attractive. The turnover of caregivers in these facilities is very high. If a competitor down the street offers a dollar more per hour, people jump jobs. COVID did not help. Those fearing infection from patients or visitors, left the field. If they got infected, they had to stay home, and replacements were hard to find. Pool nursing agencies had difficulty keeping up with the demand and continuity of care went out the window as new caregivers rotated through facilities.

 

Taking care of people with incompetency due to dementia or Alzheimer’s requires specific training and skills. The medications used to ameliorate symptoms and behaviors associated with these afflictions require specific attention to potential side effects. Medication administration and monitoring is required. Dietary needs are also specific in elderly populations in these facilities. Most facilities can barely keep up with the ever-changing landscape of care needs. 

 

As those with chronic mental illness fell through the cracks in the system designed for them, we have seen an increase in them being shifted into the guardianship system with placement in assisted living and memory care units meant for those found to be incompetent for other reasons. 

 

Taking care of the chronically mentally ill requires a whole different set of skills. Their medications and behavioral issues are often very different. Most facilities geared for the elderly dementia patient do not have staff adequately trained to deal with the needs of the chronically mentally ill. Financial pressure to fill beds to keep Medicaid reimbursement coming in forced many facilities to accept the chronically mentally ill. Having a mixed patient population has created a whole new set of pressures and made care for both suffer. 

 

These issues are driving both systems to the breaking point and need legislative attention. Local governments need to raise local taxes to pump much needed funds into them until legislatures are forced to fill in the gaps. 

 

We owe it to our parents and grandparents to make sure they are properly cared for when they can no longer take care of themselves.

Solstice Reflections

 Winter Solstice Reflections

Hopeful New Year

 

Year’s end and the Winter Solstice brings time for reflection on hopes for the new year. As we gather with family round the fireplace warmth and fresh coffee in our mugs, I offer my list of hopes and things to work on. 

 

It is long past time to tackle climate change and the existential threat it has for our species’ survival. Nations around the globe are waking up and beginning to act. Ours is the richest nation on the planet and needs to take the lead and set the example for the rest. We need to end our dependence on fossil fuels and embrace the wind and sun for the power they provide.

 

It is long past time for people to be hungry. We have the capability to feed everyone on the planet and it should be so. People well nourished can accomplish untold tasks and create new and exciting discoveries. Let’s unleash that potential. 

 

It is long past time for people to be homeless. We have the capability to provide shelter for everyone. People with a roof overhead can find rest and comfort. Those rested have the energy to create and build successful futures. 

 

It is long past time for us to wage wars to resolve differences. We have the skills to resolve conflicts peacefully. We just need to use them. 

 

As we put our planetary house in order, we can collectively resolve more local national concerns. 

 

It is long past time to recommit to our democratic republic form of governance. We have made it work for almost two and a half centuries and certainly can find the way to continue to make it work in our more modern times. 

 

Part of that struggle is to hold those responsible for the recent insurrection which attempted to overthrow our democratic institution of the peaceful transfer of power. Thanks to the courageous Representatives from both parties on the House Select Committee who catalogued the evidence and presented it to the public, paving the way for our justice system to bring those responsible to account. 

 

It is long past time for us to end the pursuit of power for its own sake and the subversion of representative democracy by voter suppression and gerrymandered voting districts. Our representatives should no longer be allowed to pick their voters and pack them into safe districts for one political party. 

 

It is long past time for men to control and define women and the non-binary members of the gender spectrum. It takes all of us to make our existence safe and healthy. All of us deserve equal seats at the table and the right to make decisions about who we are and where we fit. A critical part of that is to allow each of us to control what goes on with our bodies and how we choose to reproduce the species. 

 

It is long past time for people not to have access to affordable quality health care. We know what it takes to help people live healthy productive lives. Access to that care should not depend upon individual wealth or station. All the other major nations on our planet have some form of universal healthcare for their citizens. We need to join them and help share that service to underdeveloped countries.

 

It is long past time for oligarchs to control most of our national wealth. No one creates wealth on their own. Societal structures create safety for creation of wealth. Those who labor for others are critical to creation of wealth and deserve their fair share of what they help to create. We must ensure that those who work for others have a seat at the table where decisions are made on how the wealth they create gets divided. Collective bargaining must be protected and preserved. 

 

We have much to be thankful for and much to celebrate this holiday season. Let us join together in 2023 to make next year better than years’ past. After this Winter Solstice our days will get longer and the dark of Winter will give way to a time when we all will hopefully flourish.

 

RIP GOP

 Ready to RIP GOP?

Stay the course at your peril

 

Things have gone from bad to worse for the former occupant of the White House and his party. 

 

His hand-picked challenger to defeat incumbent U.S. Senator Raphael Wornock, former football star Herschel Walker, lost the run-off race in Georgia giving Democrats a solid 51-49 majority in the Senate. That will end even membership on Senate committees and all but ensure that President Biden’s federal court appointments will be approved by a Democratic majority for the next two years at least. Wornock’s victory added to the list of defeats the former president’s candidates suffered in the recent mid-term elections. Most all of the faithful election deniers lost.

 

His oft vaunted New York business organization was convicted of multiple counts of tax fraud and conspiracy by a Manhattan jury. While none of the business’ principals were convicted, most legitimate banks will be required to stop doing business with the organization, cutting off funds it desperately needs. The evidence produced at the trial will help New York prosecutors charge and convict many of those who led the business, including some of his adult children and maybe even the former president. 

 

The special counsel appointed by the Justice Department to take over the federal criminal investigations of the former president has hit the ground running by issuing subpoenas to election officials in three states, including Wisconsin, for all of their communications with the former president and his campaign regarding the efforts to overturn the last presidential election. 

 

The grand jury proceedings in Georgia looking into efforts to “find votes” in the last presidential election have received green lights from courts requiring Senator Lindsay Graham and former Chief of Staff Mark Meadows to testify. Other former campaign confidants have already testified. 

 

The Chairman of the House Select Committee investigating the January 6^th insurrection at the U.S. Capitol indicated the Committee will issue criminal referrals to the Justice Department seeking charges against those who led or enabled the breach of the Capitol and the attempt to prevent certification of the Electoral College vote that favored President Biden. 

 

Last, but not by any means least, Congress received copies of the former president’s federal tax returns and has the authority to share them publicly and with the U.S. Senate preventing the razor thin GOP majority in next year’s House from burying them once more. 

 

This list and the much-publicized comment by the former president that the Constitution should be “terminated” so he could be declared the winner of the last presidential election should be more than enough for the Republican party and GOP leaders in Congress to cut ties with him. Alas, it does not appear to be so given the eerie silence from most in the GOP when asked if they still support him. 

 

Given these mounting losses and impending criminal prosecutions, one would think that any rational political organization would look elsewhere for leadership and financial support. Not so, the current GOP. 

 

The nascent GOP civil war will break out full force in the coming weeks as the GOP in the U.S. House seeks to claim the Speaker’s gavel from the Democrats. Front runner, Rep. Kevin McCarthy, will see a challenge from the right wing in his caucus where some claim to have to votes needed to depose him. Since the whole membership in the new House of Representatives will be voting on who becomes the next speaker, a GOP plurality may open the door for a Democrat to be elected. Stranger things have happened in our political system. 

 

Locally and across the country, the GOP will see battles for control from the right wing still loyal to the former president and more moderate realists who see the handwriting on the wall. Polling clearly shows a majority of the voting public favors most of the Biden agenda and especially the Democrats adoption of reproductive freedom and full citizenship for women. Many in the GOP want a piece of that action but are held back by the election fraud conspiracy theorists and those obsessed with Hunter Biden’s laptop. 

 

While the GOP squabbles trying to get its house in order, Democrats will continue to get things done in the lame duck Congressional sessions until the first of next year and into the next two on those issues just left to the U.S. Senate. With nothing but division and debate to offer, the elections for the U.S. House in two years should easily give Democrats a House majority once more. 

 

While pronouncing the GOP in its current form dead is perhaps premature, it certainly has lost its luster for a majority of voters. Grab some popcorn, kick back and watch.

 

Thanksgiving

 Thanksgiving

 

As a progressive Democrat, I celebrate this holiday being thankful there are so many people working to make the world a better place. 

 

More and more are seeing the positives of a progressive political agenda as we work on saving the planet from the ravages of climate change and the new diseases that threaten our existence. We give thanks to those working tirelessly to build a future with universal healthcare and a green economy. 

 

We see the benefits of equality of opportunity for everyone, not just those who look or think like us. We want a world where the wealth that surrounds us is shared by all, not just the privileged few. When we prosper, we build a longer table, not higher walls. 

 

We welcome strangers who come to our shores seeking a new life and the opportunity to raise their families safe from violence. We recognize them for what our ancestors once were, refugees. We understand that our country can support us all and are willing to share in its bounty. 

 

We understand that equality for women means protecting their freedom to control their own bodies and to choose whether to bear children or not without interference from the government. It means the end to glass ceilings and gender specific jobs.

 

We give thanks for diversity and inclusion, putting aside concerns about skin color and cultural differences, who they love, what language they speak or the nation from whence they came. All have something to contribute to the fabric of our civilization and deserve the chance to do just that. 

 

We give thanks for those who choose to educate our children in public schools, who put themselves in danger to keep us safe from those who would do us harm and put out fires in our communities. We appreciate the other public servants who have chosen to work to make our communities safe and prosperous. 

 

We support the right of those who work for others to band together in unions and associations to demand safe working conditions and a living wage. Those who produce wealth, educate, or respond when things go wrong deserve a seat at the table where decisions that impact their lives and livelihoods are being made.  

 

We give thanks for the understanding that we are all in this together. Those things that divide us do not contribute to forward progress for the whole. Some, unfortunately, highlight division for their own selfish goals. We are thankful for the ability to recognize the threat and combat it effectively.

 

We give thanks for peace at home and abroad and thank those whose vigilance helps to prevent conflict here and abroad. While striving for peace, we understand that conflict is sometimes inevitable as we stand up to authoritarian plutocrats and fascists.

 

We give thanks for our friends and families, those we support and those who support us. Families are defined by more than blood relationships. The love and respect shared in family is given freely and without condition. 

 

We give thanks for our Democracy which gives each of us a voice and a seat at the governing table. We set aside our differences to rise in common defense of that cherished institution of self-governance against those who try to subvert and steal it in the pursuit of power. 

 

We celebrate the natural beauty that surrounds us in mountains, lakes, rivers and streams, oceans and skies understanding that this beauty provides us with the very stuff of life. We give thanks to those who help keep our waters pure and the air we breathe clean. 

 

We have lots to be thankful for this long weekend. Most of all, we must continue to give thanks for the duration of the next trip around the sun so all that makes us who we are continues to improve. 

 

Midterm Recap

 The Arc of Political History

 

I have been actively involved in issues political since the civil rights and anti-war movements of the 1960s. I watched efforts from those opposed to change ebb and flow as elections were won and lost over the intervening years. I have lived under administrations Republican and Democrat in states both liberal and conservative. There is a political pendulum which moves both ways but seems mostly to move more to the left than the right over time. 

 

During those decades there have been few constants. One of those constants has been that midterm elections have always favored the party out of power. Our recent midterm elections are mostly over, and that constant has faded almost to oblivion. 

 

Democrats were supposed to be overwhelmed by the Trump led red wave. It turns out that the red wave never crested or broke but limped ashore as a trickle. Yes, Republicans may take control of the House of Representatives, but they failed to take the Senate. Safe Republican held seats remained safe thanks to gerrymandered districts. 

 

Most notably, most of Trump’s hand-picked candidates who passed the litmus test of unqualified support for the “Big Lie” about the 2020 presidential election, lost their contests to Democrats. The former occupant of the White House took such a beating that even some of his closest advisors have told him to hold off announcing another run for the presidency until after the run-off election in Georgia where incumbent Rev. Raphael Warnock is being challenged by the Trump endorsed impaired former football player, Herschel Walker. 

 

What tipped the scales in both federal and state elections where decent candidates showed up was the influx of new young voters and those who came to the polls to show their disgust with Republican efforts to ban abortions and curtail reproductive freedom after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade this Summer. In every state where abortion measures were on the ballot, pro-abortion measures won. It did not matter if the state was red or blue, people voted to preserve access to abortion and reproductive healthcare. 

 

We must give thanks to Justices Alioto and Thomas and the three Trump appointees to the Court for the gift that will keep on giving for years to come. Eliminating the constitutional protections for privacy and reproductive freedom coupled with Thomas’ threats to extend the holding in Dobbs to the privacy grounded protections for same sex marriage, contraception and even inter-racial marriage will provide organizers with the issue that will win elections wherever women and their partners, the LBGTQI community and civil rights proponents live.

 

Young people whose parents and grandparents lived with the now eliminated protections will be easily motivated to get involved in the political process. We have already seen their impact on elections this cycle. Until a constitutional right to privacy and bodily autonomy is restored, these new voters will turn to the Democratic party which has wisely hitched its star to this defining issue. 

 

Trump’s hold over the Republican Party is clearly losing its grip. The simmering civil war in the GOP over the backward-looking Trump and his false claims will soon erupt into a nasty public bar fight as the varying factions vie for control. In a party where winning is the goal, Trump will soon become irrelevant. The larger problem is that the GOP has yet to find a compelling argument that will unite the right.

 

Fear of the “others” appears not to be a winner as shown by the loss of the Washington County “Anti-Crime” referendum and Tim Michels’ defeat by the mild-mannered Tony Evers. The so-called bread and butter issues of the economy and its twin brother inflation won’t carry the day either. People seem more concerned with rebuilding our infrastructure, personal freedom, protecting the planet and helping their fellow travelers get by and succeed, but those are issues supported by Democrats. 

 

We had an exhilarating set of victories this week. Now the real work of making sure the promises of those we elected are kept and providing a voice and encouragement to the newly motivated activists who helped make the victories possible. 

 

After a few days rest and reflection, it will be on to the next elections come early Spring where we can change the balance of the Wisconsin Supreme Court and elect more progressives to local school boards, city councils and county boards. Onward.