Conservatively Speaking

I have completed a series of town hall meetings in state Senate District 28 in the communities that I represent: New Berlin, Franklin, Greendale, Greenfield, Hales Corners, Big Bend, Muskego, Mukwonago, Waterford, East Troy, and Waukesha.

Constituents attending came armed with a variety of questions and topics they wanted to discuss. There were, however, specific issues residents of Senate District 28 consistently raised at virtually every town hall meeting. The consensus was these are top-of-mind, high priority, hot button items.

Let’s begin with the hands down number one concern. It usually began with a comment like, “Isn’t there something this state can do?” or, “Why can’t the Legislature and the governor just say no?”

Frustrated citizens cannot understand why, at a time of layoffs, shaky job security, home foreclosures, shrinking incomes, rising gas and food prices and state budget deficits that state government time and time again opts to increase taxing and spending.  Citizens are making tough choices to adapt to difficult economic times and fully expect government to follow suit. Instead, state government taxes and spends even more.

The message at the town hall meetings was evident: enough is enough. I am pleased to report that I have kept my pledge and refused to vote for any tax increase. I also oppose and voted against the state budget and budget repair bill that increased spending.

Town hall attendees also made it abundantly clear they want a photo ID requirement for voting in Wisconsin. Support for the measure is overwhelming, and again, residents are dumbfounded as to why such a popular idea has been impossible to achieve.

Governor Doyle vetoed photo ID three times.  During the legislative session, Democrats controlling the state Senate refused to bring a constitutional amendment requiring photo ID to the Senate floor for a vote, killing the measure. Had the amendment been put to voters in a statewide referendum, the margin of victory would likely have been substantial.

Residents attending the town hall meetings and that have contacted me are well aware of what transpired in Madison this past session and they are angry. I wish the governor and every Senate Democrat that obstructed the will of the people on photo ID would have been at the town hall meetings to hear how passionate voters are on this issue.

The “E” word also elicits great emotion: ethanol. The consensus, and I concur, is that there are far too many problems associated with ethanol, and with gas prices skyrocketing, there is growing opposition to ethanol mandates.

I was one of several legislators to sign a letter sent to Wisconsin’s Congressional Delegation, requesting they take action to ease the cost of gas for consumers. The letter asks for a repeal of the federal renewable fuel mandate, the elimination of tax credits for ethanol production, and the lifting of the reformulated gas (RFG) mandate in six southeast Wisconsin counties.

I wish to thank everyone that attended the town hall meetings. It is great to meet constituents face to face and hear what’s on their minds. I also thank community officials for allowing me the use of government facilities, libraries and a local business to host the town hall meetings.

It was a warm Saturday afternoon in Texas in January 1996. Nine-year-old Amber Hagerman was riding her bicycle when a neighbor heard Amber scream.  The neighbor saw a man pull Amber off her bike, throw her into the front seat of his pickup truck, and speed away.

The neighbor immediately called police and gave a description of the suspect and his truck. A search ensued, but four days later, Amber’s body was found in a drainage ditch four miles away, her throat slashed. The young girl’s assailant has never been found. 

Amber Hagerman


A citizen made a suggestion to a Dallas radio station that the news media repeat bulletins about kidnapped children the same way they treat messages about severe weather. The Amber Alert system was born and has spread across the country.

Wisconsin’s Amber Alert Plan was started by the Wisconsin Department of Justice (DOJ) in 2003. When an Amber Alert is activated, Wisconsin radio and television stations cut into programming to broadcast information about an abducted child using the Emergency Alert System.  Highway message board signs also convey information about confirmed child abduction. 

Seven states have instituted an Amber Alert-type system for the elderly who wander or become lost. The system that helps find Alzheimer’s or dementia patients who go missing is called the Silver Alert, and it operates in the same way as the Amber Alert program, piggybacking on current Amber Alert systems. That keeps costs down.

Stateline.org reports:

“At least 5.2 million Americans suffer from dementia, and research shows that six out of 10 of those will wander. Only 4 percent of those who leave home alone are able to find their way back without help, according to the Alzheimer’s Association.

Every year, hundreds of seniors and others with dementia wander away, on foot or driving, and if not found within 24 hours, at least half suffer serious injury or death, according to the Alzheimer’s Association.  As baby boomers age, the toll is expected to multiply.”

Congress is considering giving grants to states to start their own Silver Alert programs. Another bill to be introduced in Congress this month would make Silver Alert a federally-run program in every state.

Read more about Silver Alert.

On April 1, 2008, I blogged about a Competitive Wisconsin Inc. (CWI) report that used 33 measures in six categories to show Wisconsin’s ability to compete nationally continues to sag. 

The nonpartisan Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance (WISTAX) took the tables and charts from the CWI report and assigned grades to Wisconsin in all 33 benchmarks.

WISTAX reports, “Of the 33 measures, Wisconsin had four grades in the A range, 12 each in the B and C ranges, and five in the D range. The average grade over all measures was just below 2.5, or B-/C+. The two areas with the strongest grades were quality of life (averaging about a B) and workforce excellence (B- average). Low grades were given to new business creations (D+) and venture capital per worker (D), both of which suggest that future job creation could be at risk. Also disconcerting was the steady rise in energy costs (C-), once an area of decided advantage.”

Here is the entire WISTAX report.

Milwaukee has some of the most expensive health care in the country. The main reason, according to a new study by the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute (WPRI) is that there is not enough competition.

The author of the study, Linda Gorman, Ph.D. attributes the high cost to Milwaukee’s historic ties to unions. She says another factor is that health care has become consolidated, leaving less competition to keep costs lower. When competition is lacking, consumers have less alternatives. The result is more expensive health care.

How expensive is Milwaukee’s health care? The WPRI study says Milwaukee’s health care is anywhere from 27 to 55 percent higher than the national average.

State law has contributed to the increasing costs. The WPRI cites that, “Wisconsin law mandates 33 procedures  be covered by a health plan operating in the state, including regulations requiring that dentists be included in plans, and mandates that require insurers to cover contraceptives, in-vitro fertilization, prescription drugs, rehabilitation, and well-child care. Each one of these adds to the cost of a consumer’s health care and makes it more difficult for a health plan to operate in Wisconsin.”

What is the solution? Gorman says there are two remedies:

1)     There must be market-based tools, such as Health Savings Accounts.
2)     High-deductible health plans

Gorman says prices will come down when competition has consumers shopping around. She contends that high deductible policies will allow consumers to actually save over $100,000 during their 40-year work career, and even cites companies like Whole Foods, Wendy’s International Inc, and Lutheran Social Services of Illinois that have experienced success going to HSA’s and high-deductible plans.

Here is the WPRI study.

Operation Tele-Phoney is the largest sweep of telemarketing fraud cases ever conducted by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).  Details of the extensive investigation were announced at a news conference at FTC headquarters in Washington D.C.

One of the cases highlighted in this national sweep was the successful prosecution of a fraudulent charitable telephone solicitation practice in Wisconsin. Donors were duped into believing their contributions would immediately go toward noteworthy charities.

Read more about the crackdown here. 

The FTC has announced the “Who’s Calling?” consumer education campaign that encourages consumers to: 1) Recognize the signs of telemarketing fraud and 2) Report fraud to the FTC and state attorneys general. Here are more details.

The Wall Street Journal has a great editorial tracking the ramifications of ethanol. It reads, in part:

“Corn ethanol can now join the scare over silicone breast implants and the pesticide Alar as among the greatest scams of the age. But before we move on to the next green miracle cure, it's worth recounting how much damage this ethanol political machine is doing.

To create just one gallon of fuel, ethanol slurps up 1,700 gallons of water, according to Cornell's David Pimentel, and 51 cents of tax credits. And it still can't compete against oil without a protective 54-cents-per-gallon tariff on imports and a federal mandate that forces it into our gas tanks. The record 30 million acres the U.S. will devote to ethanol production this year will consume almost a third of America's corn crop while yielding fuel amounting to less than 3% of petroleum consumption.”

Here is the entire editorial.

The Capital Times is reporting Governor Doyle will bring back the hospital tax. The governor proposed the tax as part of the budget repair bill, but the tax was removed during budget deliberations by a conference committee.

I oppose the hospital tax.

Here is the Capital Times story.

• Is not more than six feet wide.
• Extends no farther than to a point where the water is three feet at its maximum depth or where there is adequate depth for mooring a boat, whichever is farther from the shoreline.
• Has no more than two boat slips for the first 50 feet of the riparian owner’s shoreline footage and no more than one additional boat slip for each additional 50 feet of shoreline.
• Is located in an area other than an area of special natural resource interest, as defined in the statutes.
• Does not interfere with the riparian rights of other riparian owners.

• May not be more than eight feet wide.
  
  
• May have a platform at the end of the pier (not wharf) that is 200 square feet or less or, if it is from 200 to 300 square feet, is no more than 10 feet wide.
  
  
• May not interfere with the riparian rights of any other riparian owner.

To obtain this exemption, the owner of a grandfathered pier or wharf must register it with the DNR by April 1, 2011. DNR may not charge a fee for the registration.

If a grandfathered pier or wharf does not qualify for the above exemption, the owner of the pier or wharf must apply to DNR for an individual permit in order to retain the pier or wharf. The department may not charge a fee for issuing these permits.

The new law prohibits the DNR from taking enforcement action against a riparian owner who has a permit or written authorization from DNR for a structure (a pier, wharf, boat shelter, boat hoist, or boat lift) in navigable waters issued prior to February 6, 2004, if the structure complies with the permit or written authorization. 

In closing, while I am pleased a solution was found to protect the overwhelming majority of pier owners, it is unfortunate this issue arose due to the DNR’s intent to regulate piers that had been in existence for decades, many owned by the same family for generations.  Thank you to the realtors, the Wisconsin Wildlife Federation, the Wisconsin Builders Association, and the Wisconsin Association of Lakes for effectively working with the legislature and the DNR to grandfather existing piers. 

Here is the history of Assembly Bill 297 with links to a Legislative Council memo and the enacted law.  

Wisconsin is raising awareness about its Move Over Law.

The state Department of Transportation (DOT) is putting up information signs on the interstate.

Governor Doyle has signed a bill into law that I supported that will require instruction about the Move Over Law in driver education classes.

Here is a history of the bill that has a link to a Legislative Council memo and the enacted law. 

Please check out the DOT website for audio and video public service announcements that tell why the Move Over law is so important Wisconsin.

If those public service announcements aren’t convincing enough, maybe this emotional news piece from WISN-TV Channel 12 will get the message across.

With more and more citizens demanding a photo ID requirement to vote, there is another trend that is slowly developing in American elections.

The number of people who prefer not to vote in-person on Election Day and would rather mail in their vote is increasing. In fact, the state of Oregon is the first and only state in the country where all voting is done by mail. Other states are taking notice and have either implemented the system in some areas or are exploring the concept.

One of the reasons for the increase in mail voting is the relative ease of obtaining an absentee ballot. All a voter need do in many states is request an absentee ballot. No reason or explanation is necessary.

Governing Magazine goes so far as to say, “The traditional precinct election, where everyone shows up on the appointed day, is in the process of decline.”

Most states use an election system that is part in-person, part mail-in. But the eyes of election officials are on Oregon because its system is thought to be simpler, not to mention more convenient for voters who have time to study and research ballots before making choices. Once the ballot is filled out, it can be mailed or dropped off at government offices.

Supporters also claim since voters gets ballots a few weeks before election, they serve as reminders that will lead to people casting votes even in low-profile elections where they may have otherwise forgot or were unaware. Even so, requiring ballots to be mailed in has increased voter participation only slightly.

Some election officials value a mailing system, not because of convenience or simplicity, but out of necessity. The average poll worker in America is 72 years old. The number of precinct stations to vote is dropping. If voters are required to mail in ballots, the need for polling places and poll workers disappears.

If the system is so appealing, why aren’t more states jumping on the bandwagon? One reason is the ease with which absentee ballots are available. There is also concern about fraud, undue pressure applied to a voter from a family member, and the sanctity of the secret ballot lost now that it has left the polling place.

Clearly this is an election issue that will receive further study and a great amount of attention in the future all across the country.

Here is the story from Governing Magazine. 

Here are details on obtaining an absentee ballot in Wisconsin.

The Wisconsin Department of Tourism has compiled a list of Wisconsin’s top events at state historic sites from May through December.

Here’s the list.