Uppitywis Blogs

Governor Walker's budget included a cut for the equivalent of 6 positions in the Elections Board, arguing that they could continue without those workers.  This is interesting because it has been all too apparent that the board has bare-bones staffing for the ever-increasing requirements being placed upon them.

Apparently even Republicans on the JFC have realized that and have restored 5 of the 6 cut positions.

Sen. Alberta Darling, R-River Hills, said the commission was "significantly understaffed" as it oversaw the 2016 election and presidential recount.

"We’re trying to make sure that we

U.S. Rep. Glenn Grothman, at a recent town hall, put taxpayers into three groups, the ultra-rich, the middle class and "those who could be working harder." No kidding. You can watch it here.

By

Senator Kathleen Vinehout

 

“This is the broadest, most dangerous bill you’ve never heard of.” I told my colleagues during a recent Senate debate. “It’s an obscure way to shut down government from doing something that the Legislature intended to do.”

 

Senate Bill 15, known by the initials REINS, would allow leaders of the Legislature to shut down the implementation of new laws if the leader found the new law too costly to implement. A version of the bill is moving toward passage at both the state and federal levels of government. I expect the state Assembly will soon take up the bill.

 

A little

No shocking surprise here, but governor Walker says he is willing to consider getting an exemption for Wisconsin to opt out of crucial portions of the ACA if in fact those waivers make it through the Senate.  So - you want good health insurance?  Move to a state that supports it.

Remember - this exemption not only applies to the people who are on Obamacare currently but also applies to the folks who have insurance through their employer. This means that a cheapskate employer could fix it for their employees so they would have crappy low-cost insurance as well. 

As always, if there is a race to

The deplorable AHCA bill has passed in the house with 217 of the needed 216 yea votes. I am really glad to be headed to Medicare land shortly, but what about my kids?

A letter of support has been circulating for Mike McCabe of Blue Jean Nation to run for the governorship in 2018.  I spoke today to Mike on the phone about this letter.

WISCONSINITES UNITE TO DRAFT
MIKE McCABE FOR GOVERNOR

Dear Mike,
We strongly urge you to run for governor. Our reason is obvious: the levers of political power have been seized and are being manipulated by those interested primarily in self-enrichment and personal power. The actions of those who currently control the Capitol are extremely short-sighted as well as morally and ethically corrupt, and sap our state of its underlying

By Senator Kathleen Vinehout   “Imagine you could make the laws. What would you change about how things are run?” My question to the students spurred a long discussion about change in our world.   Almost 100 high school students recently participated in Trempealeau County Youth in Government Day. The daylong session was designed to encourage youth to become engaged in government. Students visited with county officials and staff about their work running county services.   During lunch, I spoke with the students about being a Senator and lawmaking. I encouraged them to think about laws as something

The following are some videos from Glenn Grothman's recent town hall in Neenah - embarrassingly, the plac where I grew up. This includes a few choice words from Grothman on climate change (in the 70's we were worried about global cooling, and that never happened, so ---), shutting down Planned Parenthood (you can get your birth control at the grocery store), and a lot of other topics.  So - first up, climate change, then Planned Parenthood, then the entire town hall.  Thank you to Dan Wilson for the videos. And the rest of you - on those rare occasions when your congress-critter has a town

Mike McCabe spoke to the full Assembly Meeting of the Citizen Action Western Wisconsin Organizing Co-op yesterday. I was slightly surprised by the Q&A portion of the talk, which lead with the question "when are you running for Governor".  We'll be talking to Mike more about this later in the week. This takes place at the beginning of the Q&A video.  Do yourself a favor and watch the whole talk, though.  It made for an interesting and fruitful afternoon. Please excuse the video quality - it was a great time and a great room, but the lighting was terrible for video.

I would like to today offer you something we see less and less of in the media - two smart informed people having a thought-provoking conversation.  I bring you Amy Goodman and Noam Chomsky talking about the fresh hell being brought upon us by the Republican Party.

it is once again Earth Day, a day with deep ties to Wisconsin, Gaylord Nelson, and the Wisconsin Idea. Sadly the last few years have seen massive retrenchment in our commitment to the environment as a country. Our state, under Governor Walker's leadership, seems to have left no stone unturned while looking for ways to lessen our protection of the environment.  

We have recently elected a president who has single-handedly built the most anti-environment cabinet in history, and who has spent most of hiis early presidency signing executive orders destroying the genuine environmental progress of

State Budget: Start with What’s Real

By

Senator Kathleen Vinehout

 

When it comes to paying the bills you’ve got to deal with what’s real. You can’t spend rhetoric.

 

Lawmakers are doubling down to deal with the state budget. Public hearings and town hall meetings are scheduled across the state. Many civic groups are hosting legislators in a discussion of the state budget. Many are burning the midnight oil to get to the bottom of the state’s financial matters.

 

In all these conversations and the budget votes to come in the Capitol, lawmakers must to deal with what’s real.

 

People know about the state

Though it is often said that everything old is new again, I have to say I was surprised to see that an old childhood friend of mine is once again relevant. Old feelings I have not had since the Cuban Missile Crisis have raised their ugly heads again, but I am pretty sure that Kennedy could tell the differrence between ships heading to Cuba and ships heading away - somehow the fact that the current administration cannot tell where our own ships are heading is disconcerrting. In that spirit - I bring you the re-awakening of my childhood fears in the body of Bert the Turtle.

By Senator Kathleen Vinehout   “We are up to our gills in meth,” the county worker told me. “Four years ago one quarter of our child-protection cases were related to meth. Now, 92% of these cases are related to meth.”   “Our system just isn’t equipped to deal with the meth problem,” said another social worker.   Recently, more than 400 county supervisors and Health and Human Services staff came to the Capitol. I had visitors from every county in our Senate District. These officials brought me one clear message: Help us deal with the meth problem.   The statistics the county employees shared were

Okay, so most of you who read this blog don't need reminding - but on the other hand clearly lots of people do. So ---

VOTE TOMORROW - and if you've already early voted, good on you.

The big state-wide election on which you can really express an opinion is for Superintendent of Schools. Tony Evers has long been the last firewall against total take-over of our school system  by private interests. His opponent? Not so much.  So you have a clear choice between  supporting public schools and standing back and letting the Betsy DeVos/Trump/Koch unholy alliance take over even more of our school system

By Senator Kathleen Vinehout   “Obamacare is the law of the land,” House Speaker Paul Ryan told the nation. “We’re going to be living with Obamacare for the foreseeable future.”   The much-maligned Affordable Care Act (ACA) passed in 2010 will stay in place.   Self-employed older Americans and state budget directors breathed a sigh of relief. The Republican plan would have raised rates for older people on Healthcare.gov, shifted taxes away from the well-off, and shifted to states more costs for low-income, disabled and elderly (through Medicaid).   But the problems of the ACA – rising premiums

A hearing was held today about the re-issuance of the WPDES permit for Cranberry Creek Farm. Cranberry Creek is asking to expand from approximately 2000 cows to over 7000. May testified at the hearing today, raising various issues with the state of the permit application, while also questioning the wisdom of a farm fo that scale in an area that is already suffering from groundwater degradation.

This is the second application that has been filed for the farm. The first was contentious because it seemed in many areas to be incomplete or inaccurate, including listing other properties for manure

By Senator Kathleen Vinehout   “The bottom line is: Are waters meeting water quality standards?” George Meyer told the Audit Committee at a recent hearing.   “[Wisconsin is] adding hundreds of impaired waters every year,” Mr. Meyer added. “It’s because of discharged nitrates and phosphorus.”   “Regulations and laws are only as good as enforcement.” Mr. Meyer said. “In the last few years [there has been] a substantial reduction in enforcement actions both in the wildlife area and the environmental area.”   Mr. Meyer knows about enforcing laws to protect our natural resources. For eight years, he served

In the new age of Trump politics, you can count on a lot of alternate truth. Much of it comes from the "Wisconsin Miracle" wrought by our governor and the likes of Paul Ryan. We are about to find out if we are going to take the somewhat flawed Obamacare and replace it with the totally nonfunctional Trumpcare. If this happens we by and large have Paul Ryan to blame. 

Where to start? The last time I saw the bill it appeared that the projections of taking 24 million people off of health insurance had prompted Ryan and his cohorts to declare "Only 24 million?  We can do better than that. Hold my

Senator Kathleen Vinehout   “All we seek is help to get the basic broadband services that you all take for granted,” Justin Fortney from Clifton Township in Pierce County wrote to me.  “It has been frustrating for us families to watch the digital revolution pass us by…We often…pack the family into the car and drive to a relative’s house or commercial business to use their Internet.”   According to the federal government’s most recent information, Wisconsin ranks last in the Midwest in both rural and urban broadband access with only 44% of rural folks accessing download speeds of 25 Mbps.   Both