Suburban Republican legislators Dale Kooyenga & Alberta Darling think they know how to fix Milwaukee!

Apparently Republican State Rep. Dale Kooyenga of upper class Brookfield and Republican State Sen. Alberta Darling of filthy rich River Hills think they know just how to fix poverty in the City of Milwaukee. Rep. Kooyenga and Sen. Darling, who’s famous for privatizing the Bureau of Milwaukee Child Welfare and making it worse than it was when Milwaukee County ran it, seem to think that weakening unions and closing public schools so less accountable charter schools can open up is the way to combat poverty in Milwaukee.

Here are some highlights of the legislation proposed by Rep. Kooyenga and Sen. Darling, as outlined by Jason Stein of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

■ Eliminate the corporate income tax for companies locating in needy urban zones. The tax cut would apply only if the business is from an industry not already represented in Wisconsin by existing companies, such as auto manufacturing.

■ Establish zones in which labor unions and private employers would not be able to reach agreements that require workers to pay union dues. Some Republicans are already pushing to make this so-called “right-to-work” approach the law statewide.

Opponents of the proposal question whether the state would have the authority under federal law to implement right-to-work in some parts of Wisconsin but not others.

■ Eliminate in those zones the so-called “minimum markup” law, which prevents retailers from selling their products at a loss. The markup requirement would still apply to fuel sales.

■ Allow the formation of for-profit limited liability companies that could operate more like nonprofits. The companies would not be tax-exempt, but they would not be obliged to pursue only profits for their shareholders, leaving them more legal flexibility to work on behalf of their communities.

Other education proposals from Darling and Kooyenga include:

■ Streamlining the process for allowing high-performing charter schools to open additional schools.

Allowing high-performing charter schools run by MPS or non-MPS entities to automatically add new schools without official approval, if their students’ average reading and math test score results beat the district average for two years in a row.

■ Convert the approximately $40 million MPS receives each year for school integration efforts within the system to a block grant with no state mandates.

Among the more ridiculous poverty-combating proposals put forth by Rep. Kooyenga and Sen. Darling is a reform that would eliminate licensure requirements for African hair braiding.

As Stein’s article notes, it doesn’t appear Rep. Kooyenga or Sen. Darling reached out to any of the members of Milwaukee’s legislative delegation to seek their input, because the two suburban Republicans clearly know how best to combat poverty in a community they don’t actually live in or represent.

If you’d like to read the Kooyenga-Darling plan for yourselves, here you go:

The Darling-Kooyenga Plan For Combating Poverty in Milwaukee

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7 thoughts on “Suburban Republican legislators Dale Kooyenga & Alberta Darling think they know how to fix Milwaukee!

  1. The words that come to my mind are “Shock Doctrine” and “colonialism.”

    Notice that the “solutions” from suburban GOPs ALWAYS include lower wages for most of us? And remember that Koo-Koo was the guy who thought it was a brilliant idea to cut taxes twice in light if a one-time budget surplus. How’s that working our for us?

  2. The white liberal racists in Milwaukee have kept the Blacks and Hispanics in bondage for 50 years. Failing to teach kids to read, 57% yoth unemployment while demagoguing the min wage that keeps them there, Notice that in 8 years and 30 years under Barrett nothing was proposed and nothing happened. The Conservatives are fighting public money for the Arena and the trolley saying that schools and crime take precedence while the left is fighting for the rich mans toys. Score one for the Conservatives

    1. Oh please, like you conservatives would even allow blacks or latinos into the conservative strongholds.

      Don’t throw rocks from glass houses and pretend you’re going to welcome these people with open arms, because you clearly are not. You in fact benefit from keeping these people in poverty, the same way the liberals do.

      You will never understand what it’s like to be a conservative minority because the white conservative view is inherently selfish. They want to conserve their superiority over blacks, natives, latinos, and asians. But I’ll give you a bit of perspective. It is in conflict with your comfortable lifestyle of doing nothing. The conservative minority perspective is truly progressive and taking agency, which is something your side does not desire.

    1. My plan? How about not tying the city’s hands with stupid mandates from the suburban-run Legislature? How about letting the state’s stop generator of jobs and tourism dollars keep more of the money they generate?

      How about stopping this failed experiment of vouchers that has resulted in a lose-lose for everyone? How about giving the city some representation on the airwaves instead of having talk radio and TV News dominated by white righties from the 262?

      And how about establishing real regional transit that connects the city and the burbs, like a real city does, instead of this Balkanized BS that has happened for the last. 40 years? Lastly, how about demanding that DC pull the plug on bad trade deals that have de industrialized what once was the “machine shop” for the country?

      That’s only a start, and it empowers bottom-up solutions and individual choices , over the 3rd World exploitation that Koo-Koo and the Dingbat want to impose on the state’s largest city

  3. Get your racist ass out of here. You know what I learned coming out of the slums of Milwaukee and becoming successful?

    Does this ring a bell?

    Yes I grew up loathing Democrats and how they didn’t change, everything. Yes I blamed my community for years and thought – yes if I just reach out to speak to republicans perhaps they would understand. But oh little did I know when I got out of the city to the so called paradise I was just your inspiration porn and your people denied the people like us a future even when I didn’t even meet the standards you had to face. You could work with me, but you couldn’t stand seeing me in your neighborhood.

    You are not helping with how your side keeps us from moving out to your area to get a better education and future. There is only one thing we can rely on, ourselves. So keep your partisan racist bullshit out of it. You want to know why so many people won’t vote for your side?

    Because you hate us. Simple as that. It shows with your damn comment and how you seem to masturbate to us being slaughtered as a talking point rather than seeing us as a people.

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