Blogging Blue

Apparently so, according to those “compassionate conservatives” in Madison. Assembly Republicans have released a list of things that the Republican leadership sent out that they find objectionable in the Governor’s new budget, and included among the many objectionable items is this:

• Autism Insurance Mandate with $1.3 million in new spending to cover the cost of the new mandate in state health insurance program.

So in our state’s multi-billion dollar budget, Assembly Republicans find it objectionable to spend 1.3 million dollars to make sure the autistic children of folks who have state health insurance are provided with coverage - coverage that they don’t have right now. Now maybe it’s because I’m biased, given that I’m the parent of an autistic child, but I simply cannot comprehend how anyone with children would vote against providing health insurance coverage to children who didn’t choose to be born with a life-altering disorder like autism. As Michael Mathias over at Pundit Nation has pointed out, “now that Republicans in the House of Representatives, including Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan, are vowing to block an expansion of the SCHIP program, it seems inescapable that poor, very sick children are simply fair game for the more extremist elements of the GOP.” What kind of world is it we live in when folks are willing to use children as pawns in a partisan game of chicken?

I’m absolutely disgusted at the lengths some lawmakers are willing to go to in order to score cheap political points in an attempt to pander to their base, and I refuse to stand idly by while Republicans attempt to punish autistic children and their families simply to save a few dollars. I’ve emailed Mark Honadel, my State Assemblyman, because he apparently doesn’t care too much about autistic kids, as he voted against Governor Doyle’s proposed budget. Perhaps those lawmakers who want to cut the autism mandate from the state budget should put a face to all those autistic children who’d suffer, but if they can’t, I’ll do it for them. This is my autistic son Nicholas…

Edit: This post is what happens when you blog while angry. I’ve received a letter from Mark Honadel, and my assertion that he doesn’t care was way off base. I know I’m oftentimes very passionate about the issues that matter most to me, and sometimes that quality can be a bad thing.

No Comments »

It’s day 102 of Wisconsin budget watch, with what seems like no end in sight. Republicans, led by Assembly Speaker Mike Huebsch, are stalling the passage of a budget to score cheap political points with their rapidly dwindling conservative base, but this debacle is only likely to backfire once elections roll around in 2008.

Now I’ve never been one to believe folks who start talking about doom and gloom when it comes to an overdue budget, but as a state employee I’m more than a little disturbed at the fact that our management is talking about deep program cuts and layoffs due to the fact that we have no budget for the current fiscal year. Mind you, program cuts and layoffs likely won’t affect me, but cuts in staff will no doubt affect an untold number of state employees, and that’s simply unacceptable. Mike Huebsch and his Republican allies ought to be ashamed of themselves for letting things get to this point. I understand Huebsch is trying to look tough against Governor Doyle for his own inevitable run to unseat Doyle, but he’s simply gone too far. Democrats have shown time and time again they’re willing to compromise to get a budget done, a fact that stands in stark contrast to Huebsch’s “all or nothing” approach to getting a budget done. Huebsch wants Democrats to give him everything he wants while he gives nothing in return, and at the risk of sounding juvenile, he’s acting like a jackass of the highest order.

When the jobs of hardworking folks all across Wisconsin are put on the line simply because of some political posturing by lawmakers, it’s time to send those politicians a message that enough is enough.

No Comments »

Last week Friday, Democrats in the State Senate offered to drop their universal health care plan if Republicans accepted higher taxes on hospitals and cigarettes and a 175 million dollar transfer from the Patients Compensation Fund. Senate Democrats have argued the tax increases - which would impose a surtax on hospital revenues and woulod raise the per-pack tax on cigarettes - are needed to pay future Medicaid bills and Gov. Jim Doyle’s plan to make sure every child has access to health insurance. In a big “f*** you” to Democrats - and Wisconsin’s kids - Assembly Speaker Mike Huebsch flatly rejected the offer. Huebsch’s rejection of the Democrats’ offer should come as no big surprise, given his behavior during the entire budget process, but what I can’t help but wonder is if Senate Democrats finally gave up on trying to keep Healthy Wisconsin in the budget because of pressure from Governor Doyle, who made no secret of the fact that he didn’t support Healthy Wisconsin.

I’ll be curious to see how this whole mess plays out, because there’s only a few short days left before the state DPI is supposed to tell local school districts how much money they’re supposed to have for the next year, and without a budget, that’s going to be almost impossible to do.

No Comments »

I haven’t talked much about ongoing negotiations between Democrats and Republicans to get a budget passed for the 2007-2009 biennium, but as I was reading through some press releases, I came across this gem written by Marty Beil, executive director of the Wisconsin State Employees Union, which represents thousands of state employees. The press release is highly critical of Assembly Speaker Mike Huebsch’s hypocrisy when it comes to getting a budget deal done.

Assembly Speaker Mike Huebsch and his committee sidekicks the Fitzgerald brothers will spend all day Thursday running from fundraiser to fundraiser – in direct conflict with the Conference Committee schedule and with Huebsch’s pious proclamations at the beginning of the process that he would work at least 40 hours a week to get the budget done.

[...]

In the next 10 days, Huebsch is scheduled to be at no fewer than six fundraising events while no meetings of the Conference Committee he co-chairs are scheduled.

Now maybe I’m just dense, but I haven’t noticed a lot being done by the Conference Committee to get a budget deal done, so I can’t help but wonder if Mike Huebsch told a little white lie when he said he’d work at least 40 hours a week to get a budget deal done. After all, playing a few rounds of golf with campaign donors hardly seems like work to me…

No Comments »

So Democratic and Republican lawmakers are in negotiations to get a compromise state budget finished, and today’s MSJ is reporting that the eight legislative leaders working on finding a compromise state budget have pocketed $617,000 for themselves from special-interest groups and individuals in the first half of the year. What’s interesting is that of that $617,000, about $100,000 came from health care professionals, hospital executives, their statewide organizations and health care lobbyists. Now $100,000 is a lot of money, and it’s worth noting that among the hottest topics of debate and discussion among lawmakers has been the universal health care proposal offered up by Senate Democrats and vehemently opposed by Republicans. According to the article in the MJS, State Assembly Speaker Mike Huebsch, the chief budget negotiator for Republicans who control the Assembly, received about $10,500 - or just over 20% of the $49,596 his personal campaign fund raised between January and June - from doctors, other medical professionals and groups with a stake in the health care debate.

And of course, when asked about the large percentage of his campaign donations that came from folks associated with the health care industry, Huebsch said he didn’t know why those medical professionals gave that much to his campaign. Now maybe I’m crazy, but it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out what’s going on here. After all, why would Republicans dare support universal health care when that support might mean the end of the money train from the special interests in the health care industry?

No Comments »