Archive for the ‘WI Politics’ Category

Posted by Representative Garey Bies, Mar 6, 2010
 
Good afternoon to the people of the First Assembly District.  Warmer temperatures this week came as a reminder that spring is just around the corner.  Unfortunately, the economic and employment indicators out this week do not show a similar warming trend.  The economy was supposed to be saved by the stimulus but as time has gone on it became apparent we needed a new approach.  As I’ve traveled to meetings and spoken with business leaders throughout the First Assembly District, it has become clear that we need to do more to help create jobs and strengthen our economy.  Over the past few weeks I have been working with some of my fellow legislators to create several targeted initiatives to help retain and create new jobs in our area. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted by Ron Heuer, Feb 23, 2010

We sorely need a Governor in this state that is going to rein in the insane spending the current Democrat Governor has endorsed and promulgated. Scott Walker appears to be the candidate who has the experience in balancing budgets without raising taxes. Scott’s experience in Milwaunee County is proof of that.

Right now GOP Candidate Scott Walker is squarely in the lead and GOP Candidate Mark Neuman is also a strong challenger to Democrat Tom Barrett in the contest for Wisconsin governor Following are the latest Rasmussen Reports Survey….

A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of likely voters in the state finds Walker leading Barrett, the mayor of Milwaukee, by nine points – 49% to 40%. Last month, in the first Rasmussen Reports Election 2010 survey of the race, Walker posted a 48% to 38% lead over Barrett. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted by RPW Communications, Feb 17, 2010

Madison Democrats are callous enough to believe that statewide taxpayers and ratepayers can afford increases in spending during a recession.

MADISON – Democrats are at it again – saying one thing to the taxpayers but doing another when it comes time to vote. The Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee approved measures that will up the burden on Wisconsin taxpayers by millions each year, approving a high speed rail line between Milwaukee and the Madison airport whose operating costs will end up being subsidized by taxpayers statewide. In addition, Democrats on the Finance Committee approved a less publicized spending increase that reeks of cronyism and will increase electric bills. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted by State Representative Kevin Petersen, Feb 15, 2010

Nuclear power produces roughly 20% of electricity both in Wisconsin and the United States as a whole. Despite being only 1/5 of the nation’s energy, nuclear power accounts for 72% of the country’s carbon dioxide emission-free generation.

Within the United States are 104 operating nuclear reactors. Three sites are located in Wisconsin. The LaCrosse reactor in Genoa was permanently shut down in 1987. Kewaunee’s reactor is licensed to operate through 2013 with a 20 year license extension pending. Point Beach’s two reactors have operational licenses expiring in 2030 and 2033. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted by WISGOP Communications, Feb 6, 2010

“Even the Democrats who voted for the disastrous state budget are complaining about all of the hidden tax and fee increases…”

MADISON – E-mails obtained by Richard Moore, an investigative reporter for the Lakeland Times, revealed one state lawmaker’s candid thoughts on the 2009-11 state budget Democrats approved in June of 2009. State Senator Jim Holperin (D-Conover) told a constituent the budget Democrats voted for contained “enough little tax and fee hikes to sink a good sized battleship.” Read the rest of this entry »

Posted by State Representative Kevin Petersen, Jan 29, 2009

Governor Doyle echoed the state’s gratitude to veterans in his State of the State speech on January 26th with these words: “On Memorial Day nearly four years ago, I was proud to sign a bill that ensures our veterans have the chance to get an education — tuition-free — at one of Wisconsin’s great universities or technical colleges.”

What the governor omitted from his speech was how he, Democrat leaders, and his Veterans Affairs Board are now weakening veterans’ education benefits. Principally flawed in their 2009 – 11 Wisconsin budget is a revision made to the Wisconsin GI bill. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted by State Rep Kevin Petersen, Jan 19, 2010

“The nine most terrifying words in the English language are, ‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help’.” Those words from Ronald Reagan still ring true today. This time government is expanding entitlement programs, underpaying hospitals, and increasing taxes on health care to pay for them.

Currently, a proposal is being lobbied in the Wisconsin capitol to tax 59 rural critical access hospitals. This tax would be similar to the hospital tax passed in the budget repair bill of 2009. The 2009 hospital tax exempted rural critical access hospitals such as Riverside Medical Center in Waupaca and Family Medical Center in New London.

The new tax proposal would undo the exemption and levy roughly $10 million from rural hospitals. A portion of the new hospital tax would be skimmed and could be raided in the future. Governor Doyle has done this in the past with his veto authority. The rest would be used to garner federal matching funds through a formula using Federal Medical Assistance Percentages (FMAP).

Wisconsin’s Federal Medical Assistance Percentage is roughly a 40/60 state/federal split. Once the tax money is skimmed, $4.8 million will be left over. The remaining $4.8 million would be matched by an estimated $11.5 million from the federal government. In total $16.3 million would be reimbursed to rural critical access hospitals.

Rural critical access hospitals serving few Medical Assistance patients would receive a smaller reimbursement. Under the original hospital tax, out of 72 hospitals levied only 59 were expected to see a net increase through the hospital tax scheme.

The hospital tax was established because it created revenue to continue expanding entitlement programs and other bloated government spending. Furthermore, a hospital tax isn’t obvious in the manner of an income or sales tax increase. Therefore, it’s hard for consumers to pinpoint the tax or why their health care costs are going up.

Democrats passed the original hospital tax on a straight party line vote in early 2009. The tax has ballooned to nearly a billion dollars and is being collected from hospital patients in fiscal years 2009 and 2010. Over $300 million of the $1 billion was skimmed in the last biennial budget to close the budget deficit.

In the same biennial budget that increased the hospital tax, Democrats cut Wisconsin’s Medicaid program by over $625 million to balance the budget. Specifically, a cut of $15 million was imposed on rural critical access hospitals. The new rural hospital tax proposal is suppose to fill the hole that resulted from the original cut.

Supporters are trying to sell the idea that if the levy is not passed, your local hospital will incur a 10% cut in Medicaid reimbursement. But remember, the only reason this tax is being proposed is because the Doyle administration and legislative Democrat leaders cut Medicaid in the first place.

Wisconsin’s entitlement programs are running into fiscal insolvency. Who pays for government over promising and under delivering? Under this plan - you will - in increased health care costs.

Dick Morris

Posted by Dick Morris, January 14, 2010

 Pessimism is no more attractive in a party leader than it is in a high school cheerleader. And in the case of Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairman Michael Steele, it is unwarranted as well. Despite his prediction, on Fox News, that GOP congressional control will not come “this year,” the Republican Party has a very, very good chance of taking both houses of Congress in 2010.

We are in the midst of a political tsunami. To judge that the water will only ascend a hundred feet or two hundred or three hundred is entirely speculative. Generally, once these things start, they go further than anyone would have thought likely. Only rarely do they fall short.

President Barack Obama’s determination to march ahead with his full socialist agenda, including the imposition of a healthcare system a majority doesn’t want, can only strengthen the winds and the tide that is approaching. The 60-vote Democratic Senate majority is empowering such arrogance and disdain for the democratic process that it is easy to see how it will trigger an equal and opposite reaction in the 2010 elections. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted by Ron Heuer, Jan 15, 2010

Wisconsin Senator Russ Feingold once again shows how out of touch he is with the Wisconsin Electorate. He appeared in Pewaukee Wisconsin for a “listening session” and he got an earful. This is for me, this video is reminiscent of the same message Congressmen Steve Kagen heard this past summer at his “listening sessions”. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted by State Representative Kevin Peterson, Jan 11, 2010

According to a report released by the Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance, the generally accepted accounting principles state deficit for the 2008-09 fiscal year hit $2.71 billion.

The $2.71 billion figure was calculated using data from the 2008 – 2009 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report published in December by the Wisconsin Department of Administration. Read the rest of this entry »