The Legislators Are Hearing The Voices of the Crowd: NO MORE TAX INCREASES, The RTA Tax Gets Defeated In Convicing Fashion

On Thursday the Wisconsin Legislative Joint Finance Committie soundly defeated in a 8-8 deadlock the new 600% increase in car rentals in Southeast Wisconsin levied by the The Southeast Wisconsin Regional Transportation Authority. This sends a huge message, one taxpayers are finally had enough with tax increases and also taxpayer funded lobbying because out of the $500,000 in taxpayer money they got, $496,000 goes to lobbying on your taxpayer money. The tax is already $2, but a $16 increase means if it went on, it meant more lobbying and a total waste of taxpayer money. If it was not for the pressure AFP-Wisconsin put on the Joint Finance Committie, then Wisconsin would see more taxes being added on. This proves that AFP is a force to be reckoned with.

The Alderman McGee Case Proves Why We Need to Hold Public Officials Accountable

With Alderman McGee being arrested on a bunch of federal and state charges that promoted politics for sale and personal benefit that is being proven right now in a federal court, it is more than impartive that with this arrest we send a message that public officials must uphold the highest ethical and moral standards in the profession. If you violate that trust you will be held accountable. The charges being filed by Attorney General JB Van Hollen and US Attorney Steven Biskupic prove that whenever the public trust is broken by elected officials, that proper action has to be taken. So far JB is doing the right thing by not giving Ald. McGee any room for more insult to injury by setting bail high. Now we hope this is the beginning on reclaiming our democracy to serve a greater purpose.

More than Ever We Need Consumerisim in Health Care NOW!

After watching the video of the unlock consumerisim in health care sponsored by AFP-Wisconsin, we need more than ever to adapt and embrace a consumer driven health care system not go to government run health care.

1. HSA's Must Be Tax Deductible-HSA programs like what they have in Manitowoc County rocks. Bob Ziegelbauer is winning praise in both political parties for finding innovative solutions that work for all people like free market health care. Ziegelbauer has just about set the model for the entire world on how consumerisim in health care should work. Bob Ziegelbauer's model should be looked at by the school districts too. This is perhaps the only way to solve our health care crisis.

2. Price Transparancey is Impartive-You deserve to go to the health care provider you want to go, but you should be given full disclosure of health care prices, say for example you should be given the price on how much if you need braces for your teeth before you go to the right orthodontist. I had braces recently, but my family and I made the decision on the right ortho based on who is good for one, and two transparancey on prices. If the ortho is good, but charges $1000 less than ortho X and Y then in a free market you should go to that ortho.

3. Associated Health Care Pools Make Sense-Small Buisnesses should have the right to buy in a bigger pool to provide better health care for all. This can and will help small buisnesses provide health care, while those who cannot afford it can go on subsidized health care.

4. Target Medicaid, and if possible outsource it-Medicaid is a poorly managed government program and with the increasing fraud that happens in medicaid it is impartive to end all the abuse, and stop charging hospital taxes that do not end up funding medicaid. Medicaid is becoming a joke as it is wasting taxpayer money. If we subsidize the indigent on health care that is overseen by a management health care company, then we are going to insure all people.

5. Encourage Early Health-A free market encourages early health care like eating right, exercising, stop smoking, and HSA's provide incentives for losing weight, stopping smoking, and if you provide incentives, you will empower people to make better decisions for their health over government bureaucrats. It should be between you and your doctor to make the best health care decisions, not HMO's like Unity or United HealthCare who sap the right to free choice.

6. HSA's have financial rewards, say you do not end up spending all of it, you can keep it, and use it for something useful like your own retirment.

According to Bob Ziegelbauer, HSA's allow anyone to see a doctor for no copays, it gives you the choice of a cash bonus or a dental plan/vision plan, now who does not want to have incentive for staying healthy. This is far better than what is happening in Canada and Sweden in which people are waiting to get cancer treatments, and in the UK in which the Labour Party is cutting the National Health Service in half. No wonder David Cameron slams Gordon Brown to the ground on why we need to have health for all without government run health care sapping free spirit.

For more info, go to http://www.bobziegelbauer.com and click on local news, you will find everything you want to know on the successes in Manitowoc, but also talk to your employer and demand that HSA's are part of your workplace. Once HSA's become the norm, this health care crisis will become a thing of the past.

As State Budget Is Being Delibrated On, It is Time Dr. Sheldon Wasserman holds his promise on no taxes

In a surprise move, Dr. Sheldon Wasserman who represents the North Shore Region of Wisconsin has signed the American Taxpayers Union Taxpayer Protection Pledge. In that light, we should put some facts on Dr. Wasserman before you believe he is going to make a goal line stand on taxes.

• Dr. Wasserman published in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in 2006 that the only way to reduce taxes is to consolidate counties in Wisconsin from 72 to 18. That is a load of rheotric and it is false reform. Also in that column, Dr. Wasserman blasts TABOR and the Taxpayer Protection Amendment claming it is an ineffective way to solve taxes. One, it is not reform as consolidation is a false reform, two it will increase government bureaucracy sixfold. Two, TABOR reduces government growth and in turn reduces spending. The only way you can reduce our tax burden in Wisconsin is to reduce spending, period. That is the the same message that is being hit in New Jersey and Dr. Wasserman must realize that consolidation is false and temporary reform.
• Dr. Wasserman has at times crossed party lines to support tax policy that he claims is benefical for the consitutients of the North Shore, but Dr. Wasserman sixty percent of the time has voted in the past cycle of the legislature for increased taxes.
• Dr. Wasserman being a doctor has voted AGAINST Health Savings Accounts Tax Deduction as HSA's are not tax deductible in Wisconsin. Who would want to vote against this in which gives everyone a big tax savings and more control and choice over health care decisions. Bob Ziegelbauer has advocated as the only democrat in favor of HSA's, but the only doctor in the entire state legislature is not convinced that giving patients more freedom and choice leads to better health care.
• Dr. Wasserman has voted against just about all major legislation that promotes competiton.

Consider these facts before you think Dr. Wasserman is going to hold the line on taxes. The people of the 22nd district demand a check-up on his tax record.

Sen. Kanavas Highlights the Need Why We Need the Voucher Program in all schools in Wisconsin More Than Ever

Sen. Ted Kanavas recently published a press release on why increasing bureaucracy in the Milwaukee Public Schools is making a failing public school system go worse. Also, it highlights the reason why the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program should have no caps and it should be expanded all around Wisconsin. More than ever, the whole State of Wisconsin needs the Milwaukee Voucher Program. It will finally make public schools like Milwaukee improve their product in which the parents money that gets spent per pupil only gets spent in the school district of their choice public or private. I used to been a volunteer coach in the Madison Public Schools as an assistant wrestling coach, in just seeing how much liberal politics the school board in Madison shoved down our throats there is an increasing need to expand the voucher program to cities like Madison and Green Bay that need the voucher program bad. If a statewide voucher program happened think of these results.

• Madison East would not be as big as 2100 students as more students would go to Lakeside Lutheran or Edgewood Catholic. Madison East is like the poorest high school in Madison and all of Wisconsin with close to 60 percent of their students being poor .
• Milwaukee Public Schools would be forced to change their product as more economically deprived children would go to Milwaukee Messmer and Marquette University High School for example, as poor schools like South Division and North Division would have to change their product because MPS only graduates 60 percent of their students. Also, their tardy rates are abysmally high.
• Green Bay would have to start finding solutions to make their schools better as Green Bay East and Green Bay West are starting to become poor schools, especially a lot of low income kids go to Green Bay West.
• Every kid who is economically deprived in this state will realize through the choice program they will see hope through education.

Sen. Kanavas Said:

"The problems in MPS are well documented. Graduation rates that are nothing short of embarrassing, outbursts of violence in schools with little or no controls put in place to keep innocent children safe, and a burdensome employee benefits package that seems to have been taken straight off the MTEA (teacher’s union) Christmas list – all of these things prevent MPS from achieving its core goal – providing an education for children that prepares them for a role in society. What is the Board’s solution to these problems? Hire more administrators to arm the Board with "facts" they can use to undermine the Superintendent. Rather than add another expensive layer of administration, couldn’t the Board actually spend this money on improving their failing system? Rather than training their guns at Superintendent Andrekopoulos, maybe the Board could take a look at their failing, unsafe schools and start working on fixing them instead of micromanaging the CEO of the Milwaukee school system. This decision directly calls into question whether a school district with a $1.2 billion budget, $900 million of which comes from Wisconsin taxpayers that do not live in the City of Milwaukee, should be run by this Board. If MPS wants more local control, they are going to have to pony up more local money to support this system. Wisconsinites are tired of throwing good money after bad on a failing school district. Time has run out. This Board and the superintendent must work together to get MPS turned around or MPS should be replaced with a system that works. Wisconsin’s future demands it."

From that statement alone Former Governor Tommy Thompson threatened to take over MPS if it did not turn around its failing statistics. I think we need this call again for MPS to either improve or face the consequences.

Rep. Nass This Buds For You on Stopping Wasteful UW Spending

Rep. Nass should be commended for his actions on bringing common sense in UW system funding, especially shooting down the Memorial Union project at UW-Madison and some ritzy dorms that were shot down in a recent Wisconsin Legislative Joint Finance Committie. A lot of students at UW-Madison voted for this, I voted no because it is a waste of segregated fee and tuition money to fund pet projects like the Memorial Union in which there needs to be better spending overall on keeping the UW system in top quality. Right now the UW System is rising tuition and still wasting your tuition and tax dollars to lobby on tuition dollars to fund pet projects that benefit only the special interests. I agree with Rep. Nass that we need to put students first, but we need to prioritize our money and resources on making the core product of the UW system better by having better academic buildings, improving exsisting resources, and retaining the world class faculty at the UW system. We do not need to be wasting money that is funded basically on pork to build dorms that are more ritzy than the Hyatt Regency in Milwaukee. It is proven that Students living in residence halls the first two years can do better in school, but there has been NO PROVEN CONNECTION BETWEEN RITZY DORMS AND ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE. Rep. Nass is dealing with another state represenative Rep. Hixson who is a UW-W faculty member. Rep. Nass is right, for a faculty member to not listen to the voice of concerned students and taxpayers that represents them in state government is ignoring the complaints of many working families being squeezed out on a good education.

Mr. Dave Obey is Lying on Earmark Reform AGAIN!!!

Well, after hearing a whole election cycle of Mr. Obey claming he is going to stop earmarks, well, he goes behind everyone's back and therefore goes to support more than $15 million in closed door earmarks. It proves again, Mr. Obey is the King of Pork, and therefore why the current congress is basically done nothing. After in a debate in October 2006 in front of a packed crowd in Superior, WI and basically slamming Nick Reid for supporting a sham (In Mr. Obey's terms) earmark reform bill, well, the democrats are advocating for a new low on earmark reform. It proves that democrats like Robert Byrd and Dave Obey are stooping to new lows on this issue. If you ever go on his website boasting his accomplishments for the 7th district, I guarantee you 95% of what he got for the seventh district is basically pork. In the 2005 SAFETE-LU Act, Mr. Obey got close to $60 million in transportation related pork in the 7th district, including a whopping $17 million for Highway 10, and a lot of money for Highway 53. Just about all of the improved road construction in 7th district over the last 15 years has been funded basically on pork. A day after being caught lying on C-SPAN the Wausau Daily Herald reports that Obey now wants to vote against his own pork. From cussing at a marine Mom, to forgetting stuff at a press conference, to actually advocating for new pork, what is next for Mr. Obey to go to a new low.