Thursday, December 29, 2011

Wisconsin's 2011 Top Ten

State Senator Julie Lassa sent out a fundraising email blast today.  It stood out to me due to the fact that she included her Top Ten high low lights of the past year in Fitzwalkerstan. Here they are:
2011 is quickly drawing to a close and what a year it has been here in Wisconsin. For many of us it is hard to recognize the state that we love since Republicans took control of the legislature and the governor's mansion in January.

In looking back at the past year, I thought I would put together a list of Top 10 Highlights, or in this case, a Top Ten list of Lowlights for 2011.

10. Gov. Scott Walker tells fake "David Koch" caller that he thought about placing troublemakers into peaceful crowd of men, women and children protesting his so called "budget repair" bill.

9. A top republican staffer admits in federal court sworn deposition that GOP used ten years of election data to redraw legislative and congressional district lines but it was not meant to favor GOP in elections.

8. While saying that Wisconsin is broke, Republicans manage to scratch together $2.3 billion for tax giveaways to big corporations.

7. Still asserting their "no tax increase" pledge Republicans raise taxes on middle class families and seniors by nearly $70 million. (Shhh don't tell Grover Norquist or maybe his pledge only matters if it involves the top 1%).

6. Republicans honor Veterans by giving $2 million for storage space at the Wisconsin Veterans Museum while cutting $2 million from low income and homeless veterans assistance programs.

5. Republican leaders decide that the state's Open Meetings Law doesn't apply to a hastily called dark of night meeting where they vote to end workers' rights. Shockingly Justice Prosser and a GOP dominated Wisconsin Supreme Court decide that lawmakers don't have to follow the law.

4. Governor Walker and majority of Republicans gleefully end 50 years of workers' rights while chanting the state is broke. Please see #8.

3. Republicans claimed to have made education a priority. They cut nearly $2 billion from K-12 public schools and higher education while at the same time giving $40 million more to private voucher schools. Apparently they only made private education a priority.

2. Governor Walker decides to eliminate health insurance coverage for 50,000 to 65,000 men, women and children.

1. While Gov. Walker and the GOP focus like a laser on jobs, Wisconsin has the dubious honor in leading the nation in lost jobs in November, making it the fifth straight month of job losses.

Unfortunately with so many lowlights in the State of Wisconsin this year, it was hard to decide which ones should make the Top 10 list. This is especially true when it comes to the state's strict new Voter ID law, new laws to favor powerful special interests over consumers in court and allowing a mining company to write a mining deregulation bill.
They are good points, although I don't know that I would have put them in quite that same order. For example, I think the Koch phone call really shows Walker lack of ethics and thus should be much higher up the list.

1 comment:

  1. And on that positive note, I bib farewell to 2011. Not looking back, either!

    ReplyDelete