I had the pleasure to talk with a couple of Republican Senate staffers today (don’t bother asking which ones; it was more of a “background” talk), and they’re actually pretty stoked about the budget. You know my views, but in the interest of fairness, and to explain both Fraley’s and Kevin’s optimism, I’ll go through the highlights:
– They’re pleased they got the most-odious of the taxes out, namely the combined reporting, the hospital tax, and the gas tax. Considering the original new-tax-increase estimates were $1.74 billion (at least officially), that’s an accomplishment.
– Healthy and Depopulated Wisconsin and KRM, a pair of Senate ‘Rat priorities, got shot down. While most of us, me included, figured and probably still figure H&DW was nothing more than a negotiating ploy, the reaction of the Senate ‘Rats is, in a word, priceless.
– Oh, and how about that reaction? It wasn’t yet official when we talked, but Robson’s gone. It’s odd when there’s a mid-term purge, especially when the side undergoing said purge can say it got most of what it wanted.
– Speaking of the Senate, all of the Senate Pubbies stuck together in voting against the budget. To be honest, nobody saw that coming.
– They see some political possibilities for 2008 and 2010, based mainly on the version that first went through the Assembly. After a review of the vote that I only got to after the conversation, I’m not nearly as optimistic.
