No Runny Eggs

…try, try again to get a handle on taxes and spending (H/T – Kevin Fischer).

I wish I could believe that this would make it through the Senate, but I have my doubts that it will even make it out of the Assembly.

• Born 2002 to then-Gov. Scott McCallum, who proposed the end to state aid to localities, with a freeze on local taxes, as a solution to the structural deficits he inherited from Tommy Thompson.
• Killed 2002 by Assemby Pubbies who wanted to continue the expensive fund transfers.
• Resurrected 2002 by the voters, who voted in a Pubbie majority in the Senate and extended the Pubbie majority in the Assemby by electing tax-freeze candidates like Mark Honadel (who won in a district dominated by the ‘Rats the last 80 years). Renamed TABOR.
• Buried by then-Senate Majority “Leader” Mary Panzer in 2004. Panzer promptly got buried by her constituents by a late entry by Glenn Grothman, who campaigned on TABOR.
• TABOR killed again by the traitorous election of Sgt. Dale Schultz (I know nassink-No Talk Radio Here) as Senate Majority “Leader” in 2005.
• Various tax-freeze languages in the state budget killed by Gov. Jim “Craps” Doyle (WEAC/Potawatomi-For Sale) 2003-2005.
• Re-resurrected as a weakened WTPA in 2006 by Grothman (who only took a full year to come up with something).
• Local revenue limits killed by the Assembly 2006. A Swiss-cheese state-only version barely survived the Assembly, faces certain death in the Senate.
• State-only limits killed by the Senate 2006.

Time to start job- and house-hunting out of state.

Revisions/extensions – The Senate made the death of Wisconsin Taxpayer Relief official yesterday. The whole lot of them are asshats. I hope to be out of this tax hell by the end of the year.

As expected, the Wisconsin State Senate killed what was left of the Taxpayers Protection Amendment. NONE of them are blameless, as every Senator that was around (Spencer Coggs took a powder) ultimately voted to screw the taxpayers. That vote was sandwiched between the defeat of an attempt to slightly strengthen the TRA that came out of the Assembly by adding most segergated funds and the defeat of the original Grothman-written TPA. So, without further adieu, let’s start the pics:

The asshats who decided to just give up:
Alberta Darling
Glenn Grothman
Ted Kanavas (up for re-election this year)
Neal Kedzie (up for re-election this year)
Mary Lazich
Joe Leibham (up for re-election this year)
Tom Reynolds (up for re-election this year)
Dale Schultz (up for re-election this year)
Cathy Stepp (the seat is up this year, but she’s leaving the Senate)
Dave Zien (up for re-election this year)

The RINOs who couldn’t bring themselves to vote for local limits:
Mike Ellis (up for re-election this year)
Alan Lasee (up for re-election this year)

A clueless idiot who has no idea how to vote on any given issue (case in point, he voted for the state-and-local TPA but against strengthening the state-only TPA):
Scott Fitzgerald (Chris, I think I hear his seat calling you; he is up for re-election this year)

Finally, the RepubicRATs who think, like every single DemocRAT, that taxes still are too low in Wisconsin:
Ronald Brown (up for re-election this year)
Robert Cowles
Sheila Harsdorf
Dan Kapanke
Luther Olsen
Carol Roessler

Just as a friendly reminder, for those of you living in an “odd” Senate district, you can start circulating your nomination papers to enter a primary June 1. They have to be back to the State Elections Board, along with some other paperwork (checklist here), by 5 pm July 11th. You only need 400-800 signatures.

For the “Republican” Party of Wisconsin, I have a challenge for you. Either support primary opponents of the career politicians above and in my original Rogues Gallery who actually supports the “R”PW platform, or adopt the DPW tax-and-spend socialistic economic platform at your convention. Don’t lie to us conservatives any longer.

(H/T for the Robson e-mail – Owen)

For those of you disillusioned with the “Republican” Party of Wisconsin like me, it sometimes is helpful to remember what the DemocRAT Party of Wisconsin platform is. They’re brutally-honest in their belief that government must continue to grow faster than our ability to pay for it, and that taxes need to grow to match. Senate Minority Leader Judy Robson (D-Madison) articulates it so well in her Friday e-mail newsletter. That e-mail lends itself so well to fisking, I almost wish I had the whole thing instead of the part reprinted by Owen.

Dear Friend:

STOP THE TAPE! I’m surprised she isn’t using “Comrade” in her e-mails; it would fit so much better.

The good news in the Legislature this week was that the Republicans did not have enough votes to pass the original Taxpayer Deception Amendment in the Assembly.

I see the ‘Rats are honest about their belief that we don’t pay enough taxes, at least when they’re not up for re-election.

The bad news is that they mustered enough votes to pass a modified version of the amendment, one which writes rigid limits on state revenue growth into the constitution.

What does that mean for you and me? It means a huge shift in taxes to the property tax. Because the cost of state operations will grow faster than state revenue, the state will have to find places to scale back spending, and a prime target is state aid to communities and counties.

Allow me to explain something. Shifting the responsibility of raising the money to the entity that spends it will necessarily reduce the tax burden. First, it exposes just how much that entity is spending. Second, it costs money to transfer money from one government unit to another, even when it isn’t skimmed off illicitly. Once again, thank you ‘Rats for being honest in your belief that taxes aren’t too high and government isn’t too big.

As for the claim that the cost of state operations will grow faster than state revenue, thanks again, ‘Rats, for admitting your belief that a 5.13% growth in government just isn’t enough. Who here has had income growth average 5.13% lately?

Once again, I’ll point out that the filing deadline to replace those on my Rogues Gallery is July 11, 2006. The State Elections Board even has a helpful Ballot Access Checklist and Campaign Finance Checklist (I assume that, if you’re running to replace a RINO/RepubicRAT with a conserative, you won’t be needing the Campaign Finance Checklist for those applying for a Wisconsin Election Campaign Fund grant).

Sorry about being absent the last few weeks. First, taxes got me, then allergy season kicked off with a bang. I think I finally stocked up on enough FIB pseudophedrine to see me through, though. In honor of the resounding “FUCK YOU!” delivered to us taxpayers by the RepubicRATs and RINOs of the Assembly, I have assembled a photo album of sorts. Remember these faces. Remember these names. Remember them well, especially on September 12.

First up, the RepubicRATs who can’t even stand a weak spending limit on just state gubmint:        
Joan Ballweg
Robin Kreibich
Terri McCormick (who was hoping that the “R”PW would now back her with her true lieberal colors flying)
Lee Nerison
Alvin Ott
Jerry Petrowski

Next, the RINOs who think that local taxes aren’t high enough:
John Ainsworth
Sheryl Albers
Brett Davis
Stephen Freese
Curt Gielow
Eugene Hahn
J.A. Hines
Judy Krawczyk
Andy Lamb
Gabe Loeffelholz
Terry Moulton
Jeffrey Moursau
Terry Musser
Carol Owens
Mark L. Pettis
Debi Towns
John F. Townsend
Gregg Underheim
Karl Van Roy
David Ward
Steve Wieckert

Revisions/extensions: After reading Owen’s comments on the disaster that happened, I took Frank Lasee, Stephen Nass and Leah Vukmir off the rogues gallery. They recognized faster than I did what a complete disaster the WTRA (I’ll let you figure out what the “R” stands for – hint, it’s a 4-letter word) has become.

Don’t say I didn’t warn you about the language. I would have prefered not to type this at all, or at least not do it on a Sunday, but what has to be done has to get done.

Just in case you grabasstic pieces of puke didn’t get the gentle message from Owen and Peter and Patrick (added 9:36 am 2/19), the not-so-gentle messages from Поле Выстраивает Chris of the Glorious Guards Shock Army (that would be Russian for Field Marshall; added 10:05 am 2/19) and the tomato-chucking Dad29, who also chucks out that thanks to gubmint, the early-1970s standard of living supported by the average 1-earner income of $41,700 (constant 2005 dollars for all figures)/year ($1,600/month spending cash after taxes, mortgage, insurance and utilities) now takes 2 earners and more than $73,000/year (added 7:11 am 2/20), and the vote-with-our-feet threat from Clint (added 6:18 am 2/20) to not fuck with WTPA, let me put it on the line for you primitive screwheads. We of the base have been agitating for strong controls on taxes and spending for years because asshats like yourselves seem to think that our wallets are bottomless wells you can dip your greedy fingers into whenever the hell you feel like buying yourselves the next election. We ousted Mary “Panzy” Panzer because she wouldn’t even allow a vote on TABOR. We thought you buttheads would get the message that we were serious about this; it’s beginning to look like we were mistaken.

The best thing you can do is pass WTPA as-is or somehow find the backbone to actually strengthen it. If you do that, everything will be golden, kapish?

However, Owen’s spies are saying that you numbnuts are looking to water it down even further than letting the Miller Park and Lambeau Field boards off the hook. Let me explain what is going to happen to you suckies if WTPA is either watered down or dies altogether. We in the base are going to vote each and every one of you children of bitches out of office. If we have to remove you knuckleheads, it no longer matters to us whether we’re successful in removing you in the primary election or in the general election. While we would prefer to do it in the primaries so that the state government doesn’t officially fall into the hands of the DemocRATs, the fact that you are governing just like the ‘RATs means that your threats of, “The sky will fall if the ‘RATs get control!” ring hollow. The sky IS falling, and as you are the party allegedly in complete control of the Legislature, you are in a unique position to stop it. If you fail, we will lump you in with the ‘RATs you seem to want to be when you grow up and exterminate your terms accordingly and with extreme prejudice.

Know this: with or without you, we will make a strong WTPA happen. We would strongly prefer to see it happen in time for the 2008 Presidential election, but if it doesn’t, your W2 money is going to run out as we bring it to a referrendum, and you’ll be wishing you made it happen. Our patience ran out when you fucked us over on TABOR; our full and furious anger will be felt if you fuck us over on WTPA.

Choose wisely, and you’ll be in power after 2006. Choose poorly, and you will watch this maxim come true – “You fuck with us, we’ll fuck you up.”

I DID warn you again and again and again about the language, so if you have a problem with it, run home and cry to mama.

I really can’t say it much better than Brian and Owen.   As far as I can see, there’s a lot of good and only two major problems with WTPA:

1. The “second consecutive Legislature” requirement for a Constitutional amendment (first spotted by Owen)  would be circumvented for anything relating to WTPA.   There is a reason why the writers of the Wisconsin Constitution put it in there; so that no fad that doesn’t have the lasting power of a couple of years gets into the Constitution.
2. The lack of a per-pupil foundation in the school-district portion of the amendment.   As an anonymous commenter at Fraley’s Dailytakes pointed out, “Less kids should mean fewer expenses.”   It only makes sense that if we let a unit of government grow with growth in the community and force that unit of government to shrink if property becomes abandoned and worth less, and we let a school district grow with the addition of students, we should make a school district shrink if it loses students.

Owen  points out that the battle is more likely going to be to keep the good rather than fix the bad.   It’s also pretty damn good; so count me in on the WTPA bandwagon.