By the way, Wood finally got around to filing his non-candidacy on Thursday. Good riddance, although his departure is much too long delayed thanks to the Democrats.

“She sees the core issues of her campaign focused around water, education and putting Wisconsin back to work.”

Water? Is she running for Alderman?

The Waukesha County Democratic Party also announced six other candidates running for office:

Dick Pas of Oconomowoc for the 38th Assembly District; Victor Weers of Brookfield for the 98th Assembly District; Don Vanpool of Waukesha for the 84th Assembly District; Tom Hibbard of Hartland for the 99th Assembly District; David Hucke of Wauwatosa for the 14th Assembly District; and Dwayne Block for Oconomowoc for the 13th Senate District.

First elected to the state Assembly in 2004, Nelson has worked hard for Northeast Wisconsin families. Representing the Fifth Assembly District, Nelson has handled more than 8,000 constituent cases, visited more than 80,000 families in his district, and attended hundreds of community meetings and events.

Let’s see. Each Assembly district is about 56,000 people. Even assuming 30,000 households, the biggest industry in Nelson’s district must be moving van companies. His district must be the central hub for U-Haul.

80,000 families? That means he’s been meeting 36 or 37 families every single day for the last six years, including Christmas. That’s not doors knocked, that’s families actually met.

“Is that Santa Claus? Darn, it’s just Tom Nelson and a sleigh full of Blue Books.”

He makes the US Postal service look bad. Okay, worse.

At the breakneck pace Nelson is meeting with constituents, it would be a miracle if Nelson showed any impact at all in Madison.

Publication:Waukesha Freeman (Conley); Date:May 6, 2010; Section:Opinion; Page Number:10A

Harley sputters under new tax law
Combined reporting adds up to loss

(James Wigderson is a blogger publishing at http://www.wigderson.com and a Waukesha resident. His column runs Thursdays in The Freeman.)

We’re in year two of unfettered Democratic rule, and we’re now seeing the results.

Wisconsin’s taxpayers and much of the business community gave a sigh of relief when the state Senate gaveled themselves home early this legislative session. Some terrible legislation was left on the agenda waiting for action when the state Legislature closed up shop for the election year.

However, the Democrats already did much of the damage we feared when they took control of both chambers of the Legislature following the last election, including over $5 billion in new taxes.

Despite the gluttony for revenue, it still remained unmatched by the Democrats’ lust for spending.

We head into this November’s elections with a state budget with tremendous revenue shortfalls and a looming structural deficit crisis for whomever succeeds Gov. Jim Doyle. The only reason the Legislature isn’t in special session right now fixing the problem of a budget imbalance is because the Democrats actually gave themselves a temporary out until next year built in the budget.

Making matters worse, the tax increases under the Democrats are hitting businesses directly on the bottom line.

Last week, famed motorcycle manufacturer Harley-Davidson told its employees that the company needs to find $54 million in savings or else consider moving manufacturing operations elsewhere. While Harley-Davidson is trying to avoid the connection, the company is suffering a $22.5 million tax increase in the middle of a recession, money that would go a long way to solving Harley-Davidson’s financial difficulties.

The company is being hit by Wisconsin’s new combined reporting tax that was first enacted last year during in a so-called budget fix that the Democrats ironically labeled a “stimulus bill.” The only things so far it’s stimulated are the accountants and the state’s Department of Revenue.

Combined reporting requires corporations to report and include the income of out-ofstate subsidiaries. The idea is to prevent corporations from paying fees to their subsidiaries in order to avoid tax liabilities.

Of course, the real issue isn’t tax fairness as the supporters of the combined reporting law claim. Wisconsin already had a law on the books allowing the Department of Revenue to pursue payment from companies that would try to avoid taxes by paying their subsidiaries. It’s about the $1.2 billion in revenue the law is expected to generate.

Harley-Davidson is a victim of that law, and soon its employees will have to pay for the new law, too, possibly with their jobs.

As the legislative session drew to a close, the Democrats scoffed at the idea that Wisconsin is a tax hell. They pointed triumphantly to a state Department of Revenue report showing Wisconsin is 24th in taxes. What they failed to mention is that the numbers were from 2006-2007, before the Democrats took complete control in Madison.

The unfortunate truth is that Wisconsin’s 5 billion in tax increases were the sixth-largest increases in the country, and the Democrats still couldn’t get Wisconsin’s fiscal house in order.

Now the Democrats are claiming the combined reporting tax has nothing to do with the situation at Harley-Davidson, as if $22.5 million isn’t nearly half of what Harley-Davidson says it needs to find in cost reductions. Governor Doyle even challenged his critics, wondering what planet we’re on.

I might suggest to the governor that when retires he might consider leaving planet Madison to see how economics on Earth really works.

In the meantime, state Rep. Leah Vukmir has called for a special session of the Legislature to repeal the combined reporting law. While I suspect the governor is unlikely to do so, the Democrats cannot claim they weren’t given a chance to change their policies.

Of course, we can’t help but notice the irony of the state closing the Legislature early before honoring Harley-Davidson with the designation as the state’s motorcycle. It might have made a great going away present.

JAMES WIGDERSON

Ron Johnson told voters this week all they need to know about what kind of campaign he intends to run for U.S. Senate. Johnson, a multimillionaire, Tea Party activist made his first campaign move by hiring the Republican political operative who produced the most “highly offensive and deliberately misleading” political ad in Wisconsin history. Johnson’s first hire is Darrin Schmitz, who is responsible for the notorious ad on behalf of Mike Gableman’s 2008 campaign for Wisconsin Supreme Court.

An independent group that monitored the state Supreme Court race, the Wisconsin Judicial Campaign Integrity Committee said that the spot was “in the offensive, race-bating style reminiscent of the Willie Horton ad from the 1988 presidential race.” In fact, the Wisconsin Supreme Court is still deciding what sanctions to take to resolve the ongoing ethics complaint regarding Schmitz’s ad.

“Ron Johnson told voters a lot about what kind of campaign he is going to run, but more importantly he told voters a lot about himself,” said Mike Tate, chairman of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, “It’s clear that Johnson is willing to put his own wealth behind a divisive and deceptive campaign meant to serve himself, not the people of Wisconsin.”

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel called Schmitz’s ad “purposeful distortion” and said it was “unworthy of any campaign.” In the ongoing Wisconsin ethics complaint case against Schmitz’s ad, Gableman’s attorney,James Bopp defended the “right to mislead voters in campaign ads,” saying, “I don’t think misleading is something good, (but) it can’t be sanctioned.”

The Racine Journal Times wrote that “Gableman’s attack ad essentially linked four true statements that, taken in their totality, ended in a lie.”

Like Mike Tate is some sort of virgin when it comes to deceitful campaigns. Prior to becoming the Democratic Party’s chief press release generator, Tate engaged in what was the most deceitful campaign tactic in Wisconsin’s recent political history when he led Fair Wisconsin’s fight against the referendum defining marriage in the state constitution. Tate’s operation actually called voters and told them that if they voted for the referendum, they were voting for gay marriage.

Becoming the Chairman of the Democratic Party didn’t exactly mellow his harshness. When Tea Party activistists gathered on Milwaukee’s lakefront, Tate was rhyming with hate,

“These are extremist elements pulling together, distinct vocal minorities that frankly don’t believe in this country,” Tate said. “They don’t want to see more people have access to quality affordable health care; they don’t want clean air and water. They fundamentally don’t understand how the American government, economy and capitalism work.”

However, we should be nice and recognize that Tate was under a lot of stress last week when he wrote his press release. He just found out the top dog of Congressional Democrats in Wisconsin, David Obey, will soon be playing his harmonica on the sidelines.

Let’s run through the list of headaches Tate is now facing: open seat for governor, open congressional seat previously thought reasonably safe, well-funded challengers for Senator Russ Feingold, a very vulnerable congressman in Green Bay, another vulnerable congressman in the western part of the state, and the likely loss of at least one house of the legislature (if not both). Oh yeah, his Assembly Speaker was chasing skirt in the lobbyist pool, his candidate for governor had to be begged into running and is now defending tax increases, and the Assembly Democrats are on record as being soft on a five-time OWI loser.

Heckuva job, Mikey. No wonder Obey announced his retirement in Washington D.C. He was probably afraid he would have to have you say a few words.

That she can brag about running unopposed seven times in her career says a lot about the Republican Party, too.

To give you an idea of why it’s so hard to pass the bill in the Senate, Senator Jeff Plale in the video says he’s reluctant to support it, Senate Majority Leader Russ Decker says he’s reluctant to support it, Senator Tim Carpenter says he’s reluctant to support it, and Senator Kathleen Vinehout is complaining there is not enough time to debate the bill.

Oh yeah, and nobody’s believing the PSC’s fig leaf either.

I guess the Democrats think the next governor is likely to be a Republican.

If the resolution passes both houses in the next legislative session, the constitutional amendment would go to referendum.

By the way, now you see why the Democrats need State Rep. Jeff Wood’s vote. I wonder if they get him to vote the same way the British bribed the Cary Grant character in Father Goose.

Walter Eckland: All those miles of open sea and back again a man would need something to keep warm, now, wouldn’t he?
Commander Frank Houghton RAN: 2 bottles.
Walter Eckland: All of them, Frank.
Commander Frank Houghton RAN: Three.
Walter Eckland: All of them, Frank.
Commander Frank Houghton RAN: Five.
Walter Eckland: All of them, Frank.
Commander Frank Houghton RAN: Got a pencil?

Grettings, {sic}

My good friend Tom Barrett is running for governor to stand up for Wisconsin’s middle class and working families in these tough economic times.

Tom and I first met when we both served in the Wisconsin State Legislature together and many times we’ve fought together for issues that matter to hard-working Wisconsin families. As governor, I know Tom will focus everyday on creating good-paying, family-supporting jobs across the state, and making sure Madison works for us.

Please visit http://www.barrettforwisconsin.com/freebumpersticker today to sign up for Tom’s campaign and receive a free bumper sticker to show your support.

We know that Tom’s opponents will unleash every attack at their disposal to block progress and push ideas that are completely out of touch with mainstream Wisconsin.

That’s why we must work hard this year to defend our shared values and help elect Tom Barrett as our next governor.

Stand with Tom so he can stand with us. Please visit http://www.barrettforwisconsin.com/freebumpersticker to join Tom’s campaign and receive your free bumper sticker today.

Sincerely,

Russ Feingold
United States Senator

What is it with the Barrett campaign and pushing the bumper stickers? It’s not even a cool bumper sticker. I’m picturing the Barrett campaign brain trust sitting around the table:

Okay, the boss’ poll numbers are not improving. The whole miracle freeway re-opening was a disaster. Any suggestions?

We could come up with some new ideas for improving the state’s economy?

That’s not going to happen.

What about a new education plan?

{everyone laughs.}

Okay, knock off the jokes. What we need is something that will really excite the public.

I’ve got it! Free campaign bumper stickers!

Yeah! And then we can add refrigerator magnets and pot holders later!

Yeah!

All right, meeting adjourned. Fleming? I want to see the new bumper sticker design by four o’clock this afternoon!

How about, “Barrett, because Obama asked him?”