The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel ran a story today accussing Congressman Mark Green of obsfucating as to what cuts he would make if elected governor. Surprise, surprise, a candidate that won’t go into great detail on what cuts he would make before he’s elected. Repubs and Dems have dodged that question since time immemorial.
Still, since I’m not a candidate for anything, I sat down with the 03-04 edition of the good ole Wisconsin Blue Book and came up with my top five gov’t organizations to abolish:
1. Governor’s Commission on the United Nations. Created in 1959, “the commission is responsible for sponsoring statewide educational programs about the United Nations, coordinating Wisconsin’s official participation in the annual observance of United Nations Day, expressing its views on issues affecting the UN, and communicating its views to public officials and the news media.” pg. 329Â How utterly useless. If private individuals desire to start a foundation or something, go for it. But let’s not make giving the French veto power over our foreign policy a state holiday, okay? CUT
2. Women’s Council. The WC is “charged with identifying barriers that prevent women in Wisconsin from participating fully and equally in all aspects of life.” It has one employee and a budget of $200,000. The Dept. of Administration-coordinated WC is separate from the Dept. of Workforce Development-coordinated Glass Ceiling Commission, which seeks promote women for positions of leadership in the public and private sectors. The WC’s has a nebulously vague purpose – it’s CUT.
3. Council on Affirmative Action. “[A]dvises the secretary, evaluates affirmative action programs throughout the classified service, seeks compliance with state and federal regulations, and recommends improvements in the state’s affirmative action efforts. … A majority of them [the members of the Council] must be public members and must represent minority persons, women, and persons with a disability.” Since we have a full-time staffed Division of Affirmative Action, do we really need a council that is a monument to the quota-driven nature of affirmative action?
4. Disabilities Overlap… We have a Governor’s Committee for People with Disabilities. We have a Statewide Independent Living Council. There is a Council on Blindness, a Council for the Hard of Hearing, a Council on Mental Health, a Council on Developmental Disabilities, and a Council on Physical Disabilities. There’s also a Blind and Visual Impairment Education Council and a Deaf and Hard of Hearing Education Council, and a Special Education Council. I would submit to you that somewhere in there there is some unnecessary overlap.
5. Regulation and Licensing. I totally understand that the State has a very important concern for the safety of her citizens, and therefore decides to regulate professions. However, I would question the necessity of an Auctioneer Board, a Barbering and Cosmetology Examining Board, a Funeral Directors Examining Board, and a Professional Geologists, Hydrologists, and Soil Scientists Examining Board. Someone convince me otherwise…
Honorable Mention: Wisconsin Conservation Corps Board, and the WI Conv. Corps with its 8.5 employees and $7 million budget. “The WCC provides work experience and professional development opportunities for underemployed and unemployed men and women ages 18-25 by implementing conservation and human services projects for federal and state agencies, local units of government, and nonprofit organizations.” Just the name rings of Depression-era relic.
Any suggestions from the peanut gallery?
That’s what the comments function is for.
P.S. No wonder I like them so much. A few months ago Congressman Mark Green made headlines for standing up for the rights of UW System students to hold Bible studies in their dormitories. This week, Congressman Paul Ryan signed onto a letter to HUD Secretary Jackson defending the right of public housing community members to organize Bible studies.
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Wow – you are well on your way to balancing the state’s multi-BILLION dollar budget with these massive cuts!
Numbers 1 – 4 are miniscule entities. Perhaps you are up to $250k in savings per annum by eliminating all of them.
The Department of Regulation & Licensing is funded entirely by fees assessed against the licensee. Eliminate the licenses and you eliminate the fees. You save nothing here as the cost as well as the revenue disappear.
What’s next on your chopping block?
Certainly not the sacred cows of prisons and new roads. God forbid! It’s in the Bible.
Oops, I see on a second review that my Honorable Mention Winner, the Wisconsin Conservation Corps, was cut by the Legislature… the hazards of using an old Blue Book I guess.
Your points are fair, Wally; I’d reply that the Blue Book focuses on structure and not size, and that moreover my top five are as much about the proper role of state government as about the dollars saved.
I also appreciate your willingness to acknowledge that the state faces a huge budget deficit. You can thank Governor Doyle for that.
As a member of the Governor’s Commission on the United Nations, I wish to protest your suggestion that it be abolished.
The commission was put in place by Gaylord Nelson because he was distressed that Americans in general and Wisconsinites in particular were woefully underinformed about the UN and about our nation’s foreign policy. That situation still exists.
The Commission is involved with model UN sessions in our schools, both high school and college level, and we provide speakers for classrooms. These efforts are considered valuable by teachers and students alike.
We are responsible for the official state celebration of UN Day in October, which is held in the Capitol Rotunda, and our keynote speaker last fall was State Superintendent Elizabeth Burmaster, who thanked us for our work in the schools.
We work cooperatively with United Nations Association groups throughout the state to spread the word about the good work of the UN [which is seldom what makes it into the infrequent news stories in our press].
And finally, our budget is so small as to be insignificant, consisting only of mileage allowances to get to meetings. We commisioners donate our time, because we believe that our mission is an important one.
Otherwise, I applaud your apparent intent of reducing unnecessary spending. It’s too bad that you’re not a Republican member of congress or the legislature. They certainly do need help!
You can thank Governor Doyle for the Wisconsin deficit? I’d like you to re-think that statement. Wow.
The Department of Veterans Affairs could become part of the Department of Military Affairs as is done in other states….lots of overhead costs saved because of duplicative services.
Yeah, I had to go back and read that one too: “I also appreciate your willingness to acknowledge that the state faces a huge budget deficit. You can thank Governor Doyle for that.”
Wow, is right! Just how do you explain that Jim Doyle is responsible for the largest per capita deficit in the nation, which he found in his desk drawer when he arrived at his office after being elected in 2002? Did he send the deficit on before him, somehow sneaking it by Tommy and Scott?
You really amuse me. Write back when you’ve read something other that outdated Blue Books.
[...] 1. My big thought for the day focuses on reaction to my post yesterday on what government spending I would cut. Two different comments puts things in a nice relief: [...]
Yes, ZC, you can blame Gov. Doyle for the deficit.
In Wisconsin, unlike on the federal level, the state budget must be balanced when it is made law. So there is no budgeted gap between expected revenue and expenditures.
HOWEVER, what we in Wisconsin call a deficit is really more technically a structural deficit. Gov. Doyle built his budget withalmost $900 million in one-time funds, usually borrowed from designated funds like transportation or environmental clean-up. That means next year we have a structural deficit for all those one-time uses and borrows that the Governor did.
Gov. Doyle inherited a 3.5 billion dollar deficit from Tommy/Scott. He’s still working on fixing the structural deficit they left him. Republican’s failure on the state/federal level to manage a budget is one of my biggest disappointments in the allegedly fiscally conservative party and Green has been involved in both. I think Green’s terrible fiscal record in the state and federal legislature will be his downfall this cycle.
You kids aren’t old enough to even understand why we have a UN, or the good it does in poor nations, or the value of diplomacy and negotiations that help keep you, yes you, safe.
You’re too young and spoiled and privileged, attending an elite private University, with way too much time on your hands. While you’re blogging, people working for the UN are putting their lives on the line, serving as peacekeepers, working in clinics in disease-ridden nations, clearing landmines left behind in farm fields in places like Cambodia, and so forth.
You brats should be ashamed of yourselves.
ZC have you thought that just maybe Governor Doyle increased spending beyond the means the state can handle? If the state increases revenue say by 3-4% every year, why did he increase it by 10%? ANd why did he decide to use a line itme frankenstein veto to actually increase spending? Doesn’t make much sense… If you want a fiscal conservative, it isn’t Doyle. NO WAY.
Pick leaders with solutions to fix it otherwise we are in serious trouble. That includes all levels of Government.
Milwaukee Guy:
The question here is not whether the United Nations ought to exist, whether the US should pull out (which I oppose for the record), etc.
Rather, it is whether it is the proper role of state government to spend our tax dollars on a Governor’s Commission on the UN to educate Wisconsinites about the importance of the UN in world affairs. I answer that it is not.
You and Mr. Smart are more than welcome to band together, start an association or foundation, and advertise to the people of Wisconsin the various worthy endeavors of the UN if that is what you want to do. But it is not the proper role of state government to create and fund such a group.
I would even go as far as to classify it as a triple tax. As a I said before:
“When it comes down to it, the estate tax is a triple tax, not only is the income taxed when earned, but it is tax when assets are sold and again when someone dies. This is hardly fair or decent.”
Oh, I know that this is silly, trying to reason this out with the “too young and spoiled and privileged.” I should just leave it alone.
However, I just returned from a meeting of the Governor’s Commission on the UN, and I am still exhilarated!
For your information, there already is a United Nations Association in the U.S.A., an NGO [non-governmental organization], one of many such throughout the world. We have active chapters in Wisconsin, and they participate in our deliberations. Clearly you were unaware of this, which is one of the elements of the Commission’s charge, to spread the word to Wisconsites of UN activities.
You say that it isn’t the state’s business to do this, but I submit that it most assuredly is. Conquering ignorance was long ago determined to be the state’s responsibility. The Governor’s Commission has a certain clout because of our genesis and assocation with the government, and we can bring attention to issues that independant organizations have difficulty promoting.
I’d also like to explain a bit about what the UN does, as you seem a bit callow and uncomprehending. The UN is far more than the ideological stuff you read in your daily conservative digests or hear on right-wing talk-radio. I spent three years as a Peace Corps volunteer in Uzbekistan [1995 - 1998, just prior to my official retirement], and I worked closely with UN people in the field. I can only repeat what “Milwaukee Guy” said about what the hard-working UN does for us, and for humanity. May I suggest that you get out in the world some, and then, when you’re more seasoned, re-examine this issue.
Again I say, cutting government expenditures is not a bad thing at all, as long as you use common sense. And the GOP majorities in both the congress and the legislature could use some help in that regard. They are the ones responsible for appropriating, after all, despite your efforts to blame the Governor.