Transportation Secretary Mark Gottlieb put it bluntly - Gov. Scott Walker doesn't want to raise gasoline taxes or truck and car registration fees. To Capitol veterans, that sounded close to a veto threat.
Gottlieb was before the Legislature's budget committee defending the governor's plan to borrow another $1.3 billion for highways and bridges. Late last year, Gottlieb had sent Walker a smorgasbord of $751 million of tax and fee-raising ideas for the state's transportation needs.
Republicans, who control the Legislature, were annoyed with Walker's approach. On the campaign trail, they had denounced former Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle as some sort of government sinner because he had approved large-scale road borrowing.
Now their own Republican governor was kicking the financing issue down the street, sending it off into some other biennium.
"We are in a crisis," said Sen. Luther Olsen, R-Ripon. "We are getting ourselves in a corner where we won't be able to afford anything." Roads and bridges are valuable state assets, Olsen said at a meeting of the Joint Finance Committee.
Gottlieb was asked what would happen if the $1.3-billion bonding were trimmed to $500 million. He replied that only the huge Interstate 94 Zoo Interchange Project in Milwaukee would be finished on time. Other major projects would be delayed one or two years.
The people who build bridges and highways seem to agree with Olsen's assessment that a crisis is at hand. The Wisconsin Transportation Association says it might be preferable to delay projects if a permanent funding plan isn't found.
It's also a property tax issue because municipal governments rely on state funds to help repair the 103,000 miles of road they supervise. Local property taxes are used when the state cuts back.
Walker's efforts to gain the Republican presidential nomination in 2016 play an important part in his distaste for tax and fee increases this year. He has been staking out positions that could help him in Iowa, the first state that will be selecting delegates to the GOP national nominating convention.
Democrats are calling Walker's proposed Wisconsin budget for the 2015-2017 biennium an "Iowa-caucus budget."
Wisconsin governors are the most powerful in the nation because they have the constitutional power to "partially" veto material in appropriation bills. A Wisconsin governor can eliminate or reduce the amounts in budget bills.
But imposing a $1.3-billion borrowing plan cannot be done unilaterally with those veto powers.
On the other hand, Walker might gain some political advantage among Republican presidential hopefuls if he were to veto a gasoline tax and automotive fee-increase package. His backers could argue he is vetoing something even his own party had passed.
Some would suggest Walker's opposition to transportation funding ideas shows he is ready for Washington. Efforts to permanently fund increases in the federal highway transportation fund have died on the political vine.
The last president to approve an increase in the federal gas tax was Ronald Reagan. On the stump he correctly labeled it a "user fee."
Reagan is among Walker's favorite historical figures. The governor notes that he and Reagan took on public employee unions. Reagan fired striking air traffic controllers and Walker gutted public employee unions in Wisconsin. Unlike the air traffic controllers, there was no strike situation in Walker's move.
Walker contends that his anti-union efforts will convince foreign leaders that he is tough and decisive like Reagan.
- Matt Pommer, a 35-year veteran of covering state government in Madison, writes the weekly State Capitol Newsletter for the Wisconsin Newspaper Association. His column is published Monday in the Times.
Gottlieb was before the Legislature's budget committee defending the governor's plan to borrow another $1.3 billion for highways and bridges. Late last year, Gottlieb had sent Walker a smorgasbord of $751 million of tax and fee-raising ideas for the state's transportation needs.
Republicans, who control the Legislature, were annoyed with Walker's approach. On the campaign trail, they had denounced former Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle as some sort of government sinner because he had approved large-scale road borrowing.
Now their own Republican governor was kicking the financing issue down the street, sending it off into some other biennium.
"We are in a crisis," said Sen. Luther Olsen, R-Ripon. "We are getting ourselves in a corner where we won't be able to afford anything." Roads and bridges are valuable state assets, Olsen said at a meeting of the Joint Finance Committee.
Gottlieb was asked what would happen if the $1.3-billion bonding were trimmed to $500 million. He replied that only the huge Interstate 94 Zoo Interchange Project in Milwaukee would be finished on time. Other major projects would be delayed one or two years.
The people who build bridges and highways seem to agree with Olsen's assessment that a crisis is at hand. The Wisconsin Transportation Association says it might be preferable to delay projects if a permanent funding plan isn't found.
It's also a property tax issue because municipal governments rely on state funds to help repair the 103,000 miles of road they supervise. Local property taxes are used when the state cuts back.
Walker's efforts to gain the Republican presidential nomination in 2016 play an important part in his distaste for tax and fee increases this year. He has been staking out positions that could help him in Iowa, the first state that will be selecting delegates to the GOP national nominating convention.
Democrats are calling Walker's proposed Wisconsin budget for the 2015-2017 biennium an "Iowa-caucus budget."
Wisconsin governors are the most powerful in the nation because they have the constitutional power to "partially" veto material in appropriation bills. A Wisconsin governor can eliminate or reduce the amounts in budget bills.
But imposing a $1.3-billion borrowing plan cannot be done unilaterally with those veto powers.
On the other hand, Walker might gain some political advantage among Republican presidential hopefuls if he were to veto a gasoline tax and automotive fee-increase package. His backers could argue he is vetoing something even his own party had passed.
Some would suggest Walker's opposition to transportation funding ideas shows he is ready for Washington. Efforts to permanently fund increases in the federal highway transportation fund have died on the political vine.
The last president to approve an increase in the federal gas tax was Ronald Reagan. On the stump he correctly labeled it a "user fee."
Reagan is among Walker's favorite historical figures. The governor notes that he and Reagan took on public employee unions. Reagan fired striking air traffic controllers and Walker gutted public employee unions in Wisconsin. Unlike the air traffic controllers, there was no strike situation in Walker's move.
Walker contends that his anti-union efforts will convince foreign leaders that he is tough and decisive like Reagan.
- Matt Pommer, a 35-year veteran of covering state government in Madison, writes the weekly State Capitol Newsletter for the Wisconsin Newspaper Association. His column is published Monday in the Times.
