From Harry Pulliam
New Glarus
To the editor:
The New York Times ran an article recently about laws in several states "that curb municipal broadband efforts and favor traditional cable and telecom firms." It occurred to me that this is yet another effort on the part of the country's landed gentry to stifle competition and line its pockets at the expense of the rest of us. Read on:
For a while now, I've been working with a group of concerned citizens who seek to bring broadband service to all of Green County. We would like to help rural residents, companies and farmers in our county acquire internet service fast enough to allow them to truly prosper. Unfortunately, there's already a law on the books in Wisconsin that is similar to those mentioned in the article. According to a recent Wisconsin Farmers Union bulletin, in 2003 "the state legislature effectively prohibited most other municipal governments from competing in the marketplace to offer broadband service (State Statute 66.0422)."
How does this happen? Why do Wisconsin legislators enact laws that intentionally stifle competition? Why do they pass legislation that makes it increasingly difficult (and expensive) for folks in rural areas to have the same services that are enjoyed by city dwellers? The answer (surprise) is money. The campaign funding watchdog Wisconsin Democracy Campaign reports that between January, 2000 and December, 2003 - the year that our legislature passed the above bill - the telecommunications industry donated over $586,000 to the campaigns of Wisconsin legislators. No doubt hoping to keep the 2003 law in place, Big Telecom has from January, 2004 until present contributed almost $3 million more to Wisconsin legislators' war chests.
No matter where you live or what you do for a living, it should be easy to see that this sort of legalized bribery hurts everyone. Without good access to the Internet, children can't get a proper education; farmers have trouble bidding in real time in online livestock auctions, maintaining a farm website or managing online sales; employers can't move to rural areas. Lastly, people in more urban areas experience the economic fallout from all of this.
It's time to pull the plug on unlimited campaign expenditures. Green County United to Amend is working to get Big Money out of politics. Check out the website GCUTA.org - or, if your Internet connection is too slow, call me, Harry Pulliam, at 608-228-5439.
New Glarus
To the editor:
The New York Times ran an article recently about laws in several states "that curb municipal broadband efforts and favor traditional cable and telecom firms." It occurred to me that this is yet another effort on the part of the country's landed gentry to stifle competition and line its pockets at the expense of the rest of us. Read on:
For a while now, I've been working with a group of concerned citizens who seek to bring broadband service to all of Green County. We would like to help rural residents, companies and farmers in our county acquire internet service fast enough to allow them to truly prosper. Unfortunately, there's already a law on the books in Wisconsin that is similar to those mentioned in the article. According to a recent Wisconsin Farmers Union bulletin, in 2003 "the state legislature effectively prohibited most other municipal governments from competing in the marketplace to offer broadband service (State Statute 66.0422)."
How does this happen? Why do Wisconsin legislators enact laws that intentionally stifle competition? Why do they pass legislation that makes it increasingly difficult (and expensive) for folks in rural areas to have the same services that are enjoyed by city dwellers? The answer (surprise) is money. The campaign funding watchdog Wisconsin Democracy Campaign reports that between January, 2000 and December, 2003 - the year that our legislature passed the above bill - the telecommunications industry donated over $586,000 to the campaigns of Wisconsin legislators. No doubt hoping to keep the 2003 law in place, Big Telecom has from January, 2004 until present contributed almost $3 million more to Wisconsin legislators' war chests.
No matter where you live or what you do for a living, it should be easy to see that this sort of legalized bribery hurts everyone. Without good access to the Internet, children can't get a proper education; farmers have trouble bidding in real time in online livestock auctions, maintaining a farm website or managing online sales; employers can't move to rural areas. Lastly, people in more urban areas experience the economic fallout from all of this.
It's time to pull the plug on unlimited campaign expenditures. Green County United to Amend is working to get Big Money out of politics. Check out the website GCUTA.org - or, if your Internet connection is too slow, call me, Harry Pulliam, at 608-228-5439.
