At the start of the new year, it's a natural instinct to look forward. Even in the middle of a Wisconsin winter, this is a time of hope and opportunity - to say goodbye to the year behind us and hello to the one ahead.
For my colleagues at the state capitol and myself, it's always a little more complicated. Too often, politicians are focused on the next idea and new promises, and they don't focus enough on keeping the ones they've already made. And add to that a new wrinkle: for the first time, January 2008 bumps up against a presidential campaign that's chock full of new promises and new ideas for change.
It's hard not to get caught up in presidential politics and the 2008 election, even though it is almost 11 months away. However, Wisconsin is only halfway through its two-year legislative session, and we owe it to the people who elected us to focus on the challenges right in front of us.
The people of Wisconsin sent a strong message in the last election: they expect us to reform the way Madison does business, improve the quality and affordability of health care, and hold the line on taxes and spending. I'm proud to say that we started the session off right: working right away on day one.
We started out by cleaning up the mess in Madison - making the government more accountable with the passage of comprehensive bipartisan ethics and elections reform. The bill, the first signed into law by Governor Doyle in 2007, created an independent, non-partisan, Government Accountability Board with the authority to investigate criminal and civil violations of our ethics, campaign finance and elections laws. We kept this momentum going by voting to eliminate a little-known sick leave benefit for public officials, unheard-of in the private sector, and finally doing away with the governor's "Frankenstein Veto" power.
What came next, however, is the chapter of 2007 that most of us would like to leave behind, the state budget. At the heart of the debate was the number-one concern for families across Wisconsin - high taxes. Unfortunately, Governor Doyle set the tone immediately with a budget proposal that included almost $3 billion in new taxes and new government spending. Senate Democrats upped the ante in July by proposing a whopping $18 billion in tax hikes on Wisconsin businesses and families, and it took until October for them to relent and agree to a budget that holds the line on spending and includes a number of targeted tax cuts for Wisconsin families and Seniors.
When it comes to health care reform, the needs of the state's most vulnerable citizens has to come first. 2007's bipartisan budget agreement included the implementation of a new program called BadgerCare Plus, which will begin next month to enroll uninsured children in Wisconsin and ensure that over 98 percent of Wisconsin residents have access to affordable coverage. In 2007 we were able to save the state's landmark SeniorCare program, and removed some of the anxiety involved in health care decision-making by improving the disclosure of the real cost of medical procedures.
I will be the first to admit that there is much more work to be done in 2008. As with the start of any year, there are new ideas and new opportunities ahead of us. But we have a responsibility to keep our promises before we move on to new ones, and work to make our government work for Wisconsin no matter what the time of year.
For my colleagues at the state capitol and myself, it's always a little more complicated. Too often, politicians are focused on the next idea and new promises, and they don't focus enough on keeping the ones they've already made. And add to that a new wrinkle: for the first time, January 2008 bumps up against a presidential campaign that's chock full of new promises and new ideas for change.
It's hard not to get caught up in presidential politics and the 2008 election, even though it is almost 11 months away. However, Wisconsin is only halfway through its two-year legislative session, and we owe it to the people who elected us to focus on the challenges right in front of us.
The people of Wisconsin sent a strong message in the last election: they expect us to reform the way Madison does business, improve the quality and affordability of health care, and hold the line on taxes and spending. I'm proud to say that we started the session off right: working right away on day one.
We started out by cleaning up the mess in Madison - making the government more accountable with the passage of comprehensive bipartisan ethics and elections reform. The bill, the first signed into law by Governor Doyle in 2007, created an independent, non-partisan, Government Accountability Board with the authority to investigate criminal and civil violations of our ethics, campaign finance and elections laws. We kept this momentum going by voting to eliminate a little-known sick leave benefit for public officials, unheard-of in the private sector, and finally doing away with the governor's "Frankenstein Veto" power.
What came next, however, is the chapter of 2007 that most of us would like to leave behind, the state budget. At the heart of the debate was the number-one concern for families across Wisconsin - high taxes. Unfortunately, Governor Doyle set the tone immediately with a budget proposal that included almost $3 billion in new taxes and new government spending. Senate Democrats upped the ante in July by proposing a whopping $18 billion in tax hikes on Wisconsin businesses and families, and it took until October for them to relent and agree to a budget that holds the line on spending and includes a number of targeted tax cuts for Wisconsin families and Seniors.
When it comes to health care reform, the needs of the state's most vulnerable citizens has to come first. 2007's bipartisan budget agreement included the implementation of a new program called BadgerCare Plus, which will begin next month to enroll uninsured children in Wisconsin and ensure that over 98 percent of Wisconsin residents have access to affordable coverage. In 2007 we were able to save the state's landmark SeniorCare program, and removed some of the anxiety involved in health care decision-making by improving the disclosure of the real cost of medical procedures.
I will be the first to admit that there is much more work to be done in 2008. As with the start of any year, there are new ideas and new opportunities ahead of us. But we have a responsibility to keep our promises before we move on to new ones, and work to make our government work for Wisconsin no matter what the time of year.
