From Steve Hilgenberg
Dodgeville
Gov. Scott Walker has done very little to demonstrate that he is a friend of southwest Wisconsin. In his less than two months in office, he has unilaterally pulled the plug on bio-mass research and development that held enormous potential for our area. In addition, he has declared that Wisconsin is not open for wind farm development by creating confusion in turbine siting. His actions will drive this rapidly advancing technology to other states. The governor's cool reception to embryonic stem cell research threatens to discourage researchers from expanding here and opens the door for other states like California. Does this sound like a job creation agenda? If nothing else, the governor is taking bold if not wise steps. He introduced a budget repair bill less than a week ago that will force our local legislators to support extremely radical changes to labor relations. The bill is packed full of very partisan policy issues and has sparked a huge response from citizens. Sens. Dale Schultz and Luther Olson as well as Reps. Ed Brooks and Howard Marklein have campaigned against putting policy items in the budget bills because this eliminates public input and debate. In addition, to Sen Schultz's credit, he has consistently maintained that collective bargaining rights for teachers and state employees have been critical to providing labor peace. Finally, it is probably fair to ask Rep. Marklein if Gov. Walker's Budget refinance scheme qualifies as an accounting gimmick that he campaigned against.
Dodgeville
Gov. Scott Walker has done very little to demonstrate that he is a friend of southwest Wisconsin. In his less than two months in office, he has unilaterally pulled the plug on bio-mass research and development that held enormous potential for our area. In addition, he has declared that Wisconsin is not open for wind farm development by creating confusion in turbine siting. His actions will drive this rapidly advancing technology to other states. The governor's cool reception to embryonic stem cell research threatens to discourage researchers from expanding here and opens the door for other states like California. Does this sound like a job creation agenda? If nothing else, the governor is taking bold if not wise steps. He introduced a budget repair bill less than a week ago that will force our local legislators to support extremely radical changes to labor relations. The bill is packed full of very partisan policy issues and has sparked a huge response from citizens. Sens. Dale Schultz and Luther Olson as well as Reps. Ed Brooks and Howard Marklein have campaigned against putting policy items in the budget bills because this eliminates public input and debate. In addition, to Sen Schultz's credit, he has consistently maintained that collective bargaining rights for teachers and state employees have been critical to providing labor peace. Finally, it is probably fair to ask Rep. Marklein if Gov. Walker's Budget refinance scheme qualifies as an accounting gimmick that he campaigned against.
