Wednesday, April 8, 2015

Wisconsin's Choices

By Jeff Simpson 

In government, money is usually limited(unless Republicans want to go to war).   In Wisconsin it is no different.   After electing a group of spend happy, economically illiterate Republicans for four years we are left with a multi billion dollar deficit.   

Now that we have limited funds,we have to make choices where we spend them.  Wisconsin by electing Scott Walker has made their choice:



 The State of Wisconsin's unsuccessful court battle to prevent gay marriage will cost taxpayers more than $1 million, under an agreement released Friday.

State Attorney General Brad Schimel, a Republican, and attorneys for eight gay and lesbian couples reached the agreement after the couples successfully sued to overturn the state's 2006 constitutional ban on same-sex marriage.

The couples were represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, which sought $1.25 million to cover its costs because the couples prevailed in their lawsuit. Ultimately, the ACLU will receive nearly $1.1 million, under the stipulation released Friday.

Carl Tobias, a law professor at the University of Richmond in Virginia who believes bans like Wisconsin's are unconstitutional, said that he wasn't surprised at the cost to state taxpayers and that it could have been worse. Gov. Scott Walker, one of the defendants, and then-Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen, both Republicans, opposed the same-sex plaintiffs at every level of the federal court system, he said.

"The state never seemed to appreciate how much taxpayer money is expended on this type of litigation in which it was pretty clear from the outset that Wisconsin was going to lose," Tobias said.
Now that we are paying legal fees from a losing effort, we have to cut somewhere, so here it is:

The University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh says it plans to reduce the number of its sports programs by two, in response to proposed state budget cuts.
The school said Monday it plans to drop the men's soccer and men's tennis teams, after the 2015-'16 school year.
In addition, UW-Oshkosh plans to combine the men's and women's track and field and men's and women's cross-country teams under a restructured coaching staff.
The action will reduce UW-Oshkosh's total number of varsity sports from 21 to 19 and result in the loss of two coaching positions.

Good job Wisconsin, choosing more money to lawyers and less to our kids!  

Image result for scott walker gun

10 comments:

  1. What do you expect from a criminal that has to spend upward of ONE MILLION DOLLARS (and counting) for criminal defense!

    Don 't expect Wisconsin's right-wing media echo chamber to tell you the truth on this one though.

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  2. And don't overlook the millions misspent and missing from the "Wisconsin Economic Development Council".
    It's Walker's creation and it's a mess. He owns its failure. I'd like to see the national media hammer away on that one.

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    Replies
    1. Where did that 95 MILLION in WEDC Cash go?
      Where did the money from the home loan settlement go ?
      Where did the BILLION Dollars in transport money go ?

      For some reason the T Baggers don't want to talk about it ??? Hummmm

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    2. Notice that Walker announced today that he wants WHEDA to handle HUD funds for housing development? Worth noting since he wants to merge WHEDA and WEDC, and because WEDC wasn't allowed to handle HUD funds after 2012 because of their negligence and corruption.

      Someone might want to give Mike Isikoff another call...

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    3. The trouble is the national media won't report on what Walker has done to this state unless the local media starts doing it. We need the media here to start reporting the truth about him instead of covering up for him.

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  3. Anonymous
    And just over half of WI voters continue to vote for partisan politics! Don't they have critical thinking skills?? Just keep voting conservative right in this state and soon most of WI will be uneducated!

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    Replies
    1. Guess when teacher's unions tell you how great our school are, they're lying. So where do you think most of the 40 plus year-old went to school?

      You can't blame choice or vouchers and there were relatively few parochial and private schools. We don't need test scores, obviously public schools suck. Just look at how ignorant the masses that attended them are.

      "Keep you gubbrtmint hands off my Medicare, Moran!"

      Typical public school grad...

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    2. And what does your comment have to do with ths topic? Typical troll, changing the subject ,using an ad hominem attack and lacking any critical thinking skills

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    3. @Anonymous April 8 7:12 PM: "Guess when teacher's unions tell you how great our school are, they're lying."

      No, they'd use proper grammar ("teachers' unions... schools are").

      What kind of inverted snob denounces others' education ("typical public school grad") while showing his own lack of one?

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