Garthwaite to Introduce Another Do-nothing Bill - Assembly Democrat Disintegration Continues

The Kenosha News is reporting that Rep. Garthwaite has agreed to lead the way in the Assembly for a piece of legislation that is to be introduced by State Senator Bob Wirch. The legislation would mandate that state government (primarily the UW and prison systems) purchase at least 10% of their food goods from Wisconsin producers. This mandate would increase to 20% in 2020.

While "feel good" legislation like this mildly annoys me, I really don't have a problem with this particular bill other than that I don't necessarily agree that prisoners deserve to eat the fine products produced in our state. At the end of the day, however, I doubt that this bill will accomplish anything at all. I predict that Wisconsin's prisons and the UW already procure more than 10% of their food goods from Wisconsin producers. If this bill passes, it will probably just mandate what is currently standard practice in our institutions.

In other news, the payday loan scandal continues. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports that the Assembly Democrats' payday loan bill narrowly passed committee today on a 6-5 vote. Rep. Dean Kaufert, a Republican supporter of payday loan reform issued a warning to Democrats stating,"Don't pose for holy pictures. You're in the soup. You're trying to find your way out of this.  . . . Trying to rush this through, get it by, get the stories over - I don't know; it's not pretty."

The Associated Press is reporting that Majority Leader Tom Nelson continues to deny his support to ethically challenged Democrat Speaker Mike Sheridan. Payday Gate is becoming a case study in public relations mismanagement and continues to threaten the reelection chances of vulnerable Democrats like Phil Garthwaite.

Garthwaite Spent 104 Days in Madison in 2009 with Little to Show for it

During his last campaign, I seem to remember that Phil Garthwaite liked to criticize Republicans in the Assembly for being a "Do Nothing" legislature.

Well the numbers are in on Garthwaite's first year as member of the Democrat Majority and they would appear to show Mr. Garthwaite as the pot who called the kettle black.

Number of Days Garthwaite spent in Madison - 104
Amount of Per Diem Garthwaite collected from the taxpayers - $9,152.00
Number of Days Garthwaite spent in legislative session - 25
Number of times Garthwaite's Committee on Rural Economic Development met - 1
Number of bills considered by Garthwaite's committee - 0
Number of Garthwaite bills signed into law - 0



There is something to be said for the Libertarian minded legislator who does not seek to pass legislation or to meet frequently in legislative session. As Thoreau, Jefferson, and Paine are all attributed to have said, "The Government is best which governs least." Were Garthwaite of this mindset I could forgive his inaction as a legislator. Garthwaite, however, is a self described progressive. His voting record, campaign materials, and public pronouncements all indicate that he believes that government action is the solution to our society's problems. This leaves one question for Mr. Garthwaite. If government is the source of solutions to our economic woes and other challenges, than why aren't you doing anything to prove it?

Still Nothing on Jobs From Garthwaite

We here at PG Watch have gone without posting for quite sometime but we haven't gone as long as Rep. Garthwaite has without holding a public hearing in an important committee for job creation.

Rep. Garthwaite has been chairman of the Assembly Committee on Rural Economic Development for over a year now yet he hasn't had a single public hearing on even one piece of legislation to date. As chairman of the Rural Economic Development Committee, Garthwaite is in a unique position to draft and pass ideas to bring jobs to rural Wisconsin areas like Grant County. During the worst recession in a generation, his inaction does a great disservice to his constituents.

According to the Department of Workforce Development, Wisconsin lost 26,100 jobs in December bringing total unemployment to 250,900 or 8.7% of Wisconsin’s workforce. Unemployment in Grant County is up almost a whole percentage point since last month. Still Rep. Garthwaite refuses to act.

To date Rep, Garthwaite's legislative agenda has consisted of bills to regulate honey, legalize industrial marijuana cultivation, and to rename 'swine flu' as 'H1N1'. These aren't necessarily bad ideas but they certainly won't be putting anybody back to work anytime soon. Rep. Garthwaite's silence on jobs speaks volumes.

Garthwaite's Ineffectiveness Noticed by Statewide Media Outlet

Over the weekend Milwaukee Journal Sentinel columnist Mike Nichols penned a humorous story about Rep. Garthwaite's efforts to ban the term "swine flu." The columnist wasn't kind to the Rep. from the 49th:

Still, Garthwaite needs to do something with his time, I guess, so I will go out on a limb and say this is as fine an idea as Phil Garthwaite has ever had.

Indeed, as meaningless as Garthwaite's resolution banning "swine flu" is, it is one of the only things he has done with his last 10 months in office. So far, he has introduced only a small handful of bills and has not yet been able to get a single piece of legislation passed through the legislature. Perhaps more importantly he has been unarguably ineffective as the chairman of the Assembly Committee on Rural Economic Development.

The committee Garthwaite chairs is tasked with helping to bring jobs to rural Wisconsin - places like Grant County. Ask anyone in his district and they will tell you that the struggling economy and high unemployment are a huge concerns. Despite this, Garthwaite has not held a single hearing on legislation yet this year. Sure he had a brief informational hearing last winter but that is it. Garthwaite has tremendous power and influence that he could use to ease unemployment in Grant County and what is he doing with it? Nothing. Nada. Zilch. He has spent more time sitting on his bar stool at Kuepers Tavern in Dickeyville then he has in his chairman's seat in Madison. Rural Wisconsin suffers for it.

Last month, the Assembly Minority Leader Jeff Fitzgerald commented on Garthwaite's lack of work in Madison stating:

Wisconsin is suffering through record unemployment yet Rep. Garthwaite has refused to hold a public hearing in a committee tasked with bringing jobs to rural Wisconsin. The people of Wisconsin deserve more from their elected officials than a committee chairman who refuses to do his job. At a time when he should be focusing on bringing jobs to rural Wisconsin he has instead prioritized bills renaming the Swine Flu and creating a committee to study the industrial uses of marijuana.

Now Nichols is weighing in. If you haven't read the column yet, please click here and read it. It is both true and funny. Here's my favorite part:

I asked him (Garthwaite) if maybe, using his logic, there isn't also a problem with use of the term "chicken pox."

"Chicken pox, No. 1, has been engrained in people's heads since Christ was a corporal and, No. 2, does the price of chicken go down when junior gets the chicken pox?" asked Garthwaite.

I suppose not, but I have another question. What the heck does that phrase mean exactly anyway, "since Christ was a corporal"?

I say we all pass a resolution ordering Phil Garthwaite to just say, "a long time."

As someone who has long been perplexed by Garthwaite's colloquialisms from "I didn't just ride in here on a head of cabbage," to "I'll bet you beans to bacon," I appreciated Nichols poking fun. Perhaps if Rep. Garthwaite spent as much time working as he did thinking up these weird expressions, he could actually accomplish something.