Garthwaite Linked to Questionable Campaign Materials

Blogger Playground Politics posted an Assembly Democrat campaign document today that was reportedly discovered in the state capitol. As you can see the document entitled Agenda for Meeting with Speaker is clearly a campaign document and had no busisness being in the state capitol. This begs the question, were Assembly Democrats campaigning on state time and the taxpayers' dime, and was Rep. Garthwaite involved as this document seems to indicate?

I would certainly hope that the Republican Party of Wisconsin will soon file an open records request for the calendars of Speaker Mike Sheridan, Rep. Garthwaite, and the other Assemblyman mentioned in the document. If these meetings are taking place in the State Capitol then we have here a clear violation of the public trust and state law.

Newspaper: Democrat Leader Tom Nelson and his colleagues like Rep. Phil Garthwaite "are not telling the truth"

This is one of the best editorials I've read yet about Rep. Phil Garthwaite's "Big Sloppy Kiss" to his trial attorney campaign supporters. It was published by the Oshkosh Northwestern on October 29th.

Editorial: Insurance law bad for deal for state motorists

Imagine, for a moment, that you've made some long overdue improvements to your house. Your neighbor suggests that to protect the value of your investment you should consider additional home insurance. Good idea, you think.

Your neighbor says, "You might want to increase your insurance coverage from $150,000 to $200,000." You dial up your insurance agent for a price quote because you know that buying more insurance is going to cost more money. More coverage equals a higher premium and in the end you decide that more insurance is not worth the price. But your neighbor insists that you should not have to pay more for additional coverage. "Any premium increases are due to the business decisions of insurance providers …"

Knowing what you know about your insurance policies, do you believe him?

Yet that is what Assembly Majority Leader Rep. Tom Nelson and his Democrat cohorts in the state assembly want you to believe. In fact that is exactly Nelson's comment regarding legislature's edict in the state budget that increased the mandatory minimum amounts of liability coverage, increased the mandatory minimum amounts of uninsured-driver coverage and mandated coverage for underinsured drivers.

Nelson's attempt to duck responsibility for a forecasted statewide 40 percent increase in auto insurance ignores Economics 101. It is simple pricing rule, whether the product is a cup of coffee or an insurance policy. If you buy the larger size, it is going to cost more. Jim Guidry of the Office of the Commission of Insurance spelled it out when he told the Associated Press that premiums in general are expected to go up for consumers who purchased only the minimum limits because of the changes.

Nelson and his colleagues, including Rep. Gordon Hintz of Oshkosh, are not telling the truth by shifting the blame to the insurance companies. If, by some chance, they actually believe that forcing consumers to buy more insurance will not raise rates, there is a serious problem in Assembly.

First, it was wrong to stick the insurance mandate in the budget bill. A public policy initiative that significant deserves the benefit of a legislative hearing and debate. Second, it creates a mandate that many out-of-work motorists will not be able to afford. Third, it shows the Democrats as true hypocrites. Remember their press releases tout that the recently passed budget did not increase taxes on Wisconsin residents. OK, the insurance mandate is technically not a tax, but it will take money out of your pocket just the same as a tax would.

Fortunately there is still a modicum of common sense in the legislature. Sen. Mike Ellis, R-Neenah, is drafting legislation that will roll back those insurance mandates. In announcing his legislation — let's call it the 'Ellis Auto Insurance Sanity Act' — the veteran lawmaker said, "Under the new law, Wisconsin drivers will go from having among the lowest insurance rates in the nation to having among the highest."

Ellis is right and the Democrats are wrong and should be ashamed.

The Final Thought: Insurance mandate will lead to higher premiums and should be repealed.

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.

On Illegal Immigrants - The Post that Demanded to be Written

During the last election a group called All Children Matter sent direct mail and purchased radio ads in the 49th Assembly District race. Many of these ads criticized Rep. Garthwaite for voting in favor of subsidizing tuition at the University of Wisconsin for illegal immigrants.

At first, Rep. Garthwaite denied this vote. Later he admitted it explaining that it was part of a budget bill that he had been forced to vote for and stated repeatedly that he did not support taxpayer funded benefits for illegal immigrants. On his blog, he addressed the question of whether he supported benefits for illegal immigrants by stating, “Nothing could be further from the truth.” This was a mantra Phil repeated over and over at debates, forums, and in newspaper columns over the course of the campaign.

Now, I have been struggling to write this post because I personally feel that the Republican Party would be best served by moving away from divisive issues like illegal immigration; however, I feel that I must comment on Phil’s votes on this subject because they demonstrate the depth to which he will sink to say one thing in Grant County and then do the total opposite in Madison.

Plain and simple, Phil Garthwaite supports taxpayer funded benefits for Illegal immigrants. He voted to provide them repeatedly and he was unarguably the deciding vote to include them in the budget. This is a fact. If Phil denies it, he is a liar.

The version of the budget that was voted on in the Assembly included two provisions to benefit illegal immigrants. The first would provide in-state tuition to illegal immigrants. The second would create a new program in the Department of Transportation to provide drivers cards to illegal immigrants.

During the budget debate Assembly Amendment 76 was introduced to remove the driver card provision from the bill. Phil Garthwaite was the deciding vote to kill the amendment.

Shortly thereafter, Assembly Amendment 78 was introduced to remove the in-state tuition provision from the bill. Phil Garthwaite was the deciding vote to kill that amendment as well.

He was then the deciding vote to pass the budget.

It’s fine to debate the merits of these two proposals. There are good arguments on both sides. What is undebatable, however, is that Phil Garthwaite supports taxpayer funded programs for illegal immigrants. I hope that from now on, he will openly admit this and defend his votes on these proposals based on their merits and demerits. If he tries to deny his votes or hide from the issue as he did during the last election then he is truly a Madison politician.

Scott Milfred takes the Democrat Legislature to Task for K-12 Budget

Scott Milfred's editorial in yesterday's State Journal is a must read. You can find it here.

He begins by pointing out that more than 90 school districts will see cuts larger than 15% despite promises from Democrat leaders to the contrary. He then goes on to squarely lay the blame at the feet of the Democrats who control all of state government:

No matter, I blame first and foremost our elected officials — starting with the Democrats who control the state Capitol — for being needlessly distracted.

They dedicated huge amounts of time and attention to a litany of controversial policy proposals stuffed into the state budget for expediency. This included mandates on car insurance, changes to liability law, drivers licenses for illegal immigrants and permission for local governments to form regional transit authorities, to cite just a few examples. Some of these items stayed in the budget. Some didn’t. But none of them belonged there.

Milwaukee Public Schools estimates property tax increase of less than 3%

Check out this article from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Looks like Milwaukee residents can only expect a 2.74% school property tax increase next year. Rep. Garthwaite sure did a great job protecting those property taxpayers. I wonder how much the tax bill is going to increase in Platteville or Boscobel? I bet it is a heck of a lot more than 2.74%.

Garthwaite Devastates Cassville Schools but Spares Milwaukee

DPI just released their School Aid Payment Estimates for the next year.

Rep. Garthwaite voted to cut Cassville’s schools by 15.6%. Conversely, he only voted to cut Milwaukee’s public schools by 0.84%. That is going to mean that the Cassville’s school board will have to raise property taxes by the maximum amount allowable under law. It also means that they will have to go to referendum to ask the voters to raise property taxes even more.

So next time you hear the Greater Wisconsin Committee on the radio thanking Garthwaite for “protecting schools,” just remember that they are talking about Milwaukee Schools. Rep. Garthwaite didn’t do a thing to protect Grant County’s schools or us property taxpayers.

...more to come on Rep. Garthwaite's assault on local K-12 education...