State Budget Deficit Balloons Under Garthwaite's Watch...Again.

The non-partisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau (LFB) reported today that Wisconsin's structural budget deficit increased by $277 million over the last six months. This is bad, bad news for the state but it isn't really all that surprising.

Garthwaite and the Democrat majority in the State Assembly voted to increase taxes by nearly $5 billion last year alone. When a government increases taxes on employers in the middle of a recession it hurts them. They stop hiring and sometimes lay people off. They put off expansions. Sometimes they even go out of business. The end result is lower than anticipated tax revenues.

Add to that the fact that Garthwaite voted to increase state spending by 10% and our state ends up with a huge budget deficit. According to this press release, Wisconsin's deficit is more than $2.3 billion. As Rep. Fitzgerald puts it, every man, woman, and child in Wisconsin would have to pay an additional $413 in taxes next year just so the state could break even. Please remind Rep. Garthwaite of this next fall when he brags about voting for a "balanced" budget.

For more information, see this release from Senator Mike Ellis.

In other news, even the neo-socialist Daily Kos is weighing in on the problems facing Assembly Democrat leadership in Wisconsin.

Who says we can't admit when we're wrong? Garthwaite increased state spending by 10%, not 6% as we had thought.

The hyper-geeky, ever correct number crunchers at the Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance (WTA) reported today that Rep. Garthwaite voted to increase government spending by just more than 10%, rather that the six or so percent that PGWatch had reported. Our 6% number was based on reports released from the non-partisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau, news outlets, and Republican legislators. Sorry.

Read the full release from the WTA for more details.

Assembly Democrat Leadership Woes Forcast a Tough Fall for Vulnerables Like Garthwaite

This tersely worded story from Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporter Patrick Marley spells trouble for Assembly Democrats. According to this and other stories, rumors spread around the Capitol Friday that Assembly Speaker Mike Sheridan was in jeopardy of losing his leadership post over an alleged, inappropriate relationship the married speaker had carried on with a lobbyist.

Sheridan, Rep. Garthwaite's boss in the Assembly, denied these allegations Friday, stating that the lobbyist was just a friend and that they had gone on just one date. He has since amended his story stating, "I have dated a gal who is a lobbyist. It's not been a conflict, and I have no problem saying that..." The Speaker also told the Journal Sentinel that, "We (He and the lobbyist) went to a Christmas party. I think we went out with like a group of people a couple different times and that type of thing." "Like a group of people." "That type of thing." Why does the Speaker of the State Assembly sound like a kid who broke curfew and doesn't want to fess up to his parents about what he was out doing?

The Assembly Democrats already faced a tough election fight. The mood of the country and state is swinging back against their big taxing, big spending policies. Their total lack of focus on jobs and the economy over the last year doesn't help their cause much either. This potential scandal, however, adds a whole new dimension to the challenges that vulnerable Representatives like Garthwaite will have next fall.

For starters, this issue will further divide an Assembly Democrat Caucus that is already split over the proposed mayoral take over of the Milwaukee Public Schools. Coupled with their failure to put the Jeff Wood incidents behind them, the Assembly Democrats will be distracted this spring and will likely leave this session without having accomplished anything of substance on jobs, the economy, or anything else. What will they have to run on in the fall? A failed stimulus bill and honey regulation?

Secondly, an embattled and divided Assembly Democrat leadership will not be able to properly organize and fund raise for members facing tough challenges. Democrat Majority Leader Tom Nelson was already set to be in the fight of his life over budget pork that cost his district and comments he made in regards to the Democrat auto insurance premium hike of 2009
Sheridan too will now be preoccupied with his own survival.

Traditionally, Assembly Democrats have counted on large third party expenditures from public employee unions, trial attorneys, and tribal gaming interests to bail them out of situations like this. This year, however, those groups will be focused on getting a Democrat into the vacant Governor's mansion first, maintaining a precarious majority in the State Senate second, and keeping vulnerable Assemblymen like Garthwaite in office a distant third. This all spells trouble for the Democrat from Grant County next fall.

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?

Assembly Democrat Global Warming Bill to Put 43,000 out of Work

Rep. Garthwaite has long been a supporter of legislation that would increase fuel and energy prices in order to reduce greenhouse gas production in Wisconsin. He's campaigned on it and is even on record as having voted in support of one radical proposal, 2006 Assembly Bill 157.

Now Assembly Democrats are promoting a new bill that they call the "Clean Jobs Act." The 174 page bill, which oddly never mentions "clean jobs," not even once, makes wholesale changes to the way Wisconsin produces and uses energy.

According to a study commissioned by the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute and conducted by the non-partisan, independent Beacon Hill Institute, AB 649 will have dramatically negative consequences on Wisconsin's unemployment numbers and on our quality of life.

The Assembly Minority Leader Jeff Fitzgerald explained why in a recent editorial in the Baraboo News Republic where he refuted one of the bill's supporters, Democrat Rep. Fred Clark:

Manufacturers depend on reliable and affordable electricity to make their products. In Wisconsin, they already pay some of the highest costs for electricity in the Midwest. The cornerstone of Rep. Clark’s global warming legislation is a new mandate that utilities produce 25 percent of their electricity from renewable resources by 2025. Utilities are already struggling to meet a modest, but important 10 percent renewable standard passed by environmentally conscious Republicans in 2005. To comply with a 25 percent mandate, utilities would have to spend approximately $15 billion more to convert from cheap energy sources to less efficient renewable sources. A significant portion of that cost will be paid for by Wisconsin’s manufacturers. Those billions that could be spent on expanding and hiring new employees will instead be eaten up by costlier electricity.

Though debatable in boom years, Rep. Clark’s proposed mandate is an unequivocal job killer during a recession.

The global warming bill will also cost the Average Joe more, about $1,000 more each year according to the economists at Beacon Hill. It calls for tripling of the "Public Benefits" fee on your utility bill. The aforementioned utility price increases will cause up to 30 percent hikes in the average family’s heating and electricity bills. It also calls for a Wisconsin-specific fuel standard that will ban or restrict the use of several cheap sources of gasoline. According to the Virginia-based George C. Marshall Institute, the new fuel standards in Rep. Clark’s bill will increase the price of a gallon of unleaded regular by $0.61.

In addition to higher prices at the pump, this bill actually makes automobiles more expensive to buy. Rep. Clark’s bill mandates that each car sold in Wisconsin meet California’s Low Emission Vehicle standard. If enacted, this will drive up the price of the average car by $968 with an annualized cost to Wisconsin consumers of more than $350 million.

To put it simply, Garthwaite's Democrat colleges in Madison are pushing a proposal, which he has supported at least in concept, that will:

1. Put 43,000 employees out of work
2. Increase Utility Bills by 30%
3. Increase gas prices by $.61/gallon
4. Increase the price of new cars by nearly $1,000

Garthwaite has yet to take a stand against his Democrat Madison leadership on any significant legislation this session. Hopefully he will on this deeply troubled piece of legislation.

Will Garthwaite Support Doyle Property Tax Hike?

I heard Rep. Garthwaite say on the radio today that he was proud of Governor Doyle's State of the State speech. I certainly hope that this doesn't mean that Garthwaite plans to support the major property tax hike proposed by the unpopular Governor in that speech.

Here is a portion of a release from the non-partisan Wisconsin Property Taxpayers Inc. on Doyle's property tax proposal:

GOVERNOR CALLS FOR UNFAIR TAX AMENDMENT: WPT CALS FOR REJECTION

The Uniformity Clause of Wisconsin’s Constitution requires fairness in property taxation: equal taxes on equally valued properties, regardless of their classification.

In his State of the State address, Governor Doyle asked you to “begin the process of amending our Constitution…so we can direct property tax relief where people need it the most – on their homes.”

While the Governor was not specific about the amendment he was calling for, there are currently two Uniformity Clause amendments under consideration: AJR-8 and AJR-24/SJR-7. Under both amendments, renters, commercial, farm, and other business property owners would pay more than equally valued homes and more than under current law. (See April 9, 2009 LFB Memo to Rep. Ballweg)

Renters would pay more than owners of equally valued homes

Under both amendments, more than 633,000 hard working Wisconsin families and individuals who rent their homes and apartments would pay more than the owner-occupants of equally valued homes and condominiums next door or across the hall. Instead of receiving more property tax relief , those who rent would end up paying more property taxes on their homes under these amendments.

Tax shift could eliminate jobs, hamper recovery

According to the Legislative Fiscal Bureau, AJR-24/SJR-7 would have increased 2008(09) business property taxes by more than $200 million, the equivalent of 4,024 medium wage jobs. Increasing businesses’ property taxes when many are struggling to meet their payrolls could result in more business failures and job losses. This would tend to slow our recovery rate and reduce the impact of the Governor’s jobs initiatives.

Agricultural property taxes would increase

According to the Legislative Fiscal Bureau AJR-24/SJR-7 would have increased taxes on undeveloped, forest and agricultural forest land by 23.8% in 2008(09). This could lead to abandonment of thousands of acres and hundreds of farmsteads due to inability to pay taxes on their woodlands.

Homeowners’ taxes subject to Legislature’s whims

AJR-8 would allow future Legislatures to tax homeowners more or less from year-to-year. When school and local government spending increases more than state revenues, the Legislature could increase instead of lowering taxes on principal residences – the main source of property tax revenue - to help schools and local governments fill their revenue/spending gap.

Rep. Garthwaite campaigned on a similar tax shift scheme in the last election that he called HOPE so I expect that he will support the Governor on this plan. A quick search of the legislature's website seems to confirm this. Rep. Garthwaite is a lead author of AJR 24, the bill to increase property taxes on farmers, renters, and small businesses in order to subsidize others.

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.