“Whimsically Persnickety” is not a partisan blog. Instead, it is a blog that examines public policy in the interest of the people that pay for the public officials and benefit from their decisions. “Whimsically Persnickety” is not a fulltime or daily blog, but a common observer of local politics of southeast Wisconsin, the state of Wisconsin, and the United States.
After seeing the Wisconsin state deficit spiral out of control to the tune of nearly $7 billion, the bureaucracy of the local and state governments expand obscenely, and the tax levies increase in several communities on the local level as well as statewide, “Whimsically Persnickety” endorses Scott Walker for governor of Wisconsin.
Scott Walker’s leadership of Milwaukee County has been a bright spot in a state that has become a tax hell. Walker has been able to avoid raising taxes and has been able to effectively cut unnecessary items from the Milwaukee County budget. He has done this despite working with a Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors that has been rather hostile toward most of his proposed budget cuts. Its chairman, Lee Holloway, has been one of Walker’s most consistent critics.
Walker’s combination of refusing to increase taxes, accept temporary federal stimulus money, and add unnecessary items to the county budget have enabled Milwaukee County to run a budget surplus in a state that has consistently seen its fiscal number run in the red.
Walker has left the option of school choice as one to be pursued with greater vigor. This has not made him friends within WEAC, but instead offers an alternative for families of students that live within sub-par school districts. This position offers a choice to people that previously did not have a choice when it came to education.
Scott Walker will have a difficult time should he win election in 2010, but he inherited a bloated Milwaukee County bureaucracy and has managed it superiorly. The state of Wisconsin needs this management in order to raise and exceed the existing standards and credibility set by the current administration.
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Ryan's Voting Record Shows Inconsistencies
Paul Ryan has been representing Wisconsin’s first congressional district since his election to the House of Representatives on November 3, 1998. Since then, he has championed fiscal conservatism by emphasizing the need for limited government, limited spending, tax cuts, and limited regulation over American trade. He is currently the ranking member of the House Ways and Means Committee and has been an eloquent voice in favor of what he has coined as his “Roadmap for America’s Future.”
He is young and is considered by many to be one of the brightest stars in the Republican Party that has taken severe beatings in the last two election cycles – losing control of the House and the Senate in 2006 and then sustaining further losses in both houses of Congress as well as losing the White House in 2008. Many of the established names of the Republican Party have become more moderate over time, much to the frustration of the conservative base, but several younger politicians have emerged to reestablish conservatism into the Republican Party. Ryan has gained much notoriety since his party’s debacles of 2006 and 2008. He frequently is seen on CNBC and has had editorials published numerous times in the Wall Street Journal.
It may come as a surprise to several conservatives that Ryan appears to have moderated his fiscal conservatism. Starting in September of 2008, Ryan voted in favor of the first bailout to the tune of $700 billion to rescue AIG, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Lehman Brothers, and several other lending institutions that were in danger of going bankrupt. He then voted in favor of the $14 billion bailout in December of 2008. Some speculated that this was due to troubles within his constituency where there happens to be a major GM manufacturing plant in Janesville. Finally, on March 18 of this year, Ryan voted in favor of H.R. 1586: a 90% tax levied on the bonuses awarded to AIG executives. AIG had received TARP money in the original bailout of the previous fall. This bill has since been shelved in the Senate.
Ryan represents a very diverse district where it is likely that the automakers had some pull on his decision for the so-called “Big 3 Bailout.” Ryan also stated publicly that the TARP vote was going to hurt him politically and that it went against his own political and fiscal principles. He followed that by saying that if something was not done, the economy may suffer dire consequences. Ryan was quoted as saying “It sucks, but it has to pass…The easiest thing would be to vote no and go hide in my office and watch the markets collapse. I will suffer politically for this, but I will sleep at night.” With regard to his most recent surprising vote, only one member of his home state’s delegation had voted against the AIG tax. James Sensenbrenner voted against it saying it was unconstitutional and would be thrown out in court.
Paul Ryan spoke to a rally in Madison on April 15 and indicated that the Democrats just “want you to pay up and shut up” and said the Democrats’ view of the American public’s duty is “to pay more and more taxes, because our government is smarter than you are.” His voting record has been very conservative as well save the three major exceptions of the past year. This would make him far from being what many conservatives refer to as a Republican in Name Only (RINO). The question of whether or not this will come back to undermine Ryan’s credibility as a fiscal conservative remains unknown, but is a worthy question.
He is young and is considered by many to be one of the brightest stars in the Republican Party that has taken severe beatings in the last two election cycles – losing control of the House and the Senate in 2006 and then sustaining further losses in both houses of Congress as well as losing the White House in 2008. Many of the established names of the Republican Party have become more moderate over time, much to the frustration of the conservative base, but several younger politicians have emerged to reestablish conservatism into the Republican Party. Ryan has gained much notoriety since his party’s debacles of 2006 and 2008. He frequently is seen on CNBC and has had editorials published numerous times in the Wall Street Journal.
It may come as a surprise to several conservatives that Ryan appears to have moderated his fiscal conservatism. Starting in September of 2008, Ryan voted in favor of the first bailout to the tune of $700 billion to rescue AIG, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Lehman Brothers, and several other lending institutions that were in danger of going bankrupt. He then voted in favor of the $14 billion bailout in December of 2008. Some speculated that this was due to troubles within his constituency where there happens to be a major GM manufacturing plant in Janesville. Finally, on March 18 of this year, Ryan voted in favor of H.R. 1586: a 90% tax levied on the bonuses awarded to AIG executives. AIG had received TARP money in the original bailout of the previous fall. This bill has since been shelved in the Senate.
Ryan represents a very diverse district where it is likely that the automakers had some pull on his decision for the so-called “Big 3 Bailout.” Ryan also stated publicly that the TARP vote was going to hurt him politically and that it went against his own political and fiscal principles. He followed that by saying that if something was not done, the economy may suffer dire consequences. Ryan was quoted as saying “It sucks, but it has to pass…The easiest thing would be to vote no and go hide in my office and watch the markets collapse. I will suffer politically for this, but I will sleep at night.” With regard to his most recent surprising vote, only one member of his home state’s delegation had voted against the AIG tax. James Sensenbrenner voted against it saying it was unconstitutional and would be thrown out in court.
Paul Ryan spoke to a rally in Madison on April 15 and indicated that the Democrats just “want you to pay up and shut up” and said the Democrats’ view of the American public’s duty is “to pay more and more taxes, because our government is smarter than you are.” His voting record has been very conservative as well save the three major exceptions of the past year. This would make him far from being what many conservatives refer to as a Republican in Name Only (RINO). The question of whether or not this will come back to undermine Ryan’s credibility as a fiscal conservative remains unknown, but is a worthy question.
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