Restoring integrity to state government
Under Gov. Walker and the legislative Republican majority, Wisconsin's reputation for clean, honest and transparent government has taken a serious hit.
Again and again, they have chosen to reward special interests and big corporate donors over working families across our state.
This all began about a year ago when the governor introduced his budget repair bill, which rolled back 50 years of workers' rights and divided our state like never before.
But it also included attacks on good government, such as allowing the governor to replace 39 civil service positions in state agencies with his own political appointees and allowing for no-bid contracts for the sale of state-owned power plants.
Since that time, this unprecedented cloud of secrecy and scandal has only grown larger.
From an ongoing criminal probe involving many of the governor's top advisors, to the governor raising millions in out-of-state campaign contributions, to the oaths signed by Republicans to hide their taxpayer-funded redistricting plan from the public - our citizens are simply losing faith in their government.
That's why my fellow Democrats and I are putting forward a package of proposals that would reverse the worst abuses of power of the Walker Administration and legislative Republicans and help restore integrity and trust in our government.
These proposals will help to restore integrity in all branches of government, including eliminating the governor's newly created positions for his political appointees, ending unlimited fundraising during a recall petition period and measures that would help re-establish faith in our judicial system.
The people of our state need and deserve to know that their elected leaders are going to bat for them - not for big corporate donors and politically connected special interests.
We are serious about working to restore the public's trust and faith in government after a year of extreme and divisive actions under Gov. Walker and his Republican allies.
And our proposals present a solid first step toward repairing that trust and restoring Wisconsin's proud tradition of open and transparent government.
The people of Wisconsin deserve nothing less.
State Rep. Sandy Pasch, D-Whitefish Bay, is the assistant Democratic leader of the Wisconsin Assembly.
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4 Comments for "Restoring integrity to state government "
If there are so many, why don't they name names? Who are these corporations, what legislation or policy points to these rewards? Or is this just rhetoric?
[quote]This all began about a year ago when the governor introduced his budget repair bill, which rolled back 50 years of workers' rights...[/quote]
I think you (purposefully) left out the word "union" before "rights". If unions voluntarily go back to 1962, when wages matched productivity, then they might survive. Apparently, unions would rather die a noisy, belligerent death; that's OK too - it certainly is more entertaining.
[quote]These proposals will help to restore integrity in all branches of government, including eliminating the governor's newly created positions for his political appointees, ending unlimited fundraising during a recall petition period and measures that would help re-establish faith in our judicial system.[/quote]
If you can get Republicans to vote for them, that is. How's that going?
[quote]The people of Wisconsin deserve nothing less.[/quote]
I don't know. They might deserve a lot less.
Luther says we can't teach our own kids to read; what should we expect for that failure?
lastpercentile Feb 22, 2012 2:13 PM
Yeah there has been a lot of screaming and crying at the Capital from union members, but I can tell you this much; Unions have outlasted a lot of governors.
In the meantime,you can concern yourself with these names. Not the names of corporations that write legislation, but names that are willing to potentially comit felonies for their Governor; Tim Russell, Kelly Rindfleisch, Brian Pierick, Kevin Kavanaugh, and Darlene Wink. Who are these people? Will someone sing? Why would they commit felonies to elect our Governor?
aboutblank Feb 24, 2012 10:08 PM
So did slavery, and for some of the same reasons.
lastpercentile Feb 25, 2012 9:22 AM
aboutblank Feb 25, 2012 9:43 PM