Sandy Pasch was elected in 2008, the deficit was $3.2 billion when Thompson left office in 2003. Sandy didn't create this deficit, Governor Doyle didn't create it, a Republican Governor created it. Alberta Darling has had 19 years to get "spending under control and to grow jobs and the economy" and has been unable to do so. Why would taxpayers want to give her the opportunity to keep trying--when it clearly isn't working? Let's try something new--Sandy has some great ideas, she is responsive and she wants to bring everyone together to find solutions.

@prosser-cuter There you go again with the smart aleck comment. What is the point? Why don't you ask her a real question about a real issue and then listen. Then ask the current Senator the same question and really listen to her? You might be surprised as to what you might learn.

It was interesting how much applause Rep. Pasch got when she spoke about how frustrated Sen. Darling's constituents are by her refusing to take calls, to answer letters and emails, and to hold public meetings. (I thought maybe it was just me.) I would like to ask Sen. Darling how Wisconsin can afford a half-million dollar tax credit for the Bradley Corporation, but we can't afford to fund kindergarten. Darling sent her own kids to private school, and her voting record clearly shows that she doesn't care about the fate of Wisconsin's public schools. The Wisconsin GOP's response the voucher schools' abysmal performance in standardized tests? Make a law that voucher schools won't be tested! This is not a wise use of our tax dollars; it's throwing good money after bad. It is a complete lack of accountability and an expensive pay-back to her big donors. Rep. Pasch will respond to the people who elect her, not the ones who try to buy her influence.

Sen. Darling certainly did not answer numerous e-mails and messages I left her during the last several months, except by a form e-mail that did not address the specific concerns I raised. She is out of touch with her district and I look forward to replacing her with Sandy Pasch.

CowDung, if Sen. Darling cares about public schools, then why has she been such a strong advocate of diverting tax money from the public schools to the voucher schools? Voucher schools, overall, are doing a terrible job. And I won't even go into the many documented cases of fraud and child abuse in the voucher schools. Voucher schools have not been made accountable, because the GOP is afraid of what that will reveal. Do you really think that 52 students per teacher is going to make Wisconsin competitive in a world economy? Sen. Darling said she didn't see any problem with that. Those are facts. My opinion is that Sen. Darling has sold her soul to the objectivist wing of the GOP, who state specifically that they do not believe in public education, public parks, public anything. I have to believe that Wisconsin citizens are better than that.

Just so I understand, When Jim Doyle cut aid to local schools, but did not give districts the tools to make up the lost revenue, none of the lefty's were crying and all was good. http://www.jsonline.com/news/wisconsin/45104107.html

When Walker and Darling do it, while simultaneously giving schools the tools to make up the lost revenue, they are villafied!

That is the thought process we are dealing with on the left.

PC, I'm not sure what you mean by either of your posts. First, I did not villify Walker and Darling. I said they oppose the concept of public services and public education. Whether that is villainous depends entirely on your point of view.

As to how I formed my opinion on Walker's and Darling's views, it comes from looking at the legislation they have proposed and their voting records. Does the objectivist wing of the GOP want to eliminate public education? I picked that up, not from "left-wing blogs" but from listening to speakers at the Tea Party rally in Madison a couple of weeks ago. It may not be fair to lump Darling in with that group, but she's been unwavering in her support of Walker's policies, and all the Tea Party supporters at the rally were pro-Walker. That was pretty much the point of the event. If and when Sen. Darling cares to state her opposition to that point of view, I'm more than willing to hear it.

As to robocalls, yes, those will happen. I hope both sides will refrain from untrackable dirty-trick calls, such as the one that came from Virginia, accusing the Darling recall campaign of fraud. But when Sen. Darling refuses to hold public meetings, when she states on her own website that she doesn't listen at the public hearings on the budget, when she says at a private dinner that it was all about union busting, but won't state that in public, then I have to think she is not interested in her constituents unless they come waving large checks.

Why don't you ask Alberta Darling why Wisconsin and Southern Railroad is getting $14 million from the state when they only have 700 miles of track in Wisconsin? I thought Wisconsin was broke and they had to cut funding to schools? Gee maybe it has to do with the fact that Gardner, the CEO of the company, made campaign contributions to the Republicans. Except - they were illegal and he was charged with two felonies. Guess crime does pay when you pay off the right people.

I find it telling that Pasch has the bomb-thrower Lena (don't you know who I am) Taylor holding the umbrella over her. If you ever go to a public hearing where she is on the committee, just watch the circus.

Pasch should run on her record. Her record of voting to raise taxes with every single vote she ever made in the assembly. That's a fact Jack! This state cannot sustain the spending problem Jim Doyle even admitted to, when all he did was add to it. Pasch is part of the problem, not the solution.

@Cow Dung Where exactly are you getting those numbers on the savings in Shorewood schools? Saving money on teacher's compensation and cutting programs is not proof that AD cares about schools, it only shows that she is concerned about what it costs. She has been a huge proponent of the voucher and choice programs--even though they are not proven to be effective. It must be her altrustic nature to champion the rights of inner city children to attend surburban schools then? There is no need for any child in her district to attend a charter or choice school because her district has the best public schools in the entire state. Isn't she really advocating vouchers so that parents who choose to send their children to private schools (which they can afford) in her district, can then remove those dollars from the public schools? She really has no record on education, see for yourself on her webpage--IN HER OWN WORDS--she helped to write curriculum years ago, supports "pay for performance", is trying to remove residency requirements and is advocating "Open Enrollment":
http://albertadarling.com/?page_id=14
This is not a record of someone who truly cares about the education of the children in her district.

This election is all about Walker/Darling, who started the class war.

GOP lays off thousands expecting this to grow our economy. GOP guts schools claiming this will improve education.

Lefties do it better.

@Keith Best--Here's Sandy's voting record, please look it over before you make blanket statements like the one above. http://www.votesmart.org/voting_category.php?can_id=108912
Sandy has a proven record of voting yes for the things that *improve* the quality of life in Wisconsin, like education, the environment and health issues. YOUR statement implies that she just blindly votes along party lines with no thought or consequence. However, if you look at the voting record of the current state senator from the 8th district, you will clearly see that pattern. Almost straight party line vote with little or no consideration of the impact on the taxpayers in her district. Judge for yourself: http://www.votesmart.org/voting_category.php?can_id=3441

Keith, I am curious to know what level of taxation you think is acceptable. Federal taxes, as percentage of income, are the lowest they've been since 1951. Wisconsin state and local taxes, as percentage of income, are the lowest they've been since 1995. Also, how is it that Wisconsin can afford all this highway construction, but we cannot afford to take care of our elders and kindergartners? Oh, right, the highway construction company owners funded Walker's campaign! The poor people didn't. They don't have any money.

I hestitate to dignify your slur on Lena Taylor with a response, but let me note that I was at the public hearing at State Fair Park--the one about which Sen. Darling said there was no reason for her to listen--and Sen. Taylor quietly stepped up and asked the crowd to refrain from clapping and cheering so that more people could have a chance to speak. And people responded to that and kept it quiet and respectful. Sen. Darling appeared to me to be very nervous about being there and didn't quite know what to do, although she eventually relaxed a bit. Let me just say I was impressed by Sen. Taylor's leadership skills and not impressed by Sen. Darling's. Just my opinion, but I was there all day.

Alberta Darling realizes that money does not grow on trees, that we cannot spend money we don't have. Why can't liberals understand that we cannot sustain the spending levels brought on by Jim Doyle.
Spend, spend ,spend does not work anymore. That is why Darling will be re-elected again. The only senators deserving recall are the 14 Democrats who fled the state, hiding out for 3 weeks. If you or I go AWOL from work for 3 weeks we get fired. Pasch hangs out with the cowards. End of story!

Also, what I said was that objectivists state they are against the concept of public schools, public parks, public anything. You can google "Ayn Rand" or "objectivism" and find out what that is. And then you can go on youtube and find videos of Paul Ryan speechifying about how great Ayn Rand and how much influence her books have on his politics. When the Tea Party supporters use terms for the working poor such as "looters" or "takers," that's straight out of Ayn Rand's books. And I'm just saying that before anyone signs on to their agenda, he or she ought to explore the political philosophy behind it. It is anarchistic and expressly atheistic. But don't take my word for it, look it up.

"I've read Dr. Seuss quite a bit over the past few weeks"... Uh, that's my governor? http://goo.gl/6oBLS

Darling cut $900,000,000.00 out of education in order to help WI children become proficient readers. How stupid do you think we are?

Dave, it's actually 834 million over two years. Vast majority of those funds would be make up from the tools the governor is trying to provide, that are currently being blocked by Dane County Judge.

What is your alternative to cutting spending?

Stil waiting for you to provide a school district that actually cut spending in the last five years. There are one or two out there if you look hard enough.

To clarify, both sets of figures are inflation-adjusted. The Wisconsin figure includes property taxes, state income tax, and general sales taxes. It is from the Wisconsin Dept of Revenue web site. The federal figure refers to average federal income tax rate for a median-income family of four. Data are from the Treasury Dept for years 1955-1996 and from the Tax Policy Center for 1997-2010. Since 1985, Wisc state and local taxes are percentage of income have DECREASED by 9%. There's a sort of Greek chorus out there in the Land of Talk Radio, chanting: your taxes are too high! Well, we can talk about that, but first you have to tell me what level would be not too high.

I've thought about this a lot--why people have this perception that doesn't match reality. I don't know. It may have to do with folks buying houses and vehicles and gadgets they can't afford and then looking around for someone on which to blame their coming up short at the end of the month. So many things are now considered necessities--cell phone plans, cable service, etc.--that add up to lots of money out of the family budget. Seems like a large percentage are carrying a balance on credit cards, for example.

I stand with Alberta. The cuts are necessary. We have no money and Walker doesn't want to provide one time fixes to fill in the budget. Education will not be harmed. The repair law will help shore up costs and create more efficient schools now that they don't have to deal with the bureaucracies of the unions. Teaching is about competence and accountability, resources are second. The teachers will continue to teach like they did before the law.

All I can say is thank you to Sandy Pasch for running and taking on this challenge. I will be there working to get you elected Sandy. We definitely need a change. Alberta Darling can't manage things w/o her handlers and they are doing a lousy job. It is time for her to go.

Jacob, "Teaching is about accountability?" Then how about we make the voucher schools accountable, instead of siphoning money from the public schools to prop them up? And teachers will not teach as they did before. Why? Because a classroom with 35 students is different from one with 20. Many studies have shown that the single most important factor in student achievement is student-teacher ratio. Also, what does this mean, "We have no money." The state budget was in the black when Walker took over and before he rammed through his corporate tax cuts. I think you are naive to swallow this talk of "We're broke." Everytime the conservatives want to pull the wool over our eyes, they use the word "broke" or "broken." The schools are broken. Our tax system is broken. Etc. Etc. Etc. Walker said the state pension fund was broke, when it is, in fact, 98% funded, even in this economic downturn. These guys know all the right buttons to push to distract the public from the fact that they are paying off their big political donors.

I just can't wait until Alberta wins just like Prosser. I'd like to see Pasch go campaign in the northern part of Alberta's district instead of preaching to the choir in Shorewood (which only makes up 13% of the entire district). Best of luck in Germantown, Mequon, Thiensville, Menomonee Falls...etc.

My goodness, Jacob, Doyle is my buddy??? You seem to know a lot about me! It was the Wisconsin state accountants who said the projection for 2011 was in the black. Then Walker enacted 1.6 billion in tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy and suddenly we had a 1.6 billion shorfall. Funny how that works. Now they are all citing this 3.6 billion figure, and I've no idea where that comes from. If you can point me to a source, I'd like to see it. As to the "acccountability" of voucher schools, please explain to me how parents are supposed to make an informed choice without any information? After 20 years, we finally got some test scores on that, and the voucher schools performed very poorly. GOP response? Give the voucher schools more money! Punish the public schools for improving their performance in every academic area! And....no more testing! That is not fiscal conservatism; that is letting ideology push aside rational decision-making. At least call it what it is, my friends. It is throwing good money after bad.

Thanks, Jacob. I saw that, too. So, I tried to research it and found that the Wisc. deficit is somewhere between $0 and $3 billion. I am a businesswoman and I think we need an estimate that's just a bit less variable to make any actual decisions. If someone asked me to estimate the cost of a project, and I told them it might be free or it might cost you $3 billion, I'm thinking they probably would not hire me. Still working on it and will post something here when I get it sorted out.

I'm still looking for a break-down of the $3.6 billion figure for Wisconsin's deficit, but haven't found one. But I did find this analysis very useful in putting our state's finances into perspective. It would seem that Walker et al are assuming the state will have NO revenue at all for the next two years and beyond. That's silly, of course. In a nutshell, this analysis says that Wisconsin has a very good credit rating, no terrible budget problems, and several options for balancing the budget.
http://www.politifact.com/wisconsin/statements/2011/mar/03/scott-walker/wisconsin-gov-scott-walker-says-wisconsin-broke/

As to property taxes, when I said before that Wisconsin state and local taxes have decreased by 9% since 1985, that figure includes property taxes. Compared to some other states, our property tax is high, but then we have better infrastructure and public services than those other states. Sometimes you get what you pay for. I do think that the tax burden has shifted downward, with the middle class paying proportionately more and the wealthy paying less. The argument is that this creates jobs, but then you have to wonder why the Bush tax cuts coincided with the worst unemployment in decades.

CD--The Bush tax cuts are still in effect. If they were the magic bullet for creating jobs, we wouldn't see 9% unemployment today. It may have been worth a try, but it didn't work.

And, now, to change the subject, I'd be interested to hear what you all think about Wisconsin spending $6 million over the next two years to implement the proposed voter ID law. There were 20 possible cases of voter fraud in 2008 and not one of them involved someone assuming a false identity. Most of them were what you could call honest mistakes--ignorance rather than evil intent.

@Tammy B
I wish I was smoking what you are smoking, because you certainly have a way of twisting the facts.
For one thing, Shorewood school District budget is actually going down as you say by 1.94 million for 2011/2012. What is interesting though is that 1.14 Million of that decrease is due to reductions in FEDERAL AID of which Walker has no control. State aid is being reduced by $404,000. Other revenue reductions are local. Budget Repair tools will actually result in a net increase of $181,00 to Shorewood assuming pension and healthcare contributions.

http://www.shorewoodschools.org/documents/SDS%202011_2012%20Budget%20Packet%20_04_11_11.pdf

@Tammy B
"WI has one of the lowest tax rates for businesses. Since the 1970's we have been slashing them. We are losing jobs in this state at an alarming rate. States with higher tax rates for businesses are INCREASING in JOB GROWTH. Walker is losing businesses who are fleeing to other states like Illinois -- ouch. Walker and his supporters are killing our State economics, losing potential contracts to neighboring states"

Again Tammy, I don't know what you are smoking. Businesses are running from Illinois because they have the second worst business climate in the country. Only California is worse. Walker has already lured two or three Illinois businesses to Wisconsin in his short tenure. Our state economics are improving. Our business climate just went from 41 in the rankings to 24. This was illustrated in several articles in the past week.

You also don't seem to realize that corporations do not pay taxes. We all pay for them in higher priced products and services.

You seem to have this "tax the rich" mentality. Maybe you have a bunch of rich people living with you in Shorewood, but overall Wisconsin doesn't have a large population of "rich" people. You also realize that rich people will simply relocate to a more favorable state from a tax climate standpoint if you go to far into the piggy bank.

Wrong Tammy. I took those number from page 16 of the Shorewood Budget Proposal which is linked above. It's also interesting to see that Shorewood had reduction in general state aides in three of the last four years which exceeded the reductions under Walkers proposal (Page 9). I didn't see you any of you protesting Doyle.

We may have a corporate tax rate of 7.9% Tammy. I'll guarantee you the cost of goods and services provided by those corporations were increased to pay those tax rates. Corporations do not pay taxes. The cost is passed on to the consumers.

Tammy B wrote-
"Walker is a cuts governor, not a job creator."
That assessment boys and girls is premature. Walker has been governor for 4 months. He has 4 years to fulfill his attempt at creating 250,000 jobs in this state. So far he has created a business friendly climate, this is the first step. I ask how those that hate the job creators (people making over $250K, including corporations AND small businesses) think they know what it takes to create jobs?
So far Governor Walker is doing exactly what we elected him to do, and he is on pace to fulfill his goal.

I asked the question about the costs of implementing the voter ID law to see whether any of you are willing to stray from the party lines. It would appear that the answer is no. The article you cite, CD, said that of 100 cases brought forward, 80 were just mistakes on the part of the poll workers, and 10 were "voter incompetence." That leaves 10 possible cases. Those were investigated and NOT ONE had to do with false identity. If a few hundred postcards weren't returned, that doesn't equate to "hundreds" of cases of possible fraud, as the article clearly explains. So, we are going to spend $6 million over 10 possible bad votes? Really? It won't save money in the long term, as you assert, because, as noted, NOT ONE of the possible cases of fraud had to do with false identity. They would still have happened, and still have to have been investigated. So, we are going to devote our resources to fighting crime that hasn't happened, just because it might? Maybe we should bring back Japanese internment camps, just in case we go to war with Japan again and some Japanese-Americans still have loyalty to the old country. Yes, that would be a stellar and potentially money-saving policy.

""""""PC, your assumption is that all good / services produced by corporations are consumed by local economies only.
7.9% is the corporate tax rate. That is what they [the corporations] pay. This is revenue to Wisconsin. You cut that [their tax burden] you cut revenue. Let's see your creativity, PC: how do we generate revenue in this State?""""""""""

That's easy Tammy, you create more revenue to the state by creating more taxpayers. More jobs = more people paying taxes. People making more money = more taxes. People working buy more goods and services which = more sales taxes.

Raising taxes on corporations does little in the long run. They simply cut costs (i.e. employees, er taxpayers) to maintain their profitability. The other thing they will do is simply raise the cost of their respective product or service to recover the revenue paid because of the tax increase. This results in all consumers paying more. Raising taxes on corporations also has the effect of causing them to flee to better economic climates. We are seeing that in Illinois right now. In summary, consumers pay corporate taxes in the form of increased cost of goods and services. Thus my conclusion that "corporations really don't pay taxes", the "consumers do"

Jay, yes, they did. I think the actual costs will be higher if anyone brings a lawsuit over the fact that many DNR offices in rural areas are only open for a few hours each month. The bill does not fix that problem. States are required to make the ID's free and reasonably easy to obtain. So, the $6 million covers the first issue, but not the second. Another issue is the cost of getting the docucments needed to get the state ID. I don't know that it will stand up in court, because if you require someone to pay to get their birth certificate in order to vote, that's not essentially different from making them pay for the ID card.

This bill started out NOT accepting military ID or US passports. Then the brainy folks who proposed it were told that would not stand up in court. It also excluded student IDs. There's a compromise on that now, but it will require the universities to revamp their IDs--another expense not included in the $6 million.

CD--as I noted, the "several hundred" amounted to the undelivered postcards. That does not equate to fraud. There are many explanations besides fraud. Also, what is the source of this information about ACORN supplying people with fake addresses? Rumor? Or was this actually investigated?

CD--"Accused" or "investigated" doesn't mean anything, but it is true that one ACORN worker was convicted of fraud in Wisconsin in 2010. As I understand it, no one actually tried to vote under that fraudulent registration. I am not excusing it, but it seems like someone was trying to make a quota for registrations, not trying to steal an election. Again, that doesn't make it right. I still question the motives of those who introduced and supported the voter ID bill. They don't seem all that worried about the pattern of incompetence and/or fraud in the Waukesha county clerk's office. Also, I might have a little more confidence in my state legislators if everything they propose didn't come straight out of the Koch Brothers' ALEC Big Book of Corporate Welfare. I did have more confidence in them before they developed that Koch habit.

One conviction in Wisconsin. Repeat: one. And the number of documented falsified ballots in Wisconsin? Zero. I don't see how anyone can claim to be fiscally responsible and still support this bill Just curious if you support the idea of the federal elections commission investigating the mess in Wakesha County.

I support the bill because I honestly believe there is a ton of voter fraud that never gets investigated. The most important thing in our society is to ensure the integrity of our elections. I have no problem with an investigation into Waukesha County. I do have problems with the fact that the same issues with the ballot bags and ties were reported in several other counties, including Dane and Milwaukee. Klopp is just making it an issue in Waukesha so she can use it as a reason to try to get the court to disenfranchise a whole sector of voters that skew republican. I did not see her protest or complain about the same issues in other counties that have been brought to light by recound observers.

Beth. Walker is on pace through 3/31 to create over 380,000 new jobs. I have posted the link from the Cap Times several times in these threads over the last month.

prossercuter, saying it and doing it...two entirely different things. Most of the new jobs had nothing to do with the gov's new plans, almost all already in process before he was elected. He's operating on the Field of Dreams magical thinking, if you build it, they will come. It's crap and 4 years from now, if he's still the governor, he'll have every excuse in the book as to why it didn't work. He did the same in Milwaukee County. He really is the last nail in Wisconsin's coffin. He needs to be removed from office yesterday.